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Nazanin, Ken and the Diamond Katana Xtreme. |
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The Xtreme’s 55 foot wing span provides an increased glide 300 to 400 per cent greater than most powered aircraft. |
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Nazanin Afshin-Jam and Ken Armstrong prepare to start on a soaring adventure with a deadstick landing to Victoria International Airport. |
Miss Canada soars with Captain Ken
Miss Canada, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, is both a power and glider pilot. A rare mix of knowledge, accomplishments and beauty has molded this aviator into a highly successful world figure.
So, what aircraft type would this celebrity chose? A Diamond Xtreme motorglider – similar to Nazanin, a contender that is winning over the world.
She received her dual flying ratings in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and achieved the highest possible rank as Warrant Officer First Class. This organization boasts an enviable record in producing talented, quality citizens for Canada and Nazanin may well be the pinnacle of its successes.
This is the first time since 1989 that Canada has been present in among the Top Twenty finalists of the Miss World competition. Although Canada has never won the Miss World title Nazinin found herself first runner up after that competition (by a very narrow margin) and has been very active representing Miss World (Ireland) at many events worldwide.
Nazanin is a graduate of the University of British Columbia with a double major degree in International Relations and Political Science, including Scholarship studies at the prestigious Institut d'Etudes Politique "Science Po" in Paris and Herstmonceux Castle in England. Soon after completion, she became a Global Youth Educator with the Red Cross, where she teaches global issues such as the humanitarian crisis of landmines, the poverty-disease cycle, children affected by war and natural disasters.
This year, she started her studies in Broadcast Journalism; however she has had to put this program on hold after being crowned Miss World Canada. Her win is no major surprise as Nazanin has received dozens of awards and scholarships throughout her education, and is an accomplished international model and actor.
Nazanin also garnered many service awards for volunteer work and has special training in public speaking, dance, competitive sports and bush survival skills. Nazanin's passion is exploring and she has traveled extensively around the world. She speaks English, French, Persian and conversational Spanish.
The theme of the pageant in 2003 was "Beauty with a Purpose." Nazanin advises that: "The goal in Miss World is to find intelligent women who can raise money for children's charities." In an interview with Jimmy Steele who queried the champ on her success and wondered why Canada seemed to be advancing rapidly by making the semi finals in the Miss Universe three years out of four, Nazanin replied: “Pageants are constantly evolving to keep in tune with the times. Whereas pageants may have focused more on physical beauty decades ago, they now seem to look for more well-rounded women. This is more appealing to Canada, a country where we are given the opportunities and capabilities to succeed in anything we put our minds to. We have great schools, free health care, clean and peaceful surroundings and all the necessary tools at our fingertips. How can we go wrong?”
Her prime motivation to enter the pageant evolved when she learned the organization has raised over $300 million (Canadian) for children's charities across the world. That was the catalyst for her to get involved in the Vancouver Red Cross educating youth about humanitarian and children's issues, with a focus on the Third World. To be Miss World is to be a role model.
“If one does not have an honourable purpose, what is there to look up to,” she asserts. “I see the title of Miss World as a job, first and foremost, and I believe that I have the qualifications to be an ambassador of goodwill. I already feel like a global citizen living in Canada, one of the most culturally-diverse countries in the world.”
Nazanin’s parents fled Iran when Shah was overthrown. She was only one year old at the time and has never returned. Not surprisingly, her role model is Iranian Christiane Amanpour, CNN's mid-east correspondent – no surprise there, she’s one of mine too.
FLYING WITH NAZANIN
Well, actually the first flight was offered to Nazanin’s suitor, James Schouw. While he doesn’t possess a pilot’s license, he does have a lot of aviation knowledge and posed some excellent questions about performance and ownership.
They had both narrowed their search for a motorglider to the Diamond Xtreme and our flight was simply an introduction to the silent glory of soaring followed by an engine out landing at the Victoria International airport – thanks to understanding controllers and the use of a secondary runway – gotta practice those crosswind landings frequently.
Nazanin’s flight was longer and explored a broader flight spectrum including stalls, low speed handling with a strong tendancy not to enter spins.
Much of my soaring experience hovers around the stall speed of approximately 42 knots as the minimum sink speed is 51 knots. In the turbulent air associated with convective soaring the constantly fluctuating vertical currents commonly cause angle of attack increases and inadvertent stall. No problem! The Xtreme’s stall is so gentle that there is little to notice during a stall other than a slight burble and slightly increased descent rate. Holding the aircraft in the stall is a non-event as it recovers itself with a gentle nose up and then down bobbing cycle and an average rate of descent of approximately 400 fpm. Of course, exceptional low-speed handling and forgiving traits are very desirable for aircraft cranking and banking at low speed in turbulent air.
Then, we shut down the engine near the city of Victoria and began the fifteen minute descent to the airport out on the Sannich Penninsula for another deadstick landing. Truth to tell we didn’t have the engine start option with this landing as all the radio work and engine-off operations had diminished the battery energy storage with the result the engine wouldn’t start after landing. As there is no battery indicator on the aircraft, one never knows.
So, the old fellow left Miss Canada to the controls and climbed out in the middle of Victoria’s runway environment to hand-prop the Rotax to life. I thought geared engines were supposed to be a challenge when it came to the “Armstrong Starter,” however, it purred to life immediately and subsequently we retired her to the tie-down for a battery charge.
Even with the inherent ability of a motor glider to start under conditions which would relegate a glider to an off field landing, it is always prudent to have adequate altitude to glide to a suitable landing area and to attempt to start the engine any time one’s altitude approaches a decision height that dictates as diversion to a landing site. That way, if the engine won’t start, one immediately heads for the safe landing locations.
I have adopted this policy from the start and it has proven wise. Another technique I use is to unfeather the propeller when nearing my minimum start altitude as one can always dive-start the aircraft using the slipstream to spool up the engine – but this requires some pre-planning and significant altitude since the geared propeller/engine will not turn over until at least 100 knots indicated has been achieved in a dive!
Although my minimum safe altitude varies with terrain clearance and the proximity of a suitable landing surface, as a general rule of thumb I want to start the engine by 3000 feet ASL.
Nazanin and James were delighted with their rides and joined Linda and I for dinner to discuss ownership considerations. At this time their purchase of a new Xtreme is still a dream as the last remaining Xtreme for the North American production year was sold by the Denver dealer before they could make a deposit.
Just as Miss Canada World continues her goal of helping the World’s children, she and James are continuing their search to achieve their personal soaring goal of acquiring a Diamond Xtreme. On a personal note, I must admit we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting such a fine couple in many years and we wish Nazanin every success representing our country.
To conduct your own discoveries and for more information on Nazanin, her accomplishments and her goals, visit her website at www.nazanin.com
For information on the Diamond Aircraft offerings, visit their website at www.diamondair.com
Ken is a COPA director who lives in Victoria, BC. He provides services internationally in advanced training, expert witness, flight test and aircraft sales. He has logged 15,000 hours on 375 types of fixed wing and rotary aircraft. Soaring his Diamond Xtreme is what he does for pleasure.
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