Avid Aviator
It’s been quite a
while now since I’ve taken to the keyboard for your entertainment and having
just emerged from hospital after a dose of pneumonia, it is the only way I’ll
get to “aviate” for a couple of weeks at least.
I’d emailed Grant whose brief reply was along the lines of “Oh dear, how
sad, write an article”.
This struck me as a
reasonable plan, so I’ve cobbled together a ramble that is a combination of
what happened to the original series, how my own flying has progressed and the
sequence of opportunities and decisions involved in my ownership of Avid JHW
and its’ subsequent refurbishment. With luck, this should last for several
issues of Recreational Pilot and help keep it going. With a bit more luck, a
review or two might head my way again as well…
The Flight Reviews
In case you had
wondered what had become of my series of flight tests, herewith a brief
history. When Bruce
Gordon started Recreational Flyer and conned me into an article
or two, I was interested (and flattered) enough to oblige, and ended up quite
enjoying the whole process. All I had to do was find out which machine he’d
lined up for me to review, and then go
off and do the review, get Alan Flynn to take lots of photos , and then write
as fast as possible.
Sometimes I’d take a
week to start, then kick into gear and get the whole lot done in an evening or
two, on other occasions I couldn’t wait to start writing as soon as I got home.
The process worked well because Bruce would hassle some poor unfortunate owner,
then introduce me, and I got to fly another interesting plane. My own
philosophy about flying another persons’ plane has always been never to ask. If
I am offered a flight, great, but I will not pester another owner. I broke this
rule once and cribbed a ride in a Dac at the RAANZ do at Foxpine, as my Dac
hadn’t been flown for years and there was one – a magic 5 min circuit and photo
was all that was needed.
After Bruce and RAANZ
parted company, and Recreational Flyer was replaced with Recreational Pilot,
the source of articles dried up because I would not go and push other pilots to
be allowed to fly their machines for a review. There were one or two desultory
discussions at Foxpine and
In the meantime, my own situation changed in
that acquisition of another machine became a possibility, and so my attention
turned to research….
Challenger MYC – I’m
rather one eyed about MYC – the best little Challenger around IMHO anyway!
A Chance to Progress…
In essence, my dear old
Mum had left us some money, and wanted me to get a better plane so our family
could enjoy a “better” quality of aviation and I could be safer and more
comfortable. I don’t argue with Mum – I
never win, and so the search was on.
Instantly I realised I’d
have to acquire a taildragger, and equally quickly decided on side by side
seating and a 912 engine. These decisions were driven by several factors.
·
My current
building project is a Graham Lee Nieuport 17, like Mike Kindons’, and the two
up around
·
The
experience of flying in RNS, a RANS Coyote, when I did the review of the Xair
for Recreational Flyer. Sinx was kind enough to let me have a fly of RNS, and a
landing, which impressed the hell out of me straight away – I managed to keep
the pointy bit out front and not a white knuckle in sight. I was impressed by
the spacious cockpit and heaps of lexan – just like the roominess I was used to
in MYC, but without the draft. This too had become a consideration, as I’d had
a couple of bad chest infections and one pneumonia diRecreationaltly
attributable to weekends spent in the rear seat of MYC instructing as trainees
alternated blasts of cold air over me. I hated admitting it, but my body was
sending a few clear messages, the time was nigh to adapt or else!
·
I also was
developing a growing feeling that after about 300 hrs in MYC, I was not
developing my skills as much as I’d like, and so a change of type would be
refreshing and constructive. This had been reinforced by odd moments during
reviews where I became rather conscious of my own limited knowledge and
experience – quite adequate for 1980s-mid 1990s machines and quiet airfield
/farm strip operations, but that was all.
·
I am lucky
enough to work with Martin Burdan, and instructor at
SVAS and totally committed Tiger pilot, and so had some small time in various
Tigers, helping the decision process along instantly.
·
I’d flown
Russell Brodies’ S6, which with the same engine as our Challenger, had far
better performance, but liked the 912 engine in RNS and the very strong airframe
in the RANS machines.
Rans Coyote – my first target
The Coyote rapidly
became the standard against which I’d measure many other machines of similar
ilk, and it would come up trumps each time. As a member of EAA, I’d heard of
the AeroCrafter CD and book which list and compare a large number of planes,
engines, props and accessories, and made extensive use of both in my research,
tempered with healthy skepticism over the stated performance figures.
Eventually I found two
Coyote/912/taildraggers that might be able to be acquired – one in Nelson which
had had a couple of dings from fuel starvation, and sported new bits on one
side, and WAL up north, a beautiful example which had a 912S fitted, and could
reach VNE straight and level.
Time for a deep breath – and two weeks later - exhale,
slightly disappointed. I decided to keep looking – the two planes were nice,
but much more expensive than I was prepared to countenance, and too much for me
to have sitting in a hangar for most of the year. Also, they were
alitube/rivet/Dacron construction the same as our Challenger. I’d be paying a lot more for an airframe with
the same technology as before. If I was going to change I want to have better rag and tube than I already had.
Back to the Coyote – yes they do a nice ceconite version, but now I’d be
bringing in a kit and new engine, and the bottom was dropping out of our
dollar.
This was about the time that a spotted an ad
for an Avid Mk IV up in Hamilton. Just a small ad, no picture, and the briefest
description.
JHW Surfaces
Back to my data, saved web pages, images etc.
Hey – Avids don’t seem too bad – Lloyd has a beauty, Willie seems to enjoy his,
although I can’t figure out how he fits in it (sorry Willie!) and Peter Karl
has SPY which gets a fair amount of use. Bill Penman’s is also a lovely
machine. When we had flown to the Opotiki RAANZ fly in, Graham Rouse had
accompanied us in his Avid Speedwing RWT “Ragwort” (– it’s bright yellow)
This avenue opened up a consideration of Kitfoxes as well, and so
after another frantic couple of evenings discovering that while there were a
few available in NZ, but they were not quite what I wanted, it was back to the
ad and a call to Hamilton.
The seller was Wayne
Ford, a farmer on the immediate south side of Hamilton. We spoke at length and
I discovered a really good bloke who had decided that his MX2 was still better
suited to his needs, and so wanted to part out the Avid as it was developing
some slight surface blemishes and rust on exposed tubes. He didn’t have the
facilities to repair and restore, so would sell it before it was too far gone.
Rather tired and stained in places. Door lexan cracked and fuel damaged.
Initially this sounded
like there might be a few fishhooks, but the realization dawned on my steaming
little brain that there were far more advantages than disadvantages.
-
taildragger/912/side
by side - the biggest factor
-
the price
was right
-
4130/ceconite
-
because
I’d have to fix it up, I could choose the paint scheme.
-
Fixing it
up would enable me to learn the airframe
-
It was
currently airworthy, so I could fly it from now (Feb) till November.
-
I’d take
it out of the air in November, when the equinox winds often reduce flying
hours, work like stink and make it in time for the Richard Pearce at Easter 03.
-
Because
I’d be learning to fly a taildragger, ground loops are always a possibility,
and the greatest chance is during the early hours of conversion - if I dinged
it, I was planning on a restoration anyway.
Blinded by the
brilliance of this logic, I arranged to travel up and view the airframe. Peter
Karl kindly offered to introduce me to Wayne and JHW as he knew both well, and
Peter Hancox, one of the three founder members of the Wellington Microlight
Flyers Club, and my best friend, came to add his IA experience, and a
constructively cynical eye to the procedure.
The following weekend,
Peter Hancox and I motored up to Hamilton and followed the south road around,
over a railway line and found the farm in the dark. Rolling up the drive to the
kitchen door,
we were immediately
made welcome by Wayne
and his family and the stories were soon flowing. Wayne pulled out photos of
flying from his property, including some really skilled looking STOL efforts
with the MX2.
After we’d chewed the fat for a few hours,
Peter and I were shown to the spare room and hit the hay after a long day. The
night was to provide a couple of interruptions as a few of hours later, the
proverbial farmers’ daughter arrived from a party and was surprised to find a
couple of dopy gits from Wellington snoring away. Not half as surprised as we
were to see a gorgeous young lady picking her way carefully between us!
Peace was soon restored and the nasal
symphony resounded until about 0630, when a close cousin of Horse the cat
wandered in over my face and sat on the far side of the room while he crunched
slowly and completely through an unfortunately slow rodent – just the thing to
raise an appetite for breakfast.
After we’d eaten, it
was a 5 min walk down to the shed area where farm machinery is kept to run the
two dairy units productive. In the main shed were three planes, the MX2, Avid
and a RANS S10. The shed also has a number of tractors, trailers and assorted
machinery, all in excellent condition. A large door allows the planes to roll
straight out, down a slight slope to the start of a short paddock that crosses
the farm strip used for most flying. What a setup!
At long last I get to
set eyes on JHW, and just as promised – plain silver, and a bit scruffy, but
sound and ready to fly. Peter H started
with the digital camera, and we poked and prodded our way around the airframe,
finding no real nasties apart from the appallingly installed wiring that
littered every available space behind the panel. It was evidently all there,
and worked, but had the most amazing tangles, mixture of house wire, tape,
joints and patches, complete with unprotected brass bussed fuse board with a 35
amp fuse for the instruments! Wayne hadn’t had to do anything so I guess a
previous enthusiast must have been involved. That was definitely going to go. 
Some of the birds’ nest wiring.
After a good look
through, the cowl was replaced and flying commenced. Peter Karl took me in JHW
and I worked my way through the start drill for the first time, and taxied out
for takeoff. I think Peter did that t/o, and then we flew around the area for
10 min, before heading off to Max Clears’ to shoot some circuits. The first was
really attention grabbing, as we cleared the fence and pulled power for
touchdown, the engine stopped dead, leaving some fancy footwork on rollout to
avoid a ground loop on the crowned strip at Te Kowhai. We soon discovered that
a careful closing of the throttle was required for continual noise to happen,
and so spent a happy 30 min shooting circuits while I began to sort out my toe
twitching, before heading back to the farm strip to see the others. In the
meantime, Wayne and Peter Hancox had a trundle in the MX and then the two
Peters went in the Avid. 
View over Peter Hancox’ feet from MX2
I spent my time
thinking and debating my options, always underscored by the thought of “what
the hell do I want to learn a taildragger for ?– I’m back to square one here!!”
Bonuses – more than I’d hoped for
In the process of
looking over the plane we found out that the engine had a slipper clutch fitted
to the gearbox – a good bonus, and that in 7 years there were only 75 hrs on
the airframe – another bonus. Also the cabin had been built with Avid’s “4 inch
extension” , - yet another bonus because the one thing I hadn’t realized was
how small a standard Avid cockpit is. In RWT, my shins hit the lower edge of
the panel, and the stick disappears under my knee on full deflection.
The balance sheet
still applied, as the cockpit is narrower than a Coyote and with not as much
lexan, that wide open feeling is absent, but these factors were more than
outweighed by the others I have pointed out already.
The logs consisted of a couple of school
exercise books and required some careful reading, but all the construction,
engine and accessory manuals were present. The GSC prop had been “set up” by a
firm at the airport who had managed to bruise the wood blades slightly. The
spinner and spats were not fitted, and the wings had never been folded, but all
the bits were there in the shed.
Finally, a custom
trailer was pointed out as belonging to JHW and “part of the deal”. On the
stroll back to the house, Peter Hancox and I discussed the pros and cons,
agreeing that the plane was sound, just in need of TLC. Over a cuppa, I made an
offer a bit less than asked, which was carefully considered, then accepted. I
was the proud owner!!
Just paid the cheque and a proud new owner
Wayne and Peter Karl
wanted to know if I wanted to fly JHW back to Foxton, but I declined on the
grounds of insufficient tail dragger experience – sure I’d done OK today, and
in the air, flying was no problem, but I knew that an outlanding for whatever
reason would likely prove embarrassing, so arranged for Peter Karl to fly it
down some time in the next few weeks, at his convenience. Peter Hancox and I
departed south, towing the trailer, and full of ideas and discussion about what
to do on JHW and when.
Soon I had a call from
Peter to say that he’d had a great flight, no problems, and was safely back in
Hamilton. A friend of his had “chased” –
probably more like dawdled - in a Tampico or similar to get him back, which was
convenient in terms of not having to make domestic flight connections, and
cheaper too! 
My lovely wife Judith back from her first
fly in JHW .John Lester seems worried, but I can’t figure out why!
The coming weekend was
immediately re-organised, and up we went to see the new beast. John and
Jennifer Lester, owners of Foxpine, had put JHW in the shared No 8 hanger next
to MYC. Soon it was pushed out and again being looked at by all and sundry. Our
kids loved the idea of sitting beside Dad when flying, and were fascinated by
the doors – all had flown many hours in the back seat of MYC and were looking
forward to a change. Judith was equally interested and agreed with our
assessment of the basically sound airframe, although she knew that once again,
the cars would end up on the drive while the garage would be taken over. What a
wife!!
Soon we had fuelled up and John began taking the
family for rides. Operations cam to a sudden stop when JHW came quickly back
during Natashas’ ride due to exhaust fumes in the cockpit. Off with the cowl and a slight misalignment
on the #4 header-muffler socket was quickly identified and corrected, and some
exhaust goo added for good measure. All was now set for part two of my new
adventure...
Heading over the Tauraruas for Masterton
Annelise and JHW at Foxton – the start of family fun flying!