Sudden Wing Drops

Early in our flying training we were warned about wing drops i.e. one wing suddenly dropping (and the other rising consequently). This can happen when there is insufficient lift generated on that particular wing and it stalls. The loss of lift in turn can be caused by a drastic drop in airspeed caused by the aircraft getting into too high an angle of attack but with insufficient thrust to maintain it. Both wings can stall at the same time, in which case the pilot just has to perform the normal recovery. In many instances though, and particularly with some aircraft, one wing will stall first and if the correct action is not taken, the aircraft will enter a spin - a more serious situation than a stall.

Sometimes though, that wing drop occurs due to a sudden drop in airspeed arising from a change in wind direction or speed especially when it is gusting. I was once caught in this situation as I was flying straight and level on a windy day and suddenly the right wing rolled down sixty degrees and my passengers were alarmed. On another occasion,  I was landing at Tioman Island and the sea breeze was gusting onto the runway. The aircraft was just about 10 feet above the threshold when the left wing rolled down about 30 degrees.

On both occasions I instinctively kicked hard on the opposite rudder and used as little aileron as possible and managed to right the aircraft in time. I had learned from my instructors during early training that when the airspeed is low, one cannot use too much aileron to right an aircraft. The wings do not have enough airspeed to react to the ailerons' deflection and will fail to right the aircraft. Only the wash from the propeller in front onto the empennage at the back will be able to act on the deflected rudder and roll the wings back to level via an indirect effect.

Tried and true. 

A Memorable Flight

In the many flights that I had made over the years, of course many are memorable ones but one that put a big smile on my face was when I completed my first cross country flight into an international airport, one which I had never flown to on my own before.

Planning the flight was a joy as I laid out the 1:500 map and plotted my intended path, measured the distances of the legs and worked out the details for my navlog entries. On the morning of the flight, I filed the flight plan, checked the weather (which was forecasted to be good) and preflighted the aircraft. It had two tanks full of fuel and with one passenger tagging along, had just the right setup for a pleasant flight.

I had over 20 PIC hours by then and confidently flew the flight plan on VFR using the navlog and relating the ground features to the map as we went along. Every inch of the flight was under ATC and I had no problem with that as I switched from station to station on the way. GPS was too expensive then, so concentration was really required to ensure we were always on track by matching the ground features with the corresponding items on the map.

Finally we entered the penultimate leg but just then ATC directed us to a location that was not in my flight plan. Fortunately I could find it on the map. It was a small fishing village on the coast and we tracked towards it using the compass and by looking at the shape of the coastline . That was the only heart stopping event we encountered. We were told to hold over that village as we approached it and so we just circled above it. There was airline traffic around the airport at that time. Eventually we were cleared to descend and join right base for Runway 04. The airport is located on an island and there is a hill that flanks the seaward side of the runway. We therefore had to track across the sea from the mainland while descending to circuit height, join downwind on the other side of the hill from the runway and continue until we could see the runway end before turning base.

We were cleared to land and I touched down just after the piano keys, turned off the runway at the next exit and was told to hold to allow a B737 to pass along the main taxiway in front of me. This was the first time ever that I sat as a pilot in a plane watching a jetliner taxi right in front of my nose at a busy airport. At that instant I imagined myself being at the controls of another B737 just doing my job as an airline pilot. It was a totally different scenario from what I was used to in my earlier flying days as a student pilot where the traffic was mainly GA and some military aircraft.

A SIMILAR SCENE AT ANOTHER AIRPORT

We were cleared to proceed to the ramp near the tower and as we did other jetliners were pushing back for departure. The vista, sounds of jet engines, ground vehicles crawling around and ATC chatter in my headphone were something that gave me a glow of satisfaction, a feeling that I had arrived literally and figuratively into the aviation world. How can I ever forget that wonderful day. 

Learning From The Instructors

As I reminisce, it seems that a lot had been added to my collection of flying techniques since the day I had my first lesson. Yet I find that the most critical and useful techniques were actually taught me during the first fifty hours of flying. For this I have my instructors to thank for. I was lucky to have had two highly competent individuals as my mentors.

The first was Manjit. He was a tall handsome young man who was collecting his hours before he could join the airlines. He was methodical in presenting his preflight brief and would ask me quick questions on the aircraft as we walked to it, inside it and later as we walked back for our debriefs. Questions could vary from how much fuel could the tanks take to why the wings wash out at the tips. In the air he would ask if the engine would cut out if he switched off the ignition, and then as I said yes, proceeded to actually switch it off. Manjit led me to my solo by which time I had the answers to most, if not all, the questions.

After soloing, another instructor took over my training. Chandran was a QFI (Qualified Flying Instructor) and was quite elderly with an above average girth. He was soft-spoken and a man of few words. If he ever raised his voice, it would be a scream to get me to add power when we were sinking too fast or to go around when we were too high or in such similar situations.

Like Manjit did, Chandran too made me master the mnemonics which remain with me till today. From HASELL to TVMDC, the mnemonics will never be forgotten and have been found to be useful in times of need.

Chandran had these tricks and formulae to make complex procedures simple. With short and sharp instructions, he would guide me as to what the requirements are for, say, a good approach. "Before base speed 80kts, flaps one, speed 70kts, turn base and descend....turn to final to complete by 300ft AGL, flaps two...speed 65kts, descent rate 200fpm..." and on he went. Most of the time his formulae worked and I lived by them.

One of my favourite destinations was Tioman Island less than two hours flying time away from my base. Although exotic in itself (the island “Bali Hai” in the musical movie “South Pacific” is in real life that island), the attraction to pilots is because its 900-metre runway is enclosed on three sides by steep hill slopes and the fourth side by the sea.

APPROACHING FROM THE WEST

Only pilots checked out on the airport by an instructor are allowed to land there. Chandran had a simple formula for landing there – establish right base at 300ft AGL on feet dry, cling close to the hill on the left while descending, turn final and select full flaps while skimming the grove of coconut palms that stretch to the runway’s edge, then when clear of the palms, cut power completely, push the aircraft down to the runway and ensure that it drops on its main wheels carrier-style. “Don’t worry,” he said, “the Cessna’s main undercarriage is made for heavy landings.”  In later years, the runway was lengthened and the palms on the approach cleared away.

CHANDRAN'S FORMULA

(AFTER RUNWAY EXTENSION)

EARLY BASE VIEW

(BEFORE RUNWAY EXTENSION)

Wikipedia

I have never had any problem landing at the island despite tailwinds sometimes and I owe one to Chandran. As I continued flying over the years, Manjit’s and Chandran’s words constantly echoed in my head guiding me to do the right things as the situations demanded.

The Wonder of Cassini-Huygens' Voyage to Titan

This is not exactly an aviation story but I apologise for the diversion. The significance of the event that I am about to describe is as great as man's first flight in 1903. The Apollo manned landings on the moon and the successful return of the space travellers to earth are by themselves  some of man's greatest feats. The work now being carried out by the Mars Exploration Rover on that planet's surface is yet another major achievement.

I am however very much impressed with the journey and landing of the Cassini-Huygens (CH) spacecraft on Titan, which is Saturn's largest moon. The distance between earth and Saturn is about 1.4 billion kilometres. It took CH seven years to reach Titan. For this to happen the planets have to be ideally aligned so that CH can use the gravitational slingshot effects of earth, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn to reach Titan with the fuel that was available on board. Man would have to wait another 600 years for this alignment to occur again!

What is so interesting about Titan? It is a cloud-shrouded moon which means it is somewhat like earth but scientists want to know what its surface is like underneath the thick red clouds which are mainly composed of nitrogen and some methane Scientists believe the reddish colour of the clouds come from a substance called tholin.. There is no oxygen on Titan thus precluding man from inhabiting it. Gravity on Titan is about one-sixth that of earth but the atmospheric pressure on its surface is 1.4 times that of earth due to the thick opaque clouds that hide its surface from us.

Huygens, the lander module of CH, has succesfully sent us images and data about Titan's surface. It is almost earth-like but due to the extremely cold temperatures, all water is frozen. Rivers abound but they are not of water, rather the fluid is liquid methane since methane has a much lower freezing point. Liquid methane flows from rivers into lakes but there are only a few lakes on Titan. Past erosion by these methane rivers have created canyons and valleys not unlike what is seen in Arizona.

There are also "volcanoes" on Titan but they spew "lava" consisting of water and ammonia which flow down the slopes. Because of the cold nature of the flows these "volcanoes" are called cryovolcanoes. Other surface features of Titan include craters created by the impact of objects from space but these are few. 

What about the surface material on Titan? Huygens' instruments and cameras show that the landing site is made of sand, pebbles and small rocks which are basically ice.

TRIBUTE TO THE LATE COL. (Rtd) ZAKARIA SALLEH

The late Col. Zakaria Salleh (whom everyone called Zak) was a small-built pilot but his aerial exploits and the significant contributions he made to general aviation in Southeast Asia was legendary.

I first met Zak when he was teaching several of us to fly the Quicksilver ultralight during his spare time. We were flying at various open spaces which were pending development and as soon as construction work started at these sites, we had to move like nomads to new flying sites. At that time Zak held the rank of Flying Officer in the air force and was flying F5 jet fighters. I then lost touch with him as I progressed to Cessnas and flew at proper airfields.

Several years later, Zak started instructing at the Royal Selangor Flying Club where I was regularly flying from. He was ater elected the Club Captain and was responsible for all flying activities of the club. In this role he organised regular fly-ins, open days, flying competitions and air shows. I enjoyed participating in most of these events which took us to various airports and airstrips not only within Malaysia but also in the neighbouring countries.




A FLY-IN TO PESTA LUMUT IN 1991
Zak is circled  The writer is second from left.

Subsequently Zak retired from the air force with the rank of Colonel and having flown various fighter types like the CL-41G Tutor, Northrop F5 and A4 Skyhawk. He then flew target tugs and later several bizjets for a living. His flying and organising skills were recognised and he was subsequently elected as President of the Malaysian Sports Aviation Federation which is the umbrella organisation for all sports aviation related bodies in the country.

Zak loved aerobatics and formation flying and would put on impressive flying maneouvres at various air shows in the region. He was most famous for leading the Eagle 150 Aerobatic Team which regularly took part in the country's Independence Day parade flypasts and in air shows overseas. On occasions where the Eagle aircraft were not available, he would call up several pilots from various flying clubs and still put on a commendable performance. I was glad to join in and fly on some of these events.



PILOTS AFTER A FORMATION FLIGHT
(Zak is circled. The writer is second from right)

The Eagle 150 was a highly aerobatic aircraft and in the hands of someone like Zak, it was capable of some magnificient stunts that never failed to impress crowds. Zak, however, yearned for more. He went out and bought a dedicated aerobatic aircraft, the Christen Eagle, from the US. This was the aircraft he loved and with it he went on to mesmerise the crowds with his superb flying skills.



A CHRISTEN EAGLE AEROBATIC AIRCRAFT
(Wikipedia)

On June 23, 2011, while performing aerobatics in front of an air show crowd in Padang, Indonesia, his Christen Eagle slid down from a vertical climb and crashed to the ground. His wife, Leila, was watching from the stands. Zak passed away in hospital shortly after.



ZAK LEADING HIS EAGLE 150 OUT OF A HANGAR IN PEKANBARU AIRPORT

To Leila and the family, I send my deepest condolence. Zak was a good friend and helpful at all times especially in my flying activities. He is well-known in the flying fraternity in Malaysia as well as in the neghbouring countries. We shall always remember him.

A Vulcan Bombed Port Stanley Airport

Just saw a video on YouTube about the bombing of Port Stanley airport in the Falklands by a single Avro Vulcan V-bomber during the British-Argentinian war over the islands in 1982. The Americans would have turned it into a Hollywood blockbuster but the British just made it into a TV documentary but it sure had all the elements of a thriller such as the longest bombing run in history, a return-to-base by a back-up bomber due to loss of pressurisation, a fuel shortfall that meant being unable to reach home, mid-air refeelling in a thunderstorm, a 300ft AGL approach towards the target area and lots more.

The crew members of the mission were the "actors" and most of the shots were actual scenes during the war. It is heartwarming to see the survivors recalling the moments 30 years after the event.

Of course, what grab me are the live shots of the Vulcans and Victors which I have written about in another post (RAAF Butterworth) in this blog.

Go to XM607 - Falklands' Most Daring Raid and enjoy the show.

RAAF Butterworth

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base in the town of Butterworth, Malaysia was a military airbase run by the RAAF and is currently a Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) Station after it was handed back to the Malaysian government in 1988. The history of the base goes back to 1941 when the  British colonial government set up the Royal Air Force (RAF) Station there to defend the then British Peninsular Malaya from the looming threat of invasion by the Japanese Imperial Forces at the advent of WWII.

THE BUS RIDE

My interest in that airfield was ignited from a bus ride which I took as a young boy from Kangar, Perlis back home to Butterworth in the mid-50's. At that time the airfield's only runway ran from the west starting from the beach facing Penang Island to the east overlooking the lush padi fields of Sungai Dua. The north-south road from Kangar in the north to the town of Butterworth crossed the airfield's runway about half a kilometer from the beach. So when an aircraft took off or landed, traffic on the road was stopped on both sides of the runway giving the bus passengers a grand view of all the aircraft movements on the runway. 

STOPPING NORTH OF RUNWAY (circa 1950's)

Photo by James Justice

I knew nothing about planes then, so it is now impossible for me to  say for certain what those jets were. The jets had taxied from my left, crossed the road we were on, made a U-turn at the runway end on my right and either proceeded to take off to the left or entered their dispersal area in that direction. The jet sound was loud and whiny typical of early generation jets, the markings were bold and colourful, the aircraft's base colour was metallic blue, the aircraft sat low on the ground and there were two pilots in flight overalls and flying helmets in each aircraft. They looked like the T37 "Tweetie Birds" one sees in the web pages and could have been the De Havilland Venoms. The image and the sound are still fresh in my mind today after more than 57 years!

A SCHOOL BESIDE AN AIRBASE

In 1959 I entered secondary school and it was a brand new school with me as one of its first students ever. There was a new runway being used (36/18) which was much longer than the west-east runway that I saw some years before. That former runway was put out of use after the new runway was completed. Situated less than a kilometer southwest of this new runway's 36 end, we had a good view of the threshold through the coconut palms that surrounded that part of the airfield. I presume that most of the flights started from that end as I was yet to see aircraft taking off in the direction of my school. With the jet nozzles pointing south towards my school, each takeoff is an aural experience hard to forget and the teacher had to stop speaking while all eyes would be on the runway until all the aircraft had taken off. We got used to the jet blasts after a while and no longer deemed them a nuisance.

TUDM STATION BUTTERWORTH

Google Earth Image

SABRES
From our playing field, we would see the Sabres (actually Rolls Royce-powered Commonwealth CA27 Sabres) making their rectangular left-handed circuits by first passing between us and the Runway 36 on our right, turning crosswind in front of us, then downwind to our left and curving behind us to land back to our right. The Sabres would usually fly in a right echelon of four with each one peeling off after another to enter crosswind.

CA27 SABRE

Wikipedia

Looking south from our classroom we would see the Sabres one by one curving in to land, each one filling up almost a third of our glass-louvred classroom window. The speed brakes and landing gear would be already extended and sometimes the bubble canopy would be pushed back slightly to let some fresh air in (imagine one being fully clothed and helmeted with the oxygen mask covering most of one's face and the baking sun piercing the clear canopy). More often than not, the pilot would add in a bit of power to reduce his descent rate right in front of our class window and we just loved hearing the sweet hiss-whine-roar of the turbines spooling up. That scene is certainly unforgettable and we got to see it every school day.

CANBERRAS

The next most common aircraft were the English Electric Canberras which I noticed were of two types - the reconnaisance version (PR7) with a clear perspex nose and the bomber version (B1) without it. I remember that there was a red lightning logo on the tail which could well be the squadron emblem. The Canberra had two of the Sabre's engines, so even without looking up I could always tell whether it was the Sabre or the Canberra that was flying up there. Being bulkier and a bomber at that, the Canberra was never seen doing circuits but perhaps they did do circuits. Maybe the circuit legs were too far out for us kids to see.

CANBERRA B2

Wikipedia

TRANSPORTS

Among the cargo/passenger aircraft operating from the base were some DC3 Dakotas, the wide bellied Vickers Valettas (one can be seen in the first photo above) and a later addition, the Lockheed C130 Hercules (which marked the end of the radial engined aircraft like the DC3s and Valettas). While the DC3 and Valetta's huge engines shook the ground and shattered the air with their deep throated exhaust sounds, the C130's four turbines emitted equally loud whines which blended with the sound-barrier-breaking propeller tips' blasts to rattle the ground.

HELICOPTERS

Here again I witnessed the transition from piston to turboshaft engines. In the late 50's there were the Westland S55 Whirlwinds which were later replaced by the Bristol Sycamores. Both types had piston engines and were probably RAF rather than RAAF (though I may be wrong here).  They were all completely yellow, which I believe was the colour of search and rescue (SAR) aircraft. I was told that some Whirlwinds were also based atop Penang Hill. The Whirlwind was what I believed a helicopter should look like but the Sycamore when squatting on the ground looked like someone had bent its tail down in anger.

WESTLAND WHIRLWIND
Wikipedia

BRISTOL SYCAMORE
aviastar.org

In the early 60's I began to see the RAAF Bell UH-1 Iroquois replacing the Sycamores. The UH-1 was the iconic helicopter used in the Vietnam war where it was called "Huey". Using a powerful turboshaft engine and a two-blade rotor, the aircraft was painted a dark brown making it look vicious.  The whine and roar from the engine was typical of turbine engines but there were another two sounds to it that make this my favourite helicopter sound. One was the deep motorcycle-like throb and the other the "whupp, whupp" of the long rotor blades as they cut through the air.

RAAF BELL UH-1

pacificaces.0catch.com

OTHER RESIDENTS

Until the early 60's I could see both RAF and RAAF aircraft stationed there. The Valettas were certainly British as well as a few of the DC3s and C130s. Other resident aircraft that were probably used for currency checks for desk-bound pilots included the De Havilland Vampire and the Bell 47 helicopter.

VAMPIRE

www.whiteplanes.com

 BELL 47

Wikipedia

VISITORS

From the late 50's to the early 60's I had the privilege of seeing various visiting aircraft to the base. They either flew in from foreign bases of the RAF, from RAAF's Australian bases or from aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy that quite frequently sailed through the Malacca Straits. Some would stay for just a week or two while some would remain for a few months. 

From the RAF, there were the Gloster Meteors, the Gloster Javelins, the long-nosed Armstrong-Whitworth Meteor night fighters and the V-Bombers. The Meteor was good-looking with oversized engine nacelles and a rounded tailfin/rudder assembly. The Rolls Royce Derwent engines produced a pleasant high-pitched "groan" that was softer than the ghostly sound of the Vampire's single Goblin engine. The long-nosed Meteor, resembling the Canadian CF100 Canuck, had night radar equipment housed in its nose and looked quite different from the day fighter version though it used the same engines. They were later replaced by the delta-winged Gloster Javelin all-weather interceptors, each powered by two loud Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire engines that pounded the runway on takeoffs.

GLOSTER JAVELIN

Wikipedia

The V-Bombers were huge but shapely jet bombers and were all-white in colour though in the later years they sported camouflaged upper surfaces. Their designs were ahead of their time, the Valiant being swept-winged, the Victor crescent-winged and the Vulcan delta-winged.

AVRO VULCAN, VICKERS VALIANT AND HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR

(from bottom to top)

www.probuspontivyfr.org

They were based in Butterworth during the Indonesian Confrontation period (1962-1966) and could have been significant players in keeping the Indonesia forces at bay. During one of our school's conducted tours of the base, I had a close look at the Victor and managed to catch a glimpse of the inside of its cockpit as its door was open. It was very impressive indeed.

Two other interesting visitors from the RAF were the really huge four-engined Blackburn Beverly and the dual-rotored Westland Belvedere helicopter. The Beverly had 18-cylinder radial piston engines that were absolutely loud and the top of its tail was a couple of stories high..

The Royal Navy aircraft were spectacular to say the least. My first view of a carrier-based fighter was of the De Havilland Sea Venom which probably flew in from the carrier "Ark Royal" that frequented Penang a few times in those days. It resembled the Vampire in shape but was slightly larger, had a crew of two and was powered by a De Havilland Ghost engine. My classmates and I used to wait among the bushes fringing the runway's 18 end immediately after school just to watch the Venoms land from the 36 end, made U-turns and taxied back in front of us to their dispersal. The crews would open their canopies and wave to us as they taxied by.

Another spectacular naval aircraft was the Supermarine Scimitar which always approached with an unusually high angle of attack looking like it was standing on its tail. This of course required a high power setting, the two Rolls Royce Avons producing a very loud blast that was audible a couple of miles away.

SUPERMARINE SCIMITARS

Wikipedia

One interesting visitor from a carrier was the Fairey Gannet antisubmarine aircraft. A fat-bodied fairly large aircraft, it had a set of two contra rotating propellers mounted on a single shaft that extended in front of its twin turboprop Hawker Siddeley Double Mamba engines producing a unique whine and roar. Another of its unique features was the huge radome under the nose which probably housed its sonar and radar equipment.

FAIRY GANNET

Gatwick Aviation Museum

There were two aircraft types that were used by the RAF during that period which I never got to see flying, even though at least one type was actually based in neighbouring Singapore. They were the sleek and beautiful Hawker Hunter and the ultrafast English Electric Lightning. However I did manage to get a close look at the Lightning seven years later at the Farborough Air Show and the Hunter at one of the museums somewhere else.

The Vietnam War was at its peak in the 60's and a few US military aircraft did make visits to Butterworth, apparently moving casualties out of the war zone. I saw some C74 Globemasters which were huge four-engined turboprop transports and to my delight some F105 Thunderchiefs which were fast and awesome looking fighter-bombers that liked to fly low above the airfield (one of them did an impressive vertical climb right in front of my eyes). One aircraft which I would have liked to see was the CH-47 Chinook dual-rotor helicopter.

BASE VISITS & AIR SHOWS

For a couple of years the RAF and RAAF opened their doors annually to visitors with static and flying displays of their aircraft. These had a big influence on me and made me want to be a fighter pilot. The RAAF had an aerobatic team of Sabres which performed quite impressively at these shows. Our school also had close links with the base authorities and we used to go and swim at the base pool every Wednesday morning.  There was also an occasion when we kids were taken on a conducted tour of the base. Besides walking around a Victor strategic bomber and a Vampire, I also had a chance to inspect the cockpit of a Sabre jet.

REPLACEMENTS

After 1963, I had to move away from Butterworth and lost touch with the movement of aircraft at the base. However, I knew that the Sabres and Canberras had been replaced with the RAAF's Dassault Mirage IIIs.

In the mid-70's I was posted to Penang and by coincidence handled the banking account of the RAAF Butterworth. Once a week I would travel to the base to attend to their banking needs. Once I was driven within sight of the long row of Mirages parked to the left of Runway 36. That was the first time I saw the aircraft. There were a few people I dealt with then and I remember some of the civilian officers as Jim Sweeney and a certain Mr Prowse. There was also a handsome Squadron Leader by the name of Jim Dickson. In fact they even had me in their homes during Christmas.

On one occasion, I saw a visiting RAAF F-111 Aardvark swing-wing bomber beating the base up at just above the flagpole that stood near the main gate of the base. The pole actually swung from the downwash off the aircraft's extended wings.

By that time, the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) was already sharing the base with the RAAF and was operating the Northprop F5E twin-engined jet fighters as well as some of the former RAAF Sabres donated by the Australian government. The RAF had completely evacuated some time earlier. Today the base is solely occupied by the TUDM as a station and is the home of its BAE Hawks, Aermacchi MB339s. Sikorsky S61s, Northrop F5Es and Boeing F/A-18D Hornets.

P.S. A sad development reported in The Sun on 6 February 2014: