Lee-on-Solent

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the course of the planning for the Schneider 80 Event, I discovered that Lee-on-Solent (EGHF) is now one of the "Designated Airports" for Customs purposes.

This means that although the airfield is not currently included in the airport list shown on the General Aviation Report (GAR) Form; foreign visitors may fly there direct, rather than have to use a full Customs-attended airport such as Southampton or Lydd.

Therefore, if you are planning a trip to the UK in the future, you have another possible destination in England!

Just make sure you send the completed GAR to the appropriate place three hours before your ETA.

Best Wishes,

John R.

Negotiations with Portsmouth

After another meeting with the various Harbour Masters, I can confirm that we are permitted to land in the Eastern Solent in the Ryde area.

We did not need permission for using the Calshot area, but have agreed some suitable measures to make the operation as safe as possible.

A Notice to Mariners (like a NOTAM) will be issued requesting high speed craft to minimise wake when in the vicinity of the seaplanes.

BW.

John.

Free Hotel Accommodation

Participating pilots should note that they will now have their hotel accommodation and food paid for (up to three nights - 12th/13th/14th September).

Best Wishes,

John Russell

Website Problems resolved

Ladies & Gentlemen,

My website has had some drop-outs over the last week, so if you have had any trouble accessing the Registration Form, it can be found at:

www.euroseaplanes.co.uk/Schneider80.html

Alternatively, it is also available at:

www.theseaplaneclub.org/products.html

On this page there is a hidden link to the Form - simply click on the photo of the Supermarine S6b.

I hope this helps,

Regards,

John.

Schneider Trophy Celebration Registration Form

Ladies & Gentlemen,

To download this Form, please go to:
www.euroseaplanes.co.uk then:

On the front page: click on the "Schneider 80th" tab which will bring you to the "Welcome" page.

Click on the blue button at the bottom to obtain the Form.

Filling in the Form does not commit you to attending. By registering your intent to attend, you will help us to plan the accommodation and operational requirements, to ensure a successful Fly-In.

Thank You,

John R.

Negotiations with UK Authorities for Water Landings in the eastern Solent

The Course for our planned Schneider “re-run” in September is over an area of water controlled by the Queen’s Harbour Master Portsmouth. This is because Portsmouth is a Royal Naval Base and responsibility for security of the area was laid down in Laws dating from the 18th Century.

As the intention is to make water landings and take-offs within this area, I have been in discussion with the Authorities. The opening shots were fired by e-mail that resulted in a ban on seaplane activity in the whole area. This was followed by a telephone discussion.

The questions went like this:

QMP: “Have you landed in the Solent before?”

JR: “Yes”

QMP: “Nobody told me. How many times have you landed in the Solent?”

JR: “About 400 times in the last four years.”

QMP: “*!$^^*&>@*~!!”

I decided the best way to sort the problem out was to go and visit him and explain our plans for September in person. A Meeting was set up last week and I drove down to Portsmouth with written answers to their previous questions.

Before the Meeting my expectation of success was around 30%. However, by the end of the Meeting I estimated that the possibility of getting agreement had gone up to 80%!

The main difficulty in negotiations that any seaplane pilot will experience is the fact that those in authority have no knowledge or understanding of what seaplanes can do and the procedures they use to operate safely.

In the course of two hours I managed to answer all their questions and also understand their fears, which were based on safety, a natural ignorance of water flying and the modern need for protection against litigation.

At one stage they suggested the possibility of a special Seaplane Landing Area being created, which would in theory keep other traffic away.

I personally am opposed to “Seaplane Ghettos” for the reasons below, although I note that it seems a way forward for those in France trying to open up water areas.

In my humble experience, setting aside a Water Landing Area can be counter-productive for these reasons:

1) Any WLA has to be maintained with buoys and properly policed to ensure it is ‘protected’. This is an expensive process.
2) Seaplanes want to land and take-off into wind, so producing a runway shaped WLA will not provide functionality in all wind directions.
3) Safety can be compromised by placing a WLA in a single location. This forces seaplanes to land in this Area irrespective of the wave conditions within it, which could be too dangerous.
4) By creating a “No-Go” area for boats, this encourages them to route around the perimeter, sometimes at high speed, resulting in dangerous wakes crossing the WLA and making operations within it dangerous.

I would always advocate the same freedom for seaplanes as for boat traffic, with regard to the use of any given area of water; as long as good sense, seamanship and airmanship are applied to all water operations.

What I find ironic is that Seaplane Pilots have to be licensed to operate their aircraft and also possess a Seamanship qualification before they can use the water. Whereas many of the weekend sailors they encounter on the water have no qualifications whatsoever! Yet it is the qualified person who is so often penalised!

Perhaps this is because, as a lobby group, we are a small number compared to all the other water users and authorities.

If pilots are able to choose the safest place to land, where the effects of wind, wave and tide are optimum for safety, as well as operating defensively with regard to avoiding other boat traffic; then overall safety will improve for everyone.


I will report further on my progress with Portsmouth. My chances of success are also heightened by taking the Harbour Master for a flight to show him what we have been talking about!!

John Russell.

Documentation for microlights wishing to visit the UK

Ladies & Gentlemen,

What it boils down to is that homebuilts can visit without special Exemption provided that they give the CAA certain information and carry other documents with them when they visit.

Factory-built microlights have to apply for an Exemption, which costs £63. Discussions are currently underway to try to remove this outrageous charge, but it is doubtful whether they will be completed before September.

There are no specific technical requirements, although a transponder would be an asset.

i have this documentation in the form of pdf files, which can't be attached to this posting. Therefore would interested pilots please e-mail me at:

GSD@euroseaplanes.co.uk

and I will send them an e-mail with the files as attachments.

Best Wishes,

John R.

UK requirements for visitors

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this post, but I have at last tracked down the information you need.

Go to: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP747.pdf

Pages 441 - 445 are the relevant ones.

Please come back to me if you need any more assistance.

BW

John Russell

Schneider 80th Celebration website

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You may be interested in looking at the website I have created for this event, which includes the GSD 2011.

Although it is mainly aimed at the public and sponsors, I will include 'secret' pages for Briefing information, etc. nearer the time.

I will let you now how to access this private information, here, on the GSD website.

The address is:

www.euroseaplanes.co.uk/page37.html

Best Wishes,

John Russell.

Hotel Accommodation

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It would be most helpful to have some idea of the numbers planning to attend the GSD at Lee-on-Solent in September.

There are not many Hotels in the local area, so if we want to have everyone in the same hotel, I need to have some idea of the interest.

We will create a suitable registration/booking form for this event in the next month or so. but for the moment, any indication of your intention will help me.

Please send an e-mail, giving expected numbers, to GSD@euroseaplanes.co.uk

Thank You.

John Russell

Stuck in Cannes

Despite my posting way back in July, we were delayed leaving the UK, due to bad weather.

Having escaped the Coalition Government, we ended up only just getting into Angers for fuel and Customs, due to low cloud. By the time we had gone through all the formalities, the skies had cleared somewhat. (In England we have a saying that "if there is enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers, then it will be a good day!" Well, I am not sure whether that applies in La Belle France, but we escaped and headed south into warmer climes.

Our delayed departure meant that we were not going to make our planned destination of Cannes, so we flight-planned to Castres (LFCK), which is just south-east of Gaillac VOR. By the time we arrived the low cloud had arrived, so a 600 foot circuit just got us in to yet another of France's provincial airports. Liz was pleasantly surprised when I said that our next destination was the bar of the local hotel. This was a good move and after several 'pressions', the world seemed to be devoid of low cloud!! We enjoyed an excellent dinner in the hotel - with a foie-gras terrine to die for!!

Castres proved a good "watering hole" as the landing fee and overnight parking cost us just over 8 Euros!!

Next morning we set off in clear conditions to fly low level round the coastal route to Cannes. We passed over our old stomping grounds near Narbonne and then enjoyd the views of flamingoes and white ponies of the Camargue en route to our destination. We met up with Sakhr Naal for lunch, who keeps a Cessna 185 amphibian at Cannes, and arranged to go out to dinner with him in the evening.

The next day was Friday and we planned a formation trip into Como. The forecast was for the usual build-up of cloud near Albenga, but that it would not be solid or very high.

We set off around lunchtime only to find those nasty Cumulo-congestus which barred our way north. Sakhr dived out of the climb around FL65, as his sinuses were really painful, being in the process of recovering from a cold. We carried on up to FL85, but the prospect of an impending divorce if we didn't abort, was too frightening for me to consider!

Our plan was to go into Albenga, as this was a little nearer our goal, but the cloudbase had come down there, such that it was covering the high ground (Cumulo-granitus) around the airfield.

To avoid shock cooling the engine, we gently descended to 1000 feet, found Sakhr heading westwards and we both returned to Cannes, him leading, but me doing the radio as his R/T was awful!

Saturday found the Po Valley doing its normal autumnal tricks and we couldn't find a sensible VFR route - I think Como was overcast as well. So I took Sakhr down the coast to the west, so he could show me his authorised landing areas. There was a brisk easterly wind and an ocean swell coming all the way from Africa! There was no really sheltered area available to us, but I did a couple of crunch-and-goes in the quietest place in town.

Seeing his working environment made me thankful for the sheltered waters we have in the Solent back home. meanwhile, Liz had been dropped in the centre of Cannes and she was enjoying strolling along the beach and checking out the hardware in the marina. We all met up for dinner overlooking the sea.

Sunday dawned bright and still breezy from the east. Over various glasses of wine the previous evening, we had decided that we had better head home, as we couldn't guarantee getting to Como and, if we did, most of the visitors would have departed by then.

(We had been checking-out of our Campanile Hotel on a daily basis, expecting not to return.) We packed and checked-out once more and re-loaded the aircraft for returning to the UK. At the holding point, the Power Check seemed OK, with no mag. drop and just a bit of vibration, that wasn't enough to concern me.

On take-off it was a different matter! Everything was OK until rotate, when it was obvious that our engine was not delivering full power. We staggered off the ground with about 200 foot rate of climb and I climbed out over the sea. Sakhr had shown us a more direct route back over the hills, but there was no way I was taking this birdie in her current condition over those pointy bits.

We returned to Cannes and landed uneventfully, although Les Pompiers escorted us in. I did an engine run-up on a disused runway, but by that time the vibration was starting at 1500 rpm, so we returned to the stand and shut-down. Being Sunday there were no engineers open, so we re-positioned the aircraft onto a parking position outside the AERAC facility. Once again, we presented ourselves to the reception of the Campanile Hotel! She looked at us like we were "a fart in a spacesuit" in that she could never get rid of us!, but she managed to find a room - this time I booked for two nights, in case the engine problem was terminal!

On Monday we discussed the problem with the engineers; hired a car and headed off to Nice and Vilefranche. Whilst eating ice-cream in Villefranche (another of our old stomping grounds)I got a call from Martin Picard asking me if I wanted to meet up in Monaco. This we did after many complicated happenings, which will need a new Forum to explain!

Tuesday: we met with the Engineers who found the spark plugs completely fouled on one cylinder, hence the power loss. I'd asked them to do a compression check, which proved that all were good, so I did a quick air test solo, to check whether I was happy to take this heap of Cessna parts flying in close formation, back to England.

All went well and we checked out AGAIN from the hotel! By now the wind had gome round to the west and was blowing 15-20 knots. For our departure they offered us the short RW22. With a fully-laden airplane (we had to load extra fuel for the anticipated headwind en route), I was not happy to use a short runway with an interesting climbout, when there was the possibility of the power loss re-appearing.

I requested the long RW17, with the climbout over the sea, with a limiting crosswind, as the lesser of two evils. As it happened, all went well and we enjoyed a rather bumpy flight along the coast back to Carcassonne, where we stayed for the night.

The following morning, I had decided that I would be in sympathy with most of France and go "en grave" - on strike -for the day. The weather was superb, whilst the weather to the north was bad, so a day off was a good idea to keep my blood pressure in the low hundreds.

We wandered around the shopping area, along the Canal du Midi, back along the river to the Castle, and all around the enormous Castle battlements and tourist traps until almost dark.

The next morning I was completely surprised to find that the CAVOK conditions of the previous day had been replaced by an OVERCAST of 700 feet, with a wind blowing from the east at 20 knots!!

It appears that this is a micro-climate condition caused by a south-easterly wind funnelling moist air off the Mediterranean up the valley, like a reverse Mistral, and locking the airfield in IFR conditions. I thought that this was another hotel we were going to have to book for another night due to weather! Wasn't this supposed to be a weekend in Como? Here we are, a week later, and still "socked-in" by bad weather!!

Fortunately, by around 1000, the strong wind was starting to rip the low cloud apart, so we headed for the airport and decided to depart. The weather was definitely localised as it was CAVOK 15 miles to the west. Once we had managed to turn the aircraft round, in the gusty conditions, we departed rapidly for all points north.

Once abeam Gaillac, the turbulence died down, but we enjoyed a tailwind all the way back to the friendly airport of Angers (LFJR), which is rapidly becoming our watering hole for our trips to the south of France or Biscarrosse.

A pause for lunch, fuel and firing of faxes to the UK Customs, and then off again northwards via Cherbourg across the Channel to England. We arrived back at our home base of Blackbushe, exactly at the time we told Customs we would arrive, but they decided not come come out of their cosy office to meet us. We headed home with our minds still full of the interesting experiences and times we had enjoyed - and we hadn't even managed to get to our destination!!!

Since then the engine has performed perfectly, so we hope that was a little "hic-cup" (hoquet, Shlukauf) that won't be repeated!

Unfortunately, two water landings for 850 litres of fuel has severely damaged my "batting average"!!

John (& Liz) Russell.

Re: Flying Platform Goes on Sale

It looks like the stealth version of a Bell 47G!

JR.

Re: Como Circuit Diagram

Just had a reply from AeroClub Como, who confirm that the Circuit Diagram posted here is accurate.

John R.

Como Circuit Diagram

For those of you who have never visited Lake Como before, please find attached a copy of their circuit diagram, with my (hopefully) useful notes overlaid on it.

I will try to find out from Como if there have been any recent changes to their procedures and post any amendment in this Forum section.

If anyone would like a higher defintion version of the file, please contact me and I will send it as a separate file.

John Russell.

If you want to slip in under the radar - use a seaplane!

This is not the first time a Kenmore Harbor-based seaplane has flown through the President's "aura".

It happened in the late 1990's when I was on one of my regular visits up there doing some splashes. In that case the seaplane slipped through the security net (once again the President was late and actually arrived after the originally promulgated end of the TFR)and the Combat Air Patrol only noticed the infringement when Seattle Area Radar pointed it out to them! To avoid any military embarrassment, the naughty pilot was not reprimanded!! (It wasn't me!)

As an aside - anyone planning a visit to the Seattle area MUST visit Kenmore. it is only thirty miles to the north of the city. You can get a bus there for a few bucks, and you will find yourself in seaplane heaven. If you have money to burn you could get on one of Kenmore Air's services from the downtown Lake Union terminal and get a ten minute flight up to Kenmore. A really friendly place!

Sample Amphibian Checklists

SAMPLE AMPHIBIAN CIRCUIT CHECKLISTS


Recent events have shown that, despite warning devices, pilots can still making the wrong gear selection for the surface they intend to use.

You may already have efficient Checklists; but here are copies of my Checklists, which you may modify to suit your particular aircraft.

The Checklists are colour-coded to highlight the land or sea use and we usually print them back-to-back and laminate them. I also put Velcro strips in any blank spaces so we can stick them to larger Velcro pads located in various places around the cockpit.

Some landing gear indicators use green lights for the runway (grass), so you will need to format the orange boxes, etc. to a suitable green background to conform to the colour-coding concept.

The text in each box can be modified and the boxes enlarged if necessary. If you have any problems with editing the lists, please contact me.

These Checklists are offered copyright-free in the interests of promoting seaplane safety and may be copied as you wish.

Note that these are our Circuit Checklists, but we carry the colour-coding through to our full Normal and Emergency Checklists as well.

Happy Landings,


John Russell

chairman@theseaplaneclub.org
jr@euroseaplanes.co.uk

A Trip to Wales

G-ESSL’s FIRST VISIT TO WALES


The weather in the UK seems to be getting more variable each year and finding good weather windows for excursions, when we and the amphibian are available is difficult.

Such a window occurred at the beginning of September and I decided almost on the spur of the moment to take the aeroplane to Wales. By now my wife, Liz, is getting used to these “Quick Reaction Alerts” and can rapidly pack nightstop bags and help get together what aircraft equipment we may need.

The original plan was to land on some of the Welsh Lakes, but research on the Internet showed that most of them were restricted. Overcoming my disappointment at not being able to land in any fresh water since Biscarrosse, I instead planned to go around the north-west coast and land in any place that looked inviting.

After waiting for the early morning fog to disperse, we flew up from our base in Blackbushe (EGLK) to Welshpool (EGCW), which is a pleasant and friendly little airport with a good 1020m. runway, situated on the eastern border of Wales. There we refuelled with Avgas and tea before heading due west for the Aberdovey estuary.

This river estuary is about four miles long and more than a mile wide at high tide. The water was superb, with just enough movement to avoid the need for glassy-water techniques. At one stage we step-taxied for over a mile – something we can rarely do on our home ‘patch’ of The Solent, due to the large amount of boat traffic.

We did four landings (our normal limit to avoid annoying the locals!) before departing to fly north up the coast to the next estuary at Barmouth. This seaside resort town gets its name from the sandbar which closes off the estuary at low tide. Barmouth probably offers about 2 miles of usable length and is narrower than Aberdovey. This did not stop us enjoying the almost calm waters and lack of boat traffic.

Further up the coast we entered the Glaslyn estuary, where the main town is Portmadoc. Inland, up one of the tributary rivers, is Portmeirion, the unique and famous Italianate village built by the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. Its ‘modern’ claim to fame is that it was the location set for the 1960’s cult-TV series “The Prisoner”. Being around at those times, and having visited it many years before, we felt we had to land just off-shore and view the place from a different aspect. Although the estuary here is quite wide, it is very shallow, so we had to be careful not to go too close inshore and end up with an unscheduled nightstop!

From there we followed the Welsh coast all the way round to Anglesey, calling to Carnarvon (EGCK) en route and then talking to RAF Valley (EGOV) for clearance through their zone around the coast of Anglesey. From there we headed for the seaside resort of Llandudno, where we enjoyed splashing in the bay and entertaining the holiday-makers.

Heading southwest brought us to the Menai Straits which separate the island of Anglesey from the Welsh mainland. We flew down the straits to enter the circuit of Carnarvon airfield, where we planned to stay for the night.

After using a fire hose to wash off most of the salt, we got a taxi into a hotel in Carnarvon chosen from my Internet shortlist, for a great evening and pleasant stroll around the town. In the morning, we visited the Harbour Master to find out where we could land – or, more to the point, where we couldn’t!!

We departed at lunchtime, under clear blue skies, to catch the high tide and headed back up the Straits to overfly Conway Castle and return to Llandudno. After some splashes we headed east, landing at various bays in the Abergele area. It was time to head for home, so we routed over various Welsh mountain reservoirs. It was interesting to note that high speed boat traffic was seen on one lake, which we will try to request for seaplane use next year.

Our fuel stop was again at Welshpool, before heading home to Blackbushe and another wash-down for the amphibian. Seven hours of flying and 26 water landings in 24 hours produced some great memories and some unforgettable views of a beautiful part of Britain.

John Russell.

Names

Actually, the names are John Russell and Pete Jenness!

JR.

Beware Officialdom!

Ladies & Gentlemen,

As you may know, there are no general restrictions on operating on UK coastal waters, and seaplane pilots do not have to give prior notice of their intended flight and actions to any officials.

This also applies where operations are permitted on inland waterways and lakes.

With recent increases in seaplane operations, I have noticed that more officials are asking to be informed of seaplane operations in their areas.

Whilst I have no objection - and it might be good sea/airmanship to do this - of advising them as a courtesy of your intentions, there is no current requirement to do so.

There is also no requirement in the UK for GA aircraft to file a Flight Plan for VFR flights within our airspace. Similarly, hundreds of boats leave our ports and marinas for local voyages and do not need to inform the Authorities of their intentions.

My message to those involved in any negotiations for liberalising the use of seaplanes is to ensure that seaplanes are not treated differently to all other leisure users of water areas.

I believe that in Italy (arguably one of the more liberal countries for seaplane use) they still need to send 3 faxes prior to any flight that intends to land on water other than a Seaplane Base. Two of these faxes go to ATC, which seems irrelevant unless the flight is in Controlled Airspace; and the third goes to the local police for the intended splashdown area.

I can understand the interest of the local police as they will no doubt have to cope with the usual phone calls reporting aircraft crashing into the water, etc.

I would prefer to deal with this false alarm problem by educating the public about seaplanes, rather than place arbitrary restrictions on our operations.

We should be asking for equal treatment for all leisure users of water areas, and refuse to accept restrictions purely because we are in a minority and different - that is: we do not fit into the usual 'pigeonholes'.

It is ironic that anyone can buy a powerboat and take it on the water without any instruction or licence, whereas pilots who have received specific training and been licensed to operate on water, have restrictions placed on their flights!

Happy Landings,

JR.