G-SUEI & G-SUEM (DA42) Notes
(as at June 21)

Key Contact Information

Sue Bell 07764 616826
SueAir’s email address sue.bell@sueair.co.uk
SueAir’s website address https://www.sueair.co.uk
Gloster ATIS: 127.480
Gloster Approach: 128.555
Gloster Tower: 122.905
Gloucester airfield 01452 857700
Gloucester airfield website www.gloucestershireairport.co.uk
Aeros 01452 857419
Aeros email address Gloucester@aeros.co.uk
Aeros website www.aeros.co.uk

Don’t hesitate to contact Sue Bell on 07764 616826 if you have any questions or problems.

Executive Summary

• Know the operating hours for Gloucester airfield
• Know which DA42 you have booked and don’t take the wrong one
• Make sure you have the documents folder and tech log on board (located in Aeros’ office)
• Let Sue know if you notice any tech items
• Check MTOW, max landing weight and MZFW are all within limits
• Do a water sediment check before the first flight of each day
• Minimise the time before you start the engines once the electric master is ON
• Know the fuel consumption and understand how to use the fuel totalizer
• Do not flat spot the tyres by braking early
• Do not land on grass runways or taxi or park on grass
• Understand how to use the auxiliary tank

Pre-flight & Post-flight Checks

If you notice any tech items either before or after your flight, please let Sue Bell know on the day. Do not leave it for the next pilot to find.

It is very important to check the fuel for water contamination prior to the first flight of each day. If water enters the fuel injectors or high pressure pump it will cause significant damage and lead to engine failure. There is a fuel strainer in the nose baggage bay and there are 3 drains to check for each engine. In the unlikely event you do find water in the fuel, please let Sue Bell know.

If I find any items in the plane after your flight, I will give them to Aeros.

Collecting and Leaving G-EI or G-EM

You will find your plane on the apron in front of the Control Tower next to Aeros’ building. It will be left with the nose wheel chocked and the parking brake OFF.

After your flight, please leave the plane parked where you collected her, with the nose wheel chocked, the control lock OFF and the parking brake OFF (if you are landing away from Gloucester airfield you may wish to use the parking brake and the control lock). Let Aeros know that you are back and they will help you put the plane into the hangar. Do not attempt to do this without help.

Please also put the pitot cover on. Leave the keys in the pocket next to the P1 seat. If you have set up your own pilot profile in the G1000 (aux page), please reset this to the DEFAULT profile after your flight.

After your flight, please email a photo of the tech log sheet or email your G1000 flight times to Sue Bell. Note that take-off and landing times are recorded in the tech log (not brakes off to brakes on).

It is possible to land at Gloucester airfield on indemnity when it is closed subject to certain conditions and you need to arrange this in advance. Operating times and information about landing on indemnity can be found on their website.

Checklist, AFM and Aircraft Documents

A current checklist can be found in the front LH pocket of the aircraft. If this has been misplaced, please let Sue Bell know. There is a soft copy of the checklist within the G1000 and also, a link to a checklist can be found on the Aircraft page of SueAir’s website.

The aircraft’s flight manual (AFM) is located in the blue flight bag behind the pax seats. Please do NOT remove this from the aircraft. A link to the AFM can be found on the Aircraft page of SueAir’s website.

All the aircraft’s documents and the tech log are in a folder in Aeros’ office. Please make sure you have this folder on board before departure. Please do NOT remove any documents. Contact Sue Bell if you need soft copies of any documents. The AFM is located in a blue flight bag behind the rear pax seats.

Weight & Balance

A link to a soft copy of the W&B for G-SUEI and G-SUEM can be found on the Aircraft page of SueAir’s website to help you plan your flights. The max zero fuel weight and the max landing weight can be more limiting than the max take-off weight so please check all 3 weights. SueAir can arrange for the de-ice fluid level to be left less than full to help reduce the zero fuel weight but this requires 2 to 3 weeks’ notice.

Oil

You are responsible for checking the oil level and topping it up, if necessary (i.e. Aeros do not provide this service). A fold up stool is kept in the hangar to make it easier to access the oil dip stick. Spare oil and cardboard funnels are kept behind the pax seats in the storage space underneath the floor. In the unlikely event there is no oil here, more spare oil can be found in the hangar. Only ever put in 0.5 litre (i.e. half a container) in an engine as this amount of oil will take the level from the bottom to the top.

Fuel

The plane will be left on the apron with full mains in the absence of a special request. However, please do check the tanks are full as it is not always possible to arrange fuel (e.g. if the refuellers are very busy). Should you wish to depart with less than full mains or with full mains and auxs, when you request a booking through the on-line booking schedule, please put a note in the "Special requests" field to say how much fuel you would like in the mains and I will arrange this. If you need to arrange your own refueling at Gloucester airfield call 01452 857700 or speak to Aeros and the uplift will be put on my account. If you do not depart with full mains, please treat any figure entered into the tech log with caution and in this scenario looking at the fuel gauges (which are accurate) gives you the best indication of the fuel state.

As mentioned in the introduction, it is very important to check the fuel for water contamination prior to the first flight of each day. If water enters the fuel injectors or high pressure pump it will cause significant damage and lead to engine failure. There is a fuel strainer in the nose baggage bay and there are 3 drains to check for each engine. Fuel drained out of the tanks should be put in the red barrel located on the LH side of the hangar – do NOT put fuel back into the main tanks. In the unlikely event you do find water in the fuel, please let Sue Bell know.

If you collect a plane with full mains or full mains and auxs, remember to record the fuel on board in the G1000 and you will then know very accurately (from the fuel totalizer) the amount of fuel on board at every stage of your flight. Note that when the “reset fuel” soft key is pressed on the G1000, this assumes that both the mains and aux tanks have been filled and so it resets the fuel reading to 76.4 USG. Most of the time only the mains will have been filled and so after pressing the reset fuel soft key, you will then need to press the decrease fuel soft key until the G1000 shows 49.4 USG (full mains is 50 USG, so resetting to 49.4 USG gives a small margin).

If you are away on a trip for a few days, there is a BP card and a World Fuels card in the flight bag (flap at the front), which you are welcome to use and fuel purchased will be invoiced to me. Should you need to buy fuel (e.g. at an airfield that does not accept a fuel card), I will either net the amount off your invoice (up to a maximum limit – see next paragraph) or put a credit on your account that can be used to purchase further hours (if you decide to buy a block of hours) or refund the amount to your bank account.

I meet the cost of fuel purchased by a pilot on a trip up to a maximum amount per hour calculated as follows:

(Gloucester’s fuel price before VAT x 42 + £10.10) + VAT @ 20%

I record fuel state on the Tech Log in litres. When the main (wing) tanks have been filled, please put 190 litres in the tech log. When both the mains and auxs have been filled, please put 290 litres in the tech log. Assume a fuel consumption of 42 litres per hour when calculating the fuel used for your flight. Alternatively, take the reading from the G1000 fuel page and convert it from USG to litres. Only use the G1000 fuel page reading if you remembered to reset the fuel totalizer at the beginning of your flight or it will not be correct.

Cruising Power

Please fly in the cruise at a power setting of 70% to 75% (ideally 70%). A cruise setting of 70% helps to minimize engineering costs and will give you a better range.

Brakes

DA42s have relatively small wheels. This is, I believe, because of the space into which they retract. As well as making it difficult on grass one of the other issues with small wheels is that it is easy to lock the wheels on braking after landing. The problem then is that this permanently 'flat spots' the tyres, so they bump down the taxi way and need replacing pretty soon afterwards. Unfortunately I have now had to replace the tyres several times owing to flat spotting (usually just after the tyre has been replaced), and therefore need to ask all pilots please to take care not to apply the brakes until the aircraft has slowed down considerably after landing. Assuming the runway is clear (!) and you land on the numbers (all SueAir pilots do!) then there should be lots of room to allow natural slowing first.

Obviously if there is an emergency, then saving the flat spotting of the tyres is not a priority.

Main Battery

DA42s have small but expensive batteries. Please keep the time to a minimum between turning the electric master on and starting the engines. Also, make sure all lights and the pitot heat are OFF before the engines have been started.

Internal Map Light

This light has been left on by mistake on at least 2 occasions and as a result discharged the battery (it’s hardwired). The procedure to deal with this is quite labourious as best practice is for the engineers to remove the battery recharge it, then decharge it to test it, then recharge it, so this takes around 3 days to complete (and sometimes requires a new battery). To avoid problems in the future, this light has now been rewired. There is a torch by the P1 seat if you need a light after the master switch has been turned OFF.

Three Greens

It is possible that a gear light bulb will blow during flight. I appreciate it can be quite alarming when you don't see 3 greens, so it is helpful to remind pilots of the procedure to follow to check that it is simply a blown bulb rather than an unsafe undercarriage leg.

• If you press the gear test button and the green light remains un-illuminated then the bulb has blown.
• Alternatively, if the green light illuminates then there is a problem with the gear.
• Another indication that it is the bulb that has blown rather than a fault with the undercarriage is that the red gear unsafe light will always illuminate if one of the undercarriage legs is unsafe.
• Finally, if you reduce the power below a certain level (around 20% power) a gear warning horn will sound if all three undercarriage legs are not down and locked.

Please check all of the above points before declaring an emergency and pulling the manual gear extension handle - an undercarriage failure is extremely unlikely.

If you do suffer a bulb failure whilst on a trip, there are spare bulbs in G-EI and G-EM and please call Sue Bell to explain how to fit one as there is a specific knack to avoid 1) losing the bulb cap 2) getting broken glass everywhere.

Tie Downs & Control Lock

You will find tie downs & a control lock in the nose baggage bay which you may need to use on a trip if you are away for a few days. If you use the control lock, the rudder pedals should be fully forward (i.e. set for a shorter pilot). If you turn the electric master on to move the rudder pedals, don’t forget to turn it OFF again (this has happened a couple of times). The straps have been left at the correct length assuming the rudder pedals are in the fully forward position - please don't change the length of the straps at it is very fiddly to change them again. If you think the straps are the wrong length it is more likely that you have not moved the rudder pedals forward! A photo of how the control lock should look when it is correctly fitted is shown below:

Tow Bar

If you need to manoeuvre G-EI or G-EM on the ground prior to starting the engines, there is a tow bar in the nose baggage bay.

Canopy Cleaner & G1000 Screens

A can of Plexiglas to clean the canopy, together with a soft cloth, can be found behind the pax seats under the floor (where the oil is kept). I clean the screen regularly but in the summer when there are lots of flies you may wish to give the screen a clean.

Please do NOT try to clean the G1000 screens. I have special antistatic cleaner and a very soft cloth that I use on the screens. Also, please do not touch the screens when you are flying.

Please do NOT put headsets or PLOGs on top of the G1000 screens as this will lead to the canopy being scratched.

Auxiliary Fuel Tanks

A few key points about the auxiliary tanks (auxs) are set out below:

• The auxs hold 50 litres each so they increase your endurance by around 2 hours 15 mins at 72% power.
• The auxs are generally only suitable to use when 1 or 2 POB are on board. Please carry out a W&B calculation before using the auxs.
• With full mains and full auxs there is 290 litres of fuel on board.
• If you need less than 290 litres but more than full mains (i.e. more than 190 litres), I can usually organise this for you but I need some notice as this means leaving the mains partly full and filling the auxs to full. I need notice as the mains are usually filled to full when my planes return to Gloucester airfield.
• The auxs should be full or empty because otherwise movement of fuel in the tanks can cause it to become air locked (this has happened to 2 pilots). This means you should always transfer the contents to the main tanks in one transfer (which takes around 20 minutes so don't start the transfer shortly before landing). Therefore, if the mains were full on departure, then you should not start the transfer until you have been flying for at least 3 hours so that ALL the fuel being transferred from the auxs will fit into the mains. Transferring the fuel in stages risks an airlock and then the fuel will be stuck in the auxs. Also, there is no fuel gauge for the auxs so you will not know how much fuel you have on board if you transfer it in stages.
• Transfer fuel by pressing the switches behind the throttles. You will see a yellow caution message on the PFD to show that the fuel transfer is in progress. You will get a white advisory message on the PFD when the auxs are empty and at this point you turn OFF the transfer switches.
• If you depart with full auxs always make sure they are empty at the end of your trip because the next pilot is unlikely to want them filled.

When the reset fuel soft key is pressed on the G1000, this assumes that both the mains and aux tanks have been filled and so it resets the fuel reading to 76.4 USG. Most of the time only the mains will have been filled and so after pressing the reset fuel soft key, you will then need to press the decrease fuel soft key until the G1000 shows 49.4 USG (full mains is 50 USG, so resetting to 49.4 USG gives a small margin).

Grass Runways

SueAir's aircraft are not suitable for grass runways. In the summer sometimes it can be OK, but the risk in winter is too much. If you do want to visit a grass airfield, please ask for Sue Bell’s approval first.

Life Jackets, Life Raft and Headsets

Life jackets are available for hire from SueAir at a cost of £1.25 + VAT per jacket for the first 2 days and £0.90 + VAT per jacket for each additional day.

A 4 man life raft is available for hire from SueAir at a cost of £12.50 + VAT for the first 2 days and £9.00 + VAT for each additional day.

Spare headsets are available from Aeros.

If you would like to hire life jackets or the life raft or borrow a headset, please put a note in the "Special requests" field of the on-line booking form.

Payment of Duty on Jet A1 for Private Pleasure Flying

There is a legal requirement binding on pilots flying aircraft using Jet A1 to pay excise duty to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for fuel used during any 'private pleasure flight'.

There is a note on the Hire Rates page that gives further detail on this subject. In basic summary, if you fly within the UK for private pleasure (as opposed to e.g. training - see the detail in the note regarding exclusions) a pilot has to account within 30 days to HMRC for duty on the fuel used. This is a personal legal obligation on the pilot.

Because this increases the cost to pilots of certain flights, SueAir will offset that cost in part as provided in the note.