Chief Engineer - Memos to flying students
Welcome, Hoddy!
Have you got a photo of your father, Eric Hodson, to post?
He used the medium of the Monthly Bulletin to pass on gems of advice to us rookie aviators, and this is particularly evident in the winter of '65/'66. Here's part of one in a series of "DON'Ts", published 15/11/65, including a nice line in humour:
(4) DON'T, during the pre-flight check, push and handle control surfaces as if you want to remove them from the aircraft. These surfaces are designed for flight loads only and excessive handling can and does cause skin cracking and distortion. The 310 tailplane is subject to this form of cracking, and we have had cases where the trouble was definitely caused by attempts to tear it from the fuselage during pre-flight. It has been said that the skin structure of some modern light aircraft resembles annealed silver paper. While this comment is not strictly correct, it does point out a moral: "Gently does it".
The peculiar sound heard when the skin structures are loaded externally and excessively, i.e., by lifting, pushing and pulling, is called "oil-canning" by our American cousins. The difference is that an oil can is designed to do it!