Approach
Antics of TIGER MOTH CF- CIT
by Gordon Hicks
MSC operations in 1955 were
from a hastily found site in the Eastern Townships. A
barely adequate size empty farmers field near L’Ange
Gardien, 13 Km. west of Granby, had to serve our needs. Its
sale by Crown Assets of our previous site at St. Eugene,
Ontario, with its large hangar, support buildings and paved
run-ways had been a cruel disaster for the MSC.
When a glider and our only towplane was in the air, there
was little on the ground apart from a few cars and a couple
of other gliders to indicate the presence of an airfield.
The events of this story were initiated by an instructor
being distracted from situation awareness at such a site.
On 10 September 1955, I was asked to do an instructional
flight. The student was Ben Price. The glider, an early
Schweizer 2-22 (Ser# 02) with large, heavy ailerons, poor
spoilers and definitely low performance.
On this day, for site reasons named and wind drift, I
became distracted. I had become so involved in monitoring
Ben’s training that I did not maintain situation
awareness. It was a non soaring day, altitude was slipping
away and I did not know which way to head for home. Angry
and disgusted with our predicament, for which I was totally
responsible, an outlanding was inevitable. The landing was
uneventful, into a 1000-1500 ft. field where approach was
between two large trees followed by power and telephone
lines. Our non return after a half hour or so brought the
Tiger Moth out to find us. The tow pilot, who later had a
long career piloting for Air Canada, decided to land in our
field.
Everything looked good. I believed, due to the wind 10-15
miles/hr, it might be possible to be aero towed out. Ben
would run the wing, then we should be able to clear the
trees at the wooded area up-wind field boundary.
To Ben and my horror it became apparent that the tow pilot
was not seeing the power lines on his approach. Hand
signaling was tried, but the Tiger Moth hit the lines. It
should be noted, the Tiger Moth is a biplane where the
pilot sits in the rear seat when solo and his view forward
is obstructed by struts, rigging and airframe. Upon hitting
the power lines, it did not pitch up or down but hesitated
a moment, broke lines at the power pole on the Tiger
Moth’s starboard side. The Tiger Moth continued to
fly with lines captured by the wings and rigging but still
attached to the power pole on the aircraft’s port
side. Unbelievably, it continued to do so, through an
80-100 ft. radius 180 degree left turn, before escaping the entangling
lines. The pilot applied power, survived the low downwind
turn and was able to return to the take off site. The sight
of the Tiger Moth flying the turn while attached to the
power pole reminded one of model U-control line flying,
popular before RC flying.
Upon landing at home site, it was found that the Tiger
Moth’s port aileron control horn was bent over and
the propeller and structure were marked by the encounter
with the power line. After repairs, it was determined that
the Tiger Moth was airworthy and the aero retrieve attempt
should continue.
Ben and I waiting in our field were dumbfounded when the
Tiger Moth returned, set up for approach as before,
apparently not seeing two lines that remained. Trying to
get his attention, Ben and I gestured wildly. In
desperation, I removed my shirt to have something to wave
and ran under the threatening lines. He did see us, pulled
up abruptly for a go around, followed by a successful
landing. Because of field length and trees at the upwind
field boundary, the tow pilot and I knew that an aero tow
out could be marginal depending on the wind. We each agreed
to abort in good time if it appeared dangerous to proceed.
Being still on the ground at the half way point, I
released. The Tiger Moth carried on nearing the field
boundary. Just before the trees he took off and climbed at
an unsustainable angle, for the modest powered 130 hp
Tiger Moth. When he cleared the trees he hesitated, the
nose dropped and mercifully was saved from the consequences
of a full stall by the increase of the airspeed due to wind
over the trees.
So ended my excitement for the day. A trailer retrieve was
carried out before sun down. All involved went to a nearby
hotel for supper and suds.
An epilogue to these events occurred when the MSC
celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in
1946. At festivities in the hangar, I recalled this story
and was pleased that Ben Price, on a visit from the UK, was
in attendance. After the story Ben wanted to know if I
acknowledged my responsibility in the land-out; “Yes
Ben, I always have, but maybe not forcefully enough at the
time”. A lesson appears to be learned as that type of
distraction in attention has not been repeated. The tow
pilot, whose name I remember, must also have learned some
lessons, as he also enjoyed a long subsequent career of
flying.
Gordon Hicks 2004 ( MSC
)