Prototype Airtourer Association Newsletter

June 2024

Number 184

Airtourer Association Newsletter

Dedicated to the preservation and continued airworthiness of Vi t d AESL Ai t S i d th i d i ti

Disclaimer

The

Cover: Marcus Skinner’s 180 hp Airtourer VH-PUR

From the President

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Editor Tony Self c/- Airtourer Assoc P.O. 778, Tewantin, QLD 4565

Australia

Mobile Email: See Membership List editor@airtourer.asn.au

Articles for inclusion in the Newsletter should be submitted directly to the Editor at the contacts listed above. Contributions and or advertisements for the next issue need to be received by 5 August 2024. Advertisements are free for Association members.

For Sale

The Secretary has a new supply of caps for $20 each s $8.50 postage. If you contact her before the sident's Fly-in she may be able to bring the to ton and save you the postage.

orders email secretary@airtourer asn au

Corner of History

Have you heard of an aircraft called the “Chicken”? Well, you should have! Because it’s one of our mob!

Let’s go back to the 1970s The first customer for (then) AESL’s brand new CT-4

hangar! It s a then quite new Airtourer T6/24, one of six delivered to Singapore s Ministry of Defence. (All of these were sold to an Australian consortium in 1987.)

The King’s CT-4 was strangely configured as a single-control aircraft, and was otherwise subtly different to the subsequent production CT-4A aircraft As “2009”, it was allocated to the Royal Thai Police Force for use in cloud-seeding experiments

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) was the first customer for the production CT-4A, ordering the first 24 aircraft off the production line, which were delivered over 1974 The RAAF were the second customer, with their first CT-4A arriving in 1975

The RTAF designated the CT-4As as “Type 16 - Chicken”, and topped up the A order with an order for 6 CT-4Bs in 1992 The RTAF seemed to fall in love with the “Chicken”, and operated the A and B models for 45 years! But wait, there’s more. In 1999 they started taking delivery of another 12 CT-4Es, the version with the big 300 hp engine. These were designated Type 16A. And a further 4 were ordered soon after. And yet another order followed in 2004 for another 8! The RTAF plans to continue operating the E models for many years!

All hail the “Chicken”... descended from “Mickey Mouse”. You know it makes sense.

Did you know?

There are probably now more airworthy civilian-registered CT-4s than Airtourers! A number of ex-RNZAF CT-4Es are flying in private hands in Australia and New Zealand, and a lot of ex-RAAF and ex-BAe CT-4A and B models are also regular sights in Australia

M

CT 4s for Hire at Moorabbin

Moorabbin Aircraft Hire now have two CT-4s online. VH-YCS, an ex-BAe Systems CT-4B, can be hired for $370 per hour dry VH-CKU, an ex-RAAF CT-4A, is also online at Moorabbin Aircraft Hire. See their Website at https://moorabbinaircrafthire.com.au/.

Bathurst Airtourer Departs

The Experimental M-10-160, built by Bob MacGillivray some years ago, has changed hands. Previously owned by Osprey Trading Services (Jeff Parsons) and based at Bathurst, VH-BWG’s new owner is Paul Cunningham from Wollongong BWG started life as Victa 100 number 25, initially registered VH-MVE In 1998, it was redesigned with a wet wing, upgraded undercarriage, a 160 hp engine, and a host of other changes.

Pacific Aerospace now NZAero

In 2021, Pacific Aerospace (or PAC) became insolvent, and for a time, this looked like the end for the Hamilton-based manufacturer of the CT-4, PAC-750, Cresco, and Expedition But an aviation couple, Dee Bond and Neil Young of NZ Skydive, acquired the company from the liquidator, and have revived the business as NZAero. And they’re about to remanufacture some CT-4 components!

2024 AGM and ConventionBathurst

Attendance Roll

The poor weather and a number of misfortunes, illnesses and serviceability issues meant that only two aircraft flew in to the Convention this year. Nonetheless, the two, FVV and CNO, were proudly parked out on the flight line, and on display for the Bathurst Aero Club Open Day

Attendance in Person

● Lyn Butler

● Deb Evans

● Rick Evans

● Doug Gould

● Robin Hilliard

● Stuart Hilsberg

● Beryl Marshall

● Ross McBride

● John O'Halloran

● Jan O'Halloran

● Pat Peak

● Chris Peak

● Jon Peak

● Judy Riddel

● Tony Self

● Angela Stevenson

● Doug Stott

Aircraft in Attendance

● VH-FVV Angela Stevenson and Tony Self

● VH-CNO Ross McBride

Minutes of the 2024 Annual General Meeting

Of the Airtourer Association, Held at Bathurst on 5 May 2024

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Bathurst Convention in Photographs

A tour of the gin distillery was part of a learning experience.

Aerobatic Weekend at Tocumwal

Airtourer enthusiasts gathered over the weekend of 17-18 February to hone their aerobatic skills.

The weekend was very successful, particularly in re-engaging with lapsed &inactive members. Most flying was done in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. The afternoons were used for ground school, discussion about aerobatic competition and general Airtourer discussion

Seven association members joined us, two with their spouses.

Our instructor, David Pilkington, Aerobatic Club member and Pitts builder Daryl Clee, and wife Jo were also present.

We had a great dinner at Tattersalls Hotel on Saturday night with spirited discussion across the table on a wide range of aviation topics.

The weekend saw Andrew Merrett doing his AFR with David Pilkington and flying VVZ for the first time in 6 years. Marty Moore made a good start on his initial training for an aerobatic endorsement in CRK. Ian Close was active flying both his Airtourer VVZ and Lazer LZA.

Before the weekend closed, we debriefed the gathering and began planning the 2024 event we intend to move to post-Easter, potentially 9-11 May 2025.

We are grateful to Lee Gordon-Brown for the hospitality of his hangar, for both aircraft and people.

The Treasury

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What aircraft does this tail belong to?

Useless hint: The colours are RNZAF Misleading hint: Note the aerial Useful hint: Note the rudder trim tab position Tip: It’s not the obvious

The answer is on the last page

Start Packing for Goondiwindi!

The 2024 President’s Fly-in is scheduled for 18-20 October in Goondiwindi on the Queensland/NSW border.

There are many good reasons to visit Goondiwindi, but none better than gathering with Airtourer and Airtrainer folk to talk planes, horses and the price of AvGas!

ADS-B … are you IN?

ATSB message after the Mangalore Mid Air Collision

I read a lot of ATSB reports I have been very critical of a number in recent years Therefore I was particularly interested in the release of the report of the mid-air accident near Mangalore airport of 2 IFR training light twin engine aircraft.

The ATSB report AO-2020-012 Mid-air collision involving Piper PA-44-180 Seminole, VH-JQF and Beech D95A Travel Air, VH-AEM 8 km south of Mangalore Airport, Victoria on 19 February 2020 is very good and well worth reading. You an read the report on the ATSB website

This has been followed up with a video available on YouTube. Search “aircraft performance and cockpit visibility study” This video should be mandatory for any pilot flying IFR or VFR in congested areas and just good value for any other pilot to watch

Swiss Cheese incident antecedents

Without getting into the detail, the Mangalore accident was a typical “James Reason Swiss Cheese” failure. A number of weaknesses in the system aligned with some pilot failings to create the antecedents of the accident The factors involved were broadly:

● Failure of the pilots to establish aircraft to aircraft radio comms for separation.

● Traffic conflict alerts not being passed on to the pilots (in accordance with AsA procedure)

● Heavy traffic of diverse aircraft and flight missions focussed on Mangalore

● Frequency boundaries in the area of Mangalore

● Airspace boundaries in the vicinity of Mangalore

● Lack of clarity of CTAF definition and procedures

The report finds fault with airspace design and Airservices Australia procedures and there are some deficiencies in the respective pilots failing to establish 2-way radio communication to ensure separation, but the ATSB saves its major criticism for the CASA “See and be seen” policy

ATSB accident visualisation

The visualisation done in the ATSB video shows what a farce expecting these two aircraft to rely on “see and be seen” It suggests that “see and be seen” would not have been effective even in clear conditions.

Let that sink in a bit Airservices Australia provides traffic alerts only on a “when workloads permits” basis in class G airspace and the “see and be seen” traffic avoidance policy encouraged by CASA is heavily criticised as being ineffective by the ATSB

The ATSB is now strongly recommending that pilots use ADS-B In equipment together with an EFB type application The ATSB is suggesting that this is an improvement on both radio AND “see and be seen” separation This is a little intriguing since Australia decided to implement an ADS-B Out only system.

What does this mean?

The ATSB is essentially recommending that we all get portable ADS-B receivers and connect them to AvPlan or OzRunways on our iPads as a primary safety strategy. The range of portable ADS-B receivers include:

● Stratux (www stratux me) This is an open source ADS-B receiver You can build your own, or buy one assembled from Amazon. For $389. If you build your own you can buy the parts from eBay at maybe half this price. I’ve built 2. It’s not a bad solution. I find it's not as stable as my dual XGPS 190, but for the money Stratux is a worthwhile option

● Dual XGPS 190. This is my unit of choice. They are around USD600. I found one on eBay. It incorporates AHRS for an horizon indication on AvPlan or OzRunways.

● uAvionix SkyEcho2 – around AUD1095

● Garmin GDL50 – around AUD1200

● Stratus 3 by Appero – around USD750

All of these have the added advantage of having a proper GPS signal. If you are still using your phone or iPad – beware! Apple do not use pure GPS. They use A-GPS or Assisted GPS It uses mobile phone towers to assist in triangulation of the satellites When you lose contact with a mobile phone beacon, you either lose GPS or it is degraded significantly. It happens to me flying from Melbourne to Mildura at about abeam Swan Hill like clockwork. Years ago I switched from OzRunways because (at the time) it repeatedly went into a dead reckoning mode and the aeroplane icon continued in a straight line despite a waypoint turn I made It didn’t highlight that GPS signal was lost (I’m sure they have addressed this, but I stayed with AvPlan) But the point is please don’t rely on your phone or tablet for GPS position.

And here is the good news for VFR operations: grants of up to $5,000 to increase the uptake of ADS-B equipment in Australian–registered aircraft to improve safety and efficiency for Australian airspace users.

Follow this link

https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/automatic-dependent-surveillance-bro adcast-rebate-program and be very sure to read the Grant Opportunity Guidelines document in the Key Documents section.

In conclusion, please watch the ATSB video and take this as a signal to think about traffic avoidance and the flying you do. Research GPS and AD-B In units, check eBay and choose a unit that suits your budget and needs.

Lee Gordon-Brown: Life Member

At the 2024 AGM, Dr Lee-Gordon Brown was honoured with Life Membership of the Airtourer Association.

Lee Gordon-Brown was introduced to aviation at an early age as his father served in the RAAF Lee also joined the RAAF as an aeronautical engineer, serving in a number of roles, including F-111 maintenance.

Not feeling fully challenged, he studied for a Ph.D., the topic being solving simultaneous equations Now, most of us would have solved simultaneous equations at school, but in Lee’s case, the unknowns were on the order of a million! This problem was solved by statistics rather than pure mathematics.

Leaving the RAAF, he lectured at the Monash University Business School It was there in October 2002 that a student entered one of his lectures and started shooting, killing two students and wounding another five people. Lee was shot twice and, despite the pain and blood loss, disarmed the shooter. For his actions, Lee was awarded the Star of Courage, the second highest Australian civil bravery decoration.

Lee joined the Airtourer Association in 2004 and owns Airtourer T6 VH-JVV. His theoretical and practical engineering skills were quickly recognised, and he joined the Airtourer Co-operative Board.

When Alan Wood was forced to close his business due to the decommissioning of Hoxton Park aerodrome, Lee offered space in his hangar at Tocumwal for the storage of the Airtourer spares, jigs, dies, etc. The larger components of the Airtourer project remain in Lee’s hangar at no cost, saving the Airtourer community significant expense.

In November 2009, Lee spent a weekend with Alan Wood at Tocumwal and attempted to “download” Alan’s extensive knowledge of the Airtourer. This weekend produced over a hundred action items that Lee has incorporated mainly into the Maintenance Manual and Illustrated Parts Catalogue, documents he continues to maintain

Lee continues to support the Airtourer owners with his time, knowledge and storage space at no cost.

Lee Gordon-Brown was granted Life Membership of the Airtourer Association for the services he has rendered to the association in support of its aims; the preservation and continued airworthiness of the Victa and AESL Airtourer series of aircraft and their derivatives

Calendar of Events

18-20 October President’s Fly-in, Goondiwindi

See Website for details and registration form

9 - 11 November Formation Camp, Yarrawonga Contact Tony Self tony.self@hyperwrite.com

Welcome to New and Rejoining Members Register Changes

Puzzle answer: It’s the tail of CT-4C ZK-FXM; photo taken in 1991. The CT-4C was a prototype turboprop version of the CT-4, with an Allison 420 shp engine. No sales were made, so the CT-4C was turned back into a CT-4B. Currently in Perth as VH-YCQ. Read more!

Airtourer Association Inc P.O. 778, Tewantin, QLD 4565 Australia