94 SA FlyerW
E were clinging to the sky at barely 70 kt,
yet even at 55 degrees of bank we just
kept turning. I was amazed that we could
maintain altitude and attitude for a whole
360 degree turn. Nevertheless, I was glad
to have 2,000 ft of air below me – and the
incredible flying skills of CC Pocock sitting
calmly beside me.
CC is known for pushing the envelope,
especially with his breath-taking flying at
air shows. Some claim his initials stand for
‘Captain Chaos’. In his hands planes do
what the manufacturers’ manuals say they
won’t. From the outside, he is seen as a
‘cowboy’, and, in keeping with this character,
the Bush Air setup doesn’t disappoint a
sense of adventure.
After some delicious home-made
burgers, CC kicked-off the course. The
pre-flight briefing covered the plan for the
following three days’ flying and emphasised
his core objective: to make you a safer,
more confident and more proficient pilot.
Very soon you realise there is more to CC
and Bush Air than pyrotechnic walls of fire
and air show stunts. Safety is continuously
stressed and CC gets very twitchy if you
come close to doing something dangerous.
CC encourages you to develop a feel
for the aeroplane. Without looking at the
numbers you should be able to feel when
the plane wants to fly, the speed it settles
on for a stable approach, when you are
behind the drag curve and when the planeis going to stall. This, we’re told, translates
to ‘greaser’ spot landings every time – CC’s
speciality.
Briefing complete, we headed out to the
plane with a template that in many aspects
becomes a valuable supplement to the
POH. It was time to put theory into practice,
and learn how to “strap a plane to your
back”.
Even though it’s an undulating grass
strip and I was going to be put through my
paces on short field landings and take-offs,
slow flight and mountain flying, all the flying
was done on SA Flyer’s Turbo Saratoga,
ZS-OFH. To get the C of G in the optimumposition, CC recommended strapping down
two 20 litre water containers in the baggage
hold at the rear of the cabin. This 40 litre
ballast balances the aircraft so that you
don’t need excessive stabilator deflection
to raise the nose, which would translate to
increased drag and reduced performance.
The first pre-flight was thorough
and included checking each notch of
flap, whether the ailerons were rigged to
produce maximum lift when fully deflected
(10-12 degrees deflection) and taking
note of the control column position when
the stabilator is inclined for the best lift
drag ratio (4-5 degrees). This is an earlyindication of whether the plane will perform
to its capability, and set the tone for the
weekend’s flying – precision.
Sweating in the Lowveld heat, I
firewalled the throttle and began bounding
along the tractor-mown 1000 m grass
strip. Holding the control column back for
best lift, I waited for the plane to fly itself
off the grass. As soon as the wheels left
the ground, I pushed the stick forward to
lower the nose to stay in ground effect and
accelerated to Vy, the best rate of climb
speed. It’s not how the POH prescribes
a normal take-off, but, as CC rhetorically
asks: “Why increase the wear on the aircraft
by holding it down when it’s ready to fly?”
The first circuit was flown according to
the numbers. Trimmed for an 80 kt approach
speed, I flared, floated ... and overshot the
touch down point. The second circuit was a
little better: 75 kt approach, flare ... but still I
floated and missed the touch down mark.
Enough guessing! For the third circuit,
CC took control and set OFH up on what
he calls a ‘stabilised approach’. Bleeding
off speed, as soon as the aircraft started
to drop below the glide path, CC lowered
the nose, added some power and noted
the indicated air speed. Trimmed for a
surprisingly slow 70 kt, with a rate of
descent of 600 fpm and an RPM of 1,500,
the ’toga settled on the approach and flew
itself smoothly down to the ground. Gently
easing back on the control column we
touched down spot on the mark. It looked
too easy. No ‘rocking and rolling’ with power
adjustments for height and attitude for
speed. Instead, get the touch down point
in your ‘crosshairs’, keep it focused, use
the throttle to control both rate of descent
and speed and then just nudge the control
column back for the flare. CC says that
some planes don’t even have to be flared- they will just plop down onto the ground
BUSH FLYING - GRAEME WUTH
IMAGES - GRAEME WUTH & GUY LEITCH
white arc
THE WORLD BELOW THE
The stall warning was blaring,
grabbing my attention as I teetered
on the edge of the stall. Preparing
for the inevitable, I turned the
control wheel hard left, applied full
power and waited for the wing to
drop us into a spin.