LOOP Features

Glass cockpit a winner for Wycombe Air Centre

Pilots at Wycombe Air Centre are embracing glass cockpit technology with the first G1000-equipped Cessna 172S on a UK club fleet

WYCOMBE AIR CENTRE

AIRFIELD Wycombe Air Park (Booker)

WHERE 2.5nm SW of High Wycombe

MEMBERSHIP 750 incl 200 students

RUNWAYS 06/24 asphalt (and grass), 17/35 grass

FACILITIES Café, licensed restaurant, fuel, maintenance, fixed-wing, rotary and glider training

TEL 01494 443737

WEB www.wycombeaircentre.co.uk

THE first glass cockpit Cessna 172 on the fleet of a UK flying school is at Wycombe Air Centre - and it's proving a great hit with club members!

"They're flying the pants off the aeroplane," said Shari Peyami, managing director of WAC. "The aircraft is booked regularly and we have members queuing up for conversion training."

Perhaps surprisingly, the aircraft is no more expensive to hire than WAC's other 180hp fuel-injected 172S equipped with analogue 'traditional' instruments. At £145 per hour solo (plus, at the time of writing, an extra £5 per hour fuel surcharge), it's not cheap but there's no shortage of bookings.

But before a pilot unfamiliar with the Cessna's Garmin G1000 glass cockpit can fly the aeroplane, he or she has to undergo training in the use of the twin-screen panel. The full title of the G1000, 'Integrated Cockpit System', gives a hint of the importance of the training. The big thick Garmin manual for the G1000 spells it out... fortunately, you don't have to memorise it. WAC has a much more user-friendly way of bringing you up to speed.

The training starts in a dedicated room at WAC, on a PC equipped with two large flat-panel screens side-by-side. On the right screen, a Garmin training DVD is played, taking you through each of the functions of the G1000. On the left screen, a simulation of the Primary Flight Display or the Multi Function Display is shown with fully operational knobs, buttons and displays.

The idea is straightforward. Go through the DVD section by section -- it can be paused - and then re-enact the lesson on the simulator. An instructor is on hand to help, in my case Jason Chandler, who gained his PPL(A) at WAC before going on to an ATPL. "We start with learning the controls on the Primary Flight Display," said Jason. "Most of the pilots converting are familiar with the 172S so it's the same aircraft. We cover the functions on the PFD, then go through a typical general handling exercise - stalls, steep turns, that sort of thing. Then we go out to the aircraft and fly the exercise."
Following the first lesson, there's a debrief with the instructor on the flight. "Most people take to it very easily," said Jason. "Some take a while to get used to the speed tape."

This refers to the Air Speed Indicator which on the G1000, like most glass cockpits, has a vertical 'tape'. This highlights the indicated air speed while showing a 'trend' - what it calculates the air speed will be in 7 seconds. At the bottom of the speed tape is the True Air Speed - automatically calculated for you. The G1000 panel is full of little aids like this - in one corner, there's an arrow depicting wind direction and a figure showing wind speed, calculated using GPS data.

Once you're competent with the PFD, the next lesson covers the second screen, the Multi Function Display, or MFD. There is huge, simply huge, functionality here. At its simplest it's a moving map display. There's absolutely no reason to ever get lost again, not even 'temporarily uncertain of position'. The display is so clear that you can even watch yourself taxiing around the airfield.

You can zoom out to show the whole flight, if it's a long one and planned into the unit's database, or zoom in to see any sector. Mostly, of course, you just watch where you are and the surroundings within, say, the next 15-20 minutes flying time. Airspace is all marked and as you fly closer to the ground, the terrain also becomes more obvious, going to yellow then red when very low.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Jason. "Most people are content to use it for VFR flying but it's perfect for IFR flight." Holds and procedures for IFR airfields are all in the database and can be displayed and engaged on screen, once you know how to operate the G1000 fully.

It's not just existing pilots who love the glass C172 - two PPL students are learning on the aircraft. "The thing we keep having to remind people is to 'look out'," said Jason.

It's easy to understand why. The Cessna's G1000 is a terrific panel to look at and not at all intimidating once you've mastered the initial functions. Best of all, it brings real safety benefits which, should you ever get caught out in bad weather or in high terrain, may well help you out of trouble. Pilots at WAC are voting with the feet in favour of the latest technology - something not lost on Cessna as it has now confirmed all its aircraft will be glass cockpit from now on.

STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY
ALMOST 40 years old, Wycombe Air Centre is run by the four-strong management team that bought it out in 1998. MD is Shari Peyami, who joined WAC as an engineer in 1983 and has literally risen through the ranks. Shari led the buy-out from Richard Gyselnyck, son of the founder, which also involved Chief Flying Instructor Richard Bird, Chief Engineer Nigel Huxtable and Administrator Mandy Sarney.

The team has had its challenges since then. The biggest was the effect on flight training after the World Trade Center terrorist attack on 11 September 2001. "We were doing around 11,000 hours a year and overnight it crashed to around 7000, " said Shari. "It was a major blow."

The diversity of the WAC business saw them through. WAC is a Cessna Sales Center, has first-rate engineering and maintenance facilities, and flight training covers both private and professional courses. "The number of flying hours - that's the way we measure things here - is up to around 8500 per year," said Shari, "so it's coming back gradually."

Even on a Tuesday in August, the day of our visit, WAC's reception area was busy with student pilots preparing for lessons and club pilots booking out aircraft. Instructor Jason Chandler summed it up well when he explained why he had returned here, "It's nice friendly club in a great place."

BUSY BOOKER
WYCOMBE Air Park - still known to many as 'Booker' - has a lot going on. As well as WAC, there's also the British Airways Flying Club which also operates a flying school - anyone can join, not just BA employees. But as you look out over the airfield from the Tower's panoramic view, you can also see a hive of glider activity with aero-tows taking off every few minutes, and various helicopters are hovering or moving across the airfield.

In just ten minutes in the Tower, we saw all of the above, plus two classic Piper Cubs warming up for a lunchtime flight, a Saratoga at the fuel pump about to head off for a longer trip, an R44 being pushed out of the maintenance workshop at HeliAir and started up, various fixed-wing training flights coming and going... it was busy.

Andy Green, operating the Tower that day, was using a board marked with the circuit and various positions around the airfield - holds, runways, etc. This had plastic markers to show aircraft in position so he always knew at a glance how many were in the circuit, for instance. But even with so much going on, no one had to wait long for a takeoff. That's partly down to the Tower's easy-going efficiency, and partly a benefit of Wycombe's lengthy circuit - extended to avoid over-flying nearby noise-sensitive villages.

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LOOP Features

Glass cockpit a winner for Wycombe Air Centre