June 2008 Flightline Online G-MWTN A ramble down the life of a Shadow C-D 503 By Mick Broom Well, MWTN started life in 1990 because the wife would not let me take my lad flying in the current machine. Money being the main barrier to any shiny toys, I purchased a kit and showed her the invoice for the wings which she thought was very reasonable cost for a plane; it gave me the opportunity to buy it a bit at a time so off I went to the shed to build. Visits to the factory and watching Fiona, asking lots of questions and trying to earn some money, and a year later a sparkling new Shadow CD was handed over to Fiona at Long Marston for its first flight and after the usual adjustments was given the OK. I had earlier converted from weight shift type and was sent solo after only one hour and remember not moving my legs because Ihad not learnt that bit and just remembering to point the top of the stick where I wanted to go. Things were a bit more relaxed in those days but it all seemed to work - or was it the Shadow just looking after me? At this point the paint scheme should be explained. Being used to busy military-filled skies and having a few close flybys with bigger aircraft I wanted to do what I could to be seen by those whom I had not. This resulted in a top wing of yellow to help temperature and be seen if they were above me against
the green fields; the under wings were green for the same reason to be seen against the light sky and the tips were bright red for the side encounters. This was added to with a strobe on the tail boom for late flying. In this condition CFM borrowed it for one of the Telford shows and it got its picture in the club magazine. These colours also reflected my old bike racing colours but the end result is it s affectionately known in the competition world as the fishing float - but at least they see it coming. As a development engineer by trade I am a great believer in looking for improvements, which does not always sit comfortably with the regulatory side of things but we get on. This, to accommodate my insecurity in my piloting abilities, was initially centred on more information and gadgets like flow meters, engine information, GPS, fuel pressure and even a turn and slip gauge in the hope it would keep me safe. At this point I was flying about 100 hours a year; nothing adventurous but it did include a trip to Belgium following Fiona and I was enjoying taking the now growing lad David up for a flight. When I had covered most places within 200 miles the annual hours went down and I got on with all the other things that life brings along but kept the plane and just maintained the licence. That could have been the end of the story but the lad decided to chuck a well-paid job and go flying by buying a Lazair and becoming a microlight flying instructor - which proved if there was any doubt that the Broom family had a serious fault in the sensibility gene that education had done nothing to control. Anyway things progressed or degenerated, depending which side of the family you were observing from, into an entry in the World Championships held at Long Marston where the Shadow was requested but refused with the instructions to use the Lazair and see what happened. On arrival this was greeted with a comment from a fellow member of the British team that this must be the joke entry - which gave Dave great pleasure when he beat him. Fourth place in a plane that was one year older than the pilot and flown flat out for the entire competition and was still slower than anything else in the air. Those who watched him fly through the letter box at the end of the comp saw a bit of magic; a beautiful plane, a great week but he needed something a bit more competitive so he could at least keep up with the slower planes. I have always wished to see the Shadow do well again and while it s not ideal, getting a bit old after twenty years its all round performance is still good enough to be with the best which speaks loads of the design and David Cook. Competition requires a good pilots machine, safe and easy to fly and the Shadow ticks all those boxes so it was off to Portugal for the Europeans. Well, if you try any competition it s a lot better to have a plane which you really know how to fly than the latest rocket ship which if you regarded the specification sheet only you would think that it would win everything. The Shadow is good for that as it s easy to get into the flying (on a good day even I can manage it) but there are only a few who can fly it really well. Also as in any type of competition there are about three or four at the top who need to win and the rest are there to enjoy themselves while trying to embarrass the top men. You find as many stories about the flight out and back and the mini adventures of conquering mountain ranges, beach flying and getting lost as
you do the last task and spot landing. The competition side is Dave s story and sometime he might write it but at the moment he is too busy living it. After all, reflections are an old man s thing. I will just note that G-MWTN with David recorded second in Portugal in the European Championships followed by second in the World Microlight Championships twice (France and the Czech Republic) with the last being lost by a fraction too close to call. What all this competition did was give me the opportunity to play with modifications again and cope with the bits of paper that allows me to fly. There have been lots of observations on the problems this brings over the years since microlighting started which is easy to join in but if you take a look at the process, while it could be improved there is no easy way to do this. Basically my understanding is that Section S is the current formula that reflects the lessons learnt in the past. This is passed on by the technical office on behalf of the CAA to keep us safe. This has got to be good but if you attempt to write down common sense and experience in words then it always gets lost a bit in the translation and you lose the detail. You know this is leading to the Shadow undercarriage! You could argue that it put Shadow out of business but I think not. Who in their right mind would put a fuel tank in the undercarriage which all knew would fail given the odd mistake? If you removed or never had fitted the fuel tank what s the problem? Danny Crosbie s solution and efforts to pass Section S and get us in the air have to be commended but I hope lessons were learnt from the handling and implementation of this chapter in the Shadow. One of the side effects which are a weakness in regulation and the modern litigation background is the lack of any real flexibility which does sometimes have implications for earlier or slower lighter generations of our type of machine. The undercarriage, apart from the inept way it was implemented, is such a case in that every time you change something it usually has an effect in some other area. It not only increased the weight considerably, but also put a higher shock loading into the airframe and as pilots experience the reliability of the new legs they tend to be less fussy about the occasional hard landing. This has a knock on effect on other parts of the plane but is probably a price worth paying if you have a slipper tank; if you fly without then it could be argued that the new requirement leaves you in a less safe state than was experienced before. Time will tell if the change was in proportion to general safety or if the money could be spent better down the pub as we wait for someone to bend the undercarriage without putting the rest of the plane in a scrap box. I have changed a few things on the plane but the only consistent improvement came from adding lightness. This always brings about advantages in improving all aspects from handling, performance and reducing the stress in the parts. This is hard to achieve but simple in its approach. Think about weight all the time; if you do not need it to fly leave it on the ground and don t change anything if it increases the weight. You know you are struggling when the paperwork weighs more than the saving and with the Shadow being constructed to a high standard in this regard you soon get to this point but the benefits are worthwhile. From those early days with instruments to tell me all,
I now consider regular flying and a piece of wool taped to the screen as good as anything I had before with a mirror to see the fuel contents. Being a development engineer by trade I use a multi channel data logger and competition GPS logger to check any change and monitor performance which is usually just down to the temperatures. At the moment this package is so light (800Grams) we leave it in just throwing out the radio for serious flying. I have considered HKS, Kohler and Rotax 447 engines, but still use the Rotax 503 which is a nice package except for the fuel burn and air starting. Best result in competition is three litres per hour, which is not good enough as it cost the lead in the last World Championships but the fact that the plane is constructed as a two-seater and the regulations are getting in the way of any real progress in this direction. I have a decompressor system which I need to perfect to sort the air start out but am confident this can be done and possibly give us an air brake for landing control as a bonus. I shudder to think of the paperwork for that. Maybe if they cannot see it? I don t tune engines and I don t change primary structures but I am inclined to play with things I understand and are non-structural. You learn early that any change, however small can have an effect on some other area and even for the professionals this is difficult to predict which is why the regulations and test requirements are there and explains the way it is implemented in the hope that it saves your backside and covers theirs. So what is the future for G-MWTN? Do they do old retirement plane farms? Well not yet and while the requirements and money allow then hopefully it will carry on looking after the ageing pilot for a few more years and might do the odd competition or long trip
but it does moan a lot in its old age when asked to whip these new rocket ships. I think it still enjoys the moment and so I hope it continues for a little longer. I would like to thank some of the people who over the years have helped me get enjoyment out of G-MWTN with advice and help as this has made the experience so much better. Captain David Cook who provided the plane and continues to this day to help in lots of ways: Fiona and Raymond at Old Sarum for the hard-to-find bit and advice: Paul Dewhurst who is unbelievable in his flying and all round knowledge: and the various bods who have the cross to bear called the BMAA Technical Office I am sure we could have a very interesting relationship if the paperwork could be kept in check. Finally to keep the list short, David my son for flying the old bird with so much enthusiasm and teaching me how to repair the odd bit when it got knocked off. These and lots more friendships found through the flying are and will always be the most important benefit and joy; long may it continue.