Hi,
Today, in the “Flight simulation / Standard virtual flights“, I have added a glider flight that was done over Monterey, California. It is a good exercise for flight simulation enthousiasts. Below is one of the picture taken during the flight.
François
(Precedent story: unexpected thunderstorm cells)
After a proficiency check, I soon find myself flying a Cessna 170B (tail wheel) on a flight across Canada, from St -Jean-sur- Richelieu, Quebec, to Edmonton, Alberta. I am accompanied by the aircraft’s owner who has not yet completed his private pilot course. The 1952 Cessna flies well, but has absolutely no instruments for air navigation, not even a VOR nor ADF. And the era of the portable GPS is not yet upon us.
Fourteen 1:500,000 VFR charts, covering the planned flight, are folded, glued and numbered. I trace the expected flight path on each chart, with 10 miles landmarks. This will facilitate the monitoring of our progress, considering the absence of navigation equipment. The preparation now completed, the take off is done on a beautiful summer day of 1981.
We do stopovers at Gatineau, North Bay, Sudbury and then fly along Lake Superior to Wawa.
We fly around Lake Superior to our next stopovers, Thunder Bay and Fort Frances. Over large forested areas, with no major landmarks, the gyroscopic precession must be corrected frequently so as not to stray too far from the intended track. Sometimes when it facilitates navigation, we either follow a railway or main roads. There are some instances where the westerly winds are so strong that our ground speed is slower than a car on a highway.
Our flight path follows a line that keeps us away from areas of high air traffic. I choose to fly north of Winnipeg terminal control area, thus avoiding frequent radio exchanges with air traffic control in a language I do not master. The underperforming radio would not be of any help at any rate. This option eventually means that we must fly over Lake Winnipeg, in its southern portion. We have enough altitude to be able to glide to the other side in case of an engine failure. Nonetheless, we realize that we are gradually loosing several thousand feet due to the cold air mass above the lake. This with maximum power applied. The unexpected descent eventually ends, but it is now impossible to have an engine failure without ditching in the lake…
Near Lundar, Manitoba, the aircraft’s old gauges indicate a significant loss of fuel. It is surprising since we refueled an hour ago. We must land the plane on the nearest runway, but the strong crosswinds exceed the capabilities of the aircraft. Nonetheless, an attempt is made with the result that only the left wheel accepts the contact with the runway. As soon as the right wheel also touches the ground, the aircraft becomes airborne again. A nearby field is selected to make a precautionary landing so that the fuel status can be verified. We fly at low altitude over the electrical wires and the cows in the adjacent field, and touch smoothly at a ground speed not exceeding 15 knots. A farmer witnesses the landing and arrives in his red pick-up to offer some help. The tanks are almost full, so the plane only needs few liters of gasoline. Once this is done, we take off westward. It appears that the old fuel gauges of this 1952 Cessna are now totally unreliable…
We leave Manitoba through Dauphin and enter Saskatchewan. If we were to experience an engine failure above such uniform fields, the risk of serious problems at landing would be virtually nonexistent.
The weather is slowly deteriorating. We choose to land in Watson, Saskatchewan, on the nearest runway.
The runway surface consists of muddy earth and grass, and it’s delimited by small red wooden panels. As we touch the ground, the tires splash mud everywhere, including under the wings.
Finally, the weather improves and a takeoff is made toward North Battleford, the last stop before Edmonton. The sloping terrain forces us to fly lower and lower near Edmonton, under an overcast stratocumulus, limiting our ability to see a long time in advance the correct airport from the three available (international, civil , military ). Luckily, everything goes well in choosing the right airport and approach, but we cannot say the same with radio communications. The sound quality coming from the old speaker is awful and the English spoken by the air traffic controller too fast for us. The combination of these two factors causes the controller to repeat more than once his instructions until he finally decides to slow down and we can officially say: « Roger! »
After spending few days in Edmonton it is now time for the return flight to St-Jean. This proves to be much easier and faster because the westerly winds push the aircraft. Our ground speed is sometimes double what we had managed to get on our trip to Edmonton. The journey took us twenty-five hours to go and eighteen hours to come back.
Over North Bay, Ontario, the weather is ideal. But we will have to land in Ottawa while waiting for thunderstorms to move away from Montreal and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. After a total of forty- three-hours of flying time, the old Cessna 170B is landing back to St- Jean -sur- Richelieu.
(Next story: the flight instructor license)
This book is about the daily operations and lifestyle of the people who worked at decoding German messages in Bletchley Park, England, during the Second World War. The reader quickly realizes the incredible impact of the shadow workers on major battles like the Battle of England, El Alamein or eventually the D-Day. Moreover, it allows the reader to enter the Park’s installations to witness the rigor and professionalism of the men and women who worked day and night, through high tension and exhaustion, to accomplish their duties.
Their efforts to obtain results bordered with obsession. Even while sleeping, brains were at work. A major breakthrough happened after a researcher woke up in the middle of the night with a long awaited solution. Naturally, names like Alan Turing, John Herivel or Dillwyn Knox are repeated on a regular basis. But they are just a few in a crowd who played an essential role.
Bletchley Park was highly efficient for many reasons:
1. A wise combination of employees with diversified training and capabilities. A wide cross-section of abilities and general culture were sought after. Women and men working at decoding were gifted with a highly superior intelligence and focusing capacity. Multiple fields of knowledge were required: there were experts in mathematics as much as in history, classical letters or linguistic. Dillwyn Knox, one of the Bletchley stars, was himself an expert in old papyrus. The combination of intelligence resulted in important innovation.
2. The ability to keep a secret: the employees were scrupulously screened and could not walk in any other buildings than the one that they were assigned for their work. If there had been a mole in one of the buildings, that person would not have been able to have a physical access to other buildings to try to acquire secret information. A common goal and a deep understanding about the importance of their sole objective helped the staff to deal with fatigue and keep the unavoidable personal conflicts under control. The discretion about the operations at Bletchley was even maintained by the employees after the war was officially over.
3. A special treatment for the code breakers: even if Bletchley Park was officially created for military purposes, there was no strict military regime implemented: [my translation] “Throughout the years and centuries, we observe that British intelligence is partly a military affair, but is mostly managed by talented civilians”. The code breakers needed a special treatment: [my translation] “It was deemed very important that the “experts” benefitted from enough space and liberty so that their brilliant thinking could be used at its full potential”. They did not have to deal with restrictions and discipline applied to other employees. This objective to avoid useless pressure on highly skilled employees has been repeated in successful international companies aimed at innovation.
4. Collaboration between countries: it is important to mention the essential collaboration between Poland, England and France at gathering results aimed at cracking the Enigma code. Up to the moment that France was defeated, all the found solutions were shared. Besides, Polish cryptanalysts where the first to decipher the codes on the first version of the Enigma machine, results that were shared with the two other countries.
5. The importance of the chance factor in the success of the operations: the chance factor would eventually play a key role in the ability for Bletchley Park to maintain its operations for a prolonged period. In spite of the intense German bombings, very little damage was inflicted to the buildings where the code breakers were working: [my translation] “We owe it to a miracle that only two bombs fell on Bletchley Park […]. Moreover, another bomb fell near the site where Knox and Lever were working, but it never exploded”. Furthermore, two other bombs fell on the Park, also without exploding.
There were nonetheless obstacles to efficient operations. These included the existence of useless levels of administration: primary information starts to be transformed as soon as it is passed to another level for interpretation. The more levels there are, the more the message is transformed. Some people become masters at protecting their own status and job and eventually become superfluous. Because of their higher status, they are harder to dislodge. This situation could not be avoided at Bletchley Park: [my translation] “Our working place is actually overcrowded by intelligence officers who mishandle our results and make no efforts to double check their arbitrary correction”.
A book passage that particularly touched me was the story of three British sailors who swam up to a slowly sinking U-Boat, the U-559, and helped protect and bring back a four rotor Enigma machine (the most complex version) as well as all the Stark keys used with the machine. The two sailors who entered the U-Boat drowned as they had insufficient time to get out on time. The third sailor, who had stayed outside, was able to bring back all the secret material (wisely placed in a sealed bag) to his ship. To get a hold of this Enigma machine and all its keys would be deemed of capital importance to help neutralize the German forces on the oceans.
I conclude with a quote from Mavis Batey which resumes quite well the state of mind of the people who worked at Bletchley Park: [my translation] “You do things or not, but if you don’t act, nobody will do it at your place”.
©2012 Ixelles Publishing SA
ISBN 978-2-87515-178-0
©Sinclair McKay 2010 (author), original English title: The Secret Life of Bletchley Park
Hi,
here is a picture and an edited screen capture recently added on the site (among about ten new pictures). During the next few days, two articles will be published on 1) Bletchley Park and 2) the trip (with pictures) of a VFR flight from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, to Edmonton, Alberta, trip that was done in 1981 with an old Cessna 170B.
Have a good visit,
François
The nice problem with the flight simulator is that there are lots of interesting planes and sceneries available from around the world. Virtual pilots benefit from a huge variety of products. In general, flights made either at dusk or dawn benefit from a special light. For the actual flight with the Sikorsky, I went for a cool light so that the military helicopter would not look too inviting.
(Precedent story: the commercial pilot license / a tire bursts on landing)
On a hot summer day of 1981, I was asked to fly a Cessna 150 to the Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau international airport to pick-up one of our flight instructors and bring him back to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. The winds were blowing from the northwest, so runway 28 was being used. While I was in final for that runway, the air traffic controller realized that he did not have enough separation between my plane and a heavy one that was also in long final. He told me “Increase your speed, there is a Boeing 727 behind you”.
It is very easy to increase the speed of an airplane while maintaining an altitude. You just push the throttle and the speed increases. However, when the aircraft is above the threshold of the runway, it needs its specific speed to touch the ground otherwise it continues to fly until the appropriate speed for landing is reached. It seemed to me that the Cessna floated for an eternity before finally touching the runway. But it eventually worked out well and I exited the runway before an overshoot was required for the Boeing.
So I parked the aircraft near Transport Canada’s offices and waited for the instructor for about thirty minutes. Clouds were rapidly covering the sky in this late afternoon, with all the humidity and an already high temperature. When the instructor finally showed up and we proceeded with the taxiing procedure, the air traffic controller told us: “You must accept radar vectors for your departing route because of the weather.” What weather? A cold front was at work, but nothing serious was visible from our position. So close to the airport terminal, all we could see were towering cumulus, nothing else. We accepted his offer in order to be allowed to leave the airport.
The take-off was made from runway 28. I made a left turn toward St-Jean. We soon understood why radar vectors had to be followed. A storm had developed between Montreal and St-Jean. We observed what looked like five cylinders created by heavy rain. Lightning was also occasionally visible. We had to fly between the cylinders to avoid the most problematic areas. We tightened our seat belts just as the first bumps were being felt, making our altitude vary considerably. Knowing what I know today about flying in bad weather, I would not attempt another flight like this one, especially without an onboard weather radar.
The flight ended nicely with a smooth landing in St- Jean, outside of the problematic weather area. A few weeks later, I was asked if I would accept to be captain for a long flight across Canada. This unexpected offer represented a great opportunity, especially since it would allow me to log more than forty additional flying hours.
(Next story: a visual flight (VFR) from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, to Emonton, Alberta)
For other real life stories as a pilot, click on the following link: Real life stories as a pilot
Hi everybody!
Many pictures and articles have been added during the past few weeks. The last addition to this site can be found in the “flight simulation” section, under “standard virtual flights“. It’s a flight using FSX from Redding (California) toward Sekiu (Washington State). To make it easier for those of you who would like to try it, I’ve added the approach and stall speeds. The Phenom 100 is surprisingly easy to fly because it is a light jet with a low approach speed. It constitutes an excellent small jet for the pilot who wishes to transfer from piston engine aircraft toward jets. The virtual Phenom 100 is made by Carenado and the scenery by Orbx.
François
Here is a screen capture added recently to the flight simulation section, under “virtual pictures”. The Pitts Special was designed in Wyoming and the first one was built in 1971. This aircraft has won more open competitions in United States than any other type. Everyone who has flown the Pitts Special praise its quick reactions at the slightest pressure on the controls. In the actual scene, the aircraft is over the Monterey airport, a creation of Orbx for the FSX platform.
(Precedent story: night landing on an ice rink)
The Commercial Pilot License
A few months later, I got my commercial pilot license. It was now time, as for all pilots, to accumulate flying hours in order to gain experience as captain.
I chose to accumulate hours by making short cross-country trips and offering first flights to people of all ages. The evenings were particularly popular because there was little convection and most passengers appreciated a smooth ride for their first flight in a small aircraft.
A Tire Bursts on Landing.
Despite my best intentions, there has still been an occasion where I had to perform an unusual landing. It was during a busy time for air traffic control. Many aircrafts were in the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu (CYJN) airport’s circuit pattern and the controller asked me if I could make a short landing with my Grumman Cheetah (AA-5A). He was counting on a minimal roll after the landing so that the aircraft could exit the runway as soon as possible.
All pilots know how to make a short landing. This is part of the basic training and I accepted this restriction. This can, however, be complicated by the fact that sometimes we had to fly an aircraft with particularly worn out tires. I remember (and I should not be the only one) having had to use an aircraft on which we could see the rope under what was left of the rubber sole. School aircrafts are generally safe. You just don’t want to be the one using the plane the day before the tires have to be changed…
So I began the approach toward runway 29 on a particularly hot summer day. Touchdown was smooth. I applied the brakes without blocking the wheels, while pulling on the control column at the same time that the flaps were returning to their initial position. A pilot does not block the wheels when breaking as the friction decreases and the length necessary to stop the aircraft increases.
At the same time, blocking the wheels increases the risk of loss of control of the aircraft. With these manoeuvers, my aircraft was supposed to stop quickly. However, a few seconds after landing, it started to vibrate and move to the right. I had no other choice but to apply a lot of pressure on the left brake and use full deflection on the left rudder trying to keep the aircraft centered on the runway. Nevertheless, the aircraft slowly headed toward the right side of the runway while slowing down. The landing ended with the left wheel on the runway and the right wheel in the grass.
During the last few seconds, it became obvious that I was dealing with a flat tire. The passengers were not too bothered by the incident because they only started to realize what was happening when we were almost immobilized on the grass. The tire was completely twisted but still on the wheel. Equipment failure is something a pilot knows he will have to deal with from time to time. So considering that it was part of the job, I continued to accumulate flying hours during the following weeks and months.
(Next story: unexpected thunderstorm cells)
For other real life stories as a pilot, click on the following link: Real life stories as a pilot
The screen capture that you can see here has really not been planned. It is about the interception of a light twin engine aircraft by a Harrier military jet. After subscribing to an English virtual flying magazine, I received, as a welcome gift, this virtual military jet. As I was “in flight” familiarizing myself with the jet, I saw a little white dot moving in the distance. It was one of the numerous virtual aircrafts generated by the Microsoft Flight Simulator (FSX) program. The idea to simulate an interception and fly in formation with an unknown aircraft was just too good to resist. In few minutes, both aircrafts were in sight of each other. It was now a matter of adjusting the speed of the Harrier exactly with the other aircraft’s speed and progressively get closer. The picture represents the end result of this little meeting. The countryside under the planes is an ORBX creation.
I was lucky to be able to take this picture. Being in Montreal for a winter photography session with a Canon 5D MKII, I went by a street where some employees were busy demolishing a building. There was an interesting scene to be taken but I had to get much closer before I could start shooting. The site was fenced and under surveillance while workers were active, so the access was forbidden.
As lunch time was approaching, I decided to wait a bit, hoping that the workers would leave the site for a quick bite. I was expecting the security guard to accompany the group and forget about locking the fence. That’s exactly what happened. As soon as the last employee had disappeared, I was on the site with my photo equipment. By the end of the afternoon, nothing was left of the building. I hope that you like this picture, as much for the scene as for the small murale done by the unknown artist, murale that is today only a souvenir.