these checks are important, which is why they are called ‘Vital Actions’ before take-off or landing – failure to observe them could indeed be fatal. One such check on the Oxford was to adjust tabs on the elevators, the horizontal control surfaces at the back end of the aircraft. These tabs influenced the behaviour of the elevators under different flying conditions, varying the ‘feel’ of the pilot’s control column so that they could be set to make level flying effortless, and could be altered to accommodate climbing and gliding and, in particular, the ‘feel’ of the control column on take-off. If not set accurately the tabs could make it difficult to get enough push on the control column to raise the tail to the right position for the take-off run or, again, enough push to hold the aircraft’s nose down when it left the ground. When a pupil is sent for his first solo it is the custom for his instructor to walk away from the aircraft, so supremely confident in the pupil’s ability that he does not even have to watch him take off. Privately, the instructor would always be watching from some hidden vantage point like the crew-room window, with some slight degree of trepidation. I watched Sotola taxi to the leeward edge of the Brize Norton 2000 yard field, turn across wind to carry out his vital actions and to check on the traffic landing or taking off, and turn into wind for his own first solo take-off. He opened the throttles, the Oxford accelerated, the tail came up, and the wheels came off the ground. Then, horror of horrors! The Oxford’s nose came up, kept coming up, and the aircraft went into an almost vertical climb at the time it should have been hugging the ground to increase flying speed enough for a safe ascent. Panic! The Oxford was obviously going to stall and crash to the ground. I held my breath and wanted to close my eyes on what was almost certainly going to be a fatal accident. And then, as the Oxford hung almost vertically on its two propellers, ready to stall and fall out of control to the right or to the left, the nose came down, and it slowly picked up airspeed and told us the pilot was once again in command. It was a shattering few seconds as Sotola failed to carry out one of those vital actions, and needed all his strength to push the control column forward against the upward thrust of the elevators, guided by the wrongly set tabs at their trailing edge. It was one mistake he never made again. Hanzl was a very, very good pupil. He was one of only two, in my instructing


career, who I felt should be assessed as ‘Exceptional’ at the end of their SFTS training. I recommended this and there was some demur until the Flight Commander flew with him for a trial flight and thoroughly agreed with me. I also felt I must ask Hanzl one question.


‘Hanzl,’ I said, ‘you came to Brize Norton with an extremely poor report


from your EFTS. It seems you can fly an Oxford. What was wrong with your Tiger Moth flying?’ ‘Sir,’ replied Hanzl, ‘It was the CFI. He did not like me.’


41


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164