Flying Visit – Macquarie Grove Flying School

Recently, the Macquarie Grove Flying School wrote that they were just as good as any other flying training organisation but with a difference, they used a vintage tailwheel aircraft for ab initio training.

Macquarie stated in their letter that they had endeavoured to recreate the atmosphere and standards of the aero clubs of the 50’s and towards this end use the De Havilland DHC Chipmunk as their basic trainer. An added incentive for a visit was the offer for me to fly the Chipmunk to see how it stacked up against the more modern Cessna/Warrior in the training role. In due course a visit was arranged and for once the weather was actually okay on the selected day, giving us a pleasant flight up to Camden, Macquarie’s home airfield. The school is owned by Captain Roger Rogers who is a current 747-400 captain with Qantas (seems to be the go in Qantas, owning a flying school!) Interestingly, there are two CFT’s, Bob Curtis who runs the ab initio, commercial and instructor training side of the school, and Wally Gascoigne who is responsible for multi engine and instrument training. Wally Gascoigne is also the Chief Pilot. Both have quite diverse backgrounds; Bob Curtis has some forty years experience in GA, mainly instructing whilst Wally Gascoigne gained a wide experience of fixed wing aircraft operations in over two decades service in the RAN FAA, boosted by subsequent work in GA. The school is managed by Steve Curtis, Bob’s son who also looks after the banner towing and joy flight aspects of the business.

Bob Curtis explained that right from the word go, the aim had been to engender the spirit of the old aeroclub movement and that a tailwheel training aircraft had been an essential part of the philosophy. He had been pushing the tailwheel idea when he was CFI of the Camden Aero Club but putting it into practice had to wait until the establishment of Macquarie.

The initial response to the Chipmunks had been from pilots who already held a licence but wanted a tailwheel endorsement. However, as the word spread, there had been a slow but steady demand to actually learn to fly on a tailwheel aircraft and recently the first licence had been gained solely on the Chipmunk.

It is perhaps a measure of the attraction of the Chipmunks that the school’s Cessna 152 is little used, pilots preferring the satisfaction of handling a tailwheel aircraft.

On the question of the economics of the Chipmunk vis a vis the usual Cessna/Warrior operation, whilst the Chipmunk is a little more labour intensive and uses more oil, it is not that greatly more expensive and fuel costs are comparable with a 172. I had expected that the Gypsy Major 10 Mk2 might present problems in terms of availability of spares but evidently such is not the case. Some parts are available locally and the rest can be obtained ex UK at quite reasonable prices. The TBO for the Gypsy Major is 1500 hours and as a measure of their confidence in the continuing success of the Chipmunk operation, Macquarie has established their own engine overhaul facility as a part of their extensive engineering workshops.

The school presently has three Chipmunks on line with a further two in the process of refurbishment. Three of the total number are ex RAF with one ex civilian and one ex Thai. With a life of 30,000 hours (at which time the wings must be rebuilt) the Chipmunks look to be around for quite a few more years. Following our discussions, Bob Curtis gave me the opportu- nity to see for myself how the Chipmunk handled. Never having flown one (they were never in Australian military service), I was keen to try and assess how it would stack up as a trainer in this modern day and age, in other words would a Chipmunk trainee have a better appreciation of the basics over a contemporary trained in a spancan? My short flight was most enjoyable and I found the Chippy to be every bit as good as I had been lead to believe. It is relatively docile yet has the necessary characteristics to make the trainee work at getting the best out of it, particularly in circuit work and of course in getting it back on the ground.

In the latter regard, I doubt that any experienced pilot would refute the argument that learning to land a tailwheel aircraft teaches you the art of holding off, as you endeavour to arrive with nil vertical velocity in the three point attitude, a hairs-breadth off the runway. If you get it wrong, the aircraft will let you know with anything from a small bounce to a bad case of kangarooing which can end up damaging more than just your ego. Some might argue however, that as practically all light aircraft now feature a nosewheel, the tailwheel aircraft is really an anachronism in this modern day and age and that one might as well go back to wing warping and blipping switches for engine control to find out what aircraft handling is all about. They might have a case.

However, admitting that I am biased having been trained on tailwheel aircraft, I believe that a tailwheel-trained pilot will have a better appreciation of aircraft handling than his nosewheel trained counterpart and my short ride in one of Macquarie’s Chipmunks reinforced that view.

A similar case can be argued for spin training during the ab initio stage. A pilot who has received spin training has a better appreciation of what his aircraft is capable of even though he might subsequently never get to fly an aircraft in which spinning is permitted.

As might be expected, Macquarie’s experience is that subsequent transitioning to a nosewheel aircraft presents no problems to the tailwheel trained pilot. Turning to the broader aspects of Macquarie’s activities, it is quite a large organisation operating a diverse range of aircraft. These include, along with the Chipmunks, its famous Beech D18S, two Cessna 310 s, a Comanche 260, Cessna 172, two Citabria, a Maule M5-235, two Cessna 180’s, and a couple of DH82 Tiger Moths.

About two thirds of the aircraft are online which works well, providing aircraft to cater for a wide range of activities over and above flying training. Two full time line assistants look after refueling and aircraft detailing to ensure well presented aircraft at all times.

During our visit, our hosts kindly gave us the opportunity to see for ourselves how well the Beech 18 performed, in a short photo session with the school’s Maule.

Designed almost 60 years ago, the Beech 18 is still capable of holding its own with much more modern aircraft, cruising as it does at 150 knots and carrying six people in plush comfort including a loo. The one thing that dates the aircraft is the great array of engine and fuel control levers; previous training on a Wurlitzer organ would be an advantage when checking out in the beast! In the brief opportunity given to me to handle the aircraft, I found the controls to be responsive, well coordinated and certainly lighter than I would have expected; all in all a great aircraft.

Returning to the school itself, in addition to the tailwheel type training on Chipmunks and Citabrias, training is provided for private and commercial licences, instrument ratings both single and multi, flight instructor ratings (including tailwheel) and finally aerobatic and formation endorsements.

As to Camden itself, it is ideally located in the main Sydney training area thus saving the normal transition time associated with getting to and from a training area.

It has a good sealed strip plus a grass runway which means that crosswind training is always available. In addition it has a manned control tower which provides experience in radio procedures but without the delays of the more heavily utilised airfields.

Summing up the Macquarie Grove Flying School, in our brief visit we gained the firm impression that it has achieved its aim of providing a friendly personal service to both the sport aviator and the professional trainee, in an environment reminiscent of the days of yore.

As Camden is within easy striking distance of southern Sydney and the major towns along the southern freeway, anyone looking for a facility in that area would be well advised to contact the Macquarie Grove Flying School on (046) 55 2811.