British Women Pilots’ Association

Newsletter

Summer 2013

Headcorn celebrate their first year

Flying floats in Scotland

Ballooning adventures in Belgium

Issue number 107

Photo: Soaring at Predannack Airfield May 2013 © 626 VGS

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Who’s who in the BWPA

Committee

Chair / Careers:

Caroline Gough-Cooper

Hon Secretary: Rosemary Clemo

Hon Treasurer: Rachel Ellis

Ordinary Members:

Janet Chanides

Nicky Rowan

Lesley Runnalls

Julie Westhorp

Marion Wooldridge

Off-Committee

Archivist: Beverley Harrison

Awards / Scholarships:

Caroline Gough-Cooper / Tricia

Nelmes

Database:

Carol Hedges

Events Coordinator:

Cheryl Sullivan

Education / Legal:

Dorothy Pooley

Newsletter: Zita Morris

Website: Amy Chau

Aims of the BWPA

To promote practical schemes to assist women to gain flying licences of all types

To advise women on the training required and the opening available to them in aviation

To enable women in aviation to meet and exchange information of mutual interest

British Women Pilots’ Association White Waltham Airfield Waltham Road Maidenhead Berks, SL6 3NJ www.bwpa.co.uk

Newsletter submissions We’d really love to share your stories, experiences and ideas with other BWPA members in the next newsletter. So, if you’d like to contribute please email your articles and photos to the editor at info@bwpa.co.uk.

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In this issue

Pg 4 Chairman’s Comment

Pg 5 News

Committee meetings

Pg 6 BWPA South East

Group

Pg 7 BWPA Training Day

Pg 8-9 Flying Floats in

Scotland

Pg 10-12 From Climbing to

Flying

Pg 13-16 Ballooning & Biplane

Adventures in Belgium

Pg 17-23 Safety Issues in

Ballooning around the

World

From the editor

Well, the early part of this year has

shown some much improved flying

conditions, certainly for us glider-types

way down in Cornwall anyway. This is

evidenced by the lovely shot taken by

one of my colleagues a few weeks ago

whilst soaring at Predannack. I just

couldn’t resist putting this great pic on

the front cover! However, if you’d like

to see things other than gliding with

626 Volunteer Gliding Squadron on

the cover, please please send me

enchanting pictures of your own flying

adventures for everyone else to

enjoy.

This quarter’s magazine has plenty of

interesting articles to get you engaged

so turn the page and keep reading.

Maybe it’ll even inspire you to send

me your own story for inclusion next

time. :) Zita

Clued Up!

The CAA’s magazine ‘Clued Up’, which features all the latest safety advice and news, is now being produced by the publisher of Pilot magazine twice a year and posted free of charge to all UK registered PPLs, NPPLs and LAPLs. This will replace the General Safety Information Leaflets (GASIL) and a special edition Clued Up will replace the UK Airprox Safety Board’s twice yearly publications. The first copy should have arrived with you already and in it there is a very useful summary on recreational licences and medicals that ties in well with the BWPA Training Day held in April and is well worth a read.

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Chairman’s Comment

In the UK we are fortunate to live in a progressive world and more women than ever are training for and gaining pilot’s licences. It is an interesting statistic that 55 years ago, of the roughly 200 women on the register of UK pilots, 90 were BWPA members, 70 of whom were PPLs. If the proportion were similar today our membership numbers would be impressive indeed!

I get asked what the point of the BWPA is with monotonous regularity and the answer never varies. We exist to promote aviation to women and to provide a support and social network for those who are qualified and for those who are training. Some years ago our image was less than flattering but more recently our profile has been very positive and Hilda Hewlett’s licence centenary in 2011 provided excellent publicity for us, particularly outside aviation circles.

At the Brainstorming Day held earlier this year we reassessed how we promote ourselves, paying particular attention to our website, publicity material and the events to which we take our Sales Stall and information boards.

The website is being redesigned as I write and by the time you read this it should be up and running. In conjunction with this we are producing a hand-out along the lines of the Hilda Hewlett centenary leaflet, the aim of which is to present female role models in all areas of aviation, both recreational and occupational, with advice on how to get involved.

As for events, we have decided to target those at which there are likely to be higher numbers of women so look out for us at the Compton Abbas Lady Pilot Fly-In at the end of July, Duxford’s British Women Pilots Fly-In in August and at the BMAA’s Flying Show at the NEC at the end of November/beginning of December. This last is at the BMAA’s invitation as many more women are now flying microlights. We are giving the LAA Rally a miss this year.

Word of mouth is still the best recruiting tool so now the flying season is upon us please spread the word when you are out and about and if you are at any of the above events do drop by the BWPA stand and say hello.

Happy flying!

Caroline

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Congratulations to:

Jess Anand upon gaining a place on

the British Airways Future Pilot

Programme 2013. Should all go to

plan, after graduating from

university in June, Jess will complete

the BA-mentored ATPL course at

FTE Jerez and type rating at BA's

training centre, and will then join BA

as a short-haul First Officer on

either the A320 or the 737.

Joan Walsh for receiving a Royal

Aero Club Bronze medal at the

recent Royal Aero Club Awards

evening in recognition of her

services to microlighting.

Jane McNamara upon attaining her

FAA PPL(A), PPL(H) and SkyDive B

licence.

Leanne Piccirillo, Audrey Terry &

Claire Hilton upon winning FSD

2013 scholarships & being offered a

free year’s membership to the

BWPA.

Welcome to new members:

Mrs Penelope Hopkins (Hertford)

Miss Charlotte Dadswell (Petworth, Sussex)

Mrs Maureen Browning (Ledbury, Herefordshire)

Miss Star Taylor (Shoreham, Sussex)

Membership List:

Remember that you can obtain an

up-to-date membership list by

emailing info@bwpa.co.uk or writing

to Membership List, 64 Manchester

Rd, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 2JP.

Discount for older members:

Don’t forget that the BWPA offers a

discount on membership to those

aged over 80 years. Please advise the

Membership Secretary by emailing her

at: membership@bwpa.co.uk.

BWPA Committee dates:

Committee meetings are held

periodically at Cranfield Aerodrome.

Meetings start at 1000hrs and lunch is

provided. We usually aim to be

finished by 1500hrs.

The dates for the 2013 committee

meetings are scheduled as follows:

6 July

21 September

All members are welcome to attend.

So, if you’re interested in coming

along please let the Chair, Caroline

Gough-Cooper, know by

contacting her at info@bwpa.co.uk.

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BWPA Training Day (Turweston - Saturday 20th April)

“Flying on a budget, current medical requirements and recreational licences currently available”

This year the training day focussed on the changes to the various licences available to PPLs due to the introduction of regulation by EASA (European Air Safety Agency) in place of the UK CAA together with changes in medical requirements that accompany these licence changes. We also took the opportunity to review ways of making flying more affordable.

Mark Batin got the day underway with his talk on ‘Flying on a budget’. Mark has presented a number of talks for the BWPA in the past and he used his experience of flying with the RAF Flying Clubs Association, the LAA and BMAA to give a useful overview of how we can get more hours airborne for our money. The pros and cons of flying flexwing and 3-axis microlights, permit aircraft and group ownership of anything airworthy were covered, which went to show that there is a cost-saving solution out there for virtually everyone.

Dr Kevin Herbert, introduced to the BWPA by our Hon Sec Rosemary Clemo, is current Chairman of the Association of Aviation Medical Examiners and President of the European Society of Aerospace Medicine so was ideally placed to give us the low-down on the latest medical requirements for whichever PPL you happen to hold. The real eye-opener was the fact that if one switches to the new Light Aircraft Pilots Licence (LAPL) one only needs the equivalent of the DVLA’s HGV driving licence medical to fly an aircraft. The bottom line here is that if you are fit enough to drive to the GP’s surgery then you will be fit enough to hold a flying medical without the need to pay the CAA a king’s ransom at regular intervals for a Class II medical. A huge saving here although if you wish to continue exercising the privileges of an IMC rating then you will need to retain a PPL for which you will still need a CAA medical.

Our final speaker, Nick Wilcock, covered the licence changes introduced when EASA took over regulatory responsibility in September 2012. This is a veritable minefield but with his experience working on AOPA’s Instructor Committee and Members Working Group Nick talked us through the rules as they stood on the day. The campaign to keep the IMC rating continues but Nick also explained the latest European thinking on the introduction of a Restricted Instrument Rating or an En-route Instrument Rating. Basically, watch this space!

The day was very successful – grateful thanks to all three speakers. A number of BWPA members as well as members of other organisations have expressed regret at not being able to attend the day so in view of this we hope to run the day again sometime towards the end of the year and plan to open it up to

non-members as well. Caroline

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BWPA South East Group celebrates its first year

Time has really flown by since we started the South East Group on 21st April 2012

with Caroline, the BWPA Chair, visiting Headcorn Aerodrome.

The South East Group is growing in numbers and we

have a full schedule of flying and non-flying events

planned for the coming months involving our current

and prospective members from Headcorn, Shoreham

and Goodwood. This month we visited NATS at

Swanwick for an exclusive tour of Europe’s largest

ATC facility.

Despite the weather cancelling our plans to visit Goodwood last May, we started

our the 2012 programme in June with a trip to Shoreham to encourage their lady

pilots to join us. This was followed with a Tea and Touring day at Headcorn in July

where a Weald Air Robin

DR400 140hp was available to

all comers. Joining us on our

Touring day was a female

journalist from the Kent

Messenger which led to some

positive press coverage on our

activities.

August saw us gliding and enjoying a BBQ afterwards at the Kent Gliding Club at

Challock, while in September we attended a Curry and Talk evening with a

fascinating weather lecture by Headcorn Aerodrome’s owner Jamie Freeman.

In October our members flew to Compton Abbas in three aircraft for a Pooley’s

Open Day where we received a warm welcome from Sebastian Pooley and his staff.

Later that month a trip to Rochester was organised by Andrea to fly an open

gyrocopter MTO-Sport. Seven of us flew it individually with her instructor Kai giving

us a thrilling experience of a very different kind of flight. It is also with pleasure that

we can congratulate Andrea on going solo in her gyrocopter Calidus in November.

Several of our members attended Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) events in

November including the Annual Pub Quiz in London - where the BWPA

team beat the Virgin Atlantic team – and the Women in Aviation and Aerospace

Conference ‘Inspiring Excellence’ held at Rolls Royce in Bristol. Diana Patten

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Flying Floats in Scotland

Since getting my Private Pilot’s Licence in 2009, I have had a burning desire

to get my seaplane rating. I had discovered the origins of the seaplane

when I first saw photographs of my Great Great Uncle poised next to his

pride and joy ‘Waterbird’ in November 1911. This was the first plane to

successfully take off and land on water in Britain; the source of my

inspiration to fly with a buoyant undercarriage. It goes without saying that

the seaplane carries a significant historical value on a global scale. With a

lack of runways around the world in the early 20th century, it was thanks to

floatplanes that some of the first long distance flights could be made by

airlines such as Imperial Airways across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian

oceans. In World War II, the seaplane was the tool for reconnaissance and

search and rescue used by the Navy. Soon after learning about these

origins, I felt the need to try flying a seaplane myself.

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In July 2010, I was fortunate to have a lesson in the beautiful A1 Husky

Amphibian ingeniously named G-WATR, in Perthshire in the Scottish

highlands. I was immediately captivated by this innovative type of flying;

one moment you’re a speed boat and the next you’re a plane. I decided to

apply for a bursary with the Air League early in 2012 explaining why I

wanted to get my seaplane rating. When my bursary offer arrived, I was

absolutely thrilled. I started training in August 2012. There were challenges

considering that seaplanes are somewhat different to handle than

landplanes. The approach to landing depends entirely on the surface

texture of the water at any one time. However, my instructor Neil Gregory

soon helped me get to grips with it and we had a lot of fun. One particular

memory was landing on Loch Doine and mooring up to a bay. As if by

magic, some teacakes appeared which my instructor then toasted by laying

them on top of the hot engine. An excellent result!

After eight hours of training it was time to take the practical skills test.

Unfortunately the Scottish winter weather was the cause of it being

rescheduled numerous times, but I eventually took it at the end of Novem-

ber. The plane was being kept in a hangar at Oban airfield at the time. The

plane’s convertible undercarriage permitted take off from the hard runway.

I flew over to Loch Awe to do the water exercises. It was a beautiful flight

on an extremely crisp day with barely any wind. In fact when we got to Loch

Awe, the water was so glassy that coming into land was harder than ever; all

I could see was our reflection in the water. I completed the skills and landed

back at Oban ecstatic to have qualified.

I am indebted to the Air League and my sponsor, without whom I would not

have had the opportunity to undertake this rating. I hope to continue to fly

seaplanes and I look forward to many more exciting adventures.

I recommend others to apply for bursaries with the Air League, especially

students, as there are some fantastic opportunities available.

Natasha Seel

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From Climbing to Flying

There were no mountain rescue teams, when an

accident happened climbers helped each other. A

stretcher was available at the foot of some very isolated

crags and the old lady living at Ogwen Cottage (before it

became a Mountain School) handed out, to the person

wearing boots, the stretcher, casualty bag & a rucksack

with basic first aid.

And dramatic unclimbed lines on the North Wales crags

tempted first ascents, the sea cliffs at Gogarth were waiting to be

discovered. When in 1957 I was a course attender at Plas y Brenin, now the

National Mountaineering Centre in Capel Curig, I rented waterproofs,

vibram walking boots (tricouni nailed boots were being phased out) and ice

axes. In 1964 I became a rarity, a fulltime female mountaineering instructor

and mountain rescue first aider. Thankfully waterproof jackets had arrived

so I could cast aside my ex-Army and Navy store jacket, but it was some

years before waterproof over trousers and crash hats were considered

essential. Without today’s superb protective clothing mountain rescues

were frequent and severe injuries were commonplace. Lowering stuck or

injured rock climbers and evacuating walkers with hypothermia was all too

frequent and long stretcher carries were the norm. It was a relief to reach

the ambulance waiting at the roadside.

When a Cessna crashed, in cloud, onto the ridge near Carnedd Dafydd, the

next day I took two CAA investigators to the site (one looked for pilot error,

the other for mechanical failure). The cloud base was low, the sound of a

creaking wing led us to the site and among the many items removed from

the plane I acquired strong aircraft nuts of varying sizes that were used for

protecting a leader when rock climbing.

By the end of the 1960s helicopter evacuation was possible, today it is

common place. Now the ill-equipped, unprepared, incompetent

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and uninjured (with mobile phones) make up 50-75% of rescues in the

Ogwen area!

If in 1977 I hadn’t been the first – and I believe, only - female civilian to train

Infantry Junior Leaders in Folkestone, I doubt if when retired I wouldn’t

have spent six exciting and interesting weeks exploring solo the Falkland

Islands solo soon after the conflict in 1988/9. The RAF flight from Brize

Norton was all you expect from the best airline in the world and it was in

Stanley that I met a pilot, Chris, who said, “Anyone can learn to fly, if you

have the money”.

At home in Bangor, I went immediately to Caernarfon Airport and by the

end of the summer, 1989, I had my licence. That year, aged 50, I became

the oldest lady to get a PPL. Then the weather was bad, the plane was being

repaired, Mother was ill or I was not well. There was a definite risk of losing

my fragile, new-found skills when, now at Mona Flying Club on Anglesey, I

was advised to go to Florida to gain experience. I had logged only 23 hours

solo flying when I flew to Miami with PanAm. I went out of the airport then

back in to another area and here I met a pilot from a flying club. I flew their

Cessna back to Naples Airport, stayed in their awful accommodation and got

appalling service from them. Nearby was Naples Air Centre and that was all

I’d hoped for. Once checked out I had to get used to a 30 degree bank after

take-off, closed traffic (circuits) were tighter than usual here and I could be

ordered to ‘fly 360’ or ‘fly through final right 270’.

Falkands Landing Strip with local fire service

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In January IFR conditions north of Fort Myers were not unusual and many

airfields had only one runway so cross wind landings were frequent.

Landing at Everglades was exciting due to a near miss pelican strike on

approach and severe wind sheer when touching down and there were 10

frequency changes between Naples and Key West. Free weather forecasting

facilities (changed hourly) made planning easy and it was a pleasure to talk

to a person as well as receiving up to date NOTAMS. Filing a Flight Plan on

the free phone was trouble free and the Flight Plan could be activated

easily once airborne. When weather permitted I enjoyed could

enjoy over 4 hours solo flying, landing at 5 different places including to a

private grass strip near Vero Beach where friends from Wales gave me a

splendid welcome. It was a truly challenging, wonderful experience.

My military employment and flying experiences gave me the courage to

take on another challenge. I started to suffer from severe eczema so I

decided to write my autobiography with the goal of raising understanding

about eczema and to encourage people that they can achieve their dreams,

however unsuitable they may appear. I did. Of the 1,000 copies of

my self-published autobiography, Itching to Climb, only 58 remain in store.

More information is on www.itchingtoclimb.com and www.eczema.org.

Barbara James

Landing at Naples

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Ballooning and Biplane Adventures in Belgium

Ballooning is life-changing, isn’t it? Once you get infected with the virus no simple grass field will remain just a piece of grass, it will become a potential launch or landing site, no smoke coming out from a chimney will ever remind you of Christmas again, but it will become an indicator of your wind-direction! But the most amazing change will be, that wherever you go in the world, once you meet a fellow balloonist, you are automatically like old buddies and share everything – even if you have never met before!

And so it happened in Tannheim this January with Frank! During the event Rudi Hoefer – the organizer – showed parts of our ARTE film series on ballooning and Frank came up to me to talk. When he heard that I had flown in 60 countries but not yet in Belgium, he immediately invited me to join him flying in his home-country.

Plans were quickly made, and I arrived on what was the hottest day this year in the entire continent with a baking hot 26 degrees, that was April the 25th. Now I must admit that my knowledge of this country was rather confined to traffic-jammed through-drives on Belgian motorways,

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but I have never seen downtown Brussels nor anything of the countryside. So, a little bicycle ride with my girl friend Jutta near Mechelen revealed picturesque rural scenery with rivers, lakes, forest, green pastures with cattle and horses and many little villages with beautiful historic buildings. But would the weather last till our ballooning weekend??

By the next day the weather had changed 100% from hot and sunny to a cold 5˚C and drizzle. As Frank and I fought our way through the Brussels rush-hour to drive out towards his house near Sint-Niklaas my heart sank…but as I was greeted with champagne by his wife Natalie (who had just undergone a severe shoulder operation!) and his very sweet three boys and all of Frank’s balloon crew, I knew: whatever the weather, we’ll have a great time! And so it was!

Frank de Meyer – a fixed wing pilot with his own old biplane - had only gotten his PPL balloons last year but had already gained fame amongst the Belgium ballooning community for his record flight of 5:24hrs and 246 km flying from his home in Hamme-Zogge to Freulleville in France (near Dieppe). Amazingly, this had been only his 4th flight since getting his licence just a few months earlier!

The weather forecast looked surprisingly positive for a morning flight and one call to Reginald Geerinck, the chairman of the Waasballoon club, opened up the doors for a private launch from the famous market square in Sint-Niklaas! What a prospect for my first flight in this country!

And indeed, the weather played fair and whilst we took off in quite speedy winds with 10kt at 500ft from the city centre, winds calmed down as we then slowly cruised over the countryside. I was indeed amazed to find that Belgium has at least as much live-stock in their small fields as we do here in Britain, plus there are lots of power-lines, houses, forest. Not an easy place to land in

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high winds. But I was even more amazed to hear that there are hardly ANY sensitive areas or landowner issues. In my later discussions with local pilots, I heard that they used to have problems when there were only a few bal-loons flying, but now, that there are lots of balloons, the problem seems to have eased down. One argument was, that they have a strict rule to never pay the farmers a fee! I am still not quite clear why the Belgians seem to have such a great relationship with their farmers whilst we in the UK – with all our rules and LRO courses – don’t seem to achieve the same result. My personal feeling is, that it has to do with the ‘hedge – mentality’ in the UK which doesn’t exist in any other country as fields there are mostly open and not so fenced (‘hedged’) in as in Britain. The hedge-system creates an automatic ‘my-field-my-property’ sense whilst on the Continent everybody walks through and onto the fields without restriction.

Anyway, we had a delightful flight joined by the first female Belgian champion, Moniek van de Velde, and landed after an hours flight in gentle winds. Country no 63!

That afternoon proved too windy to fly a balloon, but then Frank has other options of getting in the air: his newly acquired ‘Stampe SV4E’ (OO-KAT) – a lovely old biplane built in 1946 and the first one of its kind having been equipped in the 80ies with a modern Lycoming 180HP engine – which gave me confidence that it might stand against the strong winds!

And soon I found myself strapped in the front seat wearing goggles and a leather hat (as one does!) taking off from Antwerp airport! What a view! Antwerp has one of the largest ports in Europe even though it is roughly 60km away from the sea. Frank took me right over Sint-Niklaas and showed his acrobatic flying skills with a couple of low dives over his house – not to the great pleasure of my stomach, I must admit. I know why after all, I would always prefer a balloon!

Having successfully concluded our ‘recce’ flight and gained permission from Antwerp ATC, we felt prepared for a special

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flight from this airport in the next morning. But first we had to check in for the balloon event in Waregem. Flying was cancelled for the evening but instead we were given dozens of coupons for free drinks and food! What a surprise! The rather freezing cold ‘burner-only’ nightglow was a small price to pay for such huge generosity shown by the sponsors of this popular meet.

Next day, 5.00: weather and winds couldn’t be better! Arriving at the still closed Antwerp airport we were specially escorted by a security vehicle and left on the helipad in the middle of the empty airfield. As soon as Frank did his burner check, a fleet of fire-engines raced across the field. I was worried that they thought we intended to set the airport on fire, but no, it was just their daily check run!

Half an hour later we were in the air and got clearance up to 2000ft drifting to the south-west of Antwerp. Perfect track and speed to clear this big city and not to end up in the water! A bit of special ‘women’s tea’ helped us all to fight the bitter cold of minus two degrees. After an hour and a half hav-ing failed to do an intermediate stop to change crew as it was too windy on the ground, we landed with only 5kt on a model aircraft strip not too far from Frank’s house! What a perfect exciting flight! Thanks a lot to Frank’s great team that had to drive huge detours around the winding river.

Later that afternoon we drove the 60km down to Waregem again to join the balloon event. Sod’s law had it, that despite calm upper winds by 6pm a strong sea breeze made take off rather challenging. I admired how the Festo upside-down balloon managed to get up in those tricky conditions. This was Frank’s first Fiesta and there were around 50 balloons present. We took off as one of the last in quite strong gusts but in the end we enjoyed a great flight towards Gent and landed just in the right moment before winds would pick up again ending a great weekend full of challenging aviation!

Thanks so much to Frank and his fantastic crew, but also to his very tolerant wife Natalie and the children! I hope our weather here in Britain will allow me to repay the hospitality one day with similar flying conditions!

Allie Dunnington

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Safety issues on balloon operations around the world

Uncertainty and insecurity of harm seem to be all around: whether it’s running a Marathon, getting hit by an earthquake or being run over by a drunken driver whilst riding a tandem in Bristol – if bad luck strikes – it strikes!

But what about the risks that you can choose to take or not to take? Like sailing, mountaineering, horse-riding, flying or booking a balloon flight?

Is there any means of telling whether that operator, aircraft or crew will be qualified enough to guarantee a safe flight? Are there any means of distinguishing between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ ones?

The UK CAA has just released a leaflet aimed at the public to help people making that very decision. Its main content is based on the fact that any legal commercial operator should have a valid AOC, which should in theory be proof of their high safety standards and quality of operation.

But what other issues might be related to safety besides being able to show a piece of paper?

Is ballooning really ‘dangerous’?

Most of the planet’s population will either die from some form of illness, natural causes, household or road accidents, war or famine. Having the bad luck to die whilst being in the air is comparatively rare! Compared to the huge number or passengers travelling by air, only a very few fatal accidents occur per annum all over the world, and even fewer in ballooning. And that’s mainly the reason why any aviation accident stirs such big headlines in the news as recently proven with the recent balloon accident in Egypt.

Over the past 40 years hot air balloons have grown in number and popularity, and the sport and profession look proudly back on a very good safety record – especially in the UK. Hardly any fatal accidents and otherwise only relatively minor injuries were noted. These figures used to compare favourably with other aviation activities whether it’s fixed-wing flying, gliding, microlights or parachuting. But not so in recent years.

In the past 5 years there has been at least one fatal balloon accident worldwide every year. This is shocking and worrying and made me want to analyse the reasons why ballooning has suddenly become such a perceived ‘dangerous’ activity. Has ballooning really become more

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dangerous and if so, what are the reasons for it?

Looking at the statistics, it seems certainly to have become more risky – especially when looking at commercial balloon operations and their accident rates. Indeed there are more widespread commercial balloon operations these days around the world than there were 10 years ago and the average size of the operating balloons has nearly doubled in that time, so we are looking at a larger number of people ‘being at risk’ whilst participating in this activity. But then we should also balance this factor against better and safer equipment and – at least in some countries - stricter rules on pilots and their training.

So what causes these increased accident rates? Let’s look into the different attitudes and approaches towards safety:

Are there different attitudes towards safety around the world?

My husband, Phil, has been involved in the investigation of many such recent fatal accidents and we shared many discussions about the general issues leading to those accidents. As we also travel on an extensive basis around the world attending balloon meets, flying with other balloon operators, teaching or training new pilots or – as in the case of Phil – doing investigations on accidents, we come across the whole range of thought processes and management styles, attitudes towards safety issues and operational practices. Do we see differences? And if so, what are they?

Indeed at three recent overseas balloon events I noticed that pilots from certain nationalities are generally prepared to take a higher risks in flying than most of the European pilots. Mentality - and to some extent - religion (‘Inshallah attitude’) do play a significant role in the attitude towards safety. I would even dare to say that we can distinguish between two types of cultures: the ‘safety-conscious culture’ and ‘the risk/hero’ culture.

Let’s look at a few factors that characterise those two cultures:

It is quite clear that in aviation, mentality or cultural aspects do play a significant role in discussing or enforcing safety issues (but of course this is just a general observation and there are certainly many European pilots who would also fit into the second category!).

One also might just briefly be reminded of the Asian ‘seniority’ rule in aeroplanes where the first officer quite frequently does not

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dare to challenge the captain despite seeing serious mistakes being made by the P1.

But what about the public? - How can we identify and distinguish ‘safe’ operations from ‘not-so-safe’ ones?

As a tour manager and being involved in co-operative ventures with many tour operators around the world, I tend to receive more and more enquiries about the safety of various balloon operations and questions as to whether a particular business could be recommended to tourists. A difficult question to answer – but a very legitimate and important one. So how can the public identify a ‘safe’ operator from a ‘not-so-safe’ one? Could there be something like a pre-flight ‘safety check list’ for the passengers helping them in their judgement and risk assessment?

The following points could be rough guidelines for anyone choosing a flight operator whether it’s in ballooning or fixed-wing aviation:

Safety conscious culture Risk/hero culture

Open discussions about mistakes Mistakes are considered ‘bad’ or shameful and therefore not talked

Analytical/pragmatic approach Fatalistic approach

Sharing experiences through media/articles/news

No public involvement or even re-strictions on the press

Seeking advice and help from others Keep things to yourself, not hero-like

Review of procedures Procedures are kept as ancient tradi-

Enforcement of rules and laws by the overseeing authority

Authority is often not interested, doesn’t provide experts, rules are not pragmatic and experience-based but

Regular control and check of those rules by the authority, penalties if dis-obeyed

If existing, then checks are random, may involve bribery, no relevance to safety but bureaucratic

Airmanship as well as consideration for others is valued

Ego-building, self-promotion, no air-manship or consideration for others

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Price versus quality: you get what you pay for…

Safety record; how long have they been operating?

Sizes of aircraft/balloons, origin of manufacture (thus certification)

Insurance level

AOC (Air Operators Certificate)

Pilots licence

Passenger briefings?

Available operating space: how many aircraft or balloons operating

in a constrained space?

Weather conditions: too windy, cloud, fog, thunderstorms?

Pilot distractions: pictures taken by crew/pilot, phone calls,

champagne served during the flight?

How many operators are competing with each other in the area?

Pressure to fly on the pilot? Who is the ‘boss’? The pilot or the

operator?

Training programmes for new pilots? How long?

Of course nobody will really be able to answer those questions in full before booking a flight, but if time is available, then assessing some of those above mentioned points might point the passenger in the right direction. But what about the pilots themselves?

What can we as pilots do to eliminate a few risk factors?

In a recent article on the Grand National horse race the TIMES wrote the following lines (In: The TIMES, 5.4. 2013: ‘And they’re off’):

“There is an element of risk however in every sporting activity and if we were to ban sport on account of it there would not be much left. The question is whether enough is done to mitigate the risk.”

We all know that we love our hobby or profession and we

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would like to continue to fly and keep it a safe and enjoyable activity for ourselves, our passengers and the public. Just a few tips therefore to reconsider what we could and should try to do to keep it that way:

From time to time, fly other with other pilots. See what they do,

observe their actions, learn and discuss! Especially if operating in

remote locations or where there is a tendency for ‘home grown

habits’

Regularly check your equipment, especially after a long winter, or

in extreme temperatures like heat or frost and ice

Take your time to prepare your flight! Have you thoroughly

checked the weather conditions? Are you familiar with the flying

area?

Don’t rush! Don’t fly when you are pressed for precise timing to be

back.

If flying a new aircraft or balloon, do take time to familiarise

yourself with the equipment. Check the burner, locate your

fire-extinguisher, check the fuel state.

If you don’t feel comfortable with the flying/weather conditions,

don’t get pressured into flying because other pilots do or for

commercial advantages!

Likewise don’t fly when pressured to fly by organizers, sponsors etc

or if you are tired or stressed!

Once you have made a decision to fly or not to fly – stick to it!

Do your load calculation! Your balloon and safety will thank you!

At balloon events, look around and constantly scan the sky for

other balloons!

Don’t get distracted by taking pictures or talking to your

passengers!

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Always remember: YOU are the P1 and ultimately responsible for

your passengers and your own safety and life.

Coming back to my original paragraph in observing recent trends we have to ask the question:

What is the future of commercial ballooning? Is bigger really better?

The pattern in the 21st century clearly follows the trend: the bigger the better! The more passengers the better!

The same applies to fixed-wing aviation as seen in the construction of the massive A380 or the sizes of new cruise ships.

Unfortunately what I and Phil witnessed on our recent trips didn’t fill us with much hope for the future of ballooning safety. As times are tougher, many operators have sacrificed prices with much lower rates following the low-budget trend but simultaneously increasing the sizes of their balloons to take more passengers. Flying a 350 with 20 passengers or (as in the case of Egypt or Cappadocia) even a 600 with over 30 pax is no longer uncommon.

As ballooning becomes more and more dominated by commercial interest, pres-sure by the operators on the pilots increases; weather worldwide tends to get less reliable, so pilots take more risks to get airborne and are often out of practice as adverse weather conditions have prevented them from regular flying, and so it goes on.

A vicious circle all contributing to everything ... except a safe flight.

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I believe nevertheless, that with a few simple rules, ballooning can once more become one of the safest forms of aviation, but only if all three parties involved – operators, pilots and the overseeing authority – follow well-established good practice.

So what could really be done to eliminate risk and maximise safety?

It is common knowledge that ‘bad luck comes in threes’, the same applies to aviation accidents. And I would add that it involves three out of five of the following factors:

Pilot error / Weather / Equipment / External pressure to fly / Bad luck, fate

As a pilot (or passenger), you can try to eliminate at least a few of those risk factors by adhering to simple advice and rules – but the last one is indeed bad luck or fate!

You might have been doing all the right things in life or in your approach to flying, but No 5 is a bit like being run over by a car when cycling and observing all the rules, or suffering a sudden heart attack despite healthy eating or dying of lung cancer despite never having smoked!

And last but not least: Rules and paperwork alone are not a recipe for safety; be aware of some operations where set rules seem to be in place, but actually nobody bothers to obey them!

Just recently we witnessed this scenario by flying with an award winning European airline where the stewardesses never did any pre-landing safety checks despite the automated messages being broadcast in the cabin. Children were walking in the aisles, seats reclined, seatbelts hanging loosely and cups and cans still sitting on the opened passenger trays. As soon as the airliner touched down, people were jumping up and opening the overhead lockers. One wonders how such an airline could be allowed into the realm of one of the big airline alliances and secondly, how it could be awarded to be the best airline of the year??

Maybe because it served free sweets even to economy passengers on take off! Watch this space ….

Allie Dunnington

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Forthcoming Events

June

FEWP weekend, Slovenia Fri 7th – Sun 9th

RIN Fly/Sail weekend, Rochester Sat/Sun 15th-16th

July

BWPA visit to RAF Cranwell Mon 15th

Compton Abbas annual Lady Pilot Fly-In Sun 28th

August

British Women Pilots Bonus Day, Duxford Sat 17th

August/September

LAA Rally, Sywell Fri 30th – Sun 1st

September

AOPA Bonus Day, Duxford Sat 14th

Brooklands Museum Aviation Day Sat 28th

BWPA fly-in to Wellesbourne Mountford Sat 28th

4th Women’s ballooning weekend, Stratford upon Avon Fri 27th - Sun 29th

October

BWPA visit to Derby airfield: Sat 26th

Amy Johnson’s DH88 Comet racer ‘Black Magic’ restoration project

Talk on grass and short field techniques

Pub lunch

November/December

The Flying Show, NEC Sat 30th - Sun 1st Dec

December

AGM, Christmas Lunch & Awards Sat 7th

The Headcorn Group are keen to meet with other BWPA members in

nearby regions and organise joint events, so please contact the

Chair, Diana on 01424 812479 or at diana5pettlevel@gmail.com

Their event calendar can be seen at www.headcornaerodrome.co.uk