Weekend Report: Gareth AWOL again!

Conflicting weather reports and the Ysterplaat AAD most likely kept many away from the field on Saturday but those who were there had good flights. Paul Baily instructed and flew paxes and Andre helped out when the second duty instructor had not arrived. Louis Esterhuisen did a good job of Duty Piloting all alone! Paul had flown MIV over from FASH on Friday but she was not quite ready for tugging on Saturday morning and Johnny was on hand to fix the snag. Normal tugging then resumed. Jerry and Martin Young (all the way from Knysna) took turns in GUC and Greg from Flight Avionics flew with Andre in GOK. Reinhold also had a good flight in GWN (Astir).

At 9.20pm the Airfield lights went out!

Sunday began with a light NW wind which picked up after lunch (thank heavens as the horse flies were out in abundance!). Helmut, with the assistance of Barbera and Demi Holmwood were coping pretty well with the odd flight when suddenly things became hectic. The wave started and Marting Young, Ian Forbes , Kelvin as well as Gareth Floweday all had good wave flights. An entire KLM crew as well as 2 visitors from Switzerland arrived for pax flights. At this point we also found out the that power failure was a damaged cable and could only be repaired on Tuesday.!!! Added to that was the fact that we could not pump fuel and, when MIV ran dry, we took NIG out of the hanger (she was full – thanks to Frans for re-fueling before hangering!). Johnny and I then dashed back to FASH to fetch his generators which he rigged up to the fuel bay. We made it back in time for the start of the course where we advised all the students of the status and handed out candles to everyone.

At this point Helmut came into the Clubhouse to advise us that GUC had outlanded with Gareth and he needed help to retrieve. Again the Star of the Show – Rico Suter – (Tuggie, glider pusher, launch point manager and general factotum) together with his dogs and Kelvin, Demi, Adrian Forbes and the Swiss visitors all set off to fetch Gareth in the dark. Helmut and Rico – you guys went the extra mile after doing your duties as well! Thank you very much!

Monday and the beginning of the course was marred by strong NW as well as rain. Thank heavens, as predicted, this cleared by lunch and, at the same time, the wind changed to SW. I really think that everyone involved deserves thanks for putting up with batteries that died, ERV’s that ran out of battery power and no electricity for working cell phone chargers and lap top computers. At 13.30 the power was restored, thank heavens.

A special “THANK YOU’ to Hans Sterling for the loan of his projector for the course. We managed to keep the students occupied with gliding DVD’s powered by the generator.

Also a very special thank you (again) to Johnny for stepping in and fixing the VW RV, the gas system in the Vliegklub Clubhouse so that it was in working condition for the course and the supply of his generators to keep things going.

Please remember that the 7th of October is the Gauntlet followed by a Potjie. Please book with Wally should you want to book for dinner. There is the possibility that Good Hope Flying Club will be doing some night flying that evening and might join us for the Potjie. They will also be staying over and, should this happen, breakfast will be served by the Vliegklub in their Clubhouse. Anyone wishing to book for this breakfast, please contact my via e-mail.

Also, please remember to MOW THE GRASS AROUND YOUR HANGERS!! It is getting very long and is a Fire Hazzard!!!

See you all next weekend.

Regards

Alison

Weekend Report: Instructing in singles!

Saturday was an absolute “wash-out” with rain and snow at Worcester but Thanks to Johan Gericke and his team who did turn up for their duty. Sunday was a total different story and there were many who anticipated the post- frontal conditions and took advantage of them.

A little bit of a late start as the day did not develop early but Kim and Ryno were there with Sven and Peter Clemmence instructing and Alan Procter tugging with NIG. The tug’s starter-motor would not engage but Johnny was on hand to get it going, thankfully. Demi Holmwood was a great help with the time keeping as well as glider retrieval. I am sure that Ed will be impressed with her neat time sheets.

GOK was kept busy by Kelvin, Helmut and John Spargo and John flew the Rotax Falke as well. There were no students but the highlight of the day was when both Kelvin and Helmut converted onto GUC! Very well done both of you.

Craig Fussell, Sarel Oosthuisen, Peter Farrell and Sven Olivier (in between instructing) all had wonderful flights in their singles.

Attached is a photograph that Peter Clemmence sent to me of visitors on the airfield which was a wonderful surprise.

I had to leave early so, if I missed any later flying by anyone else, please submit your stories to me and I will forward them to the CGC News as a PS.

Remember that next weekend is a long weekend but the course starts on Sunday night. Although there will be flying on Monday it wont be a rostered day as the course will be in full swing. If you wish to fly on that day it will be when we are able to fit in an aerotow for you as the trainers take first priority.



Another very important issue is the grass around all the hangers. The rainy season is almost at an end and the grass is knee high around all the private hangers. We found it relatively easy to cut the grass now around our hanger and keep it short. It is important not to let it get too dry and become a fire hazard so – Please mow around your hangers urgently!



The September-October KK is out and Peter has, once again, excelled himself with this edition – enjoy reading it.



Until next weekend …….



Alison

Weekend Report: Double booking: To fettle, fly or both?

Rob Kakebeeke organized a maintenance day with a difference and we were pleasantly surprised at the members that did turn up. About 12 to do various tasks which, the main manual labour task was, cleaning the Club Hangar. Coen Marais was wonderful in organizing 2 x 10 ton trucks and a front- end loader to move many loads of gravel to the 15 side of the runway to even the surface of the glider parking area. All we need now is rain and a working roller.

Sweeping the big hanger was a back breaking job until Johnny lent us his Stihl blower and it took much less time to clean. Jerry repaired the cable attachment for the pedal adjustment on GOK (with the help of Johnny and his lathe).

Johnny and Trevor had spent the entire Friday and Saturday doing the AAI on GZF.

The Gauntlet got off to briefing with much hilarity and all I can say is…..Alan and Sven, don’t give up your day jobs for an acting career! The entry grid for the gauntlet was about 10 members and I must say thanks to those gauntleteers who helped with the Club hanger AND took part in the competition! Jacobus Hartman did a great deal of very necessary maintenance on GUC’s trailer – thanks Jacobus!

There was a little confusion about the lunch and Adri saved the day by dashing off to the shops and delivered a lunch of Hot Dogs with the help of Marion! Thank you both very much.

The competition had a glitch halfway through the launches when MIV lost the tow hook off the end of the rope and we had to get NIG out of the hanger in a hurry. Adriaan stepped in and launched 2 gliders and, in doing so, forfeited his chance to fly his glider. Many thanks, Adriaan. After launching the raimder of the gliders with NIG the weather did not develop to what was expected but no doubt Alan will give an account of the day’s happenings in the Blogspot!. Welcome back to Louis Esterhuisen who took a couple of launches in GHB.

We were indeed honored with a visit by Tombi and Christine Mitchell who had her first visit to the club at 3 weeks of age! And beautiful, too!

The day ended with a great evening in the Clubhouse for those who stayed over.

Sunday had its share of snags with us changing the hook system on MIV to the alternate hook and then could not find the rope with the Tost attachment. Paul is not yet rated on NIG (a scenario being sorted out this week) so we could not use that tug. After spicing an attachment for the original rope, the illusive rope was found so we launched with MIV after all. Phil did much instruction in the Rotax Falke. That also did not go smoothly when it developed a puncture (which Johnny fixed)! And we could carry on.

I know that you all say that I am “rooting” for Johnny here but, I am sure all who asked for his help this weekend, will agree that he was always on hand to fix, lend, machine, sort out, etc for anyone who asked. In fact, I think he went back to work today to rest from the weekend! Thank you very much Johnny! (and he isn’t even a Club member!)

The others who flew yesterday were Adriaan and Jacobus in GXH and Brian Cole in GKM.

Many thanks to the team who turned up for their duties including my partner for the day – Peter Middleton. To Peter Clemmence - I hope your Parrot is well! (No, Adriaan, not the same Parrot that you were talking about!!..

Until next week - …….

Alison

FLARM – NOT SO FALSE AN ALARM

Here follows a report by compiled by Sven Olivier from a survey of CGC FLARM users over the last two years:

Flarm has now been enjoyed at the Cape Gliding Club since the middle of 2004 and around 30 units have been sold, most of which have been installed and are fully functional.

In order to assess, albeit on an informal level, the functionality of FLARM as perceived by the pilots I caused a questionnaire to be circulated posing 7 questions. 15 pilots responded, 14 of whom answered the questions posed. I analyze the responses with respect to each of these questions.

1. Do you think / feel that Flarm provides a false sense of security?

93% of the pilots responded that Flarm did not create such a false sense of security.

Many of these answers were, however qualified to a greater or lesser extent. Some of the more important qualifications were as follows

“No, it is a useful tool, but good look out continues.”

“It gives me a secure feeling knowing that I have also an instrument watching others”

“No, absolutely not, nor do I get a false sense of security when I wear a seatbelt.”

“Yes, I’ve quite often caught myself looking at the flarm rather than outside – I think Flarm encourages you to fly more ‘in the cockpit’”

“No, Flarm simply supplements your normal scan of other traffic.”

“It can, but it shouldn’t. We are VFR pilots and are trained to fly outside and refer inside.” “An audio warning that requires a 1 second glimpse at an instrument should be something that the most/all pilots can cope with without compromising LOOKOUT”

“No. It is important, however, to understand that although FLARM may provide a useful warning, it does add to cockpit workload (albeit not very much). Since most traffic does not fly with FLARM, lookout can in no way be replaced. In the Cape we fly in a narrow band of airspace along the ridges, and lookout is mandatory to avoid rocks, but also because of the confined area of flight-paths.
However, even if all gliders are mandatorily flying with FLARM, you cannot be sure it is on or working. Even with FLARM we will not drop our mandatory radio reporting procedures to improve 'visibility' of glider traffic.”

2. Have you (flying without Flarm) ever been in a position where (notwithstanding your efforts to keep a good look out) you saw the other glider too late (for your own comfort)?

93% of the pilots responded yes.

Not many answers were qualified, but the following are notable as being from contest pilots, relating incidents from contest situations flown from ‘flatland’ contest sites.

“I had two near misses at the 2004 GRC one at the start the other on course. I’ve never seen a glider so close and from such an angle (the bottom). My and other experiences that year led to an extra minutes briefing by Keith (Ashman) stressing the point.”

“Certainly. Once in the UK during a competition start where the flarm would have completely sorted it out - I still don't understand how we avoided a mid-air. Once on a ridge near Worcester where a less experienced pilot created a double blind-spot. This is really frightening and the only choice was to leave the ridge.”

3. Have you (flying without Flarm) ever been in a position where you were unable to see the glider coming from the opposite direction (on the ridge) and passing you, despite being in radio contact?

64% of the pilots responded yes (one of the pilots who recorded a “no” was in fact involved with me in just such as situation – but I have not changed his answer to “yes”).

One comment included

“Yes, very scary.”


4. Has any of the above two examples happened since you have had Flarm installed?
100 % of the pilots responded “no”. (two pilots who did said “yes” qualified their answer indicating that they had not observed the other traffic until warned by Flarm, which I have accordingly taken as “no”)

“On multiple occasions, I have been alerted to a (previously undetected) glider passing in the other direction by the FLARM. On one occasion the 'other' glider was on the wrong frequency. I have not avoided a 'near miss' with the flarm (yet) and I have a goal never to need it for this.”


5. What are your personal views on Flarm?
Notable comments were as follows

“Must be in all sailplanes especially at FAWC. At Gariep I experienced a language, frequency and position reporting problem …
You have to do is speak to the people that fly in the French Alps, I have first hand experience. Each club has at least one death per season from mid air collisions. Contact the CFI at Vinnon for horror story's.”

“An excellent aid. Not a cure al, but a very good safety feature”

“It is a good solution – I question the audible signals though … too many beeps syndrome. The Flarm remote panel should be mandatory and positioned high enough that while the pilot’s head is upright, he/she will see the Flarm visual indications”

“A great concept but essentially and AID that should never substitute the need for a CONSTANT GOOD LOOKOUT. The danger to me lies in the pilot becoming complacent. Say you are flying the ridge with a glider behind you and your flarm constantly warning you of the gliders presence. Suddenly your flarm registers another glider on your 1 o clock but you keep thinking it is the glider behind you so you don't refer inside to your flarm.( a different audio tone for the second glider can get your attention) Same with a flarm equipped tug plane that has a glider on tow. The pilot can become so use to a flashing flarm showing the glider behind him that he ignores/omites seeing a new warning. Let me add that I would chose to receive any form of additional warning/caution as a secondary supplement to keeping a good lookout.

I have had occasions when the FLARM has alerted me of other gliders in the area before I have spotted them particularly when they are in or close to a blind spot. In the mountains the presence and position of other planes is predictable but in the open they are not, particularly when you have been flying by yourself and someone joins you unannounced for a "free ride". This is of great concern when I intend leaving the lift area and there is suddenly a glider in my escape rout. This is when I have found it most useful.”

“It reduces the probability of mid-air collision. It won't prevent all, but if it alerts pilots to even 50% ot the unseen situations, it will halve mid-air rates.
IMHO, it should reduce collision rates by more than 50%”

“As long as the pilot understand the function and mounts it high on the panel (when the alarm goes you need to be scanning quickly) I think it is invaluable. Regardless of the SSSA view, we will not allow entry into the Cape Gauntlet without a FLARM.

There is a valid concern that the use of the wireless frequencies that the FLARM currently uses is on the increase and interference is ever more likely. However, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on the South African use of the FLARM in the medium term future.”


6. Should Flarm by compulsory for all gliders?

The overwhelming answer (69%) was yes.

Notable comments were as follows

“Yes, without a doubt. It can only work at its most reliably when every glider has one.”

“Difficult to say. It would be interesting to see how many, if any, life's could have been saved due to midair's had Flarms been installed. I do think the tugs should each get one.”

“Yes, definitely. System is not effective unless everyone complies. Should absolutely be mandatory for X-C.”

“No, not all. There are a number of reasons why a glider might not have Flarm. Or the Flarm in a particular glider might not be operational on a particular day. Thus it could prove difficult and very unpopular to enforce.

A significant problem is that the units do not have ICASA approval. Thus there is a grey area surrounding their legality, which would make it very difficult to force installation in all S African gliders.

Another problem is that these units are not constructed to the same standard as other A/C equipment, such as radios, transponders and loggers. The software has also proven to be less "mature". Thus we can expect more equipment problems with Flarm than we have with other avionics. If a Flarm packs up, is it fair to ground the glider until such time as the Flarm is repaired?

Some clubs (eg with few gliders and lots of space) will get less benefit from Flarm than others.

A single Flarm is useless. You need to get a significant portion of a glider fleet flying in a specific area to be equipped to make it work.

Thus it makes a lot of sense to campaign for Flarm installation at a Club or Contest level. In this environment a lot more benefit can be derived from making Flarm compulsory than other technologies such as ELT's or transponders. It is also easier to have skills and spares on hand to maintain the equipment. Focusing effort on specific identified fleets of gliders will derive maximum benefit.”

“I should very much like to see this. I am concerned about making additional equipment compulsory as I think we should be very circumspect about constraining the rights of individual pilots. However, I am persuaded that the benefit it is sufficient and would add tugs and motorgliders to this list.

How many more pilots have to die in mid-air accidents before we realize that the cost/benefit equation in the cockpit (workload vs instrument
benefit) is massively positive?

[[Interesting thought: could I sue another pilot because they are not taking reasonable steps to remain visible to other pilots? Perhaps not, but what if that pilot flies into me because they don't have a Flarm?]]

The FLARM consumes negligible power and provides a logging facility (which includes logging of alerts and warnings. I would like to see a system on each airfield which automatically interrogates gliders on landing and downloads the data for (anonymous) analysis.”

7. What does your spouse say about Flarm being compulsory for all gliders?
Notable comments included

“Without FLARM she believes gliding is a widow maker (RSA has 2 widows).”

“There will be less orphans in the world.”

GENERAL COMMENTS

Cape Gliding Club runs a monthly contest known at the Cape Gauntlet (see http://capegauntlet.blogspot.com/). It is obligatory to have an operational Flarm unit in order to fly in the contest.

In summary one of the pilots stated as follows

“I see few downsides and significant benefits for installing a FLARM. I would recommend its compulsory installation in all gliders, motor-gliders and tugs.

The SSSA may need to be cautious around the compulsory specification of an instrument which is essentially using an uncontrolled frequency.”


I wish to thank those pilots who has responded, I am certain that the responses shall be of assistance to the SSSA Exco.