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Some of the North West Council of Air Shows board welcome new members in
February at the NWCAS Conference, Richmond, B.C. (L to r... Tom Cathcart,
Jon Bowman, Donna Flynn, new President April Zelesky, Dave Desmon, Darlene
Hamre, Season Roy, Past President Bud Granley, and his wife Carol. New
member Eric Beard is absent.
Photo courtesy Anne Bowman |
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Front row from left to right: Mary Swain, Chuck Haigh, Dan Holliday,
Werner Griesbeck, Greg Sprung (son of Dr. Jack Pickup), Joan Howatt
(sister to Jack's wife- Lilla Pickup), Jack Schofield (Editor Publisher of
Aviator magazine), Terry Wadhams (President CMF), Daryl MacIntosh, Jack
Crossland.
Back Row left to right: Tony Swain, Sandy Tinsley, Bill Aitken, Bud
Kuzenko, Nicholas Kuzenko, Stu McIver, John Clark, Gogi Goguillot, Gerry
Ekholm, Bob Fowles, Gil Fanslau, Myrt Fanslau, Mike Haigh, John Tetrault,
Doug Moan.
Photo courtesy Kathy Fitzpatrick
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Three major events ganged up on the first weekend in February for a hectic
start to the aviation forum season. The Pacific Maintenance Engineers
Association held a very nice open house style lunch at the Best Western Richmond
Inn in conjunction with the start of their aviation industry booth fair. It was
great to wander round the various aviation suppliers’ booths.
There was a grand variety of touchy-feely stuff, which would be nice to have.
I’ve been fretting over some small cowling safety pins, an apparently simple
enough item, but which none of my AMEs, supply shops, or hardware stores had on
hand. They offered different styles, cotter pins, smaller sizes et al. But not
the desired self-clipping, non-bending, diaper type pin I envisioned.
Prior to this, people always had one here someplace, or spoke of ordering in a
hundred or so at about a buck a piece. I asked the lady at Lindair, and bingo!
No problem, call me Monday. How many you want, 17 cents a piece! In a fit of
enthusiasm I splurged, and bought 20. How’s them apples.
OTHER SIMPLE STUFF
Same thing with simple stuff like engine overhauls. Here was Canada’s big
round engine shop, who’d majored both my big Pratts many moons ago, when the
government owned ’em.
“Er, just askin, cough, what am I looking at for an overhaul? Y’know, nothin’
special, just the whole thing worked over. Runs fine! Hummmm?”
Quick as a whippit, the Winnipeg Aero Recip guy grabs a bit of paper, does a
bunch of sums, and says about 36 grand here or there, depending. “Er... I’ve got
some bits?” “What bits?” “This, that, and the other, y’know.” He says he’ll get
back to me. I suspect he knows I’ll wait until my STC for a bigger oil tank
doesn’t fly.
Of course there were more than me bustling about seeking help with this or that
long felt want, and everyone was so friendly and helpful.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS?
Because of other commitments, I didn’t make it to any of the forums, but I’m
sure plenty of stuff got thrashed about a bit. These AMEs can be fierce guys.
The grapevine fallout is that the commercial parts change rules have been made
simpler, so that if Pauper Aircraft call up a hardware store type whirligig
heater in their aircraft, and you need a whirligig part, you can get it from
your local hardware store. However, if Pauper chose to give the heater, or the
desired part, a Pauper part number, you’ve got to get it from a Pauper approved
source.
It seems that the rules of trace-ability of Standard AN type parts has been
eased, in that if you have a box of AN-3 bolts, coded as such on the heads, you
can assume they are AN-3 bolts, without having to provide paperwork tracing the
bolts back to source. The assumption here is there’s nothing in it for anyone to
make bogus ten-cent hardware.
A real attempt at reducing workload is to eliminate the International Paperwork
Reciprocity requirements by standardizing the documents used by Transport
Canada, the FAA, and the European General Aviation Authority. Remember, the
above is grapevine stuff, so check before you leap.
AIR SHOWS, FLYBYS AND FLY-INS
The North West Council of Air Shows 2002 Conference was held at the Marriott
Hotel in Richmond, right next door to the PMEA conference.
I attended for COPA because, after 25 years of flying displays and air shows, I
have some concerns of the implications inherent in proposed changes. The rules
that apply to big shows, if we are not vigilant, have a tendency to filter down
to the humble fly-in, depending on who interprets the rules and the definitions.
The NWCAS is the Pacific West Coast’s region of ICAS, the International Council,
which pretty well sets the conditions under which people participate in air
display work, and set standards and requirements for you to be a show pilot in
both the United States and Canada, and provide the lead for similar standards
around the world.
The problem in Canada is one of reciprocity in the U.S., and not enough action
in Canada to provide justification for all the practice and certifying involved.
Canadian shows belong ICAS/NWCAS and thus tend to accept American credentials,
whilst American organizers and inspectors were not always so accommodating.
In the last couple of years, Transport Canada has made a great effort to
harmonize things across our border by issuing more specific Flight Competency
Certificates that match the American model. Responsible TC staff is now more
knowledgeable on the subject than ever before. But we still need to watch out
that no air show events become deemed as such, under the Special Aviation Event
umbrella.
SO, THE NWCAS CONFERENCE...
With all that in mind, a few days before the conference, Transport Canada
issued a Notice of Proposed Amendments (NPAs) to be discussed at the next CARAC
technical committee meeting, on General Operating rules and Flight Rules (GO &
FR) - Part VI, Feb. 26, 2002, in Ottawa.
I was the only one at the meeting with a copy, other than Dave Dixon, the
Transport Canada representative. He handed out about 20 copies after the forum.
My copy came from COPA, and apparently only the current text is available on
Transport’s Web site:
www.tc.gc.ca/aviation/regserv/carac/home_e.htm
I got it the evening before, and it being 39 pages, had quite a job printing it,
reading it, and trying to understand it. Each page is headed, “New text.”
WHAT HAPPENED...
I arrived toward the end of ICAS representative John Cudahy’s presentation,
which covered the state of the show business, and some of the problems brought
on by September 11. There was talk of demographies, sponsorship, and other
general subjects. NWCAS Chair Bud Granley pointed out that there was no Western
representative on the ICAS board, which he felt was unfair to this side of the
continent.
Board members were introduced, and candidates for the new board each said a few
words. The new board was approved by acclamation, and are: Darlene Hamre of Fort
St. John Airshow, Dave Desmon of Seattle and EAA SQN 2 President, April Zelesky
of Greater Vancouver and Airshow Pyro Displays, Eric Beard, of the Tacoma area,
Russian Thunder Yak 54 performer, and Donna Flynn, of White Rock, B.C., a
veteran show volunteer, and a partner in Showline Airshow Services Ltd.
TRAFFIC CONTROL...
An excellent presentation on how to organize the spectator traffic in and
around an aviation event was given by Daffydd Hermann, an Abbotsford Airshow
volunteer, with RCMP experience. The big plus from good traffic control is that
it helps to eliminate stress from your paying public. I was surprised how
complex this control thing is, from identifying bottlenecks, to how many ticket
taking booths are needed per every ticket selling booth.
SPECIAL FLIGHT OPS...
Transport Canada’s Dave Dixon stepped up to the hot plate to explain the
changes proposed in the new Air Show Standards. He apologized that he hadn’t had
much time to do much more than read them through, but he would point out some of
the more significant changes to the text. The hope is that except for
administrative differences, these rules will go a long way to represent a single
North American safety standard for air shows.
As the whole 39 yards of text is marked “New text.” Dave attempted to cover the
highlights.
Event organizers should speak to their airport manager every week about airport
security, to ensure that you are entirely informed about any recent security
developments.
As for the show itself, some changes welcomed by performers should be the easing
of the aerobatic limits to over 75 degrees of bank, and more than 60 degrees of
pitch. The rule about aircraft not to be pointed at the crowd is changed to no
energy vector directed at the crowd. This allows snap rolls on the show line to
have occasional moments when the aircraft nose is toward the crowd, but the
energy and direction of flight is not.
The Letter of Authority (LOA) requirement for complex and powerful aircraft is
to become a Type Endorsement. A Fast Card is no longer required for a simple
fly-past.
Interpretation: A “fly-past” is a non-aerobatic pass, performed by one or more
aircraft, as an integral part of an aerobatic routine at an air show.
However, a “Flyby” means a non-aerobatic pass or a series of passes, performed
by one or more aircraft, before an invited assembly of persons at a special
aviation event.
FLY-INS?
Here was a problem for social gatherings, where pilots gather for breakfast,
or pie, and within their normal operating procedures of their aircraft, do a low
approach over the destination runway prior to joining downwind for the landing.
The definition of an “invited assembly of persons” means any number of persons
who have been invited by any means of solicitation, to view a special aviation
event but does not include competition judges, event organizers, or members of a
participants support team.
A special aviation event means “an air show, a low level air race, an aerobatic
competition, a fly-in, or a balloon festival.
As special events require 60 days notice to Transport, I put it that if I
arranged with Fred to meet him at Chilliwack for pie, a zealous police person
might consider that I needed to advise the authorities 60 days ahead of time to
allow that flight. I asked that such an interpretation be carefully avoided in
the final drafts, and that simple fly-ins with no demonstration or competitive
content be exempted from these Special Flight Operations Standards, CAR 623, and
CAR 623 Division 1 be clarified to address this point.
GLORIOUS AND FREE...
The current definition is: “fly-in” means a prearranged meeting of a number
of aircraft at a specified aerodrome which will take place before an invited
assembly of persons and at which no: (a) competitive flying; or (b) aerial
demonstrations take place.
COPA President, Kevin Psutka has already written Transport’s Recreational
Aviation contact, Arlo Speer, about these things. Given the vast number of
fly-ins across the country, COPA feels that Transport would be hard pressed to
assess all of them and respond in a timely manner to what are innocuous social
events carried out using normal flight procedures.
A similar definition appeared once before, long ago, when I was an EAAC
director, and I believe, after questions by the opposition leader to the
Transport Minister, it was struck down as a Canadian right of free assembly
issue.
Sigh. We airplane people do have a right of free assembly, don’t we?
SOME FUN STUFF...
Before lunch was a performer showcase, when some of the performers explained
their show acts and showed their PR videos, some were particularly awesome!
Mary arrived about this time for lunch, and was introduced as the Famous 1994
NATA ENW World Champion Flour Bomber, held at the Kenosha Jet Centre, near
Chicago and was delightedly embarrassed. After tremendous applause, she was
instantly surrounded by old air show friends! I’m so proud of my Mary.
Outgoing President Bud Granley presented President’s Appreciation Awards to four
very deserving people, Transport Canada’s Dave Dixon, for doing a hard and
difficult job, liaising between FAA and TC; and to hard working volunteers,
April Zelesky, and Joe and Anne Bowman.
BACK TO BUSINESS...
Ryan Birr, an aviation insurance specialist, gave a very informative
overview of how aviation insurance works in the scheme of things, and how there
really are only two bottom line carriers in the world. Recent events, even
before September 11 had these markets staggering under the claims, and the sad
truth is that due to the massive losses, the litigious trends in the U.S., and
that show aircraft are getting so expensive these days, show insurance can
expect to double in the near term until a new economic level is found. The whole
thing is very complicated, and shows and owners can expect higher deductibles on
coverage that never had deductibles previously.
After this, there was a round table break-out session where six groups
brainstormed how to better obtain meaningful sponsorship for their events. It
was stressed that much thought needs to go into what the sponsor gets for his
support, and that existing sponsors need follow-up after events to find their
impressions. Existing sponsors are easier to find than new ones.
The Canadian military representative warned us that very tight security would be
expected for future military aircraft participation at shows. A security-cleared
guard would be required for each aircraft or enclosed area around a number of
aircraft, on 24-hour duty. These guards would need live radio contact at all
times, with immediate access to the local police or RCMP. A five-minute armed
response time must be arranged. No one allowed within the barrier lines without
proper identification, and so on, and so on. These appear very onerous
requirements. And the air show must pick up the tab.
The Friday night social at the Flying Beaver was fantastic, with great music,
(very loud, yikes!) singing, dancing, tall tale telling, and special delight for
me, fish and chips! (A bit outside Mary’s road kill diet.) Everyone had a great,
great time. See you next year.
PICKUP’S WACO...
On Saturday night, the Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation at
Langley Airport held a Christening Banquet to celebrate the completed
restoration of the Flying Doctor’s Custom AQC-6 Cabin Waco, CF-CCW.
Many special guests were invited, people who over the last 32 years had some
part in preserving and restoring the grand old plane to flying status. She’s
just magnificent!
Dr. Pickup’s son was there, and others representing his family. They must have
been very proud. Doc Pickup’s practice was at Alert Bay, a small town on an
island at the north end of Vancouver Island near Port Hardy, 400 kilometres
north of Vancouver. He and his Waco were familiar sights around the coast
visiting sick people and helping natives and fishermen with their various
accidents and illnesses.
He told me he rarely got the Waco more than 10 feet off the water roaring about
from patient to patient. The museum has put her back on wheels, as when DOT
first used her. All the better to show her off around the local fly-in and show
circuit.
After a grand meal, with bread pudding, a delicacy I haven’t tasted since me
mum’s days, President Terry Wadhams introduced all the special guests attending.
Some of us were asked to fill in the blank spots and tell of our involvement
before the museum was deeded the airplane. I gave a brief account of the over
two year struggle to get her airworthy for Doc Pickup, but Mary and I simply ran
out of resources, and all the dismembered pieces went into someone’s barn for a
long time, until Doc Pickup donated CCW to the museum. It’s absolutely wonderful
to see what a magnificent job the volunteers at the CMFT have done, under the
able direction of Gogi Goguillot, Werner Griesbeck, and Dan Holliday. There’s no
room here for a full account, of what was done, never mind those who helped me,
Bob George, Eldon Bauer, Jack Somebody, Mary’s Dad. It’s a long, long sad story,
with a very happy ending!
END NOTES...
Don’t forget the Penhold reunion! Don’t forget the second Sunday of the
month breakfast’s at Delta. Don’t forget to keep vigilant over fly-in access to
the lakes in B.C. Parks and Management Areas. Enjoy flying about, and do it. Use
it or lose it is worth keeping in mind!
Fly safe.
Tony Swain has been a COPA member for over 20 years and has been an active
participant in many aviation groups. He flies many types of aircraft and is
concerned about the rights of sport pilots.