NOT ALL PRE-FLIGHTS ARE CREATED EQUAL

(Acknowledgements: David Fill/AIR FACTS)

“Have you ever walked to your favorite rental plane and had someone else tell you, “It’s all set to fly,” at which point you walk around it from a bit of a distance, hop in and go? After all, is that not how the airlines do it every day? We’ve all been at the airport gate watching a first officer walk around his plane with hands in pockets as though he’s out for a leisurely stroll. It might appear that he doesn’t take the pre-flight seriously but in truth, at that level, inspection is a team effort whose depth depends on many factors.

Your CFI told you a good pre-flight was important

Yes we know it’s boring, and it’s only a means to an end – aren’t we only there to fly? But the inspection will vary according to the type of airplane, where it is parked, and whether recent maintenance has been conducted. So let’s talk about our attitude to it.

Rentals/Clubs/Shared ownerships

One of the positives of owning your own airplane is flying the same one all the time without worrying about the abuse a rented airframe takes. But if anyone other than you has been flying it, it should be treated the same as a rental airplane. You trust your partners and their flying experience, but you don’t know what has happened to the airplane since you last flew it. It’s not unknown to reach a plane and find the prop tips slightly curled over due to a minor prop strike which the previous flyer may not even have noticed.

We all remember our first landings as a student and thus understand the punishment trainers receive, so we should look for wrinkled aircraft skin, prop damage, flat-spotted tyres, gear issues, brakes worn beyond limits etc. In the cockpit, make sure trim settings, flap and gear handles, and important switches for items like carb heaters are in the correct position. Look for general inoperative/unserviceable items arising from normal use, and for things others may have damaged and not realized (or not bothered to report!).

Individual Owners

My airplane lives in a hangar, so I can be 99% sure that no one has flown it or had access to it that I didn’t know about; thus my preflight alters from a search for something another person did, to items that may break or wear from general usage. In the cockpit I’m not worried about the position of trim tabs, autopilot settings, or broken or missing items because I know how everything was left the last time. I still follow the POH/AFM, but, rather than examining each rivet and looking for hidden damage, I am more concerned with finding fuel, oil, or hydraulic leaks that can develop when an airplane sits for a while. I also watch for any bird, animal, or insect issues. I used to keep a Piper Arrow in a hangar where birds built a nest and laid eggs on my engine in the eight days that passed between flights!

Post-Maintenance Inspections & Aircraft Parked in the open

Your flight school records when a plane has come out of maintenance, and you should review this and see what’s outstanding and what has been done. Also, check to ensure that annual, 100-hour, or 50-hour inspections are current.

An aircraft after maintenance requires extra attention during inspection. Not only for the first flight, BUT FOR THE NEXT FEW FLIGHTS AS WELL. Numerous pilots have died and aircraft have been lost because inspection panels or cowlings were not secured, tools or rags were left where they shouldn’t be, or gear or control surfaces were not properly rigged. As PIC, you should know what work was done. After a simple oil change, are there leaks, loose cowling catches, or abnormal pressure or temp indications during run-up? If the airplane is just out of an annual, every system on it has been messed with and needs careful inspection.

An airplane parked outside for a while should be looked at with added scrutiny. There is no way of knowing whether the full tanks you had the night before were drained into someone else’s gas cans in the middle of the night; or something clipped the wingtip of the airplane; or a bird’s nest has been undergoing construction inside your engine cowling while you were away. The ultimate goal is to find things that if not repaired, replaced or removed may hurt the airplane, passengers, or crew”.

FLY SAFE!

TALES FROM THE REAL WORLD - 1

Acknowledgements: AIR FACTS/Jeremy Lezin

“As a freshly minted instrument pilot back in 1983, I was keen to make the trip from Watsonville, California, up to Beaverton, Oregon, in my Piper Lance II. Portland was forecast to be IFR, with fairly high ceilings (1,200 ft.) for our arrival.

Our trip continued uneventfully until we reached the Portland area, where it was IFR and icing was not forecast. I remember being on the gauges at 10,000 ft. and watching the airspeed slowly start to decay. Call it fixation, but I hesitated to wander too far from the primary instruments for fear of losing control in IMC. As the airspeed decayed further, I lowered the nose, trying to keep the plane flying.

ATC suddenly became concerned and said, “Lance 2096G, I cleared you to 10,000 ft., say intentions.” I said that I was in a downdraft and doing what I could to get back to the assigned altitude. But the indications on the instruments (and the increasing sound of air rushing by the fuselage) didn’t make sense.

Suddenly it dawned on me: The pitot heat switch is there for a reason. Use it! Almost within seconds of flicking the switch, the airspeed flipped from an indicated 45 knots to redline. I was in a pronounced dive and my task was to level out without pulling the wings off. In time, I got the plane under control and was glad that my passenger was oblivious to the actual events.

So what did I learn? I learned from the icing experience that no matter what the forecast says, if you’re IFR and in the clouds, turn on your pitot heat. It’s good insurance.

The key to flying is to live and learn - but the real key is to live long enough to do that”.

                                                      FLY SAFE!

BORROWING FROM THE BAG OF LUCK

(Acknowledgements: Mitcheal Veenstra / AIR FACTS)

“When I finished my PPL training my instructor told me that we start with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience; the trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck. Less than three months later I had occasion to test that maxim.

I’d joined a local flight club and had access to a Cessna 172. A group of local pilots were going for lunch at Brenham, Texas, so I quickly booked the plane, and invited my pilot mentor and a friend who was also completing her private pilot training to join me. The forecast was morning fog at Brenham which was expected to burn off in time for our arrival.

On the way, the clouds built and soon I was facing a shelf of cloud that left me two options: climb and potentially get stuck VFR on top, or descend and ‘scud run’ towards Brenham. Neither of these options sounded good, so I flexed my new PIC privileges and declared we’d set down somewhere this side of the cloud shelf and wait out the weather.

Teague was just a few miles away, so I diverted and flew a straight in approach. To this point all had been easy, but then things got complicated. I had three aboard when I was more used to two, and little differences in CG and handling had me carrying a little extra speed on approach. So, I thought, it’s time for a full flap landing to bring us down. That’s a nice theory, but the extra speed led to a long float and I found myself running out of runway.

I called a go-around, applied full power and pitched for climb as I nursed the flaps back up. Something was wrong though. We were struggling to climb and by now I’d already returned the flap lever all the way up. I glanced at airspeed, then the VSI and it showed a 100 fpm climb. Something was indeed very wrong, and I no longer had enough runway to come to a stop now if I tried to set down again.

I checked the panel: RPM normal, power full, airspeed just OK for climb, but we were not climbing as we should have been. My friend in the right seat quietly said, “Flaps, flaps…” I glanced out of the window and though the lever was fully up, the flaps were still down! I cycled the flap lever but they didn’t budge. Checking the VSI, it still showed only 100 fpm. I searched through the breakers in the still new-to-me club 172 until I found the flap breaker, which had popped.

I reset the breaker, the flap motor started, and the flaps began immediate total retraction, causing the plane to sink as lift was lost due to the flaps coming up too quickly. I caught the lever to stop them, arrested the sink, and slowly nursed them out again. The climb built and we cleared the trees, made pattern altitude, flew a standard pattern and made a normal landing.

On the ground I cycled the flaps several times but couldn’t cause the breaker to pop again. An hour later the cloud shelf broke up and we departed, reaching Brenham without further incident. Our flight back home was also problem-free.

On that flight I borrowed quite heavily from my bag of luck in order to make a deposit in my bag of experience. I found that being the pilot in command can be very lonely in the left seat when things start to go wrong. You don’t make decisions by committee.

From deciding to land at an alternate, to initiating a go around from a bad landing, to finding a successful solution to a flap malfunction, you never let yourself become a passenger; you have to stay the pilot in command. And as we fly, we will have many more opportunities to add to our bag of experience, with hopefully only modest withdrawals from our bag of luck!”

FLY SAFE!

PUT PRIDE ASIDE!

It's probably the most common advice offered to new pilots, but don't wait too long to ask for help. Whether you're trapped above clouds, "temporarily disoriented" or have some other problem, someone on the ground may be able to help.

If you do get into trouble, remember THE FOUR Cs of any emergency other than loss of power or fire:

• ·       Climb
• ·         Communicate
• ·         Confess
• ·         Comply

Climb for better radio reception

Communicate with someone on the ground who can help

Confess the details of your situation, whether or not it’s of your own making

Comply with any directions received

Remember that while this may be your first emergency, the person on the other end of the radio may have dealt with the same problem a dozen or more times. He or she is very likely to have access to information, equipment and assets that you don't.

FLY SAFE!

I'M IN CHARGE!!

For those who haven’t read it, GASCO’s Flight Safety Winter edition describes the following incident worth noting:

“The aircraft was being flown to familiarise a prospective new member of the syndicate which owned it. An existing syndicate member occupied the right seat and the possible new member occupied the left seat. After a short flight the aircraft landed and tipped onto its nose and right wingtip.

Neither of the two occupants consider that they were THE COMMANDER OF THE AIRCRAFT, and both provided conflicting accounts! ……… “

Here we have two experienced pilots, not novices, who might have been expected to have observed the need for designated command in any flight situation, and yet the incident still occurred. Thoughtlessness before the flight? Or a post-incident desire to avoid responsibility?  Who knows?

What the incident confirms is that in a multi-crew environment there is a definite and clear need for the establishment of the command structure to be applied before any aircraft leaves the parking area!

FLY SAFE!

WHY DO PILOTS HATE RECURRENT TRAINING?

(Acknowledgements: AIR FACTS/John Zimmerman)

Admit it – you hate recurrent training! But you KNOW that regular training increases safety and confidence. It’s good for you, right up there with eating more vegetables and exercising daily. But we treat proficiency flights like a trip to the dentist.

This reluctance isn’t a sign of laziness. It’s also not primarily about the cost. A flight review isn’t too expensive, and simulators offer an even less expensive way to stay current.

The real reasons have a lot more to do with emotion, particularly fun and pride. Since most of us are in aviation for the fun, if it’s not fun why do it? The pride part is even more powerful, because most pilots are successful people. For an accomplished businessman or doctor to subject him/herself to judgment and possible embarrassment at the hands of a flight instructor is no small task. If you’re used to excelling at life, it’s hard to admit it when you fall short.

One obvious way to combat this mindset is to turn recurrent training into an ongoing process. To amplify the dentist analogy, most adults don’t dread brushing their teeth every day, because it’s both familiar and not subject to someone else’s judgment. We can approach flying in much the same way. 

If “recurrent” means a single event every two years it feels like a test. But if we view currency as a normal part of every flight, it becomes a habit. A good goal is to deliberately do something on every flight to maintain your flying skills. Track the centreline on the runway, use short field technique on your next landing, avoid the boring touch-and-go routine and make a short cross country flight that accomplishes the same thing. Fly to a nearby airport for lunch, practice an en-route diversion along the way, do a no-flap landing when you get there, and throw in some steep turns on the way home.

It’s also worth remembering that you don’t have to hire a CFI in order to evaluate your flying skills. There are plenty of ways to self-critique and avoid the pain of public embarrassment – if you’re willing to be honest with yourself. You can record your performance over time to see when you’re sharp and when you need more practice.

A GoPro video camera is relatively inexpensive, and records high quality video and audio. It’s a good way to revisit your flight and see how you did – a VFR pilot might focus outside the airplane, an IFR pilot might focus on the instruments, and both can listen to ATC communications. There’s a lot to learn here, and you can do it all on your own.

How we approach recurrent training determines what we get out of it. If we approach the currency check as a chance to learn something new, we’re more likely to have a positive experience than if we view it as a test (which it’s not – you can’t fail a flight review!).

It all comes down to attitude. Perhaps the most important difference between a professional and an amateur is whether you embrace continuous learning. Be a pro, even if you only fly 40 hours a year.

Season’s greetings!

FLY SAFE!

PARTIAL ENGINE FAILURE AFTER TAKE-OFF (PEFATO)

(Acknowledgements: GASCO Flight Safety/Matt Lane)

Matt says that in many instruction programmes the emphasis is placed upon total EFATO, whereby the Instructor retards the throttle to idle in the climb-out and announces the simulated engine failure; whereupon the Student adopts glide attitude and speed, carries out drills and proceeds with the approach for a forced landing ahead. The Instructor then calls for go-around when satisfied with the Student’s response. And certainly in the event of either Fire or Mechanical Failure, immediate total engine shutdown followed by a prompt forced landing is obviously the procedure to follow and thus should be trained for accordingly.

However, it is very likely that on occasions during their flying lives pilots will encounter power loss due to Non-Mechanical Failure, where a propeller may progressively slow down to windmilling for no immediately-apparent reason, or where there is a reduction in power or a degree of rough running caused perhaps by an incorrect control selection by the pilot, or by a fuel-flow/air-flow issue due to possible carburettor icing, or by a minor mechanical or ignition system issue. In such cases the power loss may be partial rather than total, and may therefore not require an immediate shutdown as trained in respect of EFATO.  

Certainly, Matt Lane’s own career has featured only one total engine seizure, whereas there have been several issues of partial power loss on climb-out, and so he includes an un-briefed PEFATO scenario in his course material. He will reduce power during the climb-out to cruise setting and announce for example “simulated rough running and vibration, touch drills only, continue your response until told to go-around”, and then observe the reaction of the Student which will generally be one of the following in the most likely order:

• Immediate pitch down and setup for forced landing ahead, with throttle left untouched resulting in a fast and high approach inappropriate for a forced landing
• Aircraft levelled off to stagger on at low level while the Student wonders what to do
• An un-briefed and uncontrolled attempt to turn back towards the airfield
• A vain attempt to maintain the climb in the face of falling airspeed until approaching stall

Any of the above would probably result in an undesirable outcome following a missed opportunity for recovering the situation, and when presented with this scenario the Students’ response in most cases has been complete surprise, having been conditioned to expect a total EFATO exercise.

So, Matt says, we have three choices to counter a partial EFATO situation:

• Resolve the problem and safely climb away (carb heat? fuel pump? throttle vibrated away from full power? passenger accidentally altered a control?)
• Commit to forced landing ahead (power off, shutdown, perform as for total EFATO)
• Use residual power if sufficient to manoeuvre back to the airfield or at least a  more favourable landing area

Matt’s procedure for dealing with PEFATO is summarised as follows:

• Pitch down and maintain at least Best Glide Speed
• Confirm full throttle
• Assess performance
• If above 500ft and able to climb or maintain level flight:
•        Consider turning downwind, or manoeuvre to a desirable landing area
•        Prepare for Glide Approach
•        If time allows, perform non-mechanical failure actions
•        If engine fails to recover, position for Glide Approach
•        When committed, close throttle and perform forced landing
• If below 500ft and unable to climb, commit to landing ahead, close throttle, and perform forced landing as per total EFATO procedure

 FLY SAFE!

THE RISKY MOMENTS: WHEN DECISIONS GO BAD (Acknowledgements: AIR FACTS)

Everyone who writes about aviation safety eventually comes around to the subject of risk management. Managing risks is not as simple as a checklist. Risk management can be done only through a deal the pilot makes with his/herself.

You can tell a kid a thousand times not to venture out on an apparently frozen pond, but in the end each individual has to come to a conclusion about what is risky, what is not, and what level of risk is acceptable.

Because bad decisions lead to accidents, a good understanding of the risks and of the fact that when improperly or recklessly done, flying can be extremely dangerous, is required. A strong sense of self-preservation is also a definite risk-management asset. No checklist will ever take the place of these things.

The risk is lowest when flying a well-maintained simple aeroplane on a clear and calm day. Beyond that, the risk increases. General aviation flying isn’t going to get any “safer”, but that doesn’t mean that each individual pilot can’t improve his or her personal safety potential.

The best way to learn about risks is to look at the mistakes other pilots have made and learn from them. These are chronicled in the accident reports issued by the CAA and others. In many cases it transpires that a pilot got to a point where even fancy footwork and a burst of brilliance could not save the day.

As kids we learn that “if at first you don’t succeed, try try try again”, but in aeroplanes the risk increases greatly when you do. Maybe the saying should be modified, to advise doing something more easily managed rather than simply to repeat that which got the better of you the first time.

One engine or two? There may be valid reasons for buying a twin rather than a single. They climb better, go faster, and carry more. But the riskiest part of twin flying comes when a pilot does something in a twin that he wouldn’t do in a single. All propeller aeroplanes are viewed as equals by things like weather and flight envelopes. A pilot is operating in a high-risk zone if this is not acknowledged.

Also, any thought about “buying” safety is a risky one. The Cirrus is an aeroplane you can buy with an airframe parachute fitted as standard. Yet the Cirrus fatal accident rate is no better than that of similar aeroplanes. That is no reflection on the aeroplane but it does say a lot about the risks that pilots take in the aeroplane.

An extremely risky moment comes when a pilot flies with this thought: “I think I can make it.” A basic high level of confidence is certainly required of a pilot, but overconfidence is not good. We need to know what we are doing and then do it well. If there is any doubt, don’t.

The final risky moment I’ll share with you applies to motorcycles, hot cars and power boats as well as aeroplanes. It comes when a person thinks or says, “Watch this!”

FLY SAFE!