Dear Readers,

Welcome to our December edition.

So this is it. The year 2011 decided to send us snow at last. At least here in Switzerland it looks very good for a White Christmas. Unfortunately I will not be here to see it as I will spend my holidays in northern Germany where it is rainy and stormy and cold.
But as long as the roads stay clear and the flights are not delayed too heavily or cancelled everything is fine. And even if you prefer the summer you have to admit that now the Glühwein finally tastes good.

This month Georg Stöcker discusses two extremes of bird life in the main article .

Also included are a couple of short topics .

In the not so distant future there are our courses, of course. Please have a look at the open course status and our course updates.

This month we have one job offer and you can of course continue to send us your job offers.

We wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! And let’s hope that all your presents arrive on time and in one piece.

Extremes of Bird Life

Once again it is time for a Newsletter Article; the last one in the year 2011.

Looking outside Christmas mood is not really coming up. No snow, no ice, but wind and storms which even prevent aircraft from flying. Aircraft but not birds.

That reminds me of an article I recently read. An article issued in the National Geographic Deutschland, Issue April 2008, with the title "On the wings of the Albatross" ("Auf den Schwingen des Albatros").

These birds mostly inhabit areas which suffer from extreme weather conditions. Most of them are to be found in the stormiest regions in the southern hemisphere around the Antarctica and they spent most of their life away from land.

What a fantastic glider such an Albatross is. Imagine that these birds fly up to 15'000 kilometres just to bring one meal to their chick. With a wing span of up to 3.5 metres they are able to glide hundreds of kilometres without one wing beat.

What enables these birds to glide such distances without a muscle fatigue is a simple mechanism we know from a lot of different appliances. A fibre between shoulder and elbow joint locks the outstretched wings. In addition the light wings are hollow and strengthened with internal bracings. The muscles are strong but the mass of the muscles compared to the mass of the total bird mass is less than this ratio of other birds.

Satellite surveillance did prove that these birds sometimes fly more than 800 kilometres per day and speed measurements showed that they can fly up to 110 – 130 kilometres per hour.

A total different life is that of a "Hummingbird".

Hummingbirds are only to be found in America from Alaska down to Tierra del Fuego.

Hummingbirds are the smallest birds with a length of 25 cm down to 6 cm.

Compared to the size of their body the size of the heart is very big and it beats 400 to 500 times per minute. Even the breathing rate is extreme with up to 250 breaths per minute.

The Hummingbirds are not able to glide. They are flying with a very high frequency of up to 40 to 50 wing beats per second. With their movable wings they can even fly backwards and sideways and to be able to drink the nectar they can fly on the spot.

Compared to their body size the Hummingbirds are one of the fastest vertebrates. Some of these birds reach a speed of 385 body lengths per seconds (approximately 27.3 meters per second or 98 kilometres per hour). As an example, the MIG-25 with a speed up to Mach 3 only reaches approximately 40 lengths per second.

Isn't it fantastic what Mother Nature has enabled?

Compared to these extremes how simple is our way to fly. We also developed vehicles which can glide – we call these "sailplanes" – or which can fly on the spot – we call these "rotorcraft". But the characteristics these birds come up with we cannot beat that.

Keeping in mind how great Mother Nature is and how small we are I would like to wish you wonderful Christmas days and a great start into the New Year 2012.

We hope you enjoyed the Newsletter Articles we published in the year 2011 and we are looking forward to delivering more information in the Newsletter Articles in 2012.

Clarification regarding completion of EASA Form 1

Coming back to the Newsletter Issue 08 August 2011, I want to clarify the issue regarding correct completion of the EASA Form 1 after "Removal of a used aircraft component from a serviceable aircraft".

As I already mentioned in the Newsletter Issue 09 September 2011, I tried to clarify this issue with EASA. Unfortunately it took a while, but finally, after several e-mails going back and forth, I received a feedback now from EASA with a clear statement.

For those of you who commented on the August Newsletter article, once again thank you very much for your helpful inputs. And, I can admit, you are right.

Following the final e-mail I kindly received from EASA / Rulemaking Directorate:

"...
Dear Mr Stoecker,
We apologise for the delay in answering your request.

The right wording to use is “Inspected/tested” in accordance with Appendix II to Part-M because when “Inspected/tested” is used, it means that either one or both actions have been performed.

I hope this clarifies your doubts. Should you have any additional enquiry, you may send it using our web form here.

Yours sincerely,
..."
(e-mail from EASA/Continuing Airworthiness Rulemaking, dated 08.12.2011)

This should now clarify this issue and with this response we can say that "AMC No 2 145.A.50(d) Certification of maintenance" and the "AMC M.A.613 (a) Component certificate of release to service" are obviously not correct and should be amended to correspond to Appendix II to Part-M.

Notices of Proposed Amendments (NPAs)

2nd Business Aviation Safety Conference

On 06th – 07th February 2012, the 2nd Business Aviation Safety Conference will take place in Munich, Germany. The conference is organised by Aviation Screening GmbH and the aviation academy. It is the only conference of its kind in Europe.
The topics will be published later as the organisers are still calling for papers.
For more information click on the flyer below or visit the website: www.basc.eu .

» BASC Flyer (PDF)

All scheduled courses from January to March are listed below.

All other information regarding Q.C.M.’s courses and services as well as an overview of 2012 course-dates are published on our website www.qcm.ch .
Please feel free to call us if any questions arise. You will find our contact details at the end of this newsletter .

Important:
Please note that details of job advertisements or searches for the next edition must reach our office (info@qcm.ch ) by 22nd of next month. Without further notice, your advert will be published only once.

Contact details may be directly integrated in your advertisement or be deposited at Q.C.M. AG.

Swiss Flight Services

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