‘Big’ Dave and the Ikarus-C 42 by B.Umble.

 

For fear of boring our website readers I have refrained from continuing my diatribe on the comings and goings at the Banana Strip but after suffering at the hands of my friend ‘Biggles’ in his Falcon, I had found a pilot who appeared to welcome my presence in his aircraft and a pilot who was super cautious in the air and on the ground before taking to the air-all the omens had to be right before he would open his hangar doors. 

 

I have always considered the C 42 Ikarus to be the equivalent in Microlighting terms of a Rolls Royce motor car ever since I had the good fortune to fly in the one owned by Patrick Chamberlain, one sunny afternoon at the Banana Strip and I have never had cause to change this opinion. ‘Big’ Dave Hughes had purchased one of these machines directly from the factory, a most unusual step in his case as he would normally, based on experience, buy any aircraft in kit form and ‘BIH’ or put another way, ‘Build it Himself’.  Either way he would wind up at the end of the day with an immaculately finished flying machine built to the highest possible standard, totally worthy of the original designer and manufacturer.

 

“Do you want to come to ‘Halfpenny Green’, Wolverhampton, with me next Saturday?” Dave asked me one afternoon at the Banana Strip when we met up for a jaunt in my Sky Ranger which, incidentally, had been constructed entirely by Dave.

 

 

   

‘Big’ Dave Hughes with his immaculate Sky Ranger shortly after completion.

 

I agreed to fly him there but he was not ready for such an experience and suggested that we should go by road, mainly because the weather forecast for the weekend ahead was, to say the least, abysmal with predictions of heavy rain, thunder storms and flooding. “We could drive on to Cosford after we have attended to the business in hand” he told me.

Good idea, I thought as I had never been to the Cosford Museum which operates under the auspices of the Royal Air Force, along with their Hendon Museum, a most excellent place to visit. 

 

The reason for Dave’s journey was to tie-up the loose ends and paper work and more or less take delivery of his new C 42 Ikarus, if not in actuality, certainly at this the paper work stage, and at the same time have it customised to his requirements and if the weather was favourable, to actually fly the demonstration aircraft.

We arrived at Ha’penny Green at around 10.00 hrs having set off fairly early in the morning-0600 hrs rings a bell-and I do not normally entertain any time much before 10 o’clock and try never to engage in conversations before noon.  You will gather from this that I avoid ‘EARLY’ as far as possible, whereas Dave is the opposite of me.

On our arrival we were met by Simon and Malcolm of Aero Sport and prior to taking breakfast, were introduced to their demonstration model C42 Ikarus, which was standing outside Aero Sport’s hangar, gleaming in the morning sunshine but being buffeted by a fairly strong, gusty wind.

 

“We have a slight problem today as we have only RW 28 in operation but the wind is favouring RW 22” said Stewart.

 

Dave’s face changed a little at this news but he was assured that the Ikarus could handle most crosswinds with ease and “not to worry” and further-“just keep the wing down into wind on approach and the aircraft straight and Bob’s your uncle.”

 

Dave did not look too impressed by this advice as he is a ‘kick it straight’ pilot and a skilled exponent of the art but he did wish to fly the Ikarus demonstrator having driven all that way, so agreed he would give it a try. We were introduced to another Aero Sport pilot who would be in charge of the demonstration flight and as the weather was by this time, looking somewhat threatening, Dave set off with a very worried look on his face along with his newly found friend beside him. They taxyed to the holding point, turned onto RW 28 and were soon airborne.  I could not help noticing that the Ikarus was being buffeted by the ever strengthening winds aloft as they climbed away towards the west. Ha’penny Green became silent for the time being with the exception of a small helicopter which made a number of training flight descents and take offs into wind by using the grass strip alongside RW 22.    The occupants soon became bored, I presume for they disappeared into the gathering gloom towards the south never to be seen by me again.

 

I was quite relieved some time later to see the shadowy shape of the Ikarus reappear in the circuit and watched with interest the final approach, crosswind, to the touch down point RW 28.  I knew full well that Dave would be-to put it politely-perspiring at the thought of breaking with his traditional method of handling the crosswind.  From my vantage point outside the café, which is situated one floor below the control tower, the landing appeared to be very smooth and trouble free.  This fact was confirmed when having scooted down the stairs and across to the Aero Sport hangar to meet the Ikarus, I opened the door of the aircraft and was greeted with the widest smile of satisfaction I have ever seen on anyone’s face let alone Dave’s!

 

The Ikarus was wheeled into the very large hangar for the wind was strengthening and the rain was being blown on the wind.  We were entertained by various persons including Simon and Malcolm and also introduced to a piece of radio/electronic equipment -Blue Mountain-that could, if Dave so desired, be fitted to his Ikarus when it arrived and before he took delivery of the aircraft. Dave commenced to query every aspect of this neatly packaged technological masterpiece asking of Malcolm questions that I did not pretend to even vaguely understand so I quickly lost interest and at the same time making a mental note not to let a similar device into my Sky Ranger even for free!

 

How much is this ‘gizmo?’ I asked when I returned from inspecting various other aircraft within the hangar one of which was a badly beaten up (crashed) Ikarus.  I only mention this because suddenly the whole airframe was open to inspection and I could only marvel and admire the design and apparent built in strength of the aircraft.  In my amateur view the Ikarus appeared to be a very straight forward but greatly refined ‘rag and tube’ airframe with a very superior outer skin which in turn, gave it the appearance and performance of a composite aircraft.  My initial thoughts of it being the Rolls Royce of the Microlight world were I considered completely justified.

 

How much? I queried in disbelief, when Malcolm answered my question about the cost of the Blue Mountain

 

“Think I will stick to my map that I can’t read and the GPS that I can’t work unless Dave is with me-after all it was originally his GPS-a Garmin 295-and is fitted to the Sky Ranger which he originally built” I told Malcolm.

 

We sauntered over to the control tower café and had a quick lunch and while eating Dave confirmed his desire to have this marvel of electronic craftsmanship fitted to his not yet imported Ikarus.  Business concluded, farewells made, we departed to Cosford.

 

Cosford, a few short miles by road from Halfpenny Green, was a slight disaster as it was over crowded and over hot but in compensation offered free entry to the museum.  This is a very unfair assessment of Cosford of course as the exhibits are of very great interest and bring back memories of the Farnborough Air Shows of old, but there are a number of fairly long walks between exhibition halls and in a roaring gale and torrential rain, it seemed to take the edge off our enjoyment of the otherwise excellent museum.

The road journey home was a total nightmare of floods and stationary traffic jams caused by the deluges affecting the drivers in that they could not see to proceed.  No windscreen wipers have yet been invented that might cope with that sort of weather but we finally made it home.

 

The next phase in operations was a delivery flight from Ha’penny Green to the Banana Strip flown by Dave and a friendly pilot who needed a lift back to London and thence on to the Isle of White.  This chap actually instructed on type, so Dave was in safe hands although they had to make a stop at Northampton-Sywell-on the homeward journey due to inclement weather.

They arrived at the Banana Strip later than scheduled due to their stop at Sywell and neither Dave nor his passenger had any form of transport available this leading to an apparently hair raising ride direct to Waterloo Station in London by car.  ‘Biggles’ was the only soul to be seen on the strip and very kindly volunteered to make sure that Dave’s passenger, Mike caught the last train to the Isle of Wight ferry.  It is understood that the journey was completed successfully and just in time.  Once at Waterloo Station, Dave took the opportunity to disappear from the scene and quietly make his way over to the suburban lines forming part of the station and proceeded to his home near Eltham, SE London in a more leisurely manner.

Our first trip together in the Ikarus C 42 was to the Isle of Wight, Sandown as I remember just prior to their disastrous fire which destroyed the main club house. After landing, signing in and gathering some food we sat ourselves down outside the club house where we were joined by the pilot that had been whisked to Waterloo Station by ‘Biggles’ a few days earlier.  He claimed possibly unfairly that he had not stopped shaking for a full day and that his hair had only just resettled on his head after that experience-Know the feeling well!  .

 

Dave was magnificent in the air to the point of making me feel totally inadequate in all matters flying.  I was in awe of his expertise in juggling the various bits of equipment relating to radio, GPS, transponder and the new found Blue Mountain from Aero Sport which gave masses of information of little use to my Microlight brain-it even told us on the return journey that we were flying upside down, something I could not relate to at the time as the ground was exactly where I expected it to be-well below us.  I was further impressed by the fact that all this equipment did not interfere with the radio or any other function within the aircraft, something from which the majority of Banana Strip based aircraft were suffering at the time for some reason or another. It was considered that the ‘cheap’ transponders on offer were overpowering the radio sets-mainly the Icom IC-3A- fitted to the aircraft at the time and something to do with screening of transponder and radio.

 

I took little part in the debate as I had no intention of fitting a transponder to my Sky Ranger but I could see the uses to which Dave put his transponder because as we flew to Sandown via the south coast he was able to contact Shoreham, for example and this allowed us to fly directly through their control zone presumably with our transponder bleeping away.  I was a little envious at the time but then I always skirted around their CZ positioning myself by means of my GPS and/or my map, therefore staying independent of any ground stations.

One of the draw backs to all this equipment is the fact that I became quite lonely, isolated even, as for most of the time I was forbidden to speak on the Intercom for fear of interrupting or cutting across a vital piece of  information for which Dave was listening out.  I was only consulted or addressed when nearing our intended destination and was asked sometimes in alarm, “Where’s the book or where’s the map?”  The book was one of those useful guides to aerodromes in the UK, the map is self explanatory. Usually I could find neither at such short notice as I had probably tucked both book and map into the book and map holder on the inside of the cabin door some hour or more previously just after take off. Another question from Dave to which I always gave an affirmative reply was “Can you see it?” meaning the airfield in question.  I learnt to always say ‘Yes’ as this helped me to calm the situation and find the rotten book and map and even find the correct book page or fold in the map.

 

Dave seemed to work himself into a frenzy once within five miles of our destination and would check, check and re-check that we were in the right place to join where told so to do by the voice on the radio-the rest of the time I was required to sit on my hands and touch nothing within the confines of the cockpit-hence the onset of arthritis in my sorely tried hands and the slowness of my response to his demands for book or map-very difficult with semi paralysed fingers.

 

I have never flown with anyone before whom I would ascribe the epithet ‘magnificent’ not just because of his command of the electronic equipment but because he can see a blindfolded sparrow taking off in fog from a little known farm strip 20 miles ahead.  His awareness of other aircraft is truly amazing, no other word for it.

 

I enjoyed a number of trips with Dave to various parts of the UK including Wolverhampton for one, as he fought a battle with the ‘Blue Mountain’ equipment with the aid of Malcolm of Aero Sport and sad to say-he lost.  He was recompensed with a credit note for the full amount which he used to good effect by purchasing a new model Garmin GPS that was quite large in comparison to my 295 and I think was referred to as a ‘Glass Screen GPS’.  This new equipment worked very well indeed in all aspects of its operation; indeed I became immune to the previously ‘dodgy’ practice of flying towards high ground and tall obstacles below a safety height for the area in order to allow the new found GPS to sound the alarm.

I understand from some of my GA friends that this piece of equipment may be computer pre- programmed to fly the aircraft via the auto pilot from take off to touch down without hindrance from pilots’ fumblings.  This is not Microlighting as we all know it but is fairly tempting nevertheless.    

 

On another occasion we set off for Welshpool but the weather turned nasty so we diverted to Leicester instead, which turned out to be very fortuitous as the afore mentioned Malcolm happened to be there and Dave, not wishing to waste an opportunity, persuaded him to carry out an on-the-spot Permit inspection on his Ikarus, there being nobody on the Banana Strip suitably qualified to carry out the Permit work, or so I understand.  His Permit was coming up for renewal within a week or so at the time.

 

While this was going on I was wondering firstly how we were going to get home from Leicester should the C 42 fail and secondly find the pilot or owner/operator of a superbly presented DH Canada Chipmunk, parked outside one of the hangars in order to cadge a ride and possibly see if I could still three point a proper aeroplane.  I was told that the pilot had gone home for lunch and would not return until the evening-shame.  On the first query I need not have worried as it passed with flying colours including the air test by Malcolm’s licensed test pilot colleague who happened to be on hand-after a telephone call from ‘M’ I suspect.

 

If you get a chance to drop into Leicester give it a try.  The local pilots and their friends are very hospitable, friendly and welcoming and the facilities very good indeed as too we found, was the food on offer being a Sunday lunch time.  Write in your book- ‘very civilised’

 

Another magnificent quality of Dave as a pilot is that he always seems to know exactly where he is and can name all the small farm strips and the very large ex-RAF airfields passing below to say nothing of the small towns and villages along the way.

 

One afternoon we both flew to North Weald separately in our two different machines Sky Ranger G-ZADA and C 42 Ikarus G-YADA.  When we came to leave, the out bound traffic saw us in a queue for take off from RW 02.  Dave was ahead of me by one aircraft, a GA Piper something or another who wanted to go to Belgium and also wished to use the whole runway which meant he had to back track to the 02 holding point.  As he set off, Dave having taken off minutes earlier, called up to say that he was leaving the circuit and heading for the Banana Strip.  I jumped in at this time as the GA chap was still back tracking and nowhere near his chosen holding point and asked for immediate departure clearance from the intersection of RW 31/13 with RW 02.

 

“Say again” was the response from the controller, so I did. 

 

“No you are not, you just called that you were leaving the circuit for Stoke”.

 

”No I did not-that was Yankee ADA”--I am “Zulu ADA”.

 

There was a short pause. I was then asked where I was at that time and I replied that I was positioned in the middle of RW 02 awaiting clearance for immediate departure.  Seemed fair enough to me, and the un-diplomatic language was not really necessary, but clearance was given-PDQ.

 

A little later ‘Big’ Dave Hughes left the Banana Strip and went to the excellent strip operated by Andy Haigh near Herne Bay, or Maypole as it is known.  This move was made by Dave for no other reason than his interests had expanded somewhat and although his journey to Maypole is slightly further in miles the time taken to get there is only marginally different.

 

      

 

 

The Rolls Royce of Microlights at this time the Comco Ikarus C 42 .

(Photo taken from Wikipedia web site)

 

From my selfish point of view I was greatly disheartened when he told me that he had received an offer that he was unable to refuse for his immaculate Ikarus and with regret had allowed it to go.  As a stop-gap measure he purchased a Rans Kayote, though I now find that he has sold the Kayote to another refugee from the Banana Strip based at Maypole, Dave Sudworth and is now therefore flightless.  If my memory serves me aright there used to be a Penguin Flying Club, I think it was called, based at Gatwick before they enlarged it to take airliners.

I have not lost contact with Dave as he is a regular visitor to my home and I have told him that he will always be welcome at the Banana Strip as my passenger in his ‘masterpiece’-my Sky Ranger, probably the best built kit plane on the BS.

 

 

B.Umble Christmas-2010.