Chamois closed

I've just been speaking to Adrian, a friend who lives in France and who uses his Jodel to fly in and around the Alps far too regularly. Adrian has just given me some bad news. Chamois, the Italian altisurface is currently closed. The grass is too long, there are cows grazing on it, there's a fence in the middle and if that's not enough, it appears that there's a bit of an argument going on between the people who manage it (someone manages it?) and the local farmers. Aaarrrggghhhh.

I've only flown in once. I took off in a D140 from Megeve with Frank (seen arriving here) and Bruno, Megeve's CFI. We picked our way through Mont Blanc's valleys into Italy and routed overhead Aosta heading roughly south. Roughly ten miles later we turned left up a valley to be greeted by the Matterhorn looking simply stunning. Chamois was off to our right a couple of thousand feet lower. We landed, walked into the village (only accessible by cable car or aircraft) and had lunch. It is, or was, a great little strip in a spectacular setting.

There's a meeting taking place next week to try to resolve the issues and to get this little bit of aviation paradise open again, but I'm told that hopes are not running too high. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Update: It seems that Chamois will now be closed until the end of the year, it may open again in 2010, but that is far from certain. Bugger.

Will The Fighter Collection fly?

The Flying Legends airshow takes place at Duxford next Saturday and Sunday. I'm planning to fly in, meet some friends and enjoy a nice picnic in glorious sunshine while enjoying some great displays. There is however a bit of a fly in the ointment as it were. The Fighter Collection, the mainstay of Legends, has had many of its aircraft grounded by the CAA.

I'm told that following an audit of the Fighter Collection in October 2008, the CAA wasn't happy with both some modifications and the use of alternative parts and materials which, in the CAA's words, had not been properly validated. The CAA say they were also concerned by the lack of records detailing how some of the changes were accomplished.

The CAA says that for safety reasons certain aircraft are grounded until such time as the organisation can show the CAA how the work was undertaken and have completed any remedial work required.

I'm sure that the team at Duxford will put together a great event, but I'm equally sure that the groundings will have long reaching consequences.

Rumours

Apparently there aren't enough rumours in this blog, so here are a few. There will probably be some more after Oshkosh...

1. Somewhere in the USA, probably in Kansas, there's a modified Citation Mustang. At the back you'll find the normal Pratt & Whitney Canada PW615Fs, but at the front, grafted to the nose, is a turboprop of some kind. The company could be testing a new engine for the Caravan, but there have been rumours about a high performance SET (single engine turbine) to compete presumably somewhere in the Meridian to PC-12 space rather than the utility market that that the Caravan occupies. Of course it could be even more radical, and be destined for an aeroplane that will sit just above their high performance single engine pistons.
2. Back in the days when everyone was still pretending that the economy was booming, Rolls-Royce signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mooney. Rolls-Royce is developing the RR500, a small turbine, intended for use in smaller GA aircraft. The engine should deliver up to 480shp with the capability of producing something like 350shp continuously. I understand that Mooney was planning to develop an all-new, bigger airframe specifically for this engine.
3. Alan Klapmeier's recent announcement at M7 is the result of a bit of a rift in Duluth. I understand that Alan and brother Dale are no longer working or playing well together.
4. The town of Bend in Oregan is a bit quieter than it used to be since Cessna closed their factory there. Lance Neibauer, founder of Lancair is apparently working on a new aviation project. He is currently building a team and seeking finance. More news at Oshkosh perhaps?
5. ...and finally, not really a rumour, but not widely reported either. Look out for G-FRGN in an upcoming AAIB bulletin. The Piper Dakota, Polly Vacher's around-the-world aeroplane, was badly damaged when it failed to get airborne from Polly's strip. I'm glad to say however that Polly is fine.
   

Cirrus photoshoot results

Got a look at some of the shots from the Cirrus photoshoot earlier this week. Top is an approach to the strip in order to take a look at the EVS system (the enhanced picture on the MFD). Centre is just a nice shot that happens to include the moon - funny to think that it was 40 years ago when Neil Armstrong took that step - and bottom is just a nice shot over Dorset. All pics copyright Oli Tennent

Glider towing for beginners

I had a go at glider towing today and it all started with a BDFA meeting at Lasham. While I was there I took the opportunity to get a briefing just in case I need to fly in (or out) at some stage.

Lasham is home to one of the world's largest gliding clubs, and if the weather's great it is wall-to-wall sailplanes with simultaneous winch launches, aerotows and trial flights, all of which use sort of parallel(ish) runways. It is also a jet maintenance base, so there's the chance of the occasional 757 and 767 movement from time to time. I can see why they want people to be fully briefed before they fly in. Trying to join overhead, flying a long shallow approach or even a wide circuit has the potential to make life all a bit interesting.

Gordon McDonald, Lasham's ex-CFI talked me through the procedures and then offered to show me the ropes (no pun intended), by taking me along on a couple of aerotows in one of the club's Robins.

He talked me through two launches and then invited me to fly a couple for myself. As you can probably imagine, the acceleration is not too impressive, particularly with a large, two-seat glass ship hooked on the back. Most of the two-seat glass sailplanes are launched at 70kt, but the wooden training gliders (K7s I think) like to be towed up at 60kt which makes life interesting as the view forwards can only be described as blue and cloudy. The only thing louder than the engine at full power is the blaring stall-warner which spends more time on than off. I'm told that once airborne the pull on the rope is only about 40lb, so when the glider releases (good tug pilots will do what they can to fly their hitchiker into an area of lift) there's only a very smal jolt, it's then a case of looking in the rear-view mirror to see which way the glider is turning and then heading off in the opposite direction. All that remains is to return to the airfield as quickly as possibly while managing any engine cooling issues and of course avoiding all of the gliders that are being launched, or flying the circuit or just in the area.