Invitation to meet COPA Directors

by Patrick Gilligan, Vice President, Operations, Canadian Owners and Pilots Association

Invitation to meet COPA Directors from across Canada March 23rd at 6:30 PM

COPA Flight members are invited to come and meet the COPA Directors from across Canada. The venue is the Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre in Ste-Anne de Bellevue Montreal West Island on Friday, March 23rd starting at 6:30 PM.

Things Are Looking Up At Diamond Aircraft

Since Diamond's buyout by Medrar Financial Group of Dubai the company has been on a more even financial footing. This has has all kinds of benefits, like inspiring customers to buy planes. Diamond just put out this press release on a big order for up to 26 DA40s.

Diamond Aircraft and Flight Training Adelaide announce DA40 fleet order

Diamond Aircraft and Flight Training Adelaide announce DA40 fleet order Flight Training Adelaide (FTA) has contracted with Diamond Aircraft, in conjunction with their Australian distributor Hawker Pacific, for the purchase of up to 26 DA40 aircraft, to be based at Parafield, Australia. The first four of eight 2012 deliveries will be made midyear, with options for 18 additional aircraft scheduled for 2013 and 2014 delivery. The single engine Garmin G1000 equipped DA40s replace FTA's aging single engine Socata TB10s and Grob 115s and will complement their seven DA42 L360 aircraft.

"We chose the DA40 because it was the best fit for our strategic acquisition and upgrade program. It offers the technology we desire, simplicity of operation and maintenance and is underpinned by a strong aircraft manufacturer in Diamond Aircraft Industries Canada, who are ably supported by their partner Hawker Pacific in Australia," said Pine Pienaar, CEO of FTA. "We train cadets to become professional pilots for our partner airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Qantas, QantasLink, JAL Express and J-Air. Our airline partners demand competent and technology savvy pilots, regardless of whether we are training to a conventional training syllabus or for the Multi-Crew Pilots licence. The modern low-drag DA40 with its full glass cockpit provides the perfect introduction for cadets and is an easy transition to our DA42 twins. We have been very satisfied with Diamond's after sales support and this is an important element of our decision."

"We're delighted that FTA has selected the DA40 to modernize their substantial single engine fleet," said Peter Maurer, CEO of Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc. "With its modern glass cockpit, superb handling, fuel efficient airframe, demonstrated reliability in high utilization flight training and proven best safety record, the DA40 is ideal for professional flight training and best complements the fleet of DA42 twins that FTA has been operating since 2007. The local parts and service support offered by Hawker Pacific, our distributor for Australia and New Zealand, undoubtedly enhanced our bid and we are grateful to Hawker Pacific for their great work in securing this significant order."

CATSA Canada ≠ Safety

Shouldn’t our Government’s advice lean towards safety? Here is CATSA’s advice about security screening,

“Dress comfortably with easy-to-remove outerwear, jackets, belts and slip-on shoes”. The source http://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/Page.aspx?ID=7&pname=Screening_Controle&lang=en

I guess CATSA security people don’t talk to the flight safety people? Would you wear “slip-on shoes” in an airliner? Like sandals, just to ease getting them off and on again at the security inspection station, really!

I hope not, when you consider that the vast majority of people survive aircraft accidents, many after sliding down the inflatable emergency exit slide on to a runway or unprepared rough areas of an airport, potentially covered in broken glass, plastic, metal, jet fuel, weeds, fire, you name it…

I’m sorry but I want good shoes tightly secured to my feet when I get to the bottom of the slide, not to mention as I hurry to the emergency exit closest to my seat.

Everyone made it off Air France, but look at the terrain they slid down the slides into--not barefoot country.

The modernization of Canada’s busiest airspace

by Patrick Gilligan, Vice President, Operations, Canadian Owners and Pilots Association

IFR pilots, get ready for major changes in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City corridor. On February 9th, the airway system in the corridor will change and several traditional airways will be removed from navigation charts.

Air navigation systems around the world are transitioning to a performance based navigation (PBN) system which allows for greater efficiencies for pilots and air traffic controllers. The new system is simpler to manage and allows for improved capacity and more efficient flight operations resulting in reduced fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution.

Nav Canada, in collaboration with customers and industry associations such as the NACC, COPA, ATAC and CBAA, has designed a brand new low level and high level RNAV (Area Navigation) route system, based on PBN, from Toronto to Quebec City. The introduction of the new route system necessitated revoking some of the conventional airways. To assess the impact of this change, Nav Canada conducted a sampling of flight plans to determine the impact on non-RNAV equipped aircraft in the area where airways are being revoked. A sample of 358,518 IFR flight plans from our 2011 traffic database, found only 536 filed by pilots of Canadian registered non-RNAV equipped aircraft. In other words, some 99.85% of the IFR flight sample was capable of RNAV navigation.

Pilots flying this corridor using non-RNAV equipped aircraft will still be able to use traditional ground based navigation aids. Some VOR airways have been retained in the corridor specifically for non-RNAV equipped aircraft. However, on any flight off airways, mileage, minimum altitude information and track will need to be calculated by pilots during the flight planning stage. Pilots can expect to receive traditional clearances via: VHF and LF airways, VOR to VOR, VOR radials and NDB bearings, or radar vectors.

Air traffic controllers are being trained for this major change and mitigation has been put in place to address issues related to non-RNAV capability. More detailed information on the changes can be found in the Aeronautical Information Circular (AIC) 38/11 and 45/11.

Finally, a new website http://onboard-abord.ca/, provides an advance look at these changes. The website also contains other important information to help familiarize pilots with evolving air traffic management and flight planning procedures that are applicable to the air navigation system.

Nav Canada Updates Flight Plan To Include Tracking URL

Lloyd Bunbury just sent us a note indicating that Nav Canada has amended the flight plan filing form to allow indicating a tracking URL to follow for the flight from such sources as SPOT.

Lloyd writes: "I just filed a flight plan ... and noted that you now have a "Tracking URL" field allowing me to enter my SPOT2 tracking URL when filing! This is BIG news and I thank you for listening and taking such immediate action to include this data in the flight plan! Kudos all around!"

This will be a great boon for pilots and may actually help get someone found sooner as it makes more locating resources quickly available to SAR.

Flight 8 Is On Diaspora

Yes Flight 8 is branching out into social media, in an attempt to get more exposure for the club and also share more information and photos, as well.

Flight 8's internet presence consisted of just a website only for a number of years. Initially run by Flight Captain Mike Shaw, then current webmaster Adam Hunt took it over. On 26 August 2007 the old website was replaced by a new one written in XHTML to make it web standards compliant and also make it load and work better.

Then on 12 August 2007 Mike Shaw launched this blog, with the urgent question "Does the Canadian Owners and Pilot's Association Flight 8 need a blog?". With 101 posts to date (not counting this one) it seems to be fulfilling its purpose and occasionally draws debate on contentious issues.

On 25 January 2012 Mike Shaw moved the flight onto Twitter. Not one to be outdone for social media, Adam Hunt opened a Diaspora account for the Flight on 27 January 2012.

Since most people have never heard of Diaspora, some explanation is in order. Diaspora is a social media network that was created by four students attending New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences: Ilya Zhitomirskiy, Dan Grippi, Max Salzberg and Raphael Sofaer. Like a lot of people they had serious issues with Facebook and the fact that it is a private company that owns the rights to everything you write or upload and sells your data to advertisers, tracks you everywhere on the internet, doesn't listen to its users and is generally evil. This article has a lot more detail on the problems with Facebook.

The four students started something better, what Facebook should have been from the start: a free software project to create a disbursed social network where anyone can host a "pod" or server to be part of the network, where you own your own data and where there is no advertising or profit motive behind it all. This article explains more, as does the Wikipedia article. As of January 2012 Diaspora is still in "alpha" development phase, but it works pretty well at this point and is worth supporting as a project.

Flight 8's Diaspora account can be viewed without being a Diaspora member, having an account or without signing in. Of course you can join Diaspora on any pod you like and participate there as well. In the meantime the Flight 8 page will carry meeting announcements, photos and other information.

Both the Twitter and Diaspora pages are linked from the main navigation menus on the Flight 8 website, so they are easy to find.

Will there be more social media forays for Flight 8? That depends on how these ones work out! You will have to stay tuned to find out!

COPA Turns 60 in April 2012

The national organization, COPA, turns 60 this year!

"The idea to form COPA was born in April, 1952. Laurentian Air Services pilot John Bogie was having lunch in the Ottawa Flying Club lounge with Spartan Air Services pilot Bill Peppler and Paul Saunders when Ottawa pilot Margaret Carson came storming in and declared that something had to be done about the way small aircraft owners and operators were being mistreated by the government."

That got it all started. The COPA Flights (local chapters) were started in 1964 and Flight 8 was initiated in 1967, making it 45 years old this year!

Keep an eye on the national website for information on celebrations.

Last Flight For Dr Trevor Lyons

Retired Ottawa dentist and COPA Flight 8 member Trevor Lyons recently passed away.

His wife and fellow pilot, Rhonda, sent Flight 8 the following message:

"Sadly I must tell you that Trevor died January 1, [2012] after a brief illness. Please pass this news along, I know that Trevor was well known in the aviation community."

Trevor and his bright yellow 1941 model rag-wing Erco 415C Ercoupe, CF-JZH, will be missed in Eastern Ontario skies.

*Ottawa Citizen Obitiary

Twitter and COPA

Do you use Twitter? In my view it is best of the social networking sites. I believe COPA National should be on Twitter. I know they don't have a lot of staff but twitter is not labour intensive and it is a great way to get the word out about issues, good news, bad news, happenings, etc. etc. etc.

COPA flight 8 appears to be one of the few Flights with a twitter account, @copaflt8. Please fell free to follow Flight 8 tweets. It's new so don't expect much at this point.

Follow @COPAflt8

Pontiac Airpark Aerial View

Pontiac's developer, André Durocher, just sent me a really nice aerial shot of the aerodrome facing west, taken in July 2011.

It is such a good photo that I couldn't resist posting it here!

* Pontiac Airpark Homepage
* Google Satellite view
* Pontiac Airpark on Places to Fly

Pontiac Airpark News

Pontiac Airpark developer André Durocher reports that as of December 2011 the first residential lot, Lot 36, has been prepared for building in the spring of 2012.

* Pontiac Airpark website

First Van’s Aircraft RV8 on penetration Wheel/Skis

By Patrick Gilligan

December 17th, on a cold morning while the fields were frozen, aerodynamic and flight tests were conducted at Indian Creek airstrip in Ontario on a RV8 equipped with a Lycoming O-360.

The skis were designed and built by amateur aircraft builder Patrick Gilligan. Inspired by simplicity and repair ability, these skis are bolted together using a combination of UHMW, hardwood Plywood and aluminum rectangle tube. Fasteners are stainless steel, bungees are landing gear chock cords and Galvanized steel cables make up the limiting cables.

Why install skis? Skis are an additional safety for flying during late Fall, Winter and early Spring where the ground is soft and in the event of an emergency the aircraft can be landed on soft surfaces, frozen lakes, rivers and fields without tearing off the landing gear or flipping upside down. Although in very deep snow chances are the aircraft may flip but with minimal damage. Cruise performance decreased by only 4-6 MPH and lift increased slightly.

For more information contact Patrick.

*Ski video #1
*Ski video #2

Modification To Restricted Areas: CYR537 Parliament Hill & CYR538 Rideau Hall

To Ottawa area COPA Flights, from Kevin Psutka:

This relatively minor change to the two restricted areas in Ottawa can catch some of you if you plan a sight-seeing trip down the river. This change occurred without consultation and I will meet with the RCMP responsible person in the near future to discuss his plans for expanding the restrictions further.

This change is one of the Aeronautical Information Circulars that have recently been released. This is just a friendly reminder to check the AICs periodically because these sorts of changes can creep in without notice other than an AIC.

AIC 2/12 says:

CYR537 PARLIAMENT HILL, ON AND
CYR538 RIDEAU HALL, ON

Following an evaluation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has requested modifications to restricted area CYR537 PARLIAMENT HILL, ON and CYR538 RIDEAU HALL, ON.

Designated altitudes for the restricted areas shall be increased from 1,500 to 3,000 feet ASL and the radius shall be increased from 0.25 to 0.35 mile.

These changes will take effect February 09, 2012 at 0901 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The appropriate aeronautical publications will be amended.

For further information, please contact:

Marcel Pinon
Manager, Airspace and Service Requirements
NAV CANADA
77 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 5L6

Phone: (613) 563-5630
Fax: (613) 563-5602
Email : pinonm@navcanada.ca

Different Ways to Fly

There are lots of different ways to fly. Some people use an airplane, while others prefer something a bit different, like Jeb Corliss, for instance:

Do You Own a Cessna?

If it is a 100 or 200 series single and was built between 1946 and 1986 then you will need to know about this new requirement that Cessna has added to the manuals for your annual inspection.

It actually isn't anything new and any sharp AME is probably doing all of it already, but as aircraft age the need to keep on top of metal fatigue and corrosion increases.

The inspections are simple, but necessary and as an owner you need to know what is being done to keep your aging Cessna flying.

* Powerpoint presentation on the new requirements (Zip file)

* You Tube video (4:37 in length)

Wardbird U at Vintage Wings

From Robert Fleck, President, Vintage Wings of Canada

Once again this winter we are offering our “Warbird U” series of educational ground schools. This year will feature the Harvard, Mustang, Spitfire, F-86 Sabre and Swordfish. The ground schools cost $250 for non members (Harvard $200) and $200 for members (Harvard $150). These are the exact same ground schools that our pilots have to take for recurrent training, so in addition to covering all aircraft systems, there is always discussion about how each pilot actually operates the plane, validated by our Warbird U guest who inevitably flew the aircraft in combat.

This is a fund raising event for Vintage Wings and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.The ground schools make a nifty Christmas gift.

Complete details on the Vintage Wings Website.

Diamond Solves Financial Woes With Buy Out

As previously reported earlier in 2011 Diamond Aircraft of London Ontario indicated it was in dire trouble and needed a federal government loan or it might not survive.

Company President Peter Maurer said in March 2011 "If we don’t get the funding from the federal government, it puts us in a difficult situation. If the D-JET, for example, in a worse case scenario, were not to continue it would have a negative impact on the rest of the company’s operations...[The debts are] at a level that would be very difficult to satisfy out of piston sales. I’ll let you do the extrapolation."

Of course as we now know the government said "no" and the company went away looking for other options, Maurer oddly saying that he had considered a government bailout a "long shot".

On 13 November the company announced its solution to the crisis. It is now majority owned by Medrar Financial Group, an investment company based in Dubai. The buy-out was for an undisclosed amount.

Stories:
*Diamond press release
*AVweb
*London Free Press

It is hard not to note the trend here, as I have written before many aviation manufacturers have recently been bought out by middle eastern or far eastern countries. A short list:

* Diamond Aircraft - majority owned by Medrar Financial Group, Dubai
* Cirrus Aircraft - Government of the Peoples Republic of China
* Continental Engines - Government of the Peoples Republic of China
* Liberty Aerospace - 75% owned by the Kuwait Finance House, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House of Bahrain
* Piper Aircraft - Government of Brunei.
* Epic Aircraft - partly owned by the Government of the Peoples Republic of China

Once again, though I will make the point that in almost all of these cases investment from North America, Europe and other western countries was not to be found. That means that while many people from North America will shake their heads and say "this is too bad", that is all they will do. They didn't pony up and put money on the table to keep these companies going. The case is the same with Diamond. It is pretty obvious that the choice was simply between selling it to interests from Dubai or shutting it down.

If westerners want to retain ownership of our aerospace industry, then we need to stop the "tut-tutting" and start buying companies out ourselves.

*Complete rundown on the Diamond story

More Free Aircraft!

Back in August 2009 I wrote a blog post about free aircraft, that discussed Hubert Beaujon's great idea of giving away free plans for his Beaujon Enduro on the internet.

Well it turns out he isn't the only one doing this. Amateur aircraft designer and builder Mike Sandlin has posted "technical drawings" for five of his Bug, Goat and Pig glider designs on his website and released them to the public domain. Such charity should not go unnoted, so thank you Mike!

His designs are all ultralight gliders that are easy and inexpensive to build. All have flying examples, too, as can be seen on his You Tube channel. Complete descriptions are on Mike's website.

If you only have time to watch one video then have a look at Mike narrating the flight of the "Red Goat" at Torrey Pines, California.

There are now Wikipedia articles about two of Mike's designs that give a good overview:

* Sandlin Bug
* Sandlin Goat

Yes he gives his designs funny names. I think the Goat is called that because it climbs so well. The Bug stands for "Basic Ultralight Glider" while the Pig is his "Primary Instruction Glider".

Vintage Wings On You Tube

Vintage Wings, the Gatineau Airport based flying museum now has its own You Tube channel, so you can feel like you are in the cockpit.

There are also links to other people's Vintage Wings You Tube videos. Recommended: "Scratch" takes the F-86 Sabre for a ride

Canada Flight Supplement Error

There have reports from members of COPA Flight 70 Oshawa that the new edition of the CFS, dated 20 October 2011, has pages missing.

They report:

*Pages 1093 to 1124 are missing. (Wiarton, Winnipeg, etc)
*Pages 1029 to 1060 are included twice.

If you find this is the case in your edition please send a message to service@navcanada.ca.

COPA President and CEO Kevin Psutka has asked Nav Canada to investigate this problem and for Nav Canada as a minimum to post the missing pages on their website for free download in the interests of safety.