Notes
CAA ‘exploring options’ for its Medical Department
The CAA is exploring options for the way provides medical
services to the aviation industry. One option is the outsourcing of
its AeroMedical Centre to a private sector provider. The Authority
has set out its goal for its Medical Department to operate more
efficiently by focusing on its core duties, and its current view is
that best practice would also be improved separating the service
delivery function from the regulatory body that regulates that
function.” The AeroMedical Centre (AeMC), based at the CAA’s
Gatwick headquarters, provides initial medical examinations for
trainee commercial pilots and air traffic controllers. There are
currently three other approved providers of this type: the NATS
Aeromedical Centres at Swanwick, Hampshire and Prestwick,
Scotland, and Aviation Medical Services at Horley, Surrey.The CAA says that it would also consider outsourcing some of the
activities of its Authority Medical Section (AMS) and Aviation
Health Unit (AHU), although no firm decision has yet been taken.
The AHU provides health advice to passengers, the aviation
industry and healthcare professionals on all aspects of flying,
while the AMS undertakes assessments of the fitness of pilots and
ATCOs to return to flying after illness, and oversees the network of
AMEs.
In highlighting its duty to be efficient and to spend
proportionately, providing safety is not compromised, the
Authority’s view is that ‘scope exists to resource the Medical
Department in a more efficient manner benefiting service users
and securing its long-term future.’New Master for the
Honourable Company of Air Pilots
Squadron Leader Chris Ford, MBE, has been invested as the new Master of the Honourable
Company of Air Pilots. Chris was born into an RAF family. His father John flew Bristol Bombays,
Lockheed Hudsons and Douglas Dakotas in the Middle East and DC-3s during the Berlin Airlift.
Chris entered RAF Cranwell on the last-ever flight cadet entry in 1970, gaining his wings on the
Jet Provost in 1973. His first operational flying was on secondment to Oman, flying Britten-Norman
Defenders, before returning to the UK in 1976 to begin a 27-year relationship with the C-
Hercules. His operations included Band Aid relief flights to Ethiopia, flying in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe,
rescuing British oil workers from Iran, the Falklands War, special operations during the first Gulf
War, helping relieve the Siege of Sarajevo during the Balkans conflict and instructing on the
Hercules. He has logged 18,500 flying hours in 39 years of RAF flying.
“It is the greatest honour and privilege to be the Master of a City of London Livery Company,
but it is not the Master’s Company,” he says. “The Master is just the figurehead... [whose role I see]
as promoting the good name and status of the Company within the aviation industry and the City.
Every pilot, military or civilian, should know that he or she has a place in the Company because the greater our numbers, the greater
our ability to influence the direction of all aviation.”Ercoupes to be gathered at Oshkosh
This year EAA AirVenture Oshkosh will celebrate
the 75th anniversary of the Ercoupe, designer
Fred Weick’s innovative ‘two control’ rudder
pedal-less lightplane that survived numerous
changes of manufacturer, appearing under
Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO),
Forney, Air Products, Alon and Mooney banners
until production of the latter’s M-10 finally ceased
in 1970, by which time 5,604 of all variants had
been built. Oshkosh will welcome all versions of
the design, beginning with the original 1940
Ercoupe 415C. A mass fly-in to Wittman Field on
19 July will follow the National Ercoupe
Convention at Sheboygan County Airport in
Wisconsin, with a dedicated parking area for
Ercoupes and their successors.
Over the years, Ercoupes have fulfilled a
number of unlikely roles. One was used for rocket-assisted takeoff trials in the
USA, and in the UK an early post-war production model wore RAF markings
when its two-control system was evaluated at RAE Farnborough and the
A&AEE Boscombe Down, and subsequently by British European Airways.
Former Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Lettice Curtis raced it in the 1949
Grosvenor Challenge Trophy at Elmdon Airport, Birmingham (photo inset),
winning a prize of £20 for a best-in-class speed of 112.5mph.
8 | Pilot April 2015 http://www.pilotweb.aero