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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0753.PDF
fW"'HT, 1 June 1961 SPORT AND BUSINESS 763 Private View BY P.P.O "Another way of enjoying your aeroplane is to take part in races and competitions . . ." THE rallies season is now with us and we are all hoping for a finesummer to help us get the maximum fun out of them. Theprivate pilot has a wide choice. He can go as far afield asCorsica, or he can content himself with visiting some of the excellent local rallies which are now being run in this country, such as atElstree, or at some of the Norfolk airfields where there is so much growing enthusiasm. Rallies should be and are jolly social affairs and, curiouslyenough, are best without too much flying. You come, you meet your friends and probably make a few new ones. And if you aresensible you leave in good time to get home before dusk. Please on no account try to show everyone present what a good pilot you areby performing some specially short landing. If you want to do that sort of thing, do it on a quiet aerodrome with no one looking on—to see you make a fool of yourself. It is a fact that after a longish cross-country it is very easy to misjudge a landing. The best mark ofan experienced pilot is that he is never too proud to go round again if he is not too happy with his first approach. Then, when you havelanded, stop still for a while to have a good look round and check the strength of the wind, especially on runways. You will be shownwhere to park, and organizers of rallies like to see the aircraft in nice neat lines The slipstream of an aircraft, even while taxying, can kick up alot of dust, and blow ladies' summer hats about. The impression you want to create is that you are a careful, thoughtful pilot withgood manners, not an ace just back from shooting down the enemy. Then you will probably be invited to come again. For the rally par excellence you should go to France and, if youwant to be really popular, preferably in a French aeroplane. They are held all through the summer, and the vin d'honneur, which isusually held in the hangar, is something to be remembered. It is a good idea to take your own picketing-down gear as there will beno room in the hangar. Incidentally, to be really Gallic you should take a tent and pitch it neatly by your aircraft. One of the nicestsights I saw last summer in France was a well-known British pilot who had brought his young family and, in the morning, had hisaircraft decorated with babies' washing neatly pegged to a line slung from tail fin to wing tip. • • •Another way of enjoying your aeroplane that will be open to many this summer is to take part in some of the races and competi-tions which are mostly organised by the Royal Aero Club, although some of the bigger flying clubs probably will run some of their own.Undoubtedly air racing ranks high among the more exciting and averagely dangerous sports. It is not too common in this country,or. for that matter, anywhere in the world, mainly because it is difficult to get the public to pay very much good money to comeand watch it, and consequently the expense has to be borne by the organizers. But it is the greatest fun to take part. There are few more exhilarating feelings to be had in any sportthan racing in close company with other aircraft of similar speed, wi'.li your left hand bending the throttle lever, and with your feetan.' right hand trying, like the good dinghy helmsman, to steer your cr« ••': with the least possible disturbance of control surfaces. . • i air racing accurate turns and good hands show up the bestPilots very quickly. I well remember in a recent short-circuit race tr>;ig desperately hard to catch up the man in front. My aircraft *a<- slightly faster than his and on the three or four miles of straight 1 would slowly overhaul him, but as soon as we got to a turn hewould gain fifty or sixty yards simply by the smoothness and accuracy of his manoeuvres. Air racing can be amusing to watch if it is well organized.Unfortunately the Ministry civil servants do their best to make things difficult by unintelligent restrictions. The important thingis for the public to get to know the pilots and the way they do their turns and fly their aircraft. If all the mounts are around the samespeed, victory will inevitably go to the most skilful pilot. The unintelligent restrictions which I have referred to have unfortunatelycompelled the organizers to use circuits which are too long, so that for long periods of a race the pilots are out of sight of the crowd. The only restrictions that could be useful as they could help safetywithout spoiling the race concern differing speeds of aircraft. Three or four aircraft all of about the same speed can go round pylonssafely together, but a very fast and possibly rather "blind" machine charging through a bunch of slower machines on a turn can be amenace. Yes, if the Ministry could take a holiday I believe air racingcould be made to pay so as to provide pleasure and possibly profit for the pilots, an opportunity to improve the aeroplane for themanufacturer, and an amusing and exciting afternoon's entertain- ment for the public. • • • One bit of good news is that Berck, the airport on the Frenchcoast near a nice little watering place, and handy for Le Touquet, now has Customs, so that you can fly straight from Lympne toBerck to begin your French holiday. Rene Vallois and his charming wife will make you very welcome. So there is a few hours' wastedtime knocked off our next weekend in France. I noted the time it took me to complete formalities there—2J minutes. At Lympnethey do their best but it takes at least 20 minutes, even if you don't have to wait for a Skyways load of passengers. Still, we progress,even if we are still letting our French friends show us the way. However, getting the Customs people to behave does involvebehaving ourselves. In the sailing world it is not at all uncommon for sixty or seventy boats each containing crews of seven or eightpeople to race across the channel and back for a weekend. Customs are never any trouble. You just hoist a quarantine flag as you enterport. And if a Customs man cares to come on board you give him a beer. If he doesn't, it is just too bad. But no yachtsman who is amember of a respectable sailing club, in spite of having plenty of room in the bilges, will ever indulge in smuggling. If he does hispals are certain to get to know about it, and he will be told very distinctly what a dirty trick he is playing on his fellow yachtsmen.So, on the whole, Customs men trust yachtsmen and are not disillusioned. Why, therefore, they should imagine that those who fly lightaeroplanes are any worse, I have yet to work out. Yet the palaver over light aeroplanes landing in this country is extraordinary.Surely it should be possible to telephone the local police or Customs man when you arrive at your home aerodrome, having reported tothe CFI of the club, who would make sure that you didn't run away. This would be a far simpler procedure and less expensive tothe taxpayer than keeping a Customs man permanently hanging about in good weather and bad, it being clearly understood thatanyone who smuggled, whether caught or not, was simply persona non grata in the flying world. It might be said that this places too much responsibility on thelocal CFIs. I am quite sure that for the good of private flying they would be willing to assume it. After all, the one certain lesson thatall private pilots learn as soon as they go on their first cross-country to another licensed airfield is to taxi to the building with the large"C" on it and report their arrival. If they announced that they had come from abroad, it would not be difficult for whoever was incharge to telephone the local police or Customs and ask the pilot to stay near his aeroplane until the official arrived. A short while ago, by force majeure, I had to do just this. Afterwaiting-about 45 minutes the local excise officer arrived in his little car, at first a little shocked at the unconventionality of the affairbut, being a nice chap, he soon realised that everything was quite above board. After looking at my documents, he released me to goabout my business and we parted the best of friends. Of course, in due course, I received a letter uttering fearful threats if ever 1 didit again, so don't blame me if you try it and land yourself in gaol. Perhaps one day the Customs will realize that, like other publicservants, their duty is to serve and assist citizens to go about their, business and pleasure with as little hindrance as possible; and thatlaws were made for man, and not man for laws, and States for the good of people, and not people for States.
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