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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1869.PDF
1038 FLIGHT International, 18 June /964 8PO RT AND BUSINESS Sport and Aviation at Nottingham A "'fly-in leisure centre" costing £650,000 is to be built at Tollerton Aerodrome, Nottingham. Nottinghamshire County Council has granted planning permission to Leisure Facilities and Investments Ltd (Lefac) and work is scheduled to begin next autumn. The company is co-operating with Truman (Aviation) Ltd, with Lefac providing amenities such as a motel, restaurant, golf driving range and nine-hole course, and an indoor arena with ten-pin bowling, archery and artificial ski slopes. Truman are modernizing and improving the flying facilities. In particular, in parallel with the work on the leisure centre, the airfield clubhouse will be rebuilt, a new control tower constructed, maintenance buildings improved and an aircraft parking area provided. Mr D. C. Truman, managing director of Truman (Aviation) Ltd, air taxi operators and official agents for Piper aircraft, said last week that the improved facilities should appeal to the operators of both private and business aircraft. In addition, the company hoped to make Tollerton a centre for displays, flying instruction and parachuting. The de Havilland Trophy Aerobatic Competition, organized by the Tiger Club with the co-operation of East Anglian Flying Club, was held at Ipswich Airport on May 30. It was appropriate that Capt Hubert Broad was chief judge; he was for many years de Havilland chief test pilot and is chairman of the judges' panel for the Lockheed international aerobatic competition. All competitors were members of the Tiger Club. Fit Lt Neil Williams was the winner, followed by 2, James Gilbert; 3, Charles Boddington; 4, Robert Winter; 5, Barry Tempest; 6, Robin d'Erlanger; 7, Peter Farquhar. Seething's Record Fly-in The biggest light-aircraft event and flying display Norfolk has ever seen attracted a record number of 45 aircraft and was watched by 5,000 people at Seething Airfield on May 31. The occasion was the eighth rally and display organized by the Waveney Flying Group. Wg Cdr Kenneth Wallis demon- strated his W.A. 116 autogyro; Bob Winter gave an aerobatic display in the Tiger Club's Stampe; and members of the McAully and Waveney groups staged formation displays. Norfolk Gliding Club and Lowestoft Model Aeroplane Club participated, and an unexpected display was that of Taffy Rich in a civilian Spitfire. The WFG Air Race to Ditchingham and Bungay and back was won by Wally Frith of Luton in a Tipsy Nipper; while Neil Williams won the Tiger Club's Basil Monk Trophy Race over three circuits of the WFG race course. The Polish National Gliding Championships at Leszno included a remarkable performance on June 11, when no fewer than 34 of 36 competitors completed a 535km triangular course. All were flying 15-metre Foka sailplanes. BOEING T2T (Continued from page 1034) cent of power. At 25° I was told to slow down to 140kt and was already feeling surprised at the low speeds allowed. Handling was no problem, though successive whizzes of trim were needed to relieve stick forces as speed came down and configuration changed. Lining-up several miles out as instructed, I settled to a long ambling approach at some 120kt and set up what appeared to be a good rate of descent with just over 60 per cent r.p.m. From now on the runway just did not seem to get any closer. We drifted on and on, reducing speed finally to the 109kt mark with 30° and then 40° of flap, lt was really astonishing to see how slowly the threshold drew near. Speed stability was very good and the engines were at sufficiently high r.p.m. to allow full power to be reached in little over a second, but the engines were totally inaudible and produced no trim change so that I had some difficulty in'decid- ing where I ought to set the throttles. Also, the visibility, though very good, gave little idea of flight attitude at this low speed, and I came in rather high. Apart from these incidental problems, which would disappear with further acquaintance, I felt only that the controls were imperfectly geared to hold the wings level. I found myself constantly picking a wing up and slightly over-controlling in the process. Tom Lane told me to aim for a point well along the runway, because the mam wheels are so far behind and below the pilot that apparent touch-down height is considerable. For the landing itself, I was told simply to make the smallest possible check and wait for the thump. Ground effect provides an excellent cushion and any rotation at the last moment tends to drive the mainwheels down for an unnecessarily hard touchdown, because they are well behind the centre of rotation of the aircraft. 1 did as I was told and seemed to be drifting 20 or 30ft above the runway for a really late touchdown, when the mainwheels brushed the ground 62ft behind me and I began to let the nose down. At the same time I closed the throttles, which I had been admonished to leave at approach power through- out the landing, and pulled the spoilers. Being new to the game, I did this rather hesitantly, and I also pressed the brake pedals gingerly, having already noticed their sensi- tivity and high effectiveness. Lane, however, trod hard on them and the 727 pulled up under the most savage braking I have ever experienced in an aeroplane, but without any audible skidding. We calculated afterwards that, having touched down late and Totated slowly, we brought the 727 to a full stop in 2,500ft of run- way, some 800ft of which was spent with the brakes fully applied. It was an astonishing performance, and one which is demonstrated to every airline pilot, just to give him the measure of the stopping power of the aeroplane. I am sure this is going to save whatever hairy situations may arise during the 727's operational landings. At the end of the landing run we wound the flaps back to 15' for take-off, reset the tailplane and I made a second take-off, rotating at little over lOOkt and roaring into the sky to exceed 700ft before we passed the end of the 10,000ft runway. The temperature was just below 70°F, as I remember, and the wind 8kt down the runway. We made a leisurely circuit with the flaps still down, wandering once again down Puget Sound and over the middle of "Seatac." Once again I lined-up with Boeing Field at a ridiculous 120kt and brought the speed back to 109kt with fullflap. We waited and waited for the runway to reach us and I finally tickled the aircraft on to the ground—not so successfully as before. The small degree of round-out is slightly unusual; and, being unaccustomed to aircraft of quite this size, I was not judging the height too well. The answer is: if in doubt do nothing. The 727 will fly itself quite safely into the ground cushion, mop up some of the rate of descent and sit down on its mainwheels. Too much fiddling simply upsets it. Once again I lowered the nosewheel on to the runway, but this time reached for the reversers and left the brakes alone. When I pulled the short levers over-centre, the mechanical detents clunked into place as the petals opened and I applied reverse power under Tom Lane's guidance. An initial burst of full power, with accom- panying roar and forward rush of hot air; then settle to 80 per cent and wait for the aircraft to stop completely, which it did once again with a great deal more than half the runway still out ahead of us. Boeing feel that a demonstration of stopping performance with reverse thrust, which is virtually independent of surface conditions, is far more practical and realistic than the official method of cal- culating on the use of brakes alone, without reverse thrust or even anti-skid. No amount of braking will produce results on a slick runway; but reversers, if of proven reliability, will always be effec- tive—reingestion factors being equal. In any case, the 727 seems amply capable of doing it either way. I must stress the visible, palpable, blindingly obvious relaxing effect of that slow approach speed. It gives the pilot time when he needs it most—when the chips are down, in low ceilings or poor visibility. Boeing are in a way embarrassed because operators are actually finding that ATC controllers have difficulty phasing 72"s into approach sequences with the faster-landing jets. The 727 can cruise fast and slow down quickly, but I should think that no airline pilot will ever willingly abandon that slow-approach capability-
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