300 aircraft types and counting – an interview with Dave Unwin

Some 5,000 flying hours to date and with over 300 types in your logbook, how did you get into the world of aviation and aviation journalism? 

Hi Scott, and thanks for inviting me to participate in your excellent blog. I was always very interested in aircraft, even as little kid. My dad worked for Vickers building VC-10s, and from a very early age I was fascinated by flying and flight. I joined the Air Cadets at 13, and flew Slingsby T-21s, T-31s and Chipmunks but sadly didn’t get to go solo as the opportunities to fly dried up for my squadron for no apparent reason before I was 16. I got back to flying properly in the mid 80s, learning to fly gliders first and then power. I did a lot of power flying in the states and as well as a UK PPL with a CRI for the STR, BGA Basic Instructor Rating and FAI Silver C, I hold an FAA CPL for single and multi-engine land planes, and single engine seaplanes. I have an Instrument Rating for all three categories. 

With regards to journalism, I was for several years the Tug Master and manager of the Black Mountains Gliding Club in Wales. Needless to say, neither job was very well-paid, and to supplement my income I started writing articles about flying and submitting them to various magazines. None of the features were ever commissioned, and they were nearly always accepted! I started to realise that perhaps I had a bit of a talent for it, although my big break came when I was appointed as the launch editor for Key Publishing’s GA title, Today’s Pilot. 

I’ve been enjoying reading Sky Stories over the last few weeks, dipping into different chapters and getting a feel of the characteristics of an eclectic mix of aircraft. It’s a great compendium of some of your flight test reviews and various columns and puts you firmly in the cockpit! So, tell me about the book; what inspired you to produce this anthology, how did you pick the aircraft, and can we expect volume 2!? 

I have had some lovely feedback over the past few months since it came out – people do really seem to have engaged with it.  As for its origins, as I say in the preface for Sky Stories, it started out as a ‘Labour of Lay-down’. I’ve known Europa designer Ivan Shaw for years, and he emailed to say how much he’d enjoyed my Pilot column ‘Flying out of Lockdown’ and suggested that I should collate some of my better pieces into a book. After my prang in the Sea Fury Invincible, I suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands (having fractured my spine in three places I could barely walk for several weeks), and gave the idea further thought. Another consideration was that although I’ve been writing for myriad magazines for over 30 years, and have been the Editor of several, one of the downsides to magazines is that they are by nature ephemeral. Books have a much longer ‘shelf life’ and are just that little bit more substantial, and I thought that a small anthology of my work might make a nice surprise for my mum and dad 

Picking which aircraft to feature in the book was really difficult. I’ve been lucky to fly so many wonderful types and it took me several weeks and bouncing ideas off my wife and sons to narrow the choice down from over 300 to just 12! Sometimes it’s just as hard deciding what to leave out as what to put in, but eventually we got there and I think the readers seem to agree. I’ve had so many nice letters and emails asking if there’s going to be another one that I think it’d be rude not too! There’ll definitely be a ‘Sky Stories II’ – probably out next winter. 

The recent crash landing that you had when reviewing the Hawker Sea Fury must have been quite an experience to live through. Can you provide an overview of what occurred? And what is it like getting back into the cockpit after such a serious accident like that?   

One of the great ironies of my crash in the Sea Fury T-20 invincible is that it was caused by an engine failure, and yet the original Bristol Centaurus engine had been removed and replaced by a Pratt & Whitney R2800-CB3 because the ‘Double Wasp’ is considered to be so much more reliable! Basically, the engine failure was initiated by the breakdown of the rear master rod bearing. The ‘Double Wasp’ is a very robust and reliable engine, but if there’s one failure that will reduce it to scrap very quickly it’s when the master rod bearing fails. According to the comprehensive AAIB report “the release of material and increased friction overwhelmed
the oil cooling system and exceeded its capacity to maintain normal operating temperatures, resulting in catastrophic damage to the reciprocating components.” Eskil noticed a high oil temperature on his gauge, I confirmed the reading on mine and within moments the engine was running rough and pouring smoke, then it seized. The AAIB concluded that “from the moment excessive oil temperature was indicated, total engine failure could not be prevented.”  

Eskil Amdal did a spectacular job of handling the forced landing with very few options Because the engine had seized the massive propeller – a four-bladed unit from a Grumman Guardian with a 4m diameter - acted like a giant airbrake and he was forced to push the nose down to about 45° to maintain a speed of 140kt. The sink rate peaked at 4,000ft/min and as the engine seized at around 2,000 feet it didn’t take long before we were on the ground (but still doing 130kt). The Sea Fury slid across a field and hit a tree which flung us backwards into a hedge. We were both seriously injured, and very lucky! 

Getting back into the cockpit after the accident was slightly intimidating, and I’ll cheerfully admit to being a little bit nervous initially (it was only 38 days since the prang) but it didn’t take long to get back in the groove. Since the accident in August 2020 I’ve flown well over a dozen different types and have logged about a hundred hours.

As for the aftermath, physically rehabilitation has been slow and painful. Losing four centimetres in height was obviously more than an inconvenience, and not just for my tailor. It also played havoc with my BMI. I’d been trying to lose some weight before the crash, but now I’ve got to try and put on some height too

Dave atop the Hawker Sea Fury WG655 ‘Invincible’

 How are you finding editing the GA Safety Council’s Flight Safety Magazine? It must provide you with a unique perspective into current safety issues within GA. What would you say are the most topical issues? 

I very much enjoy editing GASCo‘s Flight Safety Magazine. It has an excellent reputation within the GA industry, and the depth and breadth of experience of the editorial committee really is quite remarkable. I’m very lucky to have such a huge pool of knowledge and experience to draw upon. With regard to the safety issues facing GA, airspace busts appear to be the perennial problem, but I just can’t help but think a lot of it is down to the UK’s outdated and bafflingly complicated airspace system, the outdated altimetry concepts such as QFE, QNH, RPS, low TAs etc etc etc all indicate to me a complete lack of joined up thinking! The other big concern is currency and recency. The airlines are already noticing an increase in what I’d call “silly mistakes” – which they are ascribing to currency and recency, and I think they’re right. And their pilots are getting paid. If you’re paying to fly it gets even more complex.  Flying is not cheap and it’s going to get more expensive. It can be struggle to stay current (especially during the pandemic-induced Lockdowns) and of course the industry could soon be on the wrong side of the ‘drag curve’ - with less people flying it will get even more expensive, and as it gets more expensive less people will be able to fly. It’s a vicious spiral. The intense pressure many airfields are under from rapacious developers is also a concern. 

Having recently flown the Pipistrel Velis Electro and written on many innovations within light aircraft, what’s your take on the future of GA? Do you think it has an electric future or is some form of sustainable aviation fuel the way forward? 

I do think that eventually a lot of GA aircraft will have electric motors. Whether they will be powered by batteries, some sort of fuel cell or even be hybrids that use a small diesel or turbine to generate electricity remains to be seen. The problems with battery technology are three-fold;- they offer very poor energy density when compared to Jet A-1 or Avgas, it takes an awfully long time to recharge any battery when compared to using a fossil-fuel, and they’re very expensive! That said, if battery technology can make the same sort of quantum jump as jet engines or computers…

One area that’s always fascinated me is the possibility of regenerating electricity. Many aircraft of the 1930s featured small wind-driven generators to power their electrical systems, and for sailplane tug aircraft and parachute dropping planes at least some energy should be being regenerated. It just seems to me to be so wasteful that an aircraft like the Cessna Caravan is basically directly overhead where it will land at 14,000ft and all that potential energy is just wasted by being turned into heat and noise in the descent. There just has to be a better way. 

What are your plans for the future – any interesting projects/flight reviews coming up? 

There are a few interesting things in the pipeline – but unfortunately, I can’t talk about all of them! I regularly appear in the TV series ‘Disasters Engineered’ (we did two series, and both were nominated for Daytime Emmys. Series 2 episodes are currently airing on Nat Geo at 8PM on Wednesdays, before repeating at 1AM early on Saturdays, and 10PM on Mondays) and the same production team has finished editing an entire new show. I’m in it, along with a few other well-known aviators, but that’s all I can say right now - sorry! 

I hope to be doing a few book signings at various airshows, conferences and literary festivals this year, and as already noted ‘Sky Stories II’ will be out before Christmas. Being Pilot’s Flight Test Editor as well as the Editor of GASCo FSM keeps me busy, and as well as instructing and towing at the Buckminster GC and various flight test assignments, I either own, have shares in or am on the insurance for a Jodel D.9. SF-25, K-7, T-31 and Skylark!