In this edition:

• Down on the farm 88 last month 3/26 – Tony Palmer
• Sonex Declares Bankruptcy
• Historical find from Tony Berryman: traveling down under in 1934
• What causes stalls?
• How slow can you go? STOL Competition in the UK
• Flying Abroad this Year?
• Can you see me now? Is your EC working? – Richard Griffiths

Down on the farm 88 last month 3/26

Klemm L25C G-ACXE

The Klemm is now legal for another year, the insurance is due now as well.

We have been designing and making a control lock for windy days when parked outside.

Prentice G-APPL VR189

We just brought a load of Prentice spares, some just in case and some stuff we really needed. The Prentice use a compressed air system for operating the brakes and the flaps. The brakes have an air bladder similar to a small flat inner tube that when inflated pushes 6 brake pad type shoes inside a brake drum. Of the two on the plane at present, one is perfect and one leaks. The spares have a fair number of brakes components including good second hand parts and some rebuilt bits and a brand new brake unit and a set of brand new brake shoes. We were short of 2 wing pins but now have another 6 pins, so that will save me a load of work (and time) drawing up the pins and specifying materials and get them approved through the LAA. We also got a custom casting which has Prentice on it and it is a tool for checking the incidence of a specific rib, not a load of use to the man in the street but great to keep with the plane.

Beagle Terrier G-ATDN TW- 641

Now that I have got the log books I am attacking it with more vigor especially now that I have been issued a LAPL medical by the CAA (I was trying to get a class 2 ) and as I could not fly over the last 2 years I needed to take a Proficiency Check with an authorised examiner. To that end, Tony Berryman rented a Piper Pa28 for us to do refresher training from Shoreham followed 20 minutes later with the check flight with Colin Cleaver, so I am now legal!

I have removed the Rh struts which have been stripped to the bare metal and repainted in camouflage paint and will be put together with new hardware. The Fuselage and tail plane fabric are coming on well, there is no corrosion in the steel tubes so far. I removed the exhaust system and dismantled it, it has some perforations on the outside but what I found inside was not good, there was a fairly large hole in the fresh air pipe, so with the heater on it would have been a possible death trap (I don’t know how leaky it is in flight yet!!!)

Next club night April1st 2026 at the Longshore by the airport roundabout

Dates for your calendar:

Tony Palmer

Sonex Declares Bankruptcy

In a surprise announcement on 27th March, the well regarded kit aircraft builder Sonex LLC has announced closure, declaring company bankruptcy and the personal bankruptcy of owner Mark Schaible. See his personal statement here: sonexaircraft.com/sonex-closure/ Part of the problem appears to be the curse of the Singer Sewing Machine Company; the aircraft are so good that second-hand they compete with new kits in the market.

Historical find from Tony Berryman: traveling down under in 1934

Click on an image to see a larger version.

What causes stalls?

Phil Unicomb of the Australian flying school, Phil Unicomb Aviation Pty Ltd has produced a series of videos exploring stalling in a range of different aircraft: Tiger moth to Beeachcraft Baron. His lesson? It’s always the elevator position that does it. He’s channeling Wolfgang Langewiesche here, replacing his notional ‘silver chain‘ with a piece of sticky tape. See what you think.

How slow can you go? STOL Competition in the UK

Popular in the USA, short take-off and landing (STOL) competitions are going to be promoted in the UK. A not-for-profit organisation, STOL UK has been formed to promote the sport and has already held a preliminary event at Breighton Airfield, Yorkshire in May 2025. Part of the motivation is to attract a younger audience and participants. The are gearing up for a more substantial event this year: Real STOL Fest! 19-21 June 2026, also at Breighton Airfield. Check out their press release here: STOL UK

Flying Abroad this Year?

Border Force, HM Revenue and Customs ant the National Police Chief’s Council have just published guidance here (downloads a pdf): General Aviation Guidance.

Can you see me now? Is your EC working?

The strip where my microlight is based, Truleigh Manor Farm, has been waterlogged since the end of November last year. Yesterday (26th March) looked like a good flying day – and the strip just might have dried sufficiently, so off I went. I walked the strip and couldn’t fined any of the previously standing water. It felt a bit soft underfoot, but not excessively so. My aircraft is very light, so I though it was safe.

My wife is a keen user of FlightRadar24 and when family are making trips, she tracks them across the globe. Her daughter’s trip to Japan was an all nighter! I suggested that she could follow me as a test of my transponder. I had put a priming pump in my fuel system, so my first flight was going to be within striking distance of the strip in case something was not right. In the event, during that and the next short flight the engine performed flawlessly. However it didn’t appear that the transponder was working as, despite her being able to see the gaggle of transponding paragliders at nearby Devils Dike, I didn’t show up.

I was thinking that my next flight would include a conversation with Farnbrough Radar about my transponder, when I remembered that I could check PilotAware Vector. It utilizes its network of Atom base stations to record electronic conspicuity (EC) contacts. Shoreham has one, and I believe Palmersfarm too. You enter your hex transponder code and an analysis of EC performance is revealed.

The analysis and presentation on the website has recently been improved, including an AI textural report on the result. Surprisingly it showed that my ADS-B conspicuity was good. Here is the polar diagram produced after two 20 minute flights:

So why didn’t FR24 see me? Suggestions welcome please. Another puzzle was why a PA conspicuity trace wasn’t recorded. Together with the transponder, I’ve also got a PA FX in the aircraft, mainly for reception but it should also be transmitting. Maybe PA’s lower power means I have to get closer to the base stations? We’ll see what happens after some longer flights.

To check your EC profile enter your hex code here: data.pilotaware.com/vector/

Richard Griffiths

Events

Next Strut ‘Club Night’

Wednesday 1st April 2026, 7:30 pm at The Longshore, Shoreham

For a full list of events go to the website Events page.