Anything and everything you can fly Stemme S6

� Hawker Hunter sets FTD at Goodwood Festival of Speed � The best airshow action from home and abroad � Turning back after engine failure on takeoff

The ultimate motorgliderStemme S6Anything and everything you can fly

PLUS

P2010 tested on the eve of certification

New four-seaterFlying to Spain for the first event

F1 air racer

August 2014 £3.99

Why we are facing a maintenance crisis

ENGINEERING MATTERS!

What could be better than Wickenby?

AIRFIELD PROFILE

This summer’s go-to events

EVENT CALENDAR

THIS MONTH

15 hours of IMC flight trainingWORTH £3,000

WIN!

LANDIN

G VOU

CHERS

WORTH £5

3

INSID

E!

www.pilotweb.aero

August 2014 | Preflight

There are now even more ways of keeping in touch with the editorial team’s flying adventures and plans — follow us on Twitter and find photos and news on Facebooktwitter.com/pilot_magfacebook.com/pilotmagazine

A s I write, the flying season really has

taken off and all our contributors are out getting some use from their aircraft. GA not being a huge world, we keep bumping into each other: as a

member of the Vintage Aircraft Club and the owner of what is deemed ‘an interesting old aeroplane’, I was invited in June to the Bicester Heritage brunch.

Having been saved from becoming a housing estate following the RAF’s departure, this wonderful Buckinghamshire airfield is now home to a very active civvie gliding club, a number of light aircraft, and a growing number of vintage and classic cars and associated businesses.

The brunch was primarily an old car event, but drew a fine selection of fly-in visitors, including this issue’s flying adventurer Trevor Jarvis, who brought along his Taylor Titch racer Catch 22, and regular ‘Race Report’ contributor Nigel Lamb. Nigel rather eclipsed all the other vintage aviators — even the Millers, père et fils, with their immaculate DH Dragon Rapide — by turning up in P-51 Mustang Ferocious Frankie.

It was nice to be able to congratulate Nigel in person for his first Red Bull Air Race win, described in the last issue. It was also interesting for me and Philip Whiteman, Editor

other onlookers to discover how knowledgeable he is on the Mustang and WWII fighter operations — and if you turn to page 20 you will discover how Nigel came to have this insight.

A week later, Digital Editor Jenny Ross and I were at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where we met these days rather less regular contributor Colin Goodwin (rest assured, fans; he will be back). While we were fantasizing about investing in either the Beech Bonanza or Guimbal Cabri G2 on display (see p.7), helicopter flight tester and columnist Pat Malone was, unbeknown to us, limbering up to demonstrate the new Arial Ace motorcycle on the hill. You may have read about the Arial in The Sunday Times: writing about motorcycles is Pat’s day job — his aviation column appears on p.24.

In between times, I met up with photographer Keith Wilson when I flew a rather nice new diesel-engined aeroplane from an airfield in Essex, and I was buzzed at his own strip by Nick Bloom in his freshly-revived Tipsy Nipper. You will be reading about these aircraft in future editions so, as the old TV cliché has it, stay tuned folks!

Contributing to this issue...

NIGEL LAMBIn writing about some of the special training required for Red Bull Air Racing and his warbird activities, Nigel gives the back-story to his flying (p.20)

PAT MALONEWe mention his motorcycle demo hill-climb activities above: as you’ll see on p.24 Pat takes off in yet another direction for his regular column

DAVE UNWINWe were impressed by Tecnam’s new P Twenty-Ten, but Dave doesn’t allow its many good features to blind him to one or two little faults. Flight Test p.26

NICK BLOOMNow he is enjoying a two-plane fleet, with a biplane or monoplane to choose from, Nick’s airfield visits are fly-in jobs. Share the pleasure with him from p.77

TREVOR JARVISF1 air racer and hand-propper extraordinaire (Taylor Titches and the Editor’s Cub), Trevor turns in a classic Flying Adventure, starting on p.55

A small but happy worldEditorialWrite to Pilot, Archant Specialist, 3 The Courtyard, Denmark Street, Wokingham RG40 2AZ

Editor Philip Whiteman Tel 0118 989 7246 Email [email protected]

Digital Editor Jenny RossTel 0118 989 7245 Email [email protected]

Designer Carine (Kitty) ThomasEmail [email protected]

Contributing Editors James Allan, Bob Grimstead,Mike Jerram & Peter R March Flight Test Editor Dave UnwinEngineering Consultant Andy McLuskieRegular contributors Nick Bloom, Alan Brown, Colin Goodwin, Geoff Jones, Pat Malone, Don Peterson, Peter Turner & Keith Wilson Digital Apprentice Mac Hooper

AdvertisingDeputy Sales Manager Richard Marsland Tel 0118 989 7237 Email [email protected] Executive Cheryl Butcher.Tel 0118 989 7238 Email [email protected] Brand Manager Ross ArnoldTel 0118 989 7220 Email [email protected]

ProductionProduction Coordinator Michael Godden Tel 01603 772876 Email [email protected] Technician Neil PuttnamPublishing Director Peter TimperleyManaging Director, Archant Lifestyle Will Hattam

Subscriptions, binders & back issuesWrite to: Pilot, Tower House, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9EF Visit www.subscriptionsave.co.uk or tel: 0844 848 5232 or overseas tel: +44 1858 438840. See page 76 for the latest subscription offer

Want to sell Pilot in your club?Contact Kay Tel 020 7429 4043 Wholesale and retail distribution If you have difficulty obtaining a copy please contact: Seymour, 86 Newman St, London, W1T 3EX. Tel 0207 429 4000 Printed in England by William Gibbons Origination Archant Specialist

Pilot is published by Archant Specialist, a division of Archant Community Media Ltd. The entire content is © copyright, and none of it may be reproduced in any form without permission. (Permission to make a limited number of photocopies is usually given, but should be sought.)Articles for consideration are welcome. Advice to contributors is available free from Pilot’s editorial office on receipt of an SAE marked ‘Advice’ in the top left-hand corner, or on our website or by e-mail.

We take good care of material submitted, but do not accept responsibility for loss or damage, however caused.

www.pilotweb.aero Pilot August 2014 | 3

Contents | August 2014

Follow us on @Pilot_mag

/Pilotmagazine

ON THE COVER

26 Tecnam P Twenty-Ten We fly the first European four-seat

single to be certified in fourteen years

41 Engineering Matters! Is the aviation engineering sector

facing the perfect storm?

55 F1 Air Racing As if flying a Taylor Titch to Spain

wasn’t enough of a challenge...

62 Stemme S6 If you ever win the Lottery, don’t

forget to buy us this motorglider!

77 Wickenby A former WWII bomber station is

getting ready for the upturn...

90 Calendar The top aviation events taking place

around the UK and further afield

£1 OFF£1 OFFPre-order the September issue and SAVE £1 OFF the cover price with FREE UK delivery! RRP £3.99.

Go to www.buyamag.co.uk/Pilot

US

E D

ISC

OU

NT

CO

DE

F1 Air Racing

Airfield Profile: Wickenby

Special Feature: Engineering

4 | Pilot August 2014 www.pilotweb.aero

Flight Test: Stemme

‘Notes’ FoS photo report

explained that the bright yellow little

aeroplane would look good on camera as

all the other faster racers went past it.

To cut a long story short, I started out

from Hinton-in-the-Hedges on Saturday 24

May 2014, setting course for Goodwood to

refuel before crossing the Channel direct to

Deauville LFRG. During the run-up to the

trip I had spent some time deliberating on

the route down to Spain, but−with a 38.5

litre fuel tank−every time I factored in

various winds, the whole route structure,

fuel stops and diversions had to be

changed. I looked at so many

combinations and permutations that I

researched just about every airfield in

France and eventually settled on taking my

old RAF 140nm nav rule (which was one

sector in still air) and planning on the

hoof. Several ex Search and Rescue pilot

friends questioned my wisdom of not

taking the shortest Channel crossing but

the Titch hadn’t missed a beat in the year I

had owned her so it was a calculated risk

which I was prepared to accept.

At Goodwood I donned my lifejacket

and ensured that my McMurdo sponsored

Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) was

attached to me, and close to hand.

Crossing the Channel in good weather was

my primary objective for the whole trip as

I don’t have an artificial horizon, just a

slip-ball and card compass. The weather

was perfect, I didn’t tell the Titch she was

Fifty years ago John Taylor

submitted the drawings for the

Titch as an entry to the 1964

Norman Jones (Rollason Aircraft

and Engines Ltd) sponsored

Midget Racer Design Competition. The

competition was set up to encourage

British subjects to design a sporting midget

racer aircraft that could also be flown and

used by an average club pilot. By

November 1964 the entries were judged

and John Taylor’s Titch design was

awarded second place−a team of young

design engineers employed by the British

Aircraft Corporation (BAC) at Luton took

first place with the Beta.

I bought Titch G-AYZH in April 2013

from Terry Gardner, who had taken on the

plans-build project in 2001 after its two

previous owners had failed to complete

the aircraft, first registered in 1972. Terry

completed ‘Zulu Hotel’ in April 2007 and

flew her out of Wolverhampton

(Halfpenny Green) for six years until he

needed the hangar space for his soon to be

completed Cassutt racer. As you can

imagine, there is no dual to solo check-ride

with a single-seater so a little time was

spent taxying around the airfield, getting

used to the controls and cockpit

environment until I felt confident enough

to open the throttle and get airborne.

From the first leap into the skies of

Wolverhampton the Titch was an absolute

delight to fly; manoeuvrable, predictable,

vice-free and just great fun. Although a

little apprehensive approaching for my first

landing, I needn’t have been, the flare and

touchdown were progressive and smooth,

with stick forces and movement

harmonising with the decreasing speed.

Next stop was her new home at Hinton

where I was confident enough with the

landing characteristics to use the 500

metre grass strip.

The Taylor Titch had limited success as

a racer in the 1970s and 80s but ‘Zulu

Hotel’ certainly looked the part with her

bright yellow paintwork, teardrop sliding

canopy and carbon fibre spinner and

instrument panel. Unfortunately Formula

One air racing had reached its pinnacle in

UK by the mid 1980s and until this year no

pylon racing had taken place for over

fifteen years. I was therefore intrigued to

see an article in one of the online aviation

newsletters promoting a Formula One air

race scheduled to take place on 1 June

2014 at Lleida International Airport

(LEDA) in Catalonia, Spain. I sent the

organisers my best wishes and a few

photographs by email and also suggested

that if they had any vintage support races

in future years, I might be able to

participate with the Titch. To my surprise I

got a swift reply from Air Race F1 CEO Jeff

Zaltman, inviting me down to Lleida with

the Titch. In a later telephone call he

Flying Adventure | Racing in Spain


Flying a Taylor Titch to Spain would be challenge enough for some, but then to enter an F1 race in it...By Trevor Jarvis

‘Catch 22’ in Catalonia

PHOTO: CHRISTOPHE BOZEC

over the sea (a trick I learned with the

Auster) and we set course for Deauville.

A few minutes here to relax after an

extremely hectic build-up to the trip, take

stock and have a look around−I noticed

the newly applied red race number 22

contrasting nicely against the yellow wing.

With France now in sight, for me the part

of the trip which could easily have been a

stopper was almost behind us and

Catch-22, which was Zulu Hotel’s new

race name, delicately felt her way onto

French tarmac for the first time.

From Deauville I had planned to do one

more sector to Cholet LFOU before sunset;

however, Catch-22 thought differently and

no matter how much I swung the prop she

did not want to hot-start. Eventually the

setting sun just above the starboard wing.

A quick calculation indicated that it would

be dark at Cholet so I diverted to Le Mans

LFRM and spent the night there, setting off

again on Sunday morning for Angoulême

LFBU, about 20Nm east of Cognac, for yet

another refuel. The most common reason

for delay through France was waiting for

someone to exchange the use of their Total

fuel card for cash, and with this

accomplished at Angoulême we were on

O-200 relented and settled down to her

usual rasping burble from the short-stub

exhausts and after this twenty-minute

unforeseen delay we set off south with the


Abov e: not quite a Le Mans-style pit stop — waiting to exchange cash for the use of a Total fuel card

Right: crossing the snow-capped Pyrénées from France to Spain, the open plains of Catalonia still ahead of us

We set off south with the setting sun just above the starboard wing...

PHOT

O: T

ERVO

R JA

RVIS

PHOT

O: T

REVO

R JA

RVIS



our way to the next fuel stop at Arcachon

LFCH, about 20Nm southwest of

Bordeaux. From here, it was my intention

to fly along the coast towards San

Sebastian in Spain before setting course

inland for Pamplona LEPP, nestling

amongst 5,000ft mountains. The flight

plan was filed to reflect this but passing

abeam Biarritz I was told the weather on

the Spanish side of the Pyrénées was

worsening and although Pamplona was

still VFR at this moment, San Sebastian

was not. A decision had to be made

quickly and had to be the correct one as

fuel was going to be tight. The choices

were to continue to Pamplona amongst the

mountains without an in-range diversion

and worsening weather, or return to

France and divert to Biarritz LFBZ. Either

way the weather was not good but at least

Biarritz was not surrounded by mountains

so that was quite an easy decision.

Catch-22 was going to have to spend the

night outside on the apron at Biarritz as

there is no hangarage. I secured her as

best I could using sand-filled tie-down

bags and ropes provided by the handling

agent, before walking over to the airport

hotel with the few clothes and wash bag I

had stowed in the locker behind my head.

By early afternoon the weather cleared as

forecast to blue skies and light winds so we

set off, eventually climbing to 8,500ft,

serenely winding our way amongst the

snow-capped mountains, leaning out the

mixture to save precious fuel on this critical

sector. Clear of the mountains, the open

plains rolled out in front of us and thoughts

of Lleida and a cold beer for the first time

overrode thoughts of forced landings and

having to use my McMurdo PLB.

Unsure of exactly how much fuel I had

approaching Lleida, I elected to join high

in the overhead instead of my usual run

and break, only to discover later that I had

ten litres remaining, which is more than a

quarter of a tank for the Titch and much

more than I had anticipated. I was the first

racer to fly in. A few hours later Des Hart

The following morning I peered nervously

through the hotel room curtains, but the

view didn’t fill me with joy. It was still

raining with a 400ft cloudbase and the

TAFs suggested this would not clear until

early afternoon. This enforced delay gave

me the opportunity to email Pamplona to

inform them of my intention to try to get

there later and pick up fuel before finally

departing for Lleida. Their reply was not

one that I had expected and was very

unwelcome: fuel was not available to me

without a carnet between San Sebastian

and Lleida and cash would not be

acceptable. I couldn’t risk getting stuck in

Pamplona and decided that the forecast

tailwinds were such that if I flew a direct

track over the Pyrénées I could make it to

Lleida without stopping.

Above: Trevor washes off the many bugs encountered at race height, hoping the rain in Spain isn’t going to fall on his plane

Below: Catch 22 with some of the other F1 racers on the Lleida flight line awaiting the next practice session

PHOT

O: J

ANE

JARV

IS

PHOT

O: T

REVO

R JA

RVIS

although some of their aircraft were

capable of aerobatics, they were restricted

from doing so by regulation. Again,

working as a team to get the show in the

air, all three nations resolved the issue by

flying in a CAP 10 from France, piloted by

the APAF instructor Jean-Lin Balland.

Although it’s not a bad thing to practise

recovering from being turned upside-down

by the wake of another racer, FARA’s

approach differed in that their training

required you to follow a larger aircraft at

racing speeds at an altitude of 2-3,000ft

whilst it was turning and producing a

turbulent wake. Both exercises had

something to offer but having experienced

the wake upset forces at altitude, it better

prepares you not to get rolled into the

inverted at a height and low nose attitude

which would probably be impossible to

recover from. When it came to my

practice, I tried to fathom out the CAP 10

with Cassutt G-BOMB arrived and a couple

of hours after that we were joined by the

French contingent, who had been delayed

by weather on the eastern side of France.

The three American aircraft had been

shipped over in a container.

The week before race weekend at Lleida

was used to qualify for our International

Formula 1 race licence, presented to us on

successful completion of training by IF1

President Steve Senegal, over from the

States for the occasion. The British

regulatory body for such things is the

Formula Air Racing Association (FARA), a

full member association of the Royal Aero

Club. Our man-on-the-spot for the

occasion was Martin Luton, teamed-up

with ex-F1 air racer Steve Alexander and

for all matters technical and scrutineering

we were fortunate to have Bob Winsper

on our side. The French pilots were

represented by Dominique Milcendeau,

President of their Association Des Pilotes

D’Avions De Formules (APAF).

One of the aims of this showcase race

was for the three international bodies to

thrash out the eligibility and racing rules

ready for the full Air Race F1 race series

next year. A lot of hard work, negotiating

and compromising by the three nations’

representatives eventually produced a

working set of rules for the Lleida races

and will be a firm foundation upon which

to produce regulations for future

international races in this series.

One of the regulatory hurdles for the

Titch was that she is not cleared for

aerobatics and it is an IF1 requirement for

the race pilot to demonstrate rolls to the

right and left, followed by a roll to the

inverted one way and a recovery to

straight and level in the opposite direction,

with minimum height loss. The French

pilots were also faced with this problem:

Flying Adventure | Strap2 xxx


Above: Trevor’s freshly-issued racing licence and the medal presented to all finalists

Left: Trevor gets a last-minute briefing from crew chief Kevin Broughall

Below: tension mounts as the field prepares on the apron for the Silver race

PHOTO: FERNANDO YUBEROPH

OTO:

FER

NAND

O YU

BERO

him and after three laps was in a position

to ease out to the right and overtake him.

Flying at 160mph, wing-tip to wing-tip, ten

metres above the ground concentrates the

mind and all this whilst also being

overtaken by the faster racers creating a

lot of turbulence in their wake. We

managed to hold our places to the

chequered flag, providing some excitement

at the back of the pack for the estimated

10,000 spectators.

The Silver race was won by No. 11, Des

Hart in his Cassutt, so he moved up to

Gold for the final race. This was won by

No. 6, Frenchman

Christian Guilie in

his self-designed,

self-built and

self-raced Arletty II at

a lap average of

238mph, easily

beating his three America-based Reno-

racing rivals. The three podium finishers

of each race, as is traditional, wasted a lot

of bubbly on the rostrum where we were

all presented with Lleida 2014 Race

pilot medals.

It was a privilege to be allowed to race

the Titch with the other ten pilots.

Everyone got on fantastically well with

each other and the great camaraderie and

professionalism will ensure that this race

with all its parachute straps, seat straps

and finally safety straps. Eventually, under

the watchful eye of Jean-Lin, I pedalled

the rudders sufficiently fast enough to get

airborne at a still undetermined airspeed. I

quickly completed all the rolling

manoeuvres required of me before

Jean-Lin took control, dropping down to

the race course so he could do a few laps

and check it out. He gave me control again

after pulling off the course, closing the

throttle and zooming up towards the

circuit pattern. I held the stick steady and

looked at Jean-Lin, and summoning up my

best Franglais asked

him if he would like

“zee circuit with

poweur or zee

Practice Forced

Landing wizout zee

poweur”. “Wizout,

of course,” came the reply, having already

lost a few hundred feet and a lot of energy.

We survived the PFL with a generous

trickle of power and I believe that pilots

subsequently had a briefing before doing

battle with the CAP 10.

Franglais became the common language,

mostly in the hotel bar of course, where

the Brits would use it conversing with the

French, the Americans with the Brits and

the English with the Scottish. Surprisingly,

we all seemed to understand each

other perfectly.

All the aircraft also had to pass

scrutineering before being allowed to take

part in practice races and, despite her trip

down, Catch-22 was one of the few aircraft

that didn’t need working on before being

allowed to race.

Race day on 1 June soon came around

and the weather was beautiful; light winds

and blue skies with the odd fluffy white

cloud. Starting on the back of the grid in

the Silver race allowed me the privilege of

leading the pack out to the runway for the

start. We followed the race control truck

out to the grid like a string of waddling

ducklings, weaving from side to side,

striving for some forward vision. Once all

of the racers were in position, it was green

flag up, full power against the brakes and

wait for the green to drop.

We were off, with Catch-22 at the back

but not too far behind No. 55, Patrick

Gajan in his CP80. After a lap I was

catching him, after two laps I was with



‘Catch 22’ was one of the few aircraft that didn’t need working on before being allowed to race

A true air race: Trevor’s Catch 22 holds a tight line round a pylon, forcing the faster racers to the outside to overtake

PHOTO: CHRISTPHE BOZEC

a quarter hours after first taxying out

of Lleida.

It was a wonderful ten-day adventure:

flying every day, covering more than

1,500nm, either at 10,000ft over

mountains, or at ten metres above the

ground during the race. I had found a

wonderful group of people to be associated

with and a wonderful little aeroplane in

which to do the trip, fifty years after John

Taylor first submitted her design. She was

never going to be a race winner in Lleida

but I still maintain that Catch-22 the Titch

was the sweetest natured and cutest little

aeroplane down there−and we didn’t

come last!

series continues and grows in future years,

rivalling Formula One at Reno. However,

all good things must come to an end and a

relatively early night meant that I was

ready to leave the hotel at 0730 the next

morning to fly Catch-22 back home.

The weather was forecast to be good

with a ridge of high pressure over the

Pyrénées, through France and into the UK.

I elected to take

advantage of westerly

tailwinds because of

the fuel problem in

Spain and fly northeast

direct to Perpignan LFMP to

refuel. Climbing to 10,000ft over and

between the mountains, the Titch seemed

perfectly happy and once again didn’t miss

a beat despite her race the previous day.

After Perpignan we had to stop four

more times for fuel on the way home,

calling in at Souillac LFSL, Loudun LFDL,

Deauville LFRG and Shoreham EGKA,

before arriving back at Hinton just as the

sun was beginning to set, twelve and



Left : podium glory for the top three, while our man...

Above: ...seems to have got the babes

Below: 750 miles and more than twelve hours after starting out for home, Catch 22 nears Hinton

Inset: amongst the Pyrénées at 10,000 feet en route to Perpignan

PHOTO: JANE JARVISPHOTO: TREVOR JARVIS

PHOT

O: J

ANE

JARV

ISPH

OTO:

TRE

VOR

JARV

IS

Documents

Anything and everything you can fly Stemme S6