may skyways magazine - fly uk virtual airwaysskyways magazine edition 14 may ‐ 2014 welcome no...
TRANSCRIPT
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Skyways Magazine Ed i t ion 14 May ‐ 2014
WELCOME
No reproduc on of any part of this publica on, in any form or by any means, without wri en consent from Fly UK Virtual Airways is permi ed. Any views expressed in this publi‐ca on do not necessarily re‐flect those of Fly UK Virtual Airways.
What’s included in the latest issue: Page 2: Featured Airport Informa on Page Page 3: March 2014 HR Report. Page 4: April 2014 HR Report. Page 5: March’s and April’s “Sunset” Screenshot Compe on. Page 6: Fly UK Online Events. Page 7: Fly UK Flying Club. Page 9: The 12 Step gamer. Page 12: A True Story.
Allan’s Facts: 1) Hair and fingernails do not con nue to grow a er a person dies. Rather, the
skin dries and shrinks away from the bases of hairs and nails, giving the appear‐ance of growth.
2) Bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windscreen wipers, and laser printers were all invented by women .
3) A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night. 4) Fleas can jump up to 200 mes their height. This is equivalent to a man jump‐
ing the Empire State Building in New York.
March/April 2014 Screenshot Compe on— “Sunset” Digital Sunset by Ma hew Pate
Editor: Craig Tyler (UKV2189) The Skyways Team:
Stuart McIntyre (UKV2183)
Adam Salisbury (UKV1375)
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London Gatwick ICAO: EGKK IATA: LGW
Runway Eleva on Length Surface ILS Frequency/Course
26L 196FT 10,879FT/3,316M Grooved Asphalt 110.900/260
26R 195FT 8,415FT/2,565M Grooved Asphalt
08R 196FT 10,879FT/3,316M Grooved Asphalt 110.900/080
08L 195FT 8,415FT/2,565M Grooved Asphalt
Charts: Click Here
Stand Alloca on
Runways
Mainstream Opera ons North Terminal (Pier 6) Stands: 104,105,106,107
Scenery
Simulator Freeware Payware
FSX UK2000 Download Here
UK2000
FS9 UK2000 UK2000 Download Here
SID’s
Departure 08L 26R
LAM (Lambourne) 5W 4V
BIG (Biggin Hill) 3W 7V
CLN (Clacton) 5W 8V
HARDY 5V
BOGNA 1V
KENET 3W 2V
SAM (Southampton) 3W 2V
SFD (Seaford) 9W 5V
WIZAD 4V
DVR (Dover) 2W 8V
TIGER 2M/2V
08R
5P
3P
5P
3P
3P
9P
2P
26L
4M
7M
8M
5M
1M
2M
2M
5M
4M
8M
2M/2V
STAR’s
Last Waypoint STAR Last Waypoint STAR
KUNAV TIMBA3B SAM WILLO3A
GWC TIMBA1C KIDLI WILLO3B
MID TIMBA1D DOMUT WILLO4C
KOPUL TIMBA3E BILNI WILLO3D
LYD TIMBA2F KENET WILLIO1F
HASTY TIMBA1G BEDEK WILLO2H
TRIPO TIMBA2H BEWLI WILLO2J
Complied by: Craig Tyler (UKV2189)
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Fly UK March Monthly Round‐Up Monthly Report Beginning: Monday, 3th March 2014 Ending: Sunday, 6th April 2014
* - figure does not include flying club PIREPS. Green - increase compared to February. Yellow - equal compared to February. Red - decrease compared to February.
Within the last month a total of 4,802 PIREPS totalling 8,125 hours were filed. IVAO Flights: 472* VATSIM Flights: 610* FSD Flights: 138* Offline Flights: 3,115* Mainstream Flights: 2,565 Event Flights: 77 Tour Flights: 1,620 Training Flights: 45 Flying Club Flights: 495
Birthdays UKV1713 ‐ Daniel Wingfield ‐ 10th Mar UKV1342 ‐ Mike Higgins ‐ 11th Mar UKV2766 ‐ Eduardo Tanco ‐ 11th Mar UKV1356 ‐ Derrick King ‐ 12th Mar UKV1318 ‐ Richard Dunkley ‐ 12th Mar UKV1666 ‐ Adam Rogerson ‐ 12th Mar UKV2174 ‐ Carl Richter ‐ 12th Mar UKV1175 ‐ John Li ler ‐ 13th Mar UKV1726 ‐ Eric Jong ‐ 13th Mar UKV1511 ‐ William As ll ‐ 14th Mar UKV1966 ‐ Joe Murray ‐ 14th Mar UKV2121 ‐ Terry Holmes ‐ 14th Mar UKV1141 ‐ Adam Bartlam ‐ 15th Mar UKV1505 ‐ Colin Wa ‐ 15th Mar UKV1758 ‐ Steve Wearne ‐ 15th Mar UKV1799 ‐ Hans Axelsen ‐ 15th Mar UKV2110 ‐ Adam Evans ‐ 15th Mar UKV1269 ‐ Bill Munk ‐ 16th Mar UKV3686 ‐ Yazid Azwar ‐ 16th Mar UKV1159 ‐ Neil Farrington ‐ 17th Mar UKV4018 ‐ Paul Hunt ‐ 17th Mar UKV3397 ‐ Simon White ‐ 18th Mar UKV1326 ‐ Fabio Carvalho ‐ 18th Mar UKV1359 ‐ Jose Vasconcelos ‐ 18th Mar UKV1960 ‐ Barry Pring ‐ 18th Mar UKV1273 ‐ Chris Spencer ‐ 19th Mar UKV1385 ‐ Ian Wickson ‐ 19th Mar UKV1527 ‐ Brent Phillips ‐ 19th Mar UKV1891 ‐ Mar n Dewhurst ‐ 19th Mar UKV2173 ‐ Michael Oates ‐ 19th Mar UKV1744 ‐ Sco Ford ‐ 20th Mar UKV2047 ‐ Nathan Kerridge ‐ 20th Mar UKV2246 ‐ Adam Johnston ‐ 20th Mar
UKV1491 ‐ John Baxendale ‐ 21st Mar UKV1474 ‐ Juan Ducaud ‐ 22nd Mar UKV1498 ‐ Neale Lawrence ‐ 22nd Mar UKV1752 ‐ Abd‐Elrahman Nagy ‐ 22nd Mar UKV1155 ‐ Allan Hook ‐ 23rd Mar UKV4029 ‐ Ibrahim Rizwan ‐ 23rd Mar UKV1274 ‐ Aryan Amoli ‐ 24th Mar UKV1138 ‐ Tyron Leworthy ‐ 25th Mar UKV1291 ‐ Ma Loveday ‐ 25th Mar UKV1152 ‐ David Rees ‐ 27th Mar
UKV1253 ‐ Anthony Leung ‐ 27th Mar
UKV1764 ‐ Carlos Louro ‐ 27th Mar
UKV4025 ‐ Chris an Hitchings ‐ 29th Mar
UKV1490 ‐ Dane Trusco ‐ 30th Mar
UKV1587 ‐ Keith Tomlinson ‐ 30th Mar
UKV1627 ‐ Anthony Dunne ‐ 30th Mar
UKV2224 ‐ Amir Yazdani ‐ 30th Mar
UKV1148 ‐ So ris Kakleas ‐ 6th Apr UKV1610 ‐ Paul Scholey ‐ 6th Apr UKV1185 ‐ Darragh Gallagher ‐ 7th Apr UKV1275 ‐ Nils Ammann ‐ 7th Apr UKV1351 ‐ Callum Pearce ‐ 7th Apr UKV1547 ‐ Mark Oldham ‐ 7th Apr UKV1357 ‐ Paul Godden ‐ 7th Apr UKV1227 ‐ Lee Cushing ‐ 8th Apr UKV1256 ‐ Stephen Champion ‐ 8th Apr UKV1389 ‐ Mark Dring ‐ 8th Apr UKV1570 ‐ Michael Smith ‐ 8th Apr UKV3364 ‐ Simon Becke ‐ 8th Apr UKV1742 ‐ Jordan Ridgway ‐ 8th Apr UKV1258 ‐ Stuart Assheton ‐ 9th Apr UKV1331 ‐ Murat Ozgul ‐ 9th Apr UKV1444 ‐ Dominic Burke ‐ 9th Apr UKV1319 ‐ Lee Barber ‐ 9th Apr UKV1602 ‐ James Jones ‐ 9th Apr UKV1643 ‐ David Murphy ‐ 9th Apr UKV2762 ‐ Keith Sewell ‐ 9th Apr UKV1328 ‐ Luke Bennellick ‐ 10th Apr UKV1449 ‐ Ewan Ayres ‐ 10th Apr UKV1334 ‐ Francisco Urquia ‐ 11th Apr UKV1477 ‐ Thomas Stackhouse ‐ 12th Apr UKV1603 ‐ Ainsley Hefford ‐ 12th Apr UKV1709 ‐ Simon West ‐ 12th Apr UKV2992 ‐ Roy Jamison ‐ 12th Apr
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Fly UK April Monthly Round‐Up Monthly Report Beginning: Monday, 7th April 2014 Ending: Sunday, 4th May 2014
* - figure does not include flying club PIREPS. Green - increase compared to March. Yellow - equal compared to March. Red - decrease compared to March.
Within the last month a total of 4,156 PIREPS totalling 6,855 hours were filed. IVAO Flights: 446* VATSIM Flights: 567* FSD Flights: 79* Offline Flights: 2,595* Mainstream Flights: 2,133 Event Flights: 68 Tour Flights: 1,460 Training Flights: 31 Flying Club Flights: 464
Birthdays UKV1696 ‐ Chris Moore ‐ 14th Apr UKV1688 ‐ Konrad Tapp ‐ 14th Apr UKV1299 ‐ Gerishon Kenga ‐ 15th Apr UKV1433 ‐ Ahmed Pandor ‐ 15th Apr UKV3720 ‐ Callum Cornish ‐ 15th Apr UKV1367 ‐ Simon Plant ‐ 15th Apr UKV1569 ‐ Marshall Priceman ‐ 15th Apr UKV1642 ‐ Adrian Pheasey ‐ 15th Apr UKV1694 ‐ Ma hew Pate ‐ 15th Apr UKV1171 ‐ John Meinen ‐ 16th Apr UKV1200 ‐ Neil Ligh oot ‐ 16th Apr UKV1744 ‐ Ridwansyah Latjeno ‐ 16th Apr UKV1781 ‐ Owen Gwilliam ‐ 16th Apr UKV4016 ‐ Ricardo Carrano ‐ 16th Apr UKV1125 ‐ Mick Banham ‐ 17th Apr UKV1481 ‐ Lee Waterall ‐ 17th Apr UKV3736 ‐ Rob White ‐ 17th Apr UKV3402 ‐ Jake Turner ‐ 17th Apr UKV1193 ‐ Clint Cridland ‐ 19th Apr UKV1549 ‐ Iain Fleming ‐ 19th Apr UKV1263 ‐ Stewart Pearson ‐ 20th Apr UKV1680 ‐ Ma as Sandgren ‐ 20th Apr UKV4397 ‐ Mar n Helmer ‐ 20th Apr UKV4036 ‐ Eugene Dowdney ‐ 21st Apr UKV1422 ‐ Jonny Bond ‐ 21st Apr UKV1469 ‐ Karl Memphis ‐ 21st Apr UKV1473 ‐ Bester Joubert ‐ 21st Apr UKV2120 ‐ Jim Lowery ‐ 21st Apr UKV1211 ‐ Marko Recnik ‐ 22nd Apr UKV1290 ‐ David Tweddle ‐ 22nd Apr UKV1699 ‐ Isaac Caletrio ‐ 22nd Apr UKV1719 ‐ Robert Ellis ‐ 22nd Apr UKV1720 ‐ Iulian Sofronie ‐ 22nd Apr
UKV1748 ‐ Steve Frampton ‐ 22nd Apr UKV1239 ‐ Reza Kaihani ‐ 23rd Apr UKV1370 ‐ Abdulaziz Alharbi ‐ 23rd Apr UKV1333 ‐ Mark Stockan ‐ 24th Apr UKV1243 ‐ Geoff Roberts ‐ 25th Apr UKV1532 ‐ Steve Radford ‐ 25th Apr UKV2014 ‐ Helge Rasmussen ‐ 25th Apr UKV1650 ‐ Jason Green ‐ 26th Apr UKV1393 ‐ Paul Beal ‐ 27th Apr UKV2218 ‐ Daniel Coshell ‐ 27th Apr UKV3686 ‐ Jack Robinson ‐ 27th Apr UKV1165 ‐ Wayne Clark ‐ 28th Apr UKV3358 ‐ Paul Richards ‐ 28th Apr UKV1878 ‐ Aleksandr Simonov ‐ 28th Apr UKV1308 ‐ Roberto Rossino ‐ 29th Apr UKV1325 ‐ George Lamb ‐ 29th Apr UKV1384 ‐ Robert Hiemstra ‐ 29th Apr UKV1321 ‐ Angel Dominguez ‐ 1st May UKV1478 ‐ Rene Spatz ‐ 1st May UKV1514 ‐ Colin Buchan ‐ 1st May UKV1791 ‐ Albert King ‐ 1st May UKV1210 ‐ Tim Brownson ‐ 2nd May UKV1304 ‐ Andy McCall ‐ 3rd May UKV1672 ‐ Michael Pearce ‐ 3rd May UKV3374 ‐ Graham Bridges ‐ 4th May UKV1465 ‐ Marvin Miskei ‐ 4th May UKV3697 ‐ Paul Crabtree ‐ 4th May UKV1133 ‐ Paul Taylor ‐ 5th May UKV1595 ‐ Donald Brookes ‐ 5th May UKV1575 ‐ Chris Miley ‐ 5th May UKV1324 ‐ Mark Pearce ‐ 6th May UKV2151 ‐ Ryan Boydon ‐ 6th May UKV1597 ‐ Derek Anniwell ‐ 7th May UKV4026 ‐ Marcin Niedzielski ‐ 7th May UKV3749 ‐ Ma hew Phillipson ‐ 8th May UKV1687 ‐ Daniel William ‐ 8th May UKV1786 ‐ Darren Klenk ‐ 8th May UKV1205 ‐ Francis Gonsalves ‐ 9th May UKV1231 ‐ Nick Rolfe ‐ 9th May UKV1600 ‐ Raunaq Sharma ‐ 11th May
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Screenshot Competition | March and April 2014 “Sunset”
“Digital Sunset” – Ma hew Pate (UKV1694)
In association with UK2000 Scenery
Want your screenshot to feature on this page? By entering the Fly UK Screenshot Competition you could be in for a chance to win a UK2000 scenery of your choice and have your shot featured in the next edition!
“Leaving Malaga” – Stefano Bacchini UKV1140)
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Screenshot Competition | March and April 2014 “Sunset”
“Going Down” – Kevin Brigden (UKV3770)
In association with UK2000 Scenery
Want your screenshot to feature on this page? By entering the Fly UK Screenshot Competition you could be in for a chance to win a UK2000 scenery of your choice and have your shot featured in the next edition!
“Red sun at night” – Jason Weaver (UKV1479)
“Great evening for flying” – Mark Ramsden (UKV1528)
“Nearly There” – Kevin Brigden (UKV3770)
“A Beacon of Informa on” – Roberto de Pino (UKV2228)
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Fly UK Online Events
The current pa ern of weekly events con nues with the Saturday morning IVAO flight (0600z) repeated on
VATSIM on the following Tuesday evening (1830z) and Thursday a ernoon (1300z). Pilot numbers have se led a
li le since the last magazine issue but s ll remain up on last year, with a peak in early February when we had a
month of flights in South America, suggested by UKV1661 Sebas an Hernandez.
The online events team are always looking for sugges ons for our flights and the next 2 month’s events have
been proposed by regular event flyers. First in May UKV1420 John Fautley and Howard Brennan UKV1316
VATSIM Thursday event flyers take us to Africa, South America and Europe; and then in June some favourites
from ‘The Boss’ UKV1390, Pete Gill – our CEO. We have some interes ng scenery and some challenging ap‐
proaches to look forward to. Details are below and more is contained in the event web pages:
The staff are also working on a member ques onnaire and part of this will seek your views on our online flights and how we could change or develop them further. For those who are new to online flying these events are a great way to start: as well as some interes ng flying, normally in your choice of aircra , it’s a chance to chat on TeamSpeak with fellow members about our hobby!
From To
May Kamuzu Intl (Malawi) FWKI Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) FVFA
Livingstone (Zambia) FLLI Jo’burg FAOR
Stu gart EDDS Liverpool EGGP
Jorge Chavez Intl (Peru) SPIM Maraiscal Sucre (Ecuador) SEQU
El Salvador Bajo (Chile) SCES Alto Intl (Bolivia) SLLP
June
Istanbul LTBA Larnaca LCLK
Larnanca LCLK Samos LGSM
Taiwan Taoyuan RCTP Kaitak VHHX
Milan Malpensa LIMC Amsterdam Schiphol EHAM
By: Derek Bu erworth, Richard Jones and Mike Higgins
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The first of a series of snippets with info about VFR flying Visual Flight Rules are the rules of the air that pilots have to adhere to if they do not have special ra ngs enabling them to fly at night, low visibility and using only the instruments within their cockpit. Some mes known as ‘recrea onal flying’, aircra flying under VFR have to s ck to a certain set of rules set out by the Civil Avia on Authority (CAA) which are much more comprehensive than the simple ones outlined here. For a more comprehensive guide go to the CAA site. Flying under VFR means you have to stay within a certain distance of clouds and remain in constant visibility of the ground at all mes. These aircra tend to fly in non‐controlled airspace where Air Traffic Control does not provide the pilot with instruc ons on rou ng and collision avoidance. Depending on the airspace type the aircra is flying within, the pilot can receive certain informa on from ATC on other aircra in
the area but is ul mately responsible for collision avoidance themselves. To avoid other aircra , the pilot must be constantly looking out for other aircra during their jour‐ney, hence the name ‘Visual Flight Rules’. When two aircra are on a collision course, there are certain give way procedures pilots of VFR must use to avoid collision. Much like the Highway Code on our roads, these rules are there to ensure the safety during flight. There are four main types of aircra ; balloons, gliders, airships and powered aircra . Each type of aeroplane has to give way to another depending on its method of thrust.
Conven onal powered aircra have to give way to every‐thing. Airships have to give way to balloons and gliders, gliders have to give way to balloons. Finally, balloons have very li le means of manoeuvrability and therefore have right of way over all 3 other types of aircra .
When two aircra of the same type are on a collision course there is a separate set of procedures to follow. When two aircra are flying head on, each must move to their right.
If two aircra are at the same height and on converging courses, the aircra with the other on its right hand side (starboard side) has to give way. Aircra obviously fly at different speeds and some mes fly along the same paths following naviga onal beacons. When they are not under air traffic control they need to be able to overtake one another. In this event, the faster moving aircra must over‐take on the right hand side, or starboard side, of the slower aeroplane.
Because avoiding ac on is all taken based on the principle of being able to see other aeroplanes, you can appreciate why it’s important for the respec ve pilots to be constantly aware of their surroundings and well away from clouds! This ability is a skill all pilots learn called ‘situa onal awareness’. If you look carefully and spot VFR aircra on the Flight Radar you’ll see these aircra taking avoiding ac on. VFR aircra within controlled airspace obviously have to do as instructed by Air Traffic Control, so you may also see VFR aircra being vectored to different loca ons through controlled airspace.
Fly UK Flying Club
By: Jim Lowery
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Fly UK’s 10th Anniversary Nightshi Event Dear, all April 2014 is Fly UK’s 10th birthday! To celebrate we decided to hold a ‘Nightshi ’ event. The flight was from Lon‐don Gatwick (EGKK) to Jeddah (OEJN). A total of 6 and 1/2 hours planned flying me took us over several FIR’s. We le Gatwick with FULL VATSIM ATC, delivery, ground, tower, approach. And London was there for some of us. Jed‐dah Centre was on for some arrivals, along with Jeddah Approach. It took me a total of 5 hours and 29 minutes, block to block in my 747‐400. In total, 15 pilots who this event. 3 either had an FSX crash or problem and 8 didn’t turn up. Well done to the 18 who tried. There has been calls for another which, I think will happen some me in the near future (within 2014). I do hope that more of you can join us for what was, in my opinion, I, didn’t take any screenshots as I was enjoying the flight, thank heavens some people did:
By: Rene Spatz (UKV1478)
By: Jake Turner (UKV3402)
By: Jake Turner (UKV3402)
By: Craig Tyler
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The 12 Step gamer
I love computer gaming, in all its various forms. And I have ever since my first Commodore 64. Crusader Kings II, Medal of Honor, GTA, Dead Space, you name it, I've played it, with the possible excep on of the Barbie games. And just to be clear on one thing right from the start, I consider FSX to be a game as well. I know that'll raise derisive howls from the nutca...er...more dedicated por ons of the simming world, but come now. FSX allows you to a empt to land a 737 at Lukla. 'Nuff said. Unfortunately, being a gamer or even worse a simmer, makes you a bit of a social outcast. This is perhaps best described by a rou ne from Dara O'Briain. For those who haven't watched it, it goes something like this:
“You're not supposed to like computer games, certainly not if you're my age. It's the biggest entertainment industry in the world, and yet we're not supposed to like it. If you sit at a dinner party and accidentally men on that you play computer games, you might as well have said: 'I masturbate to hardcore porn'. And the odd thing is that the conversa on that follows is the same in both cases. Why Dara. . . .I haven't done that since the late eigh es! Oh, you should try it, they've made major advances. The graphics alone are much improved, and you have to use all ten fingers.”
Of course, like all good comedy it's taken to its extreme, but there's a grain of truth in it. We gamers live in a fairly isolated world, safe from the intrusions of real‐life threats like mortgages, den st‐appointments and laundry‐du es. Well, some of us do. Others are burdened with significant others that usually insist on dragging one back (kicking and screaming) to what we loosely refer to as the real world. Me, I'm single (aside from my cats) with a decent income that I happily spend on my hobbies. Added to that, I have a fairly ac ve imagina on, and can easily insert myself into a story‐line, be it in books, movies or games. When I'm playing Medal of Honor I'm not controlling a SAS trooper, that IS me swanning about in the Third World, kicking ass and taking names......... Or in my case, prodding bu ock and possibly giving people a severe talking to. Which is also why I love games like Crusader Kings II. The number of stories that are told in that game is simply astounding. But I digress. . . . . My problem is that since it's not comme il faut to play video‐games, I find it impossible to find somebody to share this with. Unless they happen to be as strange as me. When I get back to work and my colleagues start discussing what they've done over the week‐end I find myself listening to people who've gone to the movies, painted the house, went to a concert or what have you. Fortunately I rarely get asked, because then I'd have to slouch down, shuffle my feet and mu er something about playing Guitar Hero for eight hours and only stopping because my hand cramped up.......
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It's not that I haven't tried to explain the glories of gaming to outsiders. The problem isn't that I occasionally sit down and fire up Crusader Kings for 24 hours straight. I'm fine with it. My cats love it since it gives them ample me to snooze in my lap. And besides, every me I shut off my PC, the power‐company calls to see if I'm OK. But trying to explain it to e.g. my sister is.... It didn't go..... Well, she didn't warm to the idea, let's leave it at that. And that is just 'normal' gaming. Most of the me you can get by explaining racing games or something like GTA by telling people to imagine it as an interac ve movie where you control the ac on. That at least gives you me to scamper away while they ponder that one. But with something like flight‐simming the mental leap is just too big. I usually get my online orders delivered to my work‐place so I don't have to pick it up, and one memorable occasion had me receiving two Saitek panels and a set of rudder‐pedals. Being a lazy git, I figured I'd unpack them before taking them home, just so I could discard the packaging in the at‐work dumpsters. Big mistake. I spend the next 30 minutes trying desperately to explain to my co‐workers; a) what the hell it was that I'd bought. b) why I'd spend that kind of money on a video‐game, and c) what the difference between course and heading was. It's not so much that they don't get it. I mean, the intricacies of 'serious' flight‐simming with naviga on, airspaces, procedures and whatnot is pre y complicated stuff, especially if you know nothing about it to start with. The bad part is that the conversa on invariably ends with the listeners doing one of two things; either their eyes start to slowly glaze over, and you can almost hear them think: 'Why, oh why did I ask?! I'm never ge ng out of here!' Or, and this is possibly worse, you see them exchanging knowing glances, and you get some sort of overbearing varia on on the theme of 'That's nice, dear'. Like you're 4 years old, and telling the dinner guests about the dead frog you found yesterday. *sigh* The situa on didn't exactly improve when my next shipment arrived, containing my TripleHead2Go and three iden cal monitors. Not only was I stuck trying to explain why three monitors were indispensable, I also had to explain why they had to be angled in order for the TrackIR to work properly. Then of course I had to explain what TrackIR was and things sort of went downhill from there. Fairly rapidly too. ‐ So you sit in front of the three screens with lights on your head? ‐ Well, technically yes, but...... (looong pause) ‐ Why?!? ‐ Because.... it's.....well, kinda cool, innit? That li le session ended with me looking at a roomful of dumbfounded faces. To make ma ers even worse, I am also a wargamer. As in old‐school, map and counters style. Or at least I was, since space‐constraints have curtailed those ac vi es. And of course the ubiquitous cats aren't conduc ve to leaving stacks of counters si ng on a table for prolonged periods of me. Last me I tried that I went to bed only to find the next day that one of my cats had eaten the Panzer Lehr division....... Talk about force majeure.
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But the basic problem is exactly the same: ‐ You know, whenever I put down a game that features a German soldier on the cover, I'm always afraid people will think I'm some kind of Neo‐Nazi. ‐ They already know you're a gamer. What other shame could possibly compare?
Which leaves me with my final 'serious' hobby, which is model airplanes. Apparently I was supposed to give that up when I hit puberty. Only nobody ever told me, and in case you're curious, it's a li le too late by now. But here's the weird thing. The way I see it, I'm no worse than e.g. football fans (that would be soccer if you're a Yank) And despite the fact that the game involves a lot of people ge ng paid absurd amounts of money for kicking an inflated spherical‐shaped bit of leather into a box, showing an interest in that sport is completely socially acceptable. In fact, if you a) are male, and b) have a pulse, you're expected to be interested in it, or at the very least have an opinion on the na onal squad. And I couldn't care less. When it comes to foo e, I go from 'Who dares, wins' to 'Who cares who wins' Whenever my colleagues start discussing last nights game, and what exactly they would've done differently, and why *insert team of choice here* u erly sucks, that is when I feel my consciousness slowly fading away. I haven't he faintest idea of the difference between a fullback and a sweeper, nor could I tell you what an offensive coach actually does......Aside from yelling loudly at random points of the game. And yet I'm the weird one. So I have decided that life is basically unfair. :) But I have to admit that I am totally addicted. Completely, thoroughly, and unapologe cally. Unfortunately, I've started to realize that perhaps it has go en out of hand. A few weeks ago a fuse blew in my apartment, and since I have, at the best of mes, only a tenuous grip on reality, I obviously didn't have a spare. Even be er, this happened on a Saturday evening, so no shops are open un l Monday morning. Meaning I'm stuck with no coffee, no TV and (egad!) no computer. At first I was sort of blasé about it. “Come now, you have candles and a ton of books. It'll be good for you to have a bit of me to read” Right. Six hours later I'm literally climbing the walls, and I end up driving for a further two hours to find a 7‐11 or something that carries fuses. Aaaahhh......Blissful electronic entertainment. And quite possibly a li le bit sad. So in case you were wondering about the tle of this ar cle: “Hi. I'm Lars and I'm a gamer. It has been six hours since I last played”
By: Lars Hansen (UKV1757)
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During the early years of the 1970s I was seconded to an Airport Constabulary from my regular force wherein I had served eight years. Normally, the pos ng would be a quite interes ng sta on, but these were difficult mes due to IRA and UVF terrorist ac vi es, and one of our du es was to man a road barrier almost on the threshold of the main runway (see image below, courtesy of Google Maps). This was a ro en duty, being stuck on a narrow country road in the middle of nowhere for up to eight hours, wai ng for ATC to send the traffic lights to red, whereupon the lowly PC would bring down the road barrier ‐ similar to a railway level crossing, except that in this case it was air traffic, and the PC was directly under the flight path! A monotonous, boring post. On this par cular occasion, I was on a late duty, expec ng to finish at 2200hrs. At around 21.30, the red light came on ‐ no fica on that an Aer Lingus (I think either a 707 or 727) was on Five‐mile‐Final, and my cue to bring down the barrier. At precisely the same me, I first heard, then saw a car come tearing up the road, the driver losing control, and the car crashing through the airfield fencing, rolling over several mes to disappear from view ‐ I presumed on the runway, its lights ex nguished. As the night was pitch black with no moon, I had no way of knowing the ex‐tent of damage or injuries, or exactly who or what may have been in greater danger, so within seconds I was on the direct landline to ATC to have the aircra abort. I very quickly discovered that ATC don’t like to have their planes aborted! From my later notes and report of the incident, the discourse went thus: “ ”Police barrier here; A car’s just crashed through the fence and ended up on the runway. Abort the land‐ing.” (brief, succinct but informa ve, and enough to hit the alarm bu on). “Is this some kind of a joke? I can’t do that. Where is the car now?” (my report had already told him). “I believe on its roof, fi y yards along the runway. You must abort.” “Is anyone hurt?” “There soon will be if that bloody plane lands. It’s pitch black, the car’s lights have gone out, and I can’t see a damned thing. Abort the landing now!” While all the rules and regs may have changed in the last forty years, I think most of us VP’s know that not a great deal of me elapses between F‐M‐F and touchdown. In real life, a pilot only has about two minutes to commit or abort. ATC are aware of this, so their priority ‐ even if the received message is a hoax ‐ is to ensure the safety of the passengers and plane, and therefore inform the pilot (I don’t know the procedures today). It just happened that on that par cular night I got an absolute idiot ATC Controller who wanted to enter into discussions ‐ War and Peace, possibly! He con nued:
A True Story
14
“Who is this calling, please? And you say you’re calling from the police barrier?” “Constable Griffiths, Airport Police, Runway 25 barrier. Get that f.....g plane away NOW!” I had no doubts whatsoever that a major disaster was imminent, but I could do no more than alert ATC in the most urgent and strenuous tone I could command. Whilst shou ng down the telephone line, I was shi ing my view between the aircra ’s progress and for any movement from the runway or vehicle’s loca on. The plane was ge ng closer, and was now only about 200 feet above the ground and within seconds of touchdown. Only a few seconds a er I had cursed to ATC, the plane went over my head at about fi y feet; it was then I heard its engines suddenly increase in power and I watched with relief as it went from nose‐down to steep climb. By then, I was already dashing through the fence to check on the car passengers (I s ll could see no movement there) when the phone rang, and I had to turn back. “The Captain of that aircra is bloody furious,” came the now familiar, if angry voice. “There’s going to be a storm of a f…..g row over this.” He would be right on that point. Any incident involving aborted aircra landings (especially during terrorist ac vi es) sets a whole panoply of agencies in mo on: Civil Avia on Authority, Air Transport Authority, Air Traffic Control, Aer Lingus (being the appropriate airline), Airports Authority, Airport Fire Authority, Avia on Police, Civil Police, Airline Pilots and Airline Crews Associa ons, Air Accident Inves ga on Agency, Boeing Maintenance engineers, plus several others I can’t remember! I suppose you might say that my reply was terse. I simply replied, “That’s your problem, friend; I’ve got my own urgent one here,” and hung up. I got to the scene about two minutes later, in me for the lights of the airport police car, fire tender and ambulance to light up the area ‐ and it was nasty! The car was on its roof at the furthest end of the threshold, right on the touchdown point, and there was no apparent movement to be seen. It wasn’t long before we found the driver, stone dead, impaled by a fence post, and his three passengers unconscious with serious injuries. All four were later found to have been over the limit of alcohol consumed. At the subsequent inquest, the ATC Controller was asked why he had not given an immediate warning to the Aer Lingus pilot once he had received my message. He tried to pin blame on my “tardiness” in making contact, but like all messages received at ATC, mine was med, and it coincided with all the other recordings. Those recordings also showed very clearly that the Controller had wasted valuable me and had acted contrary to ATC Procedures. The only thing that could not be determined was the precise me that the car went off the road. The conclusion was that, regardless of when the car had gone off road, I had given ample warning to ATC, and therefore no blame could be a ached to me. While I was commended for my ac ons, I believe the ATC Controller was later given a reprimand. At a later officer’s annual appraisal, the Chief Superintendent said, “...I also note that you managed to circumvent a minor disaster some months ago. What exactly did you do?” “Excuse me, sir,” I began, “I don’t think that preven ng the possible deaths of two hundred people can be termed ‘Minor.’ A major air disaster was averted!” I’ve o en wondered what he thought might be a ‘Major’ disaster!
By: Charles Giffiths (UKV1546)
15
Announcements Picture Credits: Page 1 (header): Ma hew Pate Page 2 (top right): Google Page 3 (top right): Zach Mehdizadeh Page 4 (top right): Zach Mehdizadeh Page 7 (header): Craig Tyler (with thanks to: Derek Bu erworth, Mick Banham and Reza Kaihani) Page 8 (header): Graham Hammill Page 8 (in the ar cle): Jim Lowery Page 10 (top le ): Robert Ellis Page 13 (centre): Google Maps Back Page (header): Tom McHale
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Deadline date for next edi on (15): Sunday, 29th June 2014.
Fly UK Online Events: At this point in 2013 185 PIREP’s were filed, total for 2014 is 311 PIREP’s, so we are 68% up on last year at this point.
Concorde was a fast plane that could achieve a speed of Mach 2. Con‐corde is iden cal to its twin sister the Russian Tuplov Tu 125. Features exist in Concorde that no other plane has to date ‐ Concorde has a tail wheel. Concorde has a high rota on rate so this extra wheel stops the aircra ’s tail catching the ground (a tail‐strike). Concorde has a nose visor that is extended for take‐off and landing otherwise the pilots are not able to see below them. In the air, this isn’t a problem when the nose visor is retracted to achieve Mach 2. Concorde first flew in 1969 and the last ever flight was in 2003. Concorde suffered a huge crash on 24th July 2000 which damaged its impeccable safety record. Concorde was taking off from LFPG for a flight to KJFK when a shard of metal off of a DC10 punc‐tured the fuel pump of the Concorde and there were 234 people on board. All, sadly died. Keep your eyes peeled for a special event flight that will be taking place in July. By: Jamie Beddow (UKV1323)
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