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ICARUS NEWSLETTER
Autumn 2011
Website
We send our condolences to the families of the following absent friends:
John Ayre Alan Baldwin Jim Blake
Colin Bonhomme Ken Britton Forrest Burton
G. Carter (of Iver Heath) Gerry Fretz Bob Howard-Alpe
Bill Jackson John Robertson Richard (RNA) Smith
Alan Weal Nobby West
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People News: Cuth Wakefield, who has given sterling service to the Icarus committee over many years, has decided to step down and I, as chairman, would like to record our grateful thanks to him. His cheery disposition and wise counsel has been most valuable at our meetings and he has always been in the vanguard of volunteers when a mailing session has been required for newsletter distribution. He also administered the address database for many years, until handing over to Nick Edgley. Thanks Cuth and hopefully you will come along to a members function occasionally.
I enjoyed having a chat on the telephone earlier in the year with Ian Scott who continues to thrive at 88 in the raw Scottish climate up in Blairgowrie, although he did suffer a couple of health issues last year. He said that he had visited Duxford in 2009 and enjoyed making a reacquaintance with the Trident there, although I remember him as a Vanguard captain. He mentioned Jimmy Arnold-Boakes who he believes devised the phonetic alphabet as Ian remembers him, installed in the crew room with headphones and a tape recorder, canvassing opinion.
Although he was not an Icarus member, I am sure that those of you that were at Hamble in the 1960s will remember John Vickers, who instructed on Apaches. Sadly he died recently, having simply sat down for a sleep in his favourite armchair. He was a nice bloke and must have been extremely tolerant as he managed to get me through the advanced flying phase of the course!
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Now for a piece written by an American Delta captain who just happened to arrive in Japanese airspace as the recent earthquake struck. He describes the experience as follows:
“I'm currently still in one piece writing from my room in the Narita crew hotel.
It is 8am and this was my inaugural trans-pacific trip as a brand new, recently checked-out, international 767 Captain and it has been interesting so far to say the least! I've already crossed the Atlantic three times in command, so ocean crossing procedures are reasonably familiar to me. On the way to the Orient stunning scenery was evident flying over the Aleutian Islands and everything was going fine until 100 miles out from Tokyo during the descent for arrival.
The first indication of any trouble was when Japanese air traffic control started putting everyone into holding patterns. At first we thought it was the usual congestion on arrival. Then we got a company data link message advising about the earthquake, followed by another stating Narita airport was temporarily closed for inspection and expected to open shortly (the company is always so positive!).
From our perspective things were obviously looking a little different. The Japanese controller's anxiety level seemed quite high and he said expect "indefinite" holding time.
No one would commit to a time frame so I got my co-pilot and relief pilot busy looking at divert stations and at our fuel situation which, after an ocean crossing, is typically low.
It wasn't long, maybe ten minutes, before the first pilots started requesting diversions to other airports. Air Canada, American, United, etc. were all reporting minimal fuel situations although I still had enough fuel for 1.5 to 2.0 hours of holding. Needless to say, the diverters started complicating the situation. Japan air traffic control then announced Narita was closed indefinitely due to damage. Planes immediately started requesting arrivals into Haneada, near Tokyo and a half dozen JAL and western planes got clearance in that direction but then ATC
announced Haenada had just closed. Uh oh! Now instead of just holding, we all had to start looking at more distant alternatives like Osaka, or Nagoya. One bad thing about a large airliner is that you can't just be-pop into any little airport as we generally need lots of runway.
With more planes piling in from both east and west, all needing a place to land and several now fuel-critical, ATC was getting overwhelmed. In the scramble, and without waiting for my fuel to get critical, I got my flight a clearance to head for Nagoya, fuel situation still okay. So far so good. A few minutes into heading that way, I was "ordered" by ATC to reverse course. Nagoya was saturated with traffic and unable to handle more planes (read- airport full). Ditto for Osaka. With that statement, my situation went instantly from fuel okay, to fuel minimal considering we might have to divert for a much further distance. Multiply my situation by a dozen other aircraft all in the same boat, all making demands, requests and threats to ATC for clearances to somewhere. Air Canada and then someone else went to "emergency" fuel situation. Planes then started heading for air force bases. The nearest to Tokyo was Yokoda AFB. I threw my hat in the ring for that initially but the answer was Yokoda closed! No more space.
By now it was a three ring circus in the cockpit, my co-pilot on the radios, me flying and making decisions and the relief co-pilot buried in the air charts, trying to figure out somewhere to go that was within range, while data link messages were flying back and forth between us and company dispatch in Atlanta. I picked Misawa AFB at the north end of Honshu Island. We could just get there with minimal fuel remaining. ATC was happy to get rid of us so we cleared out of the maelstrom of the Tokyo region.
We heard ATC try to send planes toward Sendai, a small regional airport on the coast, which was the one I think that got flooded by a tsunami. Atlanta dispatch then sent us a message asking if we could continue to Chitose Airport on the Island of Hokkaido, north of Honshu. Other Delta planes were heading that way. More scrambling in the cockpit - check weather, check charts, check fuel okay. We could still make it and not be going into a fuel critical situation ... provided we had no other fuel delays. As we approached Misawa we got clearance to continue to Chitose. Critical decision thought process: Let's see - trying to help company - plane overflies perfectly good divert airport for one farther away...wonder how that will look in the safety report if anything goes wrong?
Suddenly ATC comes up and gives us a vector to a fix well short of Chitose and tells us to standby for holding instructions. Nightmare realized and situation rapidly deteriorating. Thus, after initially holding near Tokyo, starting a divert to Nagoya, reversing course back to Tokyo and then re-diverting north toward Misawa, all that happy fuel reserve that I had was vaporizing fast. My subsequent conversation, paraphrased of course, went something like this:
Sapparo Control - Delta XX requesting immediate clearance direct to Chitose, minimum fuel, unable hold.
Negative Ghost-Rider, the Pattern is full (top gun quote!)
Sapparo Control - make that - Delta XX declaring emergency, low fuel, proceeding direct Chitose.
Roger Delta XX, understood, you are cleared direct to Chitose, contact Chitose Approach....etc.
Enough was enough, I had decided to pre-empt actually running critically low on fuel while in another indefinite holding pattern, especially after bypassing Misawa, and played my last ace by declaring an emergency.
The problem with having done that is the fact that I now having a bit of company paperwork to do, but what the heck. As it was – we landed at Chitose, safe, with at least 30 minutes of fuel remaining before reaching a "true" fuel emergency situation. That's always a good feeling, being safe! They taxied us off to some remote parking area where we shut down and watched a half dozen or more other airplanes come streaming in. In the end, Delta had two 747s, my 767, another 767 and a 777 all on the ramp at Chitose. We saw two American airlines planes, a United and two Air Canada as well, not to mention several extra All Nippon and Japan Air Lines planes.
P.S. - 9 hours later, Japan Air Lines finally got around to getting a boarding ladder to the plane where we were able to get off and clear customs - that however, is another interesting story. By the way - while writing this - I have felt four additional tremors that have shaken the hotel slightly - all in the last 45 minutes.
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This photograph was taken from 115 miles north of the Kennedy Space Centre, as the 32nd shuttle mission to the I.S.S. departed on an early morning launch on February 8th 2011. The dramatic picture shows the arc’s watery reflection from the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge at Ponte Vedra, Florida. The 2-minute time exposure shows short star trails against the celestial background and a waning moon; definitely a good reason to be up early that day!
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The Air Rescue Museum based in Tucson Arizona has restored to full flying condition a Grumman HU-16B Albatross aircraft. The first flight was made on 14th March 2011.
The Albatross was towed from the ‘boneyard’ to the Davis-Monthan AFB. The aircraft then taxied under its own power for the first time in thirty years. It then took off and flew to its new home at Avra Valley. It spent the next three days flying in the local area, cumulating in three water landings on Lake Roosevelt. The crew of the first flight: Captain Bob Ryan: Co-pilot: Chuck Wootan. Observer: John Stipetich.
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The aircraft and crew are now on standby to fly to Palmdale, CA where Northrop-Grumman will paint it in its original 1950’s USAF colours. The theme and driving force for this restoration project has been: “This old aircraft has spent its working life saving lives and now a group of old aviation enthusiasts are on a mission to save it!”
The whole restoration team realise that there is a very human story to be told of the history and restoration of this remarkable aircraft. This is not a war plane...this is a plane to whom many alive now owe their lives. It really started because of Bob Ryan’s dad, and his 30 years as a pilot in the USAF, of which 20 were with the USAF Air Rescue Service. He flew B17’s in WWII; his last 20 years were with the USAF flying helicopters and the Albatross.
Bob’s 21 year old son, also a commercial pilot, will be checked out on the Albatross this year, thus making three generations of Albatross pilots.
The Albatross we have is 51-0019. MSN 092 with some parts’ donated’ from 51-0016.
For more information visit
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Flights to Remember…. (or forget!):
Again, not BOAC/BEA/BA incidents, but three accidents with much in common – they all involved Viscount aeroplanes, they all involved an operating crew with more than one captain and they all resulted in a hull-loss. The Viscount, of course, was the mainstay of the BEA fleet in the 1950s and also provided sterling service for BEA/BA during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. It is fondly remembered as a very satisfying aircraft to fly by those of us fortunate to have had the pleasure. The last BA Viscount service was operated by G-APIM from Kirkwall to Glasgow on 28th March 1982. Although inevitable during P1 training, two captains flying together has generally been frowned upon on line flying and the following instances would appear to support that view! It might surprise you to know that, of the 445 Viscounts built at Weybridge and Hurn, 144 hulls were lost in accidents/incidents. Five Viscounts were still listed as flying in Africa during 2008.
(i) 17th February 1959 at 1647 hrs. Turkish Airlines Viscount V793 TC-SEV.
It had flown 548 hours and was less than seven months old. 7 crew plus a travelling mechanic and 16 pax. Ankara-Istanbul-Rome-LHR (Gatwick), carrying the Turkish prime minister Mr Menderes and his entourage to London, to sign an agreement with the Greek Prime Minister Mr Karamanlis, relating to Cyprus.
The flight crew comprised, not two captains, but four! The commander, aged 38, was the chief pilot of Turkish Airlines with 7,716 hours experience, of which 216 were on the Viscount. He was flying the aeroplane from the left hand seat, but was not well practised at flying instrument approaches. The co-pilot was aged 35 and a captain, with 5,504 hours total experience with 103 hrs on the Viscount. The third captain, aged 35, was sitting on the jump seat behind and between the pilots. He was the company check pilot with 5,297 total experience and 198 hrs on the Viscount. He had not, however, flown the Viscount in the previous three months. The fourth captain, listed as the navigator, had no Viscount experience.
On the afternoon in question the London area was badly affected by fog and a large number of incoming flights to Heathrow had diverted. Following discussion between the airport commandants at Heathrow and Gatwick, bearing in mind the nature of the passengers on board, the captain of TC-SEV was advised to divert to Gatwick, where the VIPs could still be received in an appropriate manner. Routing from Epsom was to Mayfield, thence for radar positioning to the ILS for R/W 09. The weather at Gatwick was wind calm, vis 1.1 nm in mist, 3/600, QNH 1043. A normal radar positioning to the ILS was provided by Gatwick Director, although the aircraft passed through the centreline and didn’t establish on the beam until just inside the outer marker. The crew advised that they could continue on the ILS and were told to change to the tower frequency. The blip then disappeared from the radar and no further communication was received from the aircraft. It transpired that the aeroplane had crashed 2.8 nm from the threshold and 550 ft to the north of the centre line, in Jordan’s Wood just to the east of the Newdigate to Rusper road. All the flight crew were killed, as was one of the three cabin crew. Nine of the sixteen passengers were killed. Mr Menderes was one of the injured survivors. At around this time Mr Karamanlis’s aircraft arrived safely at Gatwick and the Cyprus accord was signed by the two prime ministers a few days later.
It is ironic that, having survived the air crash relatively unscathed, Mr Menderes was sentenced to death, following a military coup in 1960, and was hanged in 1961.
(ii) 15th Oct 1979 at 1520 hrs. Guernsey Airlines (part of Alidair) Viscount V735 G-BFYZ.
It had flown 25,641 hours and completed 16,275 landings prior to the accident at Kirkwall Airport in the Orkneys. 4 crew/47 pax. Glasgow – Kirkwall carrying oil industry workers on
a non-scheduled flight. G-AFYZ’s commander and handling pilot was aged 54 and was a Viscount IRE/TRE with 14,485 total experience, 13894 command hours and 3,601 hours on the Viscount mostly in command. The co-pilot aged 55 and also a captain, had 13,587 hours total experience, with 13,337 hours in command and 2,000 hours on the Viscount.
The weather at the Kirkwall Airfield was wind 150/35 gusting to 40, vis 4.2 km in rain, cloud 2/600, 5/1000 and 7/1500. R/W wet with slight amounts of standing water on the runway.
The captain elected to fly a VOR approach to R/W 25 (1183 metres long) and, when established inbound, crossed the marker beacon 500 feet too high. This resulted in an unstabilised approach during the visual phase which required a large correction to the left to regain the centre line, whilst attempting to rapidly lose excessive height.
The left hand windscreen wiper also started to malfunction at this time, which was a recurring defect on the aircraft in question. This, together with the unstable fight path, should have prompted the captain to go-around, but he persisted with his attempt to land. The co-pilot, a fully qualified captain, was aware of the deteriorating situation but took no positive steps to warn the commander, except for suggesting “Opening up?” when the captain called for land flap to be selected, but the captain replied “No, we are ok”. With a reported wind of 140/25 and the wiper again malfunctioning, the aircraft was still being repositioned for lateral displacement from the runway centreline as the aeroplane touched down on its starboard main wheels and, drifting to the right, caused number 4 propeller to strike the runway. The aircraft bounced and, just before a second touchdown, the same prop again struck the runway. The captain called for go-around power but the co-pilot did not respond as he was aware that the aircraft had sustained damage. The aeroplane left the runway to the right and ran parallel on the grass until crossing the intersecting runway, where the nose gear collapsed.
An evacuation was ordered which was carried out without injury and the airframe was subsequently found to be beyond economic repair.
(iii) 17th July 1980 at 1953 hrs. Alidair Viscount V708 G-ARBY, originally built for Air France as F-BGNL and the tenth production aircraft of the type, manufactured by Vickers in 1953. It had flown 35,121 hours and completed 29,542 landings before the crash landing.
4 crew/58 pax. Santander – Exeter. The aircraft was being operated on a non-scheduled flight for Brittany Ferries, whose vessel had become unserviceable for their service from Santander to Plymouth. Ironically some of the passengers had booked on the ferry because they didn’t enjoy flying! G-ARBY’s commander was Capt Geoffrey Whittaker, 55, with 14,500 hours total experience and 1,540 on Viscounts. His co-pilot was Capt “Wild-Bill” Hiccox, 58, who had 3,895 hours total experience and 2,904 on Viscounts, of which 1022 were P1. The aircraft was refuelled at Santander with the planned uplift although, subsequently, the suspicion was that the fuel only circulated within the bowser, registering on the bowser’s supply gauge, without being actually transferred to the Viscount’s tanks. Despite the aircraft having one or more unreliable fuel gauges, which was known to the pilots, stick checks were not made to confirm that the resulting tank contents were correct.
In the vicinity of Guernsey the pilots began to wonder whether they were short of fuel for the remaining part of the flight and consideration was given to landing at Guernsey to uplift some more. Unfortunately several passengers then visited the flight deck and no further thought was given to tech-stopping. The aircraft continued towards Exeter and established on the ILS to R/W 26 at 2000 feet, with 8 miles to go to touchdown. Fortunately by now the flight was just below the cloud base and, being summer, it was still light at approaching 8pm. The fuel low-pressure lights were beginning to illuminate and all four engines then flamed-out.
The handling pilot in the left hand seat managed to identify a least-worst field in which to land the crippled airliner, which was located 1 mile south of the village of Ottery St Mary and was about 700 yards long in the north-south direction. The field was bounded on the east side by a disused railway line and the River Otter and on the west side by a minor road. The glide approach was on a heading of 190 degrees, over some trees to the north of the field and part of the port wing was torn off as it collided with a tree before touching down. The aircraft came to a halt after 307 metres, wheels-up, on a heading of 074 degrees, near the eastern edge of the field. The field at the time contained a flock of sheep and several were killed as the Viscount landed, the unfortunate victims allegedly disappearing into local deep-freezes. The sheep were the only casualties of the incident. In the subsequent accident report the crew were blamed for the occurrence, although Captain Whittaker was praised for his handling of the flight, once all the engines had stopped.
Exeter, at the time, was a customs training station and an exercise was going on there in this respect – it will not therefore surprise you that customs personnel were first on the scene!
It is significant that, in the analysis of the Kirkwall incident by the reporting authority, the following observation was made. “In the past there have been a number of serious accidents where the crew has comprised two or more pilots, each qualified in command of the type concerned. This has thrown doubt on the assumption that such a crew is at least as efficient as a pilot in command and a subordinate co-pilot. It may well be that a captain, who is carrying out the duties of a co-pilot, could be less well practised and less effective than a regular co-pilot in a supporting role. There appears to be a need for research in order to establish whether a flight crew comprising two qualified aircraft commanders is less safe than a normal crew comprising a captain and co-pilot.” It then goes on to list some more accidents and incidents with an operating crew of two or more “captains”:
Feb 1958 BEA Elizabethan G-ALZU Munich, January 1961 BOAC Comet G-APDM near Rome, March 1962 Caledonian DC 7C G-ARUD Douala, February 1964 British Eagle Britannia G-AOVO Innsbruck, November 1969 BOAC VC10 G-ASGD airmiss near Epsom with a foreign B707, June 1971 Moormanair DC3 PH-MOA Southend, July 1972 BCAL B111 G-AWYA Corfu and April 1973 Invicta Vanguard G-AXOP Basle.
The Turkish crash also brings into question the wisdom of using the top-brass to operate
VIP and high profile special flights, as said personnel are usually the least current and
well-practised operators, despite their status! Pictures of G-ARBY and G-BFYZ in their crashed state can be found by inserting the registrations into the “photos” section of the website .
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In a lighter vein, you might find some of the following items amusing. They were all written by children in their school work:
Sir Walter Raleigh circumcised the world with a big clipper.
In Scandinavia, the Danish people come from Denmark, the Norwegians come from Norway and the Lapdancers come from Lapland.
In wartime children who lived in big cities had to be evaporated because it was safer in the country.
If you marry two people you are a pigamist, but morons are allowed to do this.
Helicopters are cleverer than planes. Not only can they fly in the air they can hoover.
Then Joan of Ark met her end. She was burned as a steak.
Crabs and creatures like them all belong to a family of crushed asians.
In geography we learned that countries with sea round them are islands and ones without are incontinents.
If it is less than 90 degrees it is a cute angel.
The closest town to France is Dover. You can get to France on a train or you can go on a fairy.
In last years Christmas concert Linzi played the main prat. I played one of the smaller prats and I would like to have a bigger prat this year.
I asked my mum why we said old men at the end of prayers. I don’t know any old men apart from grandpa.
On an activity holiday Dad wanted to ride the hores, but mum said they were too ekspensiv.
I would like to be an accountant but you have to know a lot of moths.
A mosque is a sort of church. The main difference is that its roof is doomed.
The total is when you add up all the numbers and a remainder is an animal that pulls Santa on his slay.
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For those who are interested in some of the better web and youtube items try clicking on the following, some of which are old favourites but worth seeing again…
> Hudson A320 Ditching
Virtual Red Arrows
Kai Tak
Ex – Hamble chaps: a date for your diaries - 11th May 2012 – Reunion 1930 hrs for former staff and students at the Social Club in Satchell Lane. Contact Phil Nelson if you are not already on his advice list. p.a.nelson@
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The Trident Preservation Society has now moved the fuselage of G-ARPO from Teeside to Sunderland for eventual display at the local aviation museum. The remainder of the parts of the aircraft will follow, when funds permit. See their website for further information, or to donate to the cause.
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We appear to have no retiree guests at the October 2011 meeting.
We will however be very pleased to welcome our three new joining associate members:
Bob Dennis, Robin Down and Niall Duncan
The committee look forward to welcoming you all to the Autumn Meeting at:
The Concorde Club, Pavilion Suite,
Thursday 13th October 2011 at 1930hrs.
If you arrive early, visit the main club building for a meal, snack and/or drink where you will meet several other members who use the facility prior to the meeting, as does the committee!
Should you not be able to attend this time, make a note in your diary that the next function
will be on Thursday, 12th April 2012 and we’ll hope to see you then.
Best Regards,
STEVE WAND on behalf of the Icarus committee.
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