AIR PILOT DEC 2017:AIR PILOT MASTER 29/11/17 09:25 Page 1 AirPilot DEC 2017 ISSUE 24 AIR PILOT DEC 2017:AIR PILOT MASTER 29/11/17 09:25 Page 2 Diary DECEMBER 2017 7th General Purposes & Finance Committee Cobham House AIR PILOT 14th Carol Service St. Michaels, Cornhill THE HONOURABLE COMPANY OF JANUARY 2018 AIR PILOTS 10th AST/APT meeting Dowgate Hill House incorporating 16th Air Pilots Benevolent Fund AGM RAF Club Air Navigators 18th General Purposes & Finance Committee Dowgate Hill House 18th Court & Election Dinner Cutlers’ Hall PATRON: His Royal Highness FEBRUARY 2018 The Prince Philip 7th Pilot Aptitude Testing RAF Cranwell Duke of Edinburgh KG KT 8th General Purposes & Finance Committee Dowgate Hill House 20th Luncheon Club RAF Club GRAND MASTER: His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew Duke of York KG GCVO MASTER: VISITS PROGRAMME Captain C J Spurrier Please see the flyers accompanying this issue of Air Pilot or contact Liveryman David Curgenven at [email protected]. CLERK: These flyers can also be downloaded from the Company's website. Paul J Tacon BA FCIS Please check on the Company website for visits that are to be confirmed. Incorporated by Royal Charter. A Livery Company of the City of London. PUBLISHED BY: GOLF CLUB EVENTS The Honourable Company of Air Pilots, Please check on Company website for latest information Cobham House, 9 Warwick Court, Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5DJ. EDITOR: Paul Smiddy BA (Eco n), FCA EMAIL: [email protected] FUNCTION PHOTOGRAPHY: Gerald Sharp Photography View images and order prints on-line. TELEPHONE: 020 8599 5070 EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.sharpphoto.co.uk PRINTED BY: Printed Solutions Ltd 01494 478870 Except where specifically stated, none of the material in this issue is to be taken as expressing the opinion of the Court of the Company. EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: The copy deadline for the February 2018 edition o f Air Pilot is 1 January 2018.The Cobham House office will close on December 15th. We will move into our new offices on January 2nd 2018.The address is: 14-16 Dowgate Hill House, London EC4R 2SU. Our telephone number remains unchanged Cover photo:Air Chief Marshal Sir Patrick Hine GCB GBE receives the Award of TELEPHONE: 020 7404 4032 Honour from Air Marshal Stu Atha and the Master, Capt. Chris Spurrier. FAX NO: 020 7404 4035 EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.airpilots.org AIR PILOT DEC 2017:AIR PILOT MASTER 29/11/17 09:25 Page 3 A message from your Editor... (Although it can sometimes be a drawback), one of the key advantages of the internet age is the faster dissemination of information.There can be few areas where this is of greater benefit to mankind than in the publication of flight safety material. Many of us will remember long days in a crew room, weathered in perhaps, passing the hours studying the RAF’s flight safety magazine,Air Clues. In those days it had a Restricted circulation category.To the RAF’s credit, this is now available to all on the web (see https://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/airclues.cfm.) As is usual, the latest issue carries features that should be of interest to all practitioners of aviation. This issue of Air Pilot carries a short report on our recent visit to the AAIB at Farnborough.This organisation is also a firm believer in rapid and broad publication of flight safety information. Its October monthly bulletin was a classic, if that is the appropriate word, in containing lessons for pilots of every hue. For the warbird fraternity it featured the investigation into the fatal crash of a P51 (that used to grace the skies over my home), with torque roll / low speed handling, and flying clothing issues.The CFIT (or loss of control in IMC) of a PA30 has universal interest.And finally it included the findings of the very close call at Belfast by a Canadian B737 in July this year which highlights the dangers of incorrect entries into the Flight Management Computer. As days shorten, and weather issues may prevent flight by us ‘discretionary’ flyers, it behoves us to spend some time absorbing the lessons learned sometimes so painfully by others, and published in timely manner by the RAF and AAIB. On a lighter note, it was again a pleasure to see a full Great Hall at London’s Guildhall where members and guests could pay tribute to some of the finest airmanship in the world. Paul Smiddy - Editor Contents News Round Up . .4 New 617 Sqd Dutch Memorial . .9 The Master’s Message . .10 Gazette . .11 Trophies and Awards Banquet . .12 From the desk of the DAA . .22 “it is OK to ask” . .23 Sir Frederick Tymms Memorial Lecture . .24 Air Pilots visit to NATS Swanwick . .25 The future of UK Airfields . .................27 RAF Odiham families day . .30 Visit to Tangmere Military Aviation Museum . .31 3 AIR PILOT DEC 2017:AIR PILOT MASTER 29/11/17 09:25 Page 4 News Round Up RAF BENSON HONOURED hydrographic survey.The high resolution defined at 60,000 square kilometres, and One of our affiliated units, RAF Benson sonar search covered an area in excess of was increased in April 2015 when the was recently presented with the 120,000 square kilometres, also the Tripartite Governments (Malaysia, Stainforth Trophy by ACM Sir Stephen largest ever search or survey of its kind. Australia and the People’s Republic of Hillier, CAS. The trophy is awarded Despite the extraordinary efforts of China) agreed to expand the search area annually to the station deemed to have hundreds of people involved in the to 120,000 square kilometres. The contributed the most to the delivery of search from around the world, the aircraft primary objective of the underwater air power within the Royal Air Force. has not been located. search was to establish whether or not Congratulations! Regardless of the cause of the loss of the debris field of the missing aircraft was MH370, there were no transmissions in the area of seafloor defined by expert received from the ai rcraft after the first 38 analysis of the aircraft’s flight path and minutes of the flight. Systems designed to other information. If a debris field was automatically transmit the aircraft’s located, the search needed to confirm the position including the transponder and debris was MH370 by optical imaging, the aircraft communications addressing and then map the debris field to enable and reporting system failed to transmit planning for a subsequent recovery the aircraft’s position after this time operation. MH370 period. Subsequent analysis of radar and Once underwater search operations The Australian safety agency, the ATSB, satellite communication data revealed the commenced in October 2014, the recently released an interesting summary aircraft had actually continued to fly for a MH370 debris field could potentially of its investigation. further seven hours. Its last position was have been located at any time.A recovery “On 8 March 2014, a Boeing 777 aircraft positively fixed at the northern tip of operation would need to have operated as Malaysia Airline s flight 370 Sumatra by the surveillance systems commenced as soon as possible after the (MH370) was lost during a flight from operating that night, six hours before it debris field was located and th e Tripartite Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing in ended the flight in the southern Indian governments had agreed on the next the People’s Republic of China carrying Ocean. steps. The ATSB's role was therefore to 12 crew and 227 passengers. The search The challenge which faced those tasked also put in place the arrangements and for the missing aircraft commenced on 8 with the search was to trace the plans necessary for a rapid recovery March 2014 and continued for 1,046 whereabouts of the aircraft using only operation to occur at short notice. days until 17 January 2017 when it was the very limited data that was available. The underwater search applied scientific suspended in accordance with a decision This data consisted of aircraft principles to defining the most probable made by a tripartite of Governments, performance information and satellite area to be searched through modelling being Malaysia,Australia and the People’s communication metadata initially, and the aircraft’s flight path and behaviour at Republic of China. then later during the underwater search, the end of the flight. The flight path The initial surface search and the long-term drift studies to trace the origin modelling was based on unique and subsequent underwate r search for the of MH370 debris which had been adrift sophisticated analysis of the metadata missing aircraft have been the largest for more than a year, and in some cases, a ssociated with the periodic automated searches of their type in aviation history. more than two years. The types of data, satellite communications to and from the The 52 days of the surface search and the scientific methods used for its aircraft in the final six hours of the flight. involving aircraft and surface vessels analysis, were never intended to be used The end-of-flight behaviour of the covered an area of several million square to track an aircraft or pin point its final aircraft, when MH370 was considered to kilometres. A sub surface search for the location. have exhausted its fuel, has been analysed aircraft’s underwater locator beacons was On 28 April 2014, the surface search for and simulated. also conducted during the surface search. MH370 coordinated by the Australian In 2015 and 2016, debris from MH370 The underwater search started with a Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) was was found on the shores of Indian Ocean bathymetry survey which continued as concluded and the Australian Transport islands and the east African coastline.The required throughout the underwater Safety Bureau (ATSB) assumed debris yielded significant new insights search and has mapped a t otal of 710,000 responsibility for conducting the into how and where the aircraft ended its square kilometres of Indian Ocean underwa ter search for the aircraft.