< PreviousKiwiFlyer Magazine Issue 71 20 SMS Advice contributed by Craig Anderson SMS Reporting and the Fisherman’s ‘Magic Sunnies’ As well as being known to many aviators for his role in organising the annual Healthy Bastards Bush Pilot Champs at Omaka, his bush flying instructing skills, and his employment with Sounds Air, Craig Anderson is passionate about managing safety in aviation in a simple, practical and common sense manner. He offers some very good advice in the following: For those that know anything about trout fishing, a critical piece of equipment for the fisherman are the polarized sunglasses. To have any chance of success, a trout fisherman needs to spot the fish before the fish spots him (or her), and without the polarizing action of the glasses, he will be peering into the river in vain and will only see the reflecting surface of the water. There may or may not be any trout present in the river, however the fisherman will never know until he puts on his magic sunnies. I like to think of a good SMS System as my “Magic Sunnies” that allow me to look deep into my company or organisation and see what’s actually going on. How does it work? “Shit Happens” The first thing that management staff and business owners need to accept is a deep and fundamental principle in life; ‘shit happens’. No matter how good your systems are, or how well trained your staff are, shit still happens, all the time – at least as long as people are involved. Reporting is a Good Thing Secondly, it’s important to get your head around the fact that reporting of issues and incidents is actually a healthy function (i.e. the more reports the better). So often in the past it has been seen (at least wherever I have worked) to be a negative thing – you only put in an incident report when you really stuffed up! An effective Safety Management System Given our two principles above that shit happens, and reporting is a good thing, it follows that the reporting system in a business can be a fantastic way to tell management all the stuff that is going on at the grass roots level. To me, the crux of an effective SMS is how it assists and encourages reporting from staff and/or other people in the business. It is usually those people who really know what is going on – not management, so when you have a system that allows and encourages free reporting, you now have a system that works just like the fisherman’s magic sunnies – you have visibility through the surface layer into the depths of the river. And with visibility, you now have the ability to do something about all those issues that are happening out there all of the time. If I had to pick two key features of an SMS to maximise reporting, what would they be? 1. Simplicity of Reporting I have found this is critical. Companies I have been involved with over the years have often had reporting systems that are so difficult to use that they effectively discourage staff to report. Having to find a form, print it off, fill in multiple fields, rate the various risk levels, send it to some manager somewhere etc. etc. is not a fun thing to do for anyone. So it tends not to get done at all. In contrast, if we make it incredibly simple to report, it gets done. And to be simple these days, it has to be online and easily accessible from any computer or phone. Also the questions asked need to be minimal. I like to only ask one question: “What Happened?” The concept is let’s get the report in, and we can get more details later if required. 2. Management Buy-In Simply put, management need to accept that staff don’t make mistakes intentionally, therefore staff should not be judged or punished when they admit to making mistakes, and reporting of issues and incidents should be actively encouraged. The reality is that many (if not most) mistakes are made due to systems or procedural flaws that can be improved with the knowledge gained from the issue or incident report. A good SMS Software package can really assist with getting your reporting system humming. It can make reporting simple to do, and just as importantly it can make getting the information out at the other end effortless. This doesn’t mean you need a complicated system though… For most of us we never use 90% of the features of many computer systems. Something that covers the basic SMS requirements is pretty much all that many businesses need – reporting, managing hazards, business changes/projects, and generating reports/graphs of the information submitted. When you get these critical factors right, you will see your reporting levels soar. With soaring reporting, those magic sunnies really start doing their job. Visibility becomes clear, and with clear visibility, you can now deal with stuff that has always been happening – you just probably weren’t aware of it before. Craig Anderson Craig has designed and sells GonoGo – an online SMS Software system for small to medium sized businesses, and can be contacted on 029 890 4910, craig@gonogo.co.nz or visit gonogosafety.com for more information. F KIt’s that time of the year again when aviation enthusiasts seek to test their skills against their peers in the name of practising for and participating in competition flying. As well as honing one’s abilities and enjoying the camaraderie of competitive events, this is also simply a great excuse to go for a fly. Jill McCaw writes: Competition Season for Gliders and more It is a well-known phenomenon – if something moves and there is more than one of them, someone will race them. As I write this the soaring competition season is getting underway with the South Island Regionals, a fun and friendly, and sometimes fiercely competitive 10 days of flying in the Southern Alps. Barely a week later we have the North Island Regionals flown out of Matamata, with another eight competitions happening around the country over the season. For a small country, we’ve got plenty of opportunities for pilots to pit themselves against each other. Back in the early days of the sport Dropping water ballast in a race to the finishing line. (pre world wars), competitions tended to involve launching and seeing who could stay up the longest. As pilots gained skill at finding lift and gliders evolved the only limit to endurance became the pilot. By 1939 duration contests were abandoned. Attention turned to seeing who could go furthest. The refinement of flying to a point and attempting to come back to the launch point developed when gliders began ending up so far from home that they couldn’t be retrieved in time for the next day’s competition. This meant that speed became a factor. ‘Real’ racing was born. Gliding competitions are usually a week to ten days of flying with accumulated points choosing the eventual winner. It is possible to win a competition without actually winning a day. Consistent flying gives the best results. Gliders are handicapped to iron out the difference in performance between age, makes and models. There are also classes depending on wingspan, the presence of flaps, and at local level contests there is Alex McCaw image 21 2020 #5 “This is a shout out to all the new glider pilots out there. Get yourself out to the competitions and join in. You’ll love it.” often a class for newcomers to the sport. Gliders race around a set course and the fastest home wins. Simple? Not really. To start with, in the traditional style of glider racing, pilots choose their own start time. The start gate opens fifteen minutes after the last glider in a class has been launched. This gives all pilots a chance to be established in lift before starting. It also allows for tactical timing as weather variables over the course, expected wind changes and so on can be used to best advantage. With courses from between 150 km to over 500 km depending on weather and level of competition, there are a huge number of variables that the racing pilot has to consider. Tasks can be simple out and return or complicated courses with multiple turn New Zealand Soaring contributed by Jill McCawKiwiFlyer Magazine Issue 71 22 www.lightsportaircraft.co.nz Full build support and replacement parts available in New Zealand. Contact your NZ ICP light sport aircraft agent Philip Seale at Westwind Aviation on 021 747494 ICP Savannah SICP Ventura Factory built aircraft and kits in stock NEW Factory built aircraft i i points. In the old days spotters used to go out to the turnpoints and visibly sight gliders passing overhead. The advent of instamatic cameras meant that a photograph from the glider could be used to verify a turnpoint had been rounded. It also meant that someone was up all night developing all the rolls of film before results could be finalised. Start and finish times were done by teams of spotters with watches. These days timing and turnpoint verification, precise position, height, and speed along with unfortunate airspace infringements, are all recorded on loggers. A simple download at the end of the day and results can be finalised within a few hours of everyone landing back. GPS units share position and height in real time so that the gliders’ positions can be followed on the web. This means that the racing, happening miles from most onlookers, can be followed. It is exciting, immediate and for the first time since gliders became able to move away from the launch site, competitions are a spectator event. Flying in competitions is a great way to increase your own gliding skills as a task often asks you to fly places you may never had considered trying to get to, to accept landouts as a part of flying and to pit yourself against the ‘Top Guns’, learning from their decision making and skills. The experienced pilots are more than happy to share their experience and will often let a newcomer tag along in their wake. A competition is also a safe situation to practise cross-country skills with good weather briefings, tasks to suit the day and flight following. Competitions aren’t just fun for those in the air. There are some people who organise their annual leave to attend KiwiFlyer is published six times per annum. Visit our website for secure credit card payment, or post a cheque to: Kiwi Flyer Ltd. PO Box 72-841, Papakura 2244. kiwiflyer.co.nz Subscribe for just $40 (6 issues)contests and work on the ground. There is a great camaraderie among the ground crew, from the geeky types who do the scoring, monitor the tracking and man the radios to the ones using the week to work on their fitness and suntans running the wings and hooking on the tow ropes during the launch. How fast did we launch the grid today? Eighteen gliders in the air in less than forty- five minutes. Five minutes less than yesterday! What a team. Volunteering at a contest is a great way for newcomers to the sport to get an idea of what it is all about. I had a great deal of fun as a very new glider person at competitions around the country. You don’t need a to know much about gliding to be a useful staff member, but you’ll learn a lot from what is going on around you. Once the field has launched there will be several hours before they’re due back, and depending on your job, you’ll have time to fly yourself, go for a swim or a nap, or kindly spell the radio staff. Or bring them ice-creams. They always like that. This is a shout out to all the new glider pilots out there. Get yourself out to the competitions and join in. You’ll love it. To the non-glider pilots, go out and see what’s going on. A mass launch of up to 35 gliders using up to six towplanes is an impressive example of unattended traffic control. The excitement of following the race on a big screen in the club rooms intensifies as the finishers get near, approaching the line at around 200kph. Then they’re there, often five or six together in spite of having raced over 300 kms neck and neck, slowing overhead to join circuit, dumping water and settling gently to earth. For information on competitions and events, see the Gliding NZ website, www.gliding.co.nz. Jill McCaw F K 23 2020 #5 Pilots and crew at the NZ Nationals, Feb 2020 at Taupo. Ground grew during launch. New Zealand SoaringKiwiFlyer Magazine Issue 71 24 Aviation Training contributed by Tom McCready Insights of Massey University’s School of Aviation “Opportunities arise during and after periods of great change” “Except during the period of no flying over the actual COVID-19 lockdown, Massey’s School of Aviation has continued to experience high utilisation of our aircraft. On the engineering side we are always busy. Routine inspections continue through the hangar on a daily flow for our engineering partners Fieldair Engineering. The scheduled work is constant in order to achieve many thousands of flying hours per year, so the scheduling of the aircraft inspections needs to be done well to prevent pressure points for the engineers. We like a calm, well organised hangar and plenty of aircraft available for use on the flight line. Many of the engineers are also pilots and Massey’s pilots also get involved with the engineering in various roles. This creates a good learning experience for our operations and engineering staff as well as the students as we all work closely together. The Manawatu region seems to be going well during this COVID year. Neighbouring aviation engineering companies are all busy which reflects on the flying. As the region is not so reliant on tourism work this has seen a real range of flying undertaken in the Manawatu region during 2020. The Royal NZ Air Force at Ohakea has been undertaking training with their Texan and King Air aircraft and NH90 and A109 helicopters. In addition, I have noted heavy lift helicopters (Puma, Black Hawk and Huey) working on various projects in the area and fixed wing and helicopters busy on agricultural work. Our own contribution with busy training flights creates an active and interesting environment in which to be training and working. Safety is a primary focus at Massey. We have regular meetings on the subject and we have staff who spend a large part of their daily routine in the assessment and further development of safety projects. We have a lot of confidence in the Diamond DA40 and DA42 aircraft. Their safety record is noted in a 2011 Aviation Consumer magazine when they are discussing the safety of various types of aircraft “Only Diamond’s DA40 and DA42 had better overall accident rates — dramatically so in the case of the DA40, whose overall rate is 1.19, a little more than a sixth of the GA average.” The aircraft have indeed proven to be safe and reliable. The aircraft are fitted with the Garmin G1000 system avionics suite and the additional safety of the AMSAFE seatbelt inflator which is essentially an air bag to protect the aircraft occupants. A visit to the aircraft manufacturer’s website (www.diamondaircraft.com) will demonstrate the safety features of this aircraft including protected fuel tanks between two wing spars- somewhat akin to the crashworthiness of a modern car. Cabin refinements also feature in the safety improvements. This and other safety features are a significant improvement on earlier aircraft. Massey’s aircraft are constantly tracked during their flights. As a management tool the aircraft are managed using ‘FlightCert’ which enables pilots and managers to see the maintenance plan and status of the aircraft at any time on their own devices. It enables easy real time access to the maintenance information by multiple people in multiple locations if the need arises. Staff at Massey University’s School of Aviation come from a wide variety of backgrounds including both the airline and military sectors as well as general aviation. These disparate disciplines and experiences make for a great pool of ideas and insights. With 15 aircraft and a busy flight line, time management and on-time performance is instilled in the students at an early stage to ensure smooth running of the operation. We also have the use of two flight simulators to add efficiency to the training.” Tom’s final words of advice to students considering undertaking an aviation training programme is “Now is the time to be upskilling in both engineering and flying. COVID won’t be impacting our lives forever. Opportunities arise during and after periods of great change. Aviation runs on qualifications and training. There is often a lag in being able to achieve those outcomes, so positioning yourself to be able to put yourself forward for those inevitable career opportunities is good advice.” Tom McCready is a Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and holds the role of Maintenance Controller at Massey University School of Aviation. Tom initially joined the School of Aviation in 2018 as a contract lecturer delivering the air accident courses in the Bachelor of Aviation programme in conjunction with Dr Ross St George. In 2020 he joined the School full time in the capacity of the School’s Maintenance Controller where he oversees a team of Fieldair Engineering Ltd engineers maintaining Massey’s fleet of training aircraft. Tom brought with him 45 years of aviation engineering experience including ratings on both military and civilian helicopters and on fixed wing aircraft. His aviation career encompassed roles as a Chief Engineer, Maintenance Controller and Operations Manager for a number of NZ aviation operators. His time as an Air Accident Inspector for the CAA NZ saw him involved in over 35 fatal accidents, so he now lectures Massey’s students from the viewpoint of a NZ authority on air safety and air accidents. Tom gives an insight on what he has observed during his first year at Massey during 2020. A Massey Diamond DA40 in the hangar at Fieldair Engineering.KiwiFlyer Magazine Issue 71 26 En Route contributed by Nick Ashley With the goal of not flying in straight lines, Nick Ashley continues his occasional en route contribution to KiwiFlyer with a scenic winter trip to Cromwell that included plenty to look at on the way plus a quick stint at Highlands Motorsport Park. Nick writes: Looking north up Lake Pukaki towards Aoraki / Mount Cook (3) En Route: Southern Lakes After living in Singapore for over a year, I was looking forward to being back in New Zealand for a ski holiday at Lake Tekapo and all going well some flying too. Unfortunately a cold front had other ideas, set to sweep through with snow and gale force winds. My brother Zac had recently obtained a taildragger rating, and had booked a Piper Cub at Timaru Airport (NZTU) as part of a group flyaway to the Cromwell Racecourse (NZCS) aerodrome in a few days’ time. As it turned out, the winter storm couldn’t have been timed better, not only dumping some beautiful fresh powder on the mountaintops but also scrubbing away lingering haze. It was actually quickly on its way, leaving behind a crisp winter feeling. Short sunlight hours called for scheduling take-off not long Dr Anton Wiles & Dr Jon Nelson - ME 1 (New Zealand) - Australia (CASA) - U.K. and Europe (EASA) - AME (Canada) - United States (FAA) - Fiji Your Experienced Aviation Medical Services Team Help to defend and promote General Aviation in New Zealand The General Aviation Advocacy Group of New Zealand (GAA) has no formal membership, no committees and no fees. It’s simply a voluntary social network of more than 2000 pilots, engineers and operators, supporting each other and standing up for GA against red tape, spiralling fees and powerful bureaucrats. You can help to make a difference. Just drop an email to admin@caa.gen.nz or airfabrico@xtra.co.nz www.caa.gen.nz27 2020 #5 after MCT to make the most of the day. But Zac and I also had to first drive from Tekapo meaning an even earlier start - with a steak pie breakfast on the way through. CAVOK conditions on both the east coast and the central lakes is not exactly a common occurrence, but having just driven down from the Mackenzie Basin we could provide a first-hand account of the crystal-clear post-front skies there. However, after arriving at NZTU with much enthusiasm for what was shaping out to be a perfect trip, there was bad news from further south that put our plans in jeopardy. A think blanket of fog was reported to be hiding out of sight behind the mountains to the south in Otago, and in the calm dawn air it wouldn’t be going anywhere fast. The other aviators had arrived by the time Zac and I extracted the Cub from its hangar, and we all agreed that regardless of the weather we’d try to make some sort of trip. Another field close to Cromwell in the neighbouring town of Alexandra was reporting better conditions and could serve as a convenient alternate. With fuel planning and other preparations out of the way, we wasted little time getting airborne since our relatively sedate cruise speed meant we’d soon fall behind our quicker mostly Cessna companions. It wasn’t long after Zac had configured the Cub for a gentle climb that I decided to play flight instructor and request a detour from our planned routing, to track just south of Lake Tekapo so I could snap a few pictures from the back seat. Fuel was no problem and hopefully more and more fog would burn off for every minute that we delayed our arrival. Opening the large window and door resulted in a blast of freezing air but also near-unobstructed panoramic views. The aircraft is a photographer’s dream, but I was also happy to get the door shut and the cabin warmed up again, as Zac turned south to head towards our destination. A straight line would take us a couple of miles east of the next big lake, Pukaki, necessitating another slight course correction to line up another lake shot. Then it was time for a straight run to Cromwell. Our altitude provided very good line of sight for radio communications, enough to make out a call from the lead aircraft already diverting to Alexandra. Oh well, we still had quite some time to go - all of our flyaway friends had surely left us in their dust by now. www.avcraft.co.nz Avcraft Engineering NZ Ltd. Feilding Aerodrome 06 212 0920 avionics@avcraft.co.nz For a fresh look at avionics, talk to our skilled engineers. We are Authorised Dealers for Garmin, JP Instruments, Avidyne, Aspen Avionics, and more. Ask us about tailoring a package to suit your requirements and budget. Need ADS-B? Choose from several great units and have it installed for under $8,000 NZD +GST then claim your $2,500 +GST ADS-B Rebate! Avoid the rush. Get your aircraft ADS-B ready Now! Rebates Available - up to US$250 per display. G3X Touch offers a variety of panel configurations and a superior feature set including wireless connectivity and synthetic vision as standard, as well as options such as display redundancy, advanced autopilot compatibility, engine monitoring and more. L3 Lynx NGT-9000 - ADS-B In/Out Transponder which displays ADS-B traffic on its own display, as well as other panel mounted avionics. Includes Wi-Fi module for connectivity to iPad and Android flight apps. Basic 7” Display System from US$7995 +GST Installed from NZ$11,500 +GST Garmin G3X CertifiedL-3 Lynx NGT-9000 An uneventful cruise through empty skies above Lindis Pass eventually brought us within sight of our foggy nemesis, with the thick layer stretching the length of Lake Dunstan and visible from several miles away. However, there was a crackle on the radio “… downwind Cromwell Racecourse runway 36”. It turned out that there was just enough clear sky available to make it into NZCS and one of the Cessnas was having a go. Our tail-end Charlie status was paying dividends, and touching down in second place was a very respectable outcome from the little Piper. Slow and steady had almost won the ‘race’. With the Cub somewhat lacking in the performance department, it was time to make up for it on the ground. Aside from enjoying some of New Zealand’s most spectacular scenery, a major drawcard for the trip was the nearby international racing circuit of Highlands Motorsport Park just a few hundred metres away, where I had my eye on a Radical SR3 sports car. Featuring the same number of cylinders as our Cub but little other similarities, the SR3 boasted a three second time to 100 km/h and seemingly unlimited grip through the corners. I was accompanied by an instructor, David, who quickly ran through KiwiFlyer Magazine Issue 71 28 En Route Highlands Motorsport Park on approach to NZCS (5)The author ready to go for a spin in the Radical (6) Lakes Dunstan and Cromwell in the afternoon sun (7)A jet boat cruises down the Clutha River (8) Airborne out of a quiet Wanaka Airport (9) Lake Wanaka & Treble Cone Ski Area (background) (10)Distant reflections in Lake Hawea (11) Lake Ruataniwha towards Twizel and Pukaki Airport (12) Pukaki Airport (NZUK) is rapidly expanding (13) Timaru International Motor Raceway (14)Nick’s track with image references. NZCS ahead (5) The Mount John University Observatory (foreground) (1)Lake Tekapo, and Lake Alexandrina (top left) (2) Canals between Lakes & Ohau-A power station (4)2020 #5 29 F K View the whole range at www.lightspeedheadsets.nz 0800 116 741 phil@lightspeedheadsets.nz UPGRADE your ZULU.2 to ZULU.3 TRADE IN your old set See Website for details PILOT FLIGHT BAGS SPECIAL DEALS Meet Zulu.3 Durable Kevlar Core Cabling 7 Year Warranty ANR, Bluetooth, Stunning Front Row Centre Audio Modified Ear Seals for Better Comfort and Performance THE BEST VALUE BY FAR ! the basics before I was able to enjoy seven laps of a short circuit. Encouraged by David’s brave instructions of “keep the power on, keep the power on” through the intercom, I pushed harder and harder through each lap until the experience came to an end all too soon. Similar to my first exposure to aerobatics, my assessment was that “this is seriously addictive!” Then followed a short walk back to the airstrip. Our Cub was first off the rank, and the trip’s theme continued - empty skies, excellent views, and of course diversions. It seemed only fitting that we check off Wanaka too, since it was now the closest I had even been to the lake in a GA aircraft. It would be rude to pass by the airfield near Luggate, famous as home to the biennial Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow, without making at least a touch and go. A jet boat was snaking through the Clutha River but there were no adventure activities taking place at the airfield despite it being perfect skydiving weather. Then another idea; “We can land at Twizel, right?” And after a thorough exploration of the area, we tracked a straight line back to NZTU. The Cub proved to be a perfect choice for such a scenic and relatively short route. The next morning saw me once again a passenger, but this time back on the long haul to Singapore, and ten hours later was presented with the harsh contrast of palm trees, muggy warmth, and busyness at the city-state’s resort island of Sentosa. There was surely no better break from the tropics than cruising through the Southern Alps. Nick AshleyNext >