£4.25 (free to members and students) eenneerraall AOPA GG The journal of the Aircraft Owners and FEBRUARAYA2015 vviiaattiioonn Pilots Association DDHH8888 CCoommeett DDooddggee BBaaiilleeyy fflliieess aa hhiissttoorriicc tthhoorroouugghhbbrreedd TTiimmee ttoo ssppaarree?? GGoo bbyy TTiiggeerr MMootthh,, ssaayyss LLeess BBrrooddiiee AAiirr rraacciinngg iinn tthhee 11995500ss,, aanndd aatt RReennoo ttooddaayy AOPA eneral G viation Contents A FEBRUARY 2015 46 56 16 4 Chairman’s column 22 Air racing in the 1950s 22 Out with the old. By George Done The second part of David Oglivy’s 5 AOPA Working for You description of the hey-day of air racing in Britain Licensing in flux; NATS and CAA reach agreement on letters; debate on 28 Briefings drones; airfields round-up; old dogs Tomorrow’s accidents; Lydd’s and GPS ambitions 14 The apprentice 30 Comet comeback A young man sets out on the road to The Shuttleworth puts the DH88 success and riches in aviation Comet back into the air, and Dodge engineering. By Pat Malone Bailey probes her idiosyncrasies 16 Time to spare… 40 Reno racers Go by Tiger Moth. Les Brodie Roy Harford reports on a memorable describes an odyssey in a 70-year-old trip to see today’s unlimited racers at 40 aircraft Reno 46 Cessna 337 14 Flying Cessna’s push-and-pull centreline thrust twin, as told by Lembit Opik 50 Book reviews 56 Alpine piste Learning to handle the Altiport at Courchevel. Tufan Sevincel reports 30 General Aviation February 2015 3 AOPA Chairman’s message eneranerall G General Aviation – goodbye and hello! viation It seems only a short while ago that in my Chairman’s Message I welcomed Pat Malone as Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of General Aviation, but, somewhat to my consternation, I discovered that this happened in October 2004, more than a decade ago. Pat took over A the reins following Philip Whiteman’s move to Flyer magazine after editing General Aviation since mid-2002. To reflect the full extent of aviation interest of our AOPA February 2015 members at this time, we renamed our house magazine from Light Aviation to its current title, and moved the publication from quarterly to bi-monthly. Pat has taken the Editor and publisher: Pat Malone magazine from strength to strength and it is heart-warming to receive supportive and complimentary comments on our publication whenever I happen to meet up with fellow Published by: Fairweather Media Ltd, flyers and AOPA members at aerodromes and GA events. The Studio, Kettys Close, Withiel, Bodmin, So it is with much sadness that I have to report that Pat is relinquishing his editorship Cornwall PL30 5NR. Tel: 01208 832975. of General Aviation, and this issue will be Fax: 01208 832995 the last one for which he is responsible. Advertisements: David Impey, Pat has explained that the time has come Head of Advertising, AOPA UK, for him to cut back on some of his The British Light Aviation Centre commitments and gave notice of his future 50a Cambridge Street, London SW1V 4QQ +44 (0) 207 834 5631 plans to the AOPA Executive Committee six +44 (0) 7742 605 338 months ago, giving us time to seek a new [email protected] editor and plan the changeover. Before introducing our new editor, I would like to Design: David Tarbutt reflect on Pat’s contribution to AOPA and, Printing: Holbrooks Printers Ltd in particular, the magazine. His articles Articles, photographs and news items from reflect a love and passion for flying that AOPA members and other readers are stems from being a current and long-time welcome. Ideally they should be on a disk, or practising pilot, in addition to being a they can be emailed to [email protected]. qualified helicopter instructor. His Photographs may also be emailed to this experience includes ownership of a Robin address. They should be high-resolution (300DPI). Alternatively, hard copy and DR400, a delightful aircraft which has taken him as far afield as Turkey in the east and photographic prints or slides can be posted to across the Sahara, encountering the most unusual and bizarre difficulties en route. Pat is Fairweather Media Ltd at the address above. also editor of Rotor Torque, the quarterly magazine of the Helicopter Club of Great While every care is taken with submitted Britain, and contributes a regular page in Pilot. Less well known amongst aviators, material, we cannot make absolute unless you are also a motorcycling enthusiast, is that he is currently Motorcycling guarantees that material will be returned in perfect condition. Correspondent to the Sunday Times. A well-deserved accolade for Pat came in the form of the 2012 Award for Aviation Material for consideration for the April issue of Journalism from the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, now the Honourable General Aviation should be received by Company of Air Pilots. Also attending the award ceremony in October 2013 to receive an 1st March, 2015 Award of Honour for his lifetime achievements in aviation and space was Capt. Jim © British Light Aviation Centre Ltd, from whom Lovell, commander of the trouble-stricken Apollo 13. Never one to miss an opportunity, permission can be sought to reproduce any item. Pat was able to quiz Capt. Lovell about his experiences and recount these for the benefit Views expressed in General Aviation are not of readers of the December 2013 issue of General Aviation. At the other extreme, Pat necessarily those of AOPA. possesses an unusual ability to write about seemingly mundane events such as the Published by AOPA, which is a member of the AOPA Members Working Group or Executive Committee meetings by demonstrating the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot relevance and importance of the topics under discussion in relation to current situations, Associations. future strategy and lobbying activities, aimed at ensuring the viability of GA in the UK AOPA office: and internationally. The British Light Aviation Centre I am delighted to announce that Pat’s successor is Ian Sheppard. Ian may already be 50a Cambridge Street well known to many of you as an experienced aviation journalist, having been practising London SW1V 4QQ since 1993 when he joined the staff of the Royal Aeronautical Society. In those days, I Telephone: 020 7834 5631 was also quite involved in the Society’s activities, and this was when I first met Ian. He Fax: 020 7834 8623 E-mail: [email protected] joined Flight International in 1997 as a technical reporter, and from 2000 to 2004 he Web: www.aopa.co.uk worked for Airclaims at Heathrow Airport. During this time he developed an interest in law gaining a Graduate Diploma in Law in 2005 and a Diploma in Legal Practice in 2007. Rather than practice as a lawyer, however, Ian started ‘First Aerospace Media’, through which he has been a writer and editor for various aviation titles such as Aviation £4.25 (free to members and students) eneral AOPA International News (AIN) and Arabian/African Aerospace for more than ten years. Ian G The journal of the Aircraft Owners and FEBRUARY 2015 viation Pilots Association gained his PPL in 1991 whilst studying aeronautical engineering at the University of A Bath, and subsequently a CPL at Aviation South West in Exeter in 2014. He is mainly based at Redhill Aerodrome, very handy for taking to the air, which he does in either a Cessna C150, C172 or a TB10. Front cover: DH88 Comet Please join me in wishing Pat well in his future endeavours and welcoming Ian to the DH88 Comet Dodge Bailey flies a Photo: Darren Harbar AOPA team. historic thoroughbred ©The Shuttleworth Time to spare? Go by TigerMoth, says Les Brodie Collection AirracinginAirracing in the 1950s, and at Reno today George Done 4 General Aviation February 2015 2015 – big change for the better present though, as the whole thing to assess problems or issues arising from By Nick Wilcock consists of more than 1000 pages! Its certain new licences and ratings. The first major components are: of these, termed the ‘EIR board’, will be brief round-up of the latest G NPA 2014-29(A): Cover Regulation, held at EASA in Köln on 27 Jan 2015 and Adevelopments in the wonderfully Annex I, Annex II, Annex III and AMC & will focus on the En-route IFR Rating, exciting world of flight crew licensing. Oh GM to Annex I (Part-FCL). Competency-based Modular IR(A) and good, I hear you cry! Fortunately though, G NPA 2014-29(B): Amendments to the EASA’s ‘Simpler Instrument Flying most of these will, in one way or another, Acceptable Means of Compliance & Qualifications’ working group. IAOPA will be A Good Thing and AOPA continues to Guidance Material to Annex I (Part- be represented at the EIR push for regulatory changes which will be FCL). board and will be giving a of benefit to our members. But it would be G NPA 2014-29(C): Flight Examiner brief presentation unrealistic to expect immediate blank sheet Manual. concerning the UK AOPA revolutionary change, so instead we have G NPA 2014-29(D): Learning Objectives. IMCR/IR(R) as it is to work on evolutionary progress within the Regrettably, the NPA has not been known that the Head of current regulatory framework. harmonised with the 8/9 October 2014 DGAC (the French CAA) RF-to-ATO conversion: EASA Committee vote, which will have the is very supportive of this Working for EASA’s Notice of Proposed Amendment effect of complicating the task of rating. The first LAPL (NPA 2014-28) was released on 8 Dec submitting responses to the NPA.