July, 2009
Vol. VI, No. 7 |
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Welcome
to the
Over the
Airwaves
aviation journal. This complimentary e-publication
is prepared monthly for pilots and aviation enthusiasts around the
world. Its aim
is to promote
flight safety, encourage students and new pilots, and to build
enthusiasm for aviation in general.
Demand a Refund! A CFI who recently graduated from a well-known four-year aviation college in the Northeast United States came into my office recently inquiring about a job as a flight instructor. My first question, as in all such such interviews, was, "How much actual instrument time have you logged?" Regrettably, the answer was predictable. "Ah, I'd say less than one, maybe two hours," replied the job candidate. There, in one simple interview response by a CFI job candidate, lies the reason why we continue to experience our unrelenting fatal accident rate! Our nation's leading four-year aviation colleges are churning out instrument rated pilots and certificated flight instructors who lack even rudimentary experience in actual instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). Worse, many of these graduates are certificated to teach instrument flight (CFI-I) who, themselves, have less than an hour or two or maybe no hours in actual instrument conditions! Back to my interview I asked this young CFI applicant if he was prepared to take one of our Cessna 172s up into the overcast skies over our airport that day. His reply, "No, I couldn't do that." What would have happened had I hired this recently minted CFI from this well-known four-year aviation college. How would he have imparted the three hours of instrument training required of all private pilots? Answer: Under the hood, of course! Delving a bit deeper into this CFI's training, I asked why he had received so little instrument training in actual IMC weather. Again, his answer was predictable. He said, "I think it was a matter of liability. My school didn't want us to train in actual instrument conditions," he replied reluctantly. His answer, of course, made absolute sense. This is because the instructors employed by this well-known four year aviation college were, for the most part, last year's graduates . . . who, themselves, had never been in the clouds before. So where do these graduates go after receiving their training? The majority of these graduates hope to become either airline or corporate pilots. Since additional logbook hours are required to meet airline or corporate hiring requirements, most graduates peddle themselves to flight schools . . . offering to work cheap. Guess what, flight schools hire them simply because they DO work cheap. Others of these graduates are content to be general aviation pilots. They possess the instrument rating but they do not have the requisite skills to fly in actual instrument conditions. And so, our beleaguered flight training industry continues to perpetuate a an endless cycle of mediocrity. The net result is our unrelenting fatal accident rate that once was limited to general aviation but is now manifesting itself in the regional airline industry. Shame on us for allowing this abysmal situation to continue! Who's to blame for this disgraceful form of flight training? Like most faulty systems, there is no one single weak link. Instead, there are several contributing causes to this problem. Here are the big ones:
Our chronic fatal accident rate CAN be reduced significantly . . . if! Yep, we can produce a dramatic reduction in our fatal accident rate if one or more of the four contributing problems cited above were acted upon in the ways described. Until then, continued VFR flight into IFR conditions by both VFR and IFR pilots alike will remain our number one cause of all weather related fatal accidents. Won't these recommendations cause a hardship on student pilots, specifically, and the entire flight training community, in general? Answer: Yes, they will. But these hardships will be offset greatly in the long run by a dramatically reduced fatal accident rate. When this eventually happens, new pilot starts and improved aircraft sales will result. Can we prove that these recommendations will reduce our fatal accident rate? This is a favorite question of the status quo advocates who routinely resist any changes of this sort. The answer is, no . . . we cannot prove that training in actual instrument conditions is more effective from a safety perspective than simulated IFR training. The reason is, neither the FAA, the NTSB, nor AOPA's Air Safety Foundation correlates IFR fatal accidents with the type of IFR training received. Some things, however, are so patently obvious that spending time running studies makes little sense. To wait for proof before implementing the recommendations suggested here has a cost. That cost is the continued perpetuation of our dismal fatal accident rate. Are we willing to pay that price?
Senseless Deaths!
According to witnesses, the airplane flew low over the Fall River Golf Course, and then banked to the right for landing at the airport. The landing gear and flaps were down. As the airplane was banking to the right, it suddenly "dropped out of the air." How many ways are there to tell this story? Accident investigators found no abnormalities with the engine or airframe. The reported winds at the time of the accident were variable at 4 knots. Visibility was 10 statute miles with light rain and an overcast cloud layer at 1,500 feet. The temperature was five degrees C. It was a routine flight. Nothing unusual. Weather was not a factor. The aircraft was maneuvering for a normal landing. The only item of significance on this particular flight was the fact that, seconds later, the pilot and his three innocent passengers would die from massive blunt force trauma and their bodies would be consumed by the post-crash fire. Witness statement Witnesses reported that the airplane flew low over the Fall River Golf Course, and then banked to the right for landing at the airport. The landing gear and flaps were down. As the airplane was banking to the right it suddenly "dropped out of the air."
Low, slow, and steeply banked . . .
the combination of these three flight characteristics are
generally all that it takes to produce a stall/spin, whether
up high or in the traffic pattern. If you do not
agree, it could be time to hire a competent flight
instructor, climb to a safe altitude, then prove it to
yourself! The
National Transportation Safety Board determines the
probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The Pitot-Static System - Can you sketch it from memory? It's a remarkably simple system but, surprisingly, few of us can sketch it out on a pad or explain its curious functions. Do you know where the word "Pitot" comes from??? Let's take a quick look at one of the most important systems found on any aircraft. First . . . its origin. Back in 1732, a hydraulic engineer named Henri Pitot (1695-1771) was asked to measure the flow of the River Seine. To calculate the speed of the current, he developed a tube with a 90-degree bend. When placed in a flowing liquid vertically with the open end directed upstream, the rate of flow could be calculated based on the height of the liquid filling the vertical part of the tube. This discovery led to Mr. Pitot's appointment to the French Academy of Science. And now you know why the word "Pitot" is always capitalized!
What does the Pitot tube do? As all primary student pilots are taught, the Pitot-static system is an air pressure measuring device. Ram air is captured by the Pitot tube which, in turn, applies pressure to a delicate membrane inside the airspeed indicator. The greater the air pressure, the more this membrane is deflected and the higher the airspeed reads on the gauge.
Simple, right? Be careful here. Lots of things can cause erroneous pressure readings. How about altitude? Air gets less dense (less pressure) as we climb. How about temperature? This changes air density as well. What about the angle of the Pitot tube to the relative wind? Whoa! There's a big effect here. What about an insect or ice caught inside the Pitot tube? Yep . . . bad (or no) reading. And the static port? The static side of the Pitot-static system is much more basic. The static port simply measures ambient air pressure outside of the aircraft. The higher we go, the less ambient air pressure is noted. So what could go wrong with the static port? Answer: Usually nothing! But then again, Mr. Murphy occasionally comes to visit. For example, a compulsive neat-freak pilot might be inclined to place a piece of tape over the static port before washing or waxing his airplane. While a good idea in theory, the hapless pilot MUST remember to remove this tape before flight! As said above, the Pitot-static system is important. Without it, we cannot determine our airspeed, altitude, or rate of climb or descent. As such, all of us need to know and understand its inner workings!
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and for pilots all over the globe. Become a PIREP Producer! Despite the remarkable advancements in weather forecasting and reporting technology, there is still nothing better than a pilot report (PIREP) to assess what is really happening in the atmosphere. Regrettably, far too few of us regularly issue PIREPs. This, of course, leaves the rest of us to sort things out for ourselves. Here's why we don't issue PIREPs:
Take a look at the following PIREP . . . This routine PIREP was filed by a Cessna 182 pilot flying at 6,000 feet about 25 miles east of the Gregg County VOR. He's estimating the winds at his altitude to be from the west at 30 knots with an outside temperature of 5 degrees C. The cloud bases above him are at 8,000 feet and he's in heavy rain and is experiencing light turbulence. This example illustrates the order in which a PIREP is filed by the pilot.
Being able to file a PIREP is one thing. Being able to decode a PIREP from our pre-flight weather briefing materials is another. Review the table below to be sure you understand what each of the listed abbreviations mean.
Routine vs. Urgent PIREPs Like most everything else we experience in aviation, things are either normal or they are not. And when they are not normal is when we pilots get ourselves into trouble. Such is the case with PIREPs, as described briefly below:
Thunderstorms . . . what ATC can and cannot see for us!
To save both time and space, I'm providing a link to an article I wrote recently for IFR Magazine on the subject of thunderstorms and ATC. Click HERE to open this article. Aero-News.Net Features OTA in Podcasts
"Teachable Moments" is the latest in a series of podcasts Bob Miller has been doing with Aero-News.Net's Paul Plack. You can hear, or download for later listening, these 15 minute interviews and any of the previously conducted podcasts by clicking on the titles below: Podcast Titles[Click on desired titles - several minutes may be required to download.] Titles in RED are new since the last OTA. By the way, Aero-News.Net is a FREE daily online publication that is packed with aviation related news. It is the first thing I read every morning. You can log on to Aero-News.Net and subscribe for your free subscription by clicking HERE. The Instrument Pilot's Worst Nightmare!!
Such was the case on this fateful day over Ashville, North Carolina. An instrument rated pilot was in the left seat of a Cessna 182. A commercially rated pilot was in the right seat and a passenger was in the back seat. Things were going along just fine while receiving radar vectors to the final approach course for Runway 16 at the Ashville Regional Airport. Upon reaching the final approach fix inbound (just five miles short of the runway), the pilot reported to ATC that his heading indicator was "messed up." The controller immediately advised the pilot to turn to a heading of 300 degrees, then offered to give the pilot no-gyro vectors. He then instructed the pilot to climb and maintain 5,100 feet. The pilot then replied, "We've just lost our attitude indicator." Moments later radar contact with the airplane was lost. All aboard died in the crash. Here's what the NTSB accident investigators discovered in the wreckage:
Lessons worth learning . . . The tragic accident is replete with important lessons for all pilots and aircraft owners. Here's just a couple:
Sign up today . . . to subscribe (free) to Over the Airwaves!You are a simple click away from signing up to receive your monthly issue of Over the Airwaves. Click HERE. OTA is now being visited by over 16,000 pilots and aviation enthusiasts every month!It's Up to You to Fly Away - "Getting Ready to Go . . . Aircraft Travel Tips!"
Click HERE to open John's Aircraft Travel Tips Read earlier "Fly Away" stories by John Bouck. Click on the links below:
Cape May, NJ Neighbors Complaining About Airport Noise! It's the same story, different airport. Folks residing in the shadow of little airports suddenly discover that airplanes make noise! Such is the case at my home airport in Lancaster, NY. Not impressed by the fact that our airport pre-dates their residency by over 45 years, several clusters of recently arriving neighbors have been engaged in an active anti-airport letter writing campaign to federal, state, and local government officials. Their demands, they say, are simple. "Stop these little airplanes from flying over their homes!" What have we done about these complaints?
[Photo right: Tom Geles, Lancaster Airport Board Chairman and manager addressing supporters.] It didn't take us long, however, to conclude that altering the traffic pattern would be like the little Dutch boy moving his thumb around to plug holes in the dike. Avoiding one neighborhood placed us over other neighborhoods. Hence, we opted to not alter the traffic pattern. We even tried extending our arrival and departure legs to avoid turning over residential areas, but our proximity to nearby Class C airspace precluded that option. It's all a matter of votes! Despite the fact that right and reason were on our side, we recognized that our local town officials could make life difficult for our airport, if they so chose, by withholding future building permits necessary for our planned expansion. So what influences local town officials? Answer: Votes . . . votes needed to secure re-election. Thus, our next step was to build a big list of pro-airport people. These people not only included our pilots, our hangar tenants, and our airport employees, it also included Bob Miller Flight Training, Inc. (BMFT) and our many present and past students. More than these folks, it included transient pilots, local business owners, and members of the general public who liked airplanes. What better way to compile a list of pro-airport people was there than to host a community-wide airport open house, which we did on Saturday, June 13th of this year. Our first such effort, with the help of EAA Chapter 46 and its "Young Eagles" staff and our local Civil Air Patrol Squadron who made breakfast for everybody, attracted nearly 500 people! Many of these fine folks joined our "Friends of the Lancaster Airport" roster right there on the spot.
Supporting us in this effort was the Cessna Aircraft Company who, at our request, flew in a brand new Cessna Mustang Jet, and several other new single engine aircraft to place on static display. The Mustang arrived in grand style just as our VIP guests were finishing a first-class supper in our new hangar. Needless to say, the people we needed to impress were impressed! Pictured below is yours truly (Bob Miller wearing OTA hat) with his daughter, Erica on the left and Mustang pilot, Brandy Hearting, on the right. Steve Kent, Cessna's Northeast Regional Sales Manager is seen walking in the background. [Thanks to Jim Cavanaugh for shooting these photos.]
Nurturing our "Friends of Lancaster Airport" list The next step in our campaign has been to cultivate our rapidly growing list of friends and supporters. We did this through a series of personalized e-mails to each member on the list. Then, we scheduled a "Friends" meeting at our airport to both feed and brief our supports. Nearly 100 people showed up for this first-ever "Friends" gathering. Our final step, to be completed after the posting of this OTA issue, is to pack the town hall with all of our "friends" at their next meeting on July 6th.Each of our "friends" will be supplied with a three inch wide brightly colored button saying, "I Luv the Lancaster Airport" that they'll proudly display on their lapel while attending this meeting. In summary, our little airport will reign victorious over our detractors primarily because we have right and reason on our side (plus about $10 million in recent federal and state grants). We also won the hearts of our local elected officials. That's a big plus! In the end, however, we're all learning to co-exist with all of our neighbors. We do practice neighbor-friendly behaviors with our airplanes. Most importantly, we'll continue to court and build our "Friends of Lancaster Airport," because an airport's ultimate strength comes from the people it serves! What's New at BMFT, Inc. It's difficult to imagine what could be more fun and profitable at the same time than running a flight school! Sure, the economy is in the tank, fuel prices are on the rise, and finding people with enough disposable income to pay for flying lessons is becoming increasingly difficult. Who said life would be easy? These facts make the process all that more challenging. And it's the challenge that keeps me motivated! What are we doing at Bob Miller Flight Training, Inc.? Rather than lamenting our economic climate, BMFT has been taking positive steps to build business. I share these steps here not to boast what we're doing but to encourage other flight schools to consider doing likewise. The times are changing. The sooner our flight training community changes, the better off we'll all be. Here are just a few of the steps we are taking: 1. Keeping it fun:
2. Hosting Training Seminars and Open Houses:
3. Advertise, Advertise, Advertise:
4. New Airplanes:
5. Specialized Intensive Training:
6. Team Building:
In summary, I routinely visit with other flight school leaders and, frankly, have grown weary of hearing about all the doom and gloom they're facing. When I hear this stuff, I think back to an old marketing professor I had in my MBA program back in the late 1960s. He said simply, "Innovate or die." Those three words have served me well over the past nearly 40 years in business! Winds DO Count! If we pilots wanted to do something truly significant to improve the outcome of every flight, what would it be? Answer: Improve our "wind awareness!" Okay . . . so there are lots of things we all need to do, but becoming a more "wind aware" pilot will go a very long way in reducing the probability of a bad outcome.
Wind awareness begins by looking out the window . . . The signs of wind are all around us. At the airport, they include wind socks, wind tees, tetrahedrons, and even leaves on the trees. Knowing the direction of the wind relative to the taxiways and runway tells us which way to position the controls. Equally important, knowing the wind direction and wind speeds (including gust factors) provides an essential "heads up" as to what to expect at each point over the airport surface. Surface winds are different from winds aloft!!!! It's curious to note how many of us assume that surface winds mirror winds aloft when doing our cross-country planning. The strange truth is, surface and winds aloft seldom match. Instead, ground interference including hills, trees, and buildings can dramatically alter the course and direction of surface winds. The proficient pilot is always looking at winds as acutely as a sailor watches his sails, for therein lies the key to happy landings! Helpful Sponsors Please support OTA's helpful sponsors by clicking on the images below where you will find ordering information.Welcome new sponsor! BMC Subscriptions has joined our selected list of OTA sponsors. Click on the BMC Subscriptions image below to gain immediate access to 21 different first-quality aviation publications.Let's open the links and support our OTA sponsors!
OTA sponsors, like those shown above, plus our growing list of individual donors make it possible for me to continue producing and circulating OTA each month to over 17,000 pilots and aviation enthusiasts around the world FREE. If you have an aviation-related product or service you would like to promote and help underwrite the continued publication of Over the Airwaves, please send an email to rjma@rjma.com.
It was to be a routine flight review. The winds were light and variable. The sky was spectacularly blue. Visibility was better then a million miles. I had been looking forward to conducting a flight review for my friend in his very well maintained homebuilt tail-wheel Rans aircraft.
My pilot was doing exceptionally well so I elected to ratchet up the challenge a bit. I picked out a nearby grass strip airport that has an ominous 50 foot barrier obstacle just short of the approach end of its Runway 28. The pilot made the proper 45 degree entry to the downwind, turned on base, then final. His approach profile until reaching the 50 foot obstacle was textbook perfect for this kind of scenario. We cleared the 50 foot obstacle by a safe margin. With power now at idle, he gave a slight forward push on the stick in an apparent effort to get the airplane on the ground as quickly as possible. While thinking he was going to bleed off the excess speed in ground effect he, instead, pushed forward on the stick. This caused the airplane to bounce hard on the soft grass. The nose was suddenly thrust upward. I yelled, "Power, power, power!" The pilot clutched the throttle tightly in his right fist and held it firmly in the full aft idle position. The airplane teetered on the edge of a power-off stall some 20 to 30 feet above the runway. Instinctively, my left hand grabbed the throttle. I aggressively pressed it forward in a vain attempt to restore power. Ordinarily, I would have been able to overpower my friend using sheer adrenalin and brute force, but this situation was different. Unlike conventional throttles, this Rans aircraft employs a vernier-type throttle control. This type of throttle control requires you to either "twist" the throttle control in to advance the power, or you must first push in the release knob on the end of the throttle control to disengage the vernier mechanism before pressing the control forward. Neither of these options worked because of the pilot's clenched fist that wrapped itself tightly around the throttle control. Life suddenly stood still At that moment, life stood still for me. The airplane, still 30 feet in the air had suddenly run out of forward flying speed. Tried as I would, I could not restore critically needed power because of the pilot's iron grip on the throttle control. This had the makings of a very bad outcome but good fortune was with us that day. Other than his failure to add desperately needed power, the pilot did do a masterful job of preventing a bad situation from getting dramatically worse. He pressed the stick forward to lower the nose. This prevented what could have been a fatal stall. In the process, he captured several knots of critically needed airspeed. The airplane settled down hard on its main gear, the right gear leg collapsed, and we slid smoothly on the slick grass to a gentle stop. Each of us walked away with nary a scratch. So what are the lessons here? Like every such accident, lessons abound here. Let's look at a few.
As this accident demonstrates, bad things happen to both good pilots and to good (presumably) instructors. Things can also happen very, very fast. The mark of a proficient pilot is his or her commitment to learn from the mistakes of others. This is why it is important that we forward links to Over the Airwaves to every pilot we know!
Bob Miller, CFII, ATP Upcoming . . . Sunday, July 12, 2009, 8am to noon Dunkirk Rotary FLY-IN BREAKFAST Dunkirk Airport, Dunkirk, NY
Pancakes, eggs, sausage with the works . . . all you can
eat! Trophies for warbirds, antiques, home-builds, and longest-distance traveler. Saturday, July 18, 2009, 7pm to 10pm: Western NY and Southern Ontario pilots shouldn't miss this annual summer sensation hosted by Mark Croce at Buffalo's Buckin' Buffalo Saloon! Each year Mark shows his appreciation to the local aviation community by hosting this wonderful FREE event. Don't miss it!!!
July 27 - August 2, 2009 The Greatest Aviation Adventure on Earth!
Saturday, September 12, 2009, 4pm to 11pm. Angel FlightNE Buffalo BBQ The Erie County Fairgrounds, Hamburg, NY
Our hosts, Joe and Diane DeMarco, put together the single largest aviation fundraising events of the year. All of the proceeds (last year over $140,000) go to support Angel Flight ne.Angel Flight is an international organization that matches volunteer pilots with families in need of medical air transport. The entire service is free to families! Let's all come out and support this wonderful event. Important: Sponsorships are urgently needed. If you or your company would like to help sponsor this event, contact Diane DeMarco, C/O Angel Flightne, P.O. Box 107, Orchard Park, NY 14127. Please join with Bob Miller Flight Training, Inc. and Over the Airwaves in sponsoring this event.
Past Issues of Click
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to open any previous issue(s) of Technical Assistance
I would like to thank the following technical assistance
contributors for their valuable help in producing OTA every
month: Cameron Dunlop, Corning, NY;
Dan Maloney, Clarence, NY; Barry McCollom, Kerrville, TX; Thom
Riddle, Buffalo, NY; and
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1.
The FAA: 14 CFR Part 61 is the
regulation that specifies the training and aeronautical
experience required to achieve various pilot ratings and
certificates. Nowhere in this regulation does it
specify that flight in actual instrument conditions is
required to receive an instrument rating or a CFI/CFII
certificate. This MUST change.
3.
The Nation's Flight Schools: Flight
schools that employ CFI/CFIIs who have little or no
experience in actual instrument conditions perpetuate
the problem. By so doing, they create a "blind
leading the blind" training environment that damages
and endangers the entire pilot community.
4.
Recently Trained Instrument Rated Pilots and
CFIs/CFIIs: If you are one of those pilots who
received an instrument rating with little or no actual
instrument flying training or experience, you MUST
demand a refund for your incomplete training!
A week never goes by
in the United States without some hapless pilot turning
himself, his three passengers, and his airplane into a lawn
dart surrounded by fire and molten aluminum. Such was
the case over Fall River Mills, CA recently when a Beech
V35B stalled while maneuvering for landing.
Since
North America is in the heart of its thunderstorm season,
it's time (again) to review what we can expect from ATC when
flying in and around a field of these meteorological
monsters.
Few
things evoke as much fear in the heart of an instrument
pilot while operating in IFR conditions as the loss of
vacuum pressure. With this loss, of course, comes the
failure (typically) of the heading indicator and attitude
indicator.
Many
of you have been enjoying John and Connie Bouck's travel
adventures on their getaway weekends in their Cessna 210.
This month, John shares with us a few of the travel tips
they've learned along the way. 
Shortly
after these complaints started surfacing about six months
ago, a team of airport leaders and local pilots met to
assess the possibility of altering our traffic pattern to
avoid noise sensitive homes. 
Next,
we hosted a special VIP reception on the evening prior to
our open house. We invited all of our federal, state,
and local elected officials and area business leaders.
There's
nothing like the smell of new leather, the latest
glass panel technology, and best safety systems in
the world . . . like traffic, collision, weather,
and terrain avoidance technology, to attract and
keep new flight students. Throwing in
auto-pilots, XM music, and front-seat airbags helps
to seal the deal.
We lifted off of the
Buffalo-Lancaster Airport and headed south. We climbed
to 3,500 feet for some obligatory air work. It was
the standard stuff: slow flight, steep turns, power on/off
stalls, emergency procedures including simulated engine
fires and failures.
