From points all across Australia they converged on Armidale, NSW – a fleet of gleaming singles and twins. The liveries were different, the interiors were different; no two aircraft were the same. But they all had two things in common – they were all made by Beechcraft and they were all owned by zealous pilots excited by the thought of three days talking Bonanzas and Barons.
This was the Australian Bonanza Society’s Bonanza Pilot Proficiency Program (BPPP) and, although the main aim is to help owners fly their aeroplanes better, having their prides-and-joy in intense focus for three days guarantees a lot of yarns about tips and traps will be exchanged.
No doubt about it, high-speed aircraft are a joy to behold. They will fly faster and carry heavier loads, there is more room inside them and they can fly above the weather. But if you fly them badly, they will either cost you the kids’ inheritance to run, or make sure the kids get the money earlier than you had planned. Bonanzas and Barons, by expert advice, are very easy to fly badly, but the wealth of knowledge about the planes also makes them some of the easiest to get right...if you listen.
Knowing this better than anyone, the ABS convenes a BPPP annually to help aircraft owners stay ahead of their aeroplanes. The BPPP is designed to catch bad flying habits before they become entrenched, and help pilots get the best out of their air frames. It’s also a reason for like-minded pilots to talk about their aeroplanes for three days straight and catch up with people they generally only see once a year. Just as much can be learned around the dinner table as the briefing table - it is just different stuff.
To Armidale
For the 30-odd Beechcraft and their pilots who tracked for Armidale last March, the central location and substantial airport made it an ideal place for the 2009 BPPP. It was at worst a good leg-stretch for Bonanzas coming from Cairns or Melbourne.
BPPP convener, Keith Russell from Shepparton, Victoria, was very pleased with the location chosen: “Armidale was a very popular choice because the majority of members are on the eastern seaboard and it is mid-way between Victoria and Queensland. There is no controlled air space over the airport so pilots could maximise their time on the sortie without dealing with clearances and controllers.
“It also has a fairly high elevation [3,556 feet], which added another challenge to the pilots, having to think about density heights. The facilities there were excellent and the town had everything going for it.”
Let the ops begin
Covering the operations at Armidale was the Lilydale Flying School in Victoria. You are justified in wondering what a school from the Yarra Valley was doing supervising a BPPP in New England. Although it is not required for this type of operation, the ABS has always insisted on an AOC holder running the flying operations. Due to a last minute withdrawal, the 2008 BPPP hosts were asked to come in again to fill the gap. LFS responded by sending their chief pilot, CFI and another instructor.
Having a school involved results in the owners getting the best feedback about the way they operate their aeroplanes and it also means better value for money. Each sortie is flown with a flying instructor acting in the role of mentor. Their job is to watch how the owner handles their aeroplane and straighten out the chinks. There is no pass, there is no fail; there is good advice and a lot of laughs.
Lilydale Chief Pilot Hugh Hopkins was the ringmaster of the operational side and brought thousands of hours of expertise with him to Armidale. It was his job to see that the flying program stayed on schedule. In his usual, laconic style, Hopkins explains his role in the BPPP:
“The ABS puts in place all the domestic arrangements relating to the proficiency program. They nominate to me who wants to fly on which day and which people want to do the ground school. I simply work out a program which, according to me, will satisfy what the ABS requires.
“There’s a basic core series of exercises that we follow but the actual course is determined in consultation with the individual pilot. It allows us to pick up those people who regularly fly, compared with those people who irregularly fly, and you can therefore tailor some parts of the sequences to better suit the individuals.”
Flexibility is an important point, because the range of flying skills and knowledge is so wide that strictly adhering to the one regime for each pilot could result in one pilot being bored and another one confused. Either way, they would not get much out of their three-hour flight with the mentor.
“In day-to-day flight we don’t usually fly in different configurations,” Russell said. “Gear down, full flaps, slow flight – so the program gives us the opportunity to do that. Short field and extremely short field landings...pilots are exposed to types of flying that normally they don’t get. The most experienced and best pilots are the ones that do the program most often because it gives them a better feel for the plane in unusual configuration.”
To get things straight first, a one-on-one briefing preceded each sortie where pilot and mentor both went through what they were about to do. Although the pilot had a lot of say in the session, the mentors didn’t let them get away with a docile program. The whole idea of the BPPP is to test how each owner handles their plane, and so three hours of straight-and-level just doesn’t cut the mustard. But mostly, as Hopkins pointed out, the pilots already knew where they needed to be pulled into line.
“We’re not actually teaching,” he stressed. “We’re not fulfilling the role of an instructor; we’re fulfilling the role of a mentor. It’s a relaxed environment - it’s not a pass or fail. What we’re interested in is giving the participants a greater knowledge of their aeroplane, especially in the performance capabilities of their aeroplane, so that they can both enjoy it and use it to a greater degree than they are at the moment.”
Sydney pilot Jim Keepie brought his immaculate A36 Bonanza VH-JKL to Armidale. Keepie is a veteran of about five BPPP courses, but keeps going back to make sure his skills are kept sharp.
“It reminds me of what I’m doing right and wrong,” he said. “They [the mentors] put us in positions that we normally wouldn’t be in. They put me in a climbing turn to the left with power and when she stalled I wasn’t expecting a wing-drop to the right! Its good to practice these sorts of thing when you’ve got someone in the right seat.”
Doubtless, there was not a Bonanza or Baron flown home from Armidale the same way it was flown on the trip up there.
Ground school
Thomas Turner from Mastery Flight Training in the US is recognised as an expert on most things Beechcraft. As well as running his own flying school, Turner is also the manager of technical services for the American Bonanza Society. Suffice to say he is pretty clued-up on how to extract the most from an aeroplane.
Having been brought in from the US for the BPPP weekend, he was kept busy conducting ground classes for those not scheduled to fly. For many pilots, his lectures on how to fine-tune the operation of their aircraft are invaluable.
Asked why the ABS would pay to import someone from the US rather than use a local, Russell replied: “Expertise the equal of Thomas Turner is not available in Australia. He has the aviation equivalent of a PhD [Masters of Aviation Safety] and has spent his life teaching others how to get the best out of their aeroplane. There is also no known presenter better than Tom.”
Such is the regard in which Turner’s expertise is held that most of the mentors also made time to sit in on a session; no matter how much you know there is still more to be learned. Much of what Turner covered related to the intimate operation of the aircraft and systems, small things like the value of engine monitoring and understanding what cylinder head temperature really means to the pilot. By studying such minute details, huge changes in performance can be gained. And that, after all, is what all those pilots came to Armidale to find out.
Behind the scenes
With Hopkins and his crew having the operational side well in hand, the organisational side fell to Keith Russell. Having participated in several programs before, Russell was the ideal person to take charge at Armidale: experienced, well-respected and adept at getting ABS members to volunteer for things.
His sphere of responsibility covered getting the flying schedule straight, getting the pilots to the briefings on time, holding sartimes for every sortie, making sure everyone was happy and somehow having a good time himself.
“I had an excellent team of volunteers with me, sorting out the meals, accommodation, driving the minibus to and from the airport and helping with the partner program,” he reflected. “They all did a great job.”
Non-flying partners were not forgotten. For those who wanted to be a bit more involved with the flight, they sat in on sessions showing them how to do some basic things, like tuning the radio and the GPS in an emergency and how to call for help in the very rare event that it might be needed. Some general cockpit familiarisation had a demystifying effect.
And for those who preferred it, non-flying partners were also squired around the sights of Armidale, immersing themselves in local colour and paying visits to museums, art galleries and other bits of New England culture. It seems the town was a popular choice from their point of view as well.
The net effect
Like any instructional course, the value of the BPPP can only be realised if there is a change in habits afterward. As the standard of pilots that attend the course is already quite high, it is not easy to evaluate how well the BPPP works. One thing can be said, it is valuable enough for people to keep coming back.
“Just about anyone who has done a BPPP will come back,” Russell said.
“After doing a BPPP, most pilots tell me that they are more comfortable flying their aeroplane in extreme circumstances. I, for one, am more confident taking my plane into short strips since I first did a BPPP.”
And the ABS is not the only organisation that believes in this sort of training. QBE Aviation’s Julian Fraser is a big supporter of this and other proficiency courses run by the aircraft societies.
“Safe pilots are our business,” Fraser says. “It is in our best interests to have proficient pilots in the planes we insure. So, we rebate the cost of the course over two renewals. We have the same rebate for any of the groups that run these courses. We encourage pilots to become members and fly more often and become proficient.”
Hugh Hopkins estimates that 80 per cent of the pilots who show up at the BPPP have actually done one before, and the very pilots who should show up tend to stay away. But according to Hopkins, you can not force the horse to water.
“You’ve got a core of people who come to the course who want to be here, who want to learn. That’s better than having people who are made to come here, because they won’t want to listen to what you have to say.”
Pilot proficiency programs such as this provide an opportunity for pilots to fine-tune their techniques to extract more performance from their aircraft and gain some confidence in tricky flight situations.
Many thanks to the Australian Bonanza Society and Lilydale Flying School for their co-operation with this article, and Bruce Baade and Jock Folan for making their aircraft available for the photo shoot. For more information visit www.abs.org.au.