Sunday,
October 28, 2007 Vol. IV No.
21 |
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Welcome
to the
Over the
Airwaves
aviation journal. This complimentary bi-weekly e-mailing
is being sent to 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.
Dear Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts:
Hug a Controller! If my twice weekly training flights into the five NYC Class B airports have taught my students and me anything, it has to be the remarkable talents of some very talented people. I refer, of course, to the many professional air traffic controllers working in this high density airspace. While airline passengers may squawk about chronic flight delays and the Airline Transport Association (ATA) uses a bizarre twist of logic to blame GA aircraft for their many missed connections, there is a group of dedicated people sitting in dark rooms and tower cabs who employ the patience of Job to keep things moving quickly.
To really appreciate their talents, one needs to actually witness the precision with which the flow of air traffic is managed. At LaGuardia, for example, departures off of Runway 13 are squeezed off between arrivals on its intersecting Runway 22 seemingly faster than a Japanese chef slices and dices chicken breasts before tossing them into a hot wok. Ground operations at JFK and Newark are orchestrated with the precision of a fine Swiss watch despite a myriad of language dialects of pilots from around the globe. Despite it all, these controllers have time for a bit of humor as was evidenced by the Newark tower controller who cautioned the airline pilot getting ready to depart immediately behind us on Runway 22L. He said, "United XXX, you are cleared for takeoff, caution wake turbulence from departing Cirrus." His remark broke the tension for dozens of pilots on tower frequency that busy evening. No time for screw-ups There is only ONE thing that seems to unnerve a controller (besides a sleep-deprived supervisor). That is, a non-proficient pilot who can't keep up with the game being played out in crowded airspace. One call, at best, is all controllers may have time for when the airspace becomes saturated. Miss that call and the dice gets rolled right out on the table.
But to make it all work, we pilots have to do our job as well. No missed calls, no wrong turns, or busted altitudes allowed. You want to fly instrument approaches at large, busy airports, learn to fly them fast! You want to swim with the sharks, then swim like sharks. No minnow-like behavior allowed! Okay, not everybody has the opportunity to swim with the sharks, but we can listen (again) to one harried JKF ground controller whose patience is being tested but, nonetheless, gets the job done. Click HERE.
"Atta-Boy" Award to C-210 Pilot Admittedly, OTA spends a good bit of time talking about fatal accidents and their precipitating causes. Occasionally, however, we run across a tragedy that was likely prevented by the actions of a proficient pilot.Thus, another new OTA section is being added to our format called the "Atta-Boy (or Girl, where appropriate) Award."
He advised ATC of his plight. They immediately issued him vectors back to his departure airport. By this time, he had lost all electrical power. He couldn't see his instrument panel. His flashlight had been dropped and was now inoperative. Using a backup hand-held radio and a portable GPS, he requested "no gyro" steers back to the airport. As fate would have it, his hand-held radio's batteries quickly gave out. Now totally alone, he descended down to between 500' and 700' AGL where he could maintain ground contact. Using his still operating portable GPS, he navigated 18 miles to the airport and landed safely! Below is this pilot's first-person account of the event as reported on his ASRS (NASA) Form
Lessons Learned . . .
Every
flight we take should teach us something, particularly when
an unexpected event occurs during such flight.
In this instance, the pilot's decision to carry a portable
radio and a hand-held GPS likely saved his life.
Sure, having a second operative flashlight and freshly
charged batteries in his portable radio would have made
things easier for him.
We would
all do well to follow this pilot's example! "Atta-Boy!" Curiously . . . engines never fail in IMC!!
Curiously, since no such training is required for IFR pilots, one must assume that engines never fail when we're in the clouds. While this must make sense to the FAA, we proficient pilots know better, right? Engines do not know they are in the clouds anymore than our airplanes do. So, when they elect to quit when buried in the muck, we better have an escape plan. If that plan can put us directly atop of an airport that we cannot see, all the better. Practice, practice, practice emergency GPS descents and landings
With a GPS, just a couple key strokes, we can find the nearest airport or even a four-lane highway even though we are buried deep inside hostile clouds or visibility-obscuring rain. When the engine quits, we go through the standard drill. Pitch to best glide speed, punch in "nearest" in the GPS box, point the airplane in that direction, troubleshoot the engine, make a May-Day call. Arriving above our emergency landing site, but still in the clouds, we begin a steep spiral over the site. With our eyes focused on the gauges AND the GPS screen, we slowly descend through the clouds to, hopefully VFR conditions just high enough over the airport to land visually. Practice emergency GPS operations with a safety pilot aboard. It could save your bacon some day. Charts, Plates, and GPS Data Cards - update to remain safe! With all that we have to do as pilots, it's easy to allow some things to slip through the cracks. While I haven't yet been able to connect a fatal accident with some hapless pilot's dependence upon expired GPS data cards, sectional, low altitude enroute charts, or instrument approach plates, the likelihood that this has happened still exists. In my own world of IFR flight, I was embarrassed recently when I realized the reason that I could not find a controller-assigned fix over Lake Erie was due to the fact that my Jeppesen low altitude enroute chart had recently expired. Well, it didn't exactly expire. Instrument pilots know, of course, that
these charts contain no expiration dates. Instead, we
either wait for the Jepp folks to send us a new chart, or we
read through the long list of chart
FAR 91. 103 Still Applies We're in a world that is rapidly going paperless. Folks with glass cockpits and the proper software can now launch with no printed approach plates in hand. This makes it is doubly important that whatever data we're using, paper or electronic, be kept current. FAR 91.103 requires that we have all available information. Check those expiration dates before every flight! Above All Else . . . fly the airplane!
Well, maybe not everybody. There is a student pilot up in Grand Forks, ND with a slightly bruised ego and slightly bent metal (fortunately nothing else) who learned this lesson the proverbial hard way. It seems that he was landing his Piper Warrior after his very first solo flight. On the roll-out, the tower controller called and asked him to depart the runway at exit A2. The student pilot did his best to comply with the controller's request but he quickly learned that a Piper Warrior doesn't corner well at 30 knots! In the process of complying with the controller's runway exit instructions, the student pilot took out a runway hold short sign and ended up in the grass. The airplane was substantially damaged. Controllers are patient people.
One of my oft-used words when controllers begin to press me for something I am not prepared to do at the moment is the word "unable." This doesn't exactly mean that I refuse to comply with their instructions, per FAR 91.123. It simply means that given either my workload at the moment or for flight safety considerations that I am "unable" to comply with their request. An example of this might be when a
controller calls and says, "N4720Y, descend and maintain
4,000." When I look down and see a solid undercast
of clouds at 4,000' known to me to contain ice, my reply to
ATC might go something like this: "Unable 4,000 due
In summary, a controller's instruction is the first bid in the negotiation process. As in the game of Bridge or in real estate negotiations, the controller will most always accept a counter-bid. This bid . . . re-bid exchange goes on as long as necessary to achieve a mutually beneficial solution. Had the flight student on his first solo up in Grand Forks, ND simply said, "Unable" in response to the controller's request for him to exit at A2, the bent metal (and ego) would have never happened. When are we going to learn??? If you are like me, your heart must break when you learn of a fatal airplane accident that could have easily been prevented. When the accident like this occurs with a certificated flight instructor at the controls, one must really begin to wonder about the condition of our flight training industry. In this tragic case, a CFI and student took off just a couple weeks ago from the Castroville Municipal Airport near San Antonio, Texas. The engine quit seconds after takeoff. Instead of "dead sticking" it straight ahead into obstruction-free farmland at the end of the airport, witnesses observed the airplane attempting a 180 degree turn back to the runway. The result: Stall/spin . . . crash. Both the CFI and the student were killed.
Attempting a 180 turn back to the airport
when the engine quits on takeoff is wrought with risks.
The better choice, as in this case, is to
A quick look at the graphic (right) illustrates the loss of altitude that occurs when making such a turn. In most cases, there simply is not enough altitude to complete the turn. The fact that many of these "turn back" fatal accidents occur with a CFI at the controls makes us all wonder about the judgment ability of some in our flight training community! It's Back with a Vengeance . . . . Icing!!
Of course there is no argument about the illegality of plowing into known icing conditions in a non-known ice certified airplane. There remains, however, a very BIG question as to what constitutes "known ice." I was flying recently with an instrument student in a late model Cessna Turbo 182. There were no AIRMETS or PIREPs signaling the presence of icing conditions along our planned route of flight. The surface temperature was 61d F. It was an overcast sky with ragged bases at about 4,000 AGL. Cloud tops were 7,000' MSL. With a block altitude IFR clearance in hand, we climbed up into the clouds for some practice IFR work. Inside, the ride was smooth, outside temperature hovered around +5d C. We turned on the pitot heat, checked vacuum pressure, and proceeded with our IFR airwork. There was no hint of icing. Our exercise called for some hands-free flying including gentle turns, unusual attitude recoveries, and climbs and descents using power and rudder inputs alone. Applying full power, my student began a brisk climb. Just as we were about to break out on top, I noticed that the outside temperature had suddenly dropped to -2d C and a coating of light rime ice had begun to adhere to the wing struts and leading edges. The world around us suddenly changed but my student, having flown through last year's winter season was well equipped to handle the unexpected icing. Without pause, he quickly confirmed our airspeed and verified that the pitot and prop heat were turned on as he continued climbing to the ice-free, clear skies immediately above. Why do we continue to have fatal icing accidents?
As such, we see a marked decline in instruction in real world IFR conditions in the northern climates from late October to early June. The net result, of course, is an increase in the sales of view limiting devices and GA flight simulators. And what we get from this is a whole new crop of poorly trained, marginally proficient instrument pilots incapable of operating safely on their own in the clouds for most of the year! Time to get real with wintertime IFR training! Getting real, of course, means learning and teaching the physics of airframe icing. We need to understand the influence of outside air temperature, water drop size, moisture content, and lifting actions that greatly influence the presence or absence of icing in sub-freezing clouds. Incorrect teaching and preaching that all sub-freezing clouds contain killer ice is like saying that all beaches are home to roaming schools of bone-crushing sharks! This is simply not the case. Like sharks . . . icing can exist!
From an icing perspective, a "back door" can be one of three places: (1) cloud bases; (2) cloud top or layers; and (3) above-freezing temperatures. When operating any aircraft in or near cold clouds, we must remain within seconds (literally seconds) of one of these three "back doors." In summary, I am not suggesting that we go swimming anywhere near a beach where a killer shark just ate somebody's leg. Similarly, it would be foolhardy to ignore icing forecasts, PIREPs or AIRMETS, and launch into sure-fire icing conditions. Absent these conditions, however, go out and fly in winter clouds . . . but don't stray far from the beach! Mid-Air Collision Over Long Island, NY - Controller/Cockpit Audio Tape! It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it is generally fatal. Fate worked in these pilots' favor last Sunday over Republic Airport in Farmingdale, Long Island, NY. Listen to the dramatic audio exchange between the tower controller and the pilots involved. Click on the following link: http://www.avweb.com/other/FRG_MidAir_TowerAudio.mp3 Click HERE to view the CNN video of the two damaged aircraft. Many thanks to OTA reader, Tony Balestrino, for sharing these links with us. To Sim . . . or not to sim?? The forecasted weather at Dunkirk, NY was 600' overcast; Jamestown, NY was 300' overcast; and at Franklin, PA it was 200' overcast. Visibility at each of these airports was barely 1 mile. So what does a safety-minded instrument pilot do on days like this? He calls his CFII, in this case, me, and says, "Let's go flying." To Dunkirk, NY . . .
Approaching Dunkirk, we requested the GPS Runway 24 approach, with a circle to Runway 6. Arriving over Dunkirk within 100 feet of its published circling minimums, Mark executed a series of tight turns at barely one-half the pattern altitude, kissed the runway, then departed again on the published missed approach procedure. To Jamestown, NY . . . Ten minutes later, we slithered down the Jamestown, NY ILS Runway 25 approach. Mark flew the approach by hand. We reached the decision height (DH) in a 16 knot direct crosswind with no runway in sight. "Go around, go around," I repeated as Mark smoothly advanced to full throttle. From there, we cruised quickly over to the Franklin, PA Airport. I dialed in the ATIS and learned that Franklin was reporting a 200' overcast, visibility 1/2 mile. To Franklin, PA . . . This time Mark coupled up the autopilot for this approach to Franklin. Reaching the DH at the precise moment that the approach lights came into view, Mark reduced the power and executed a smooth landing to a full stop. We walked inside the terminal, ordered supper, and discussed our last hour's flight experience. No GA flight simulator could possibly replicate this experience. Mark's first words to me after landing were, "Bob, there's no way I could have achieved this experience on a desktop flight simulator. No way!"
Instead, they're being squirreled away in the make-believe cockpits of a flight school desktop simulator. Please do not misunderstand. Personal computer aviation training devices (PCATDs) do have a role in instrument training when used the way they were intended. Teaching IFR procedures, for example, is often better accomplished in a PCATD than in the real world. They are also wonderful for illustrating the various ways to enter a holding pattern. Tom Gilmore arguably knows more about using PCATDs for flight training than anybody else. After all, he wrote the book. Titled, Teaching Confidence in the Clouds - An Instructor's Guide to using Desktop Flight Simulators, Tom's book provides excellent guidance in properly using these training devices. Tom concludes, however, that "a desktop simulator will never handle or respond in the same manner as a real aircraft . . ." He also says, "any time spent on a PCATD should be immediately followed by one or two sessions in an aircraft." Yes, we are in an age where aircraft rental fees and escalating fuel costs dictate the way we train but, remember, it is our lives and the lives of our families and friends that we're talking about. Let's not resort to saving a few dollars in the name of economics by forsaking the costs of long-term safety. In summary, desktop simulators are but one of many tools in the CFII's box of training resources, but we need to limit their use to that for which they were intended. Guest Editorial
If you have something pertinent to say about the safety of flight and you would like to have it read by pilots around the world, please send it in. If we publish it, you will receive your very own "official" OTA coffee cup!Please note the approximate space limitation illustrated by the guest editorial below.
Geoffrey, your guest editorial is likely to spark considerable interest and debate on the matter of known icing. Regulations aside for the moment, the real crux of the issue is not the question of whether we can or cannot operate in known ice, but rather what is "known ice" in the first place? Airspeed is Primary for Climb!!! I have often wondered just how many fatal
stall/spin accidents (there is about 1 per week) could be
prevented if every pilot understood that the airspeed
indicator is primary for climbs? Instead, many of us focus either on the attitude indicator or the vertical speed indicator (VSI) to provide us with critical climb information. Why the airspeed indicator? Answer: It is airspeed, not pitch attitude or climb rate that creates lift. We can achieve our greatest pitch-up attitude and climb rate seconds prior to a stall. On the other hand, airspeed, when properly managed, can keep us well away from the critical angle of attack that precipitates a stall. Night and IMC take-offs The airspeed indicator is especially important in climbs when outside cues are missing. Keep that gauge in your instrument scan every time you take off at night or into IFR conditions. Aero-News.Net Features OTA in Podcasts
"Autopilot Reliance" and "Propeller Fatigue" are the latest in a series of podcasts I have 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: 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.
This is another new OTA section into which will be placed information about new aviation products, publications, and services.
The book covers (left) are illustrative of valuable advice for buyers shopping for either a Cessna 172 or a Cessna 210.
Click on these covers to open links to more information about each of these books.
Contact OTA if you would like to share specific products, publications, or services to the global pilot community.
Freezing Rain . . . . the not-so-quiet killer!
Simple words cannot describe freezing rain to pilots who have not experienced this quirk of nature. Try visualizing standing at the end of your driveway just as a passing snow plow envelops you in a fresh coat of wet slush. That image might come close to describing the effect of freezing rain on an airplane in flight!
If we happen to be flying through this interface of warm/cold air at an altitude where the water drops haven't yet solidified into snow or pellets, watch out! They could be waiting to turn your airplane into a flying popsicle. Help Spread the OTA Word!Please tell every pilot you know about Over the Airwaves! What they read just might prevent a nasty mishap. At a minimum, a better pilot will result.Click on the button below to forward the OTA link up to 10 pilot friends.
Click HERE to sign up for free weekly reminders of each upcoming OTA issue.One Wheel Landings
We pilots should always be looking for ways to improve our airmanship skills. One particularly beneficial exercise is practicing one-wheel landings. The exercise goes something like this. Descend over the runway in standard fashion. Gently bank in the direction of the main gear wheel you want to place on the runway first. Apply sufficient opposite rudder to maintain directional control directly down the runway. Hold this flight attitude as long as possible as just one wheel remains firmly planted on the runway. While sufficient remaining runway exists, either go-around or allow the other main gear wheel to touch down on the runway.Advanced One-Wheel Landing Exercises Once you become proficient with the one wheel landing exercise, try landing alternatively on one main gear wheel then the other all in the same landing sequence. Some folks call this "turkey trot" landings. Here's how this exercise goes: Bank right, rudder left to allow the right main gear to touch the runway. Then bank left, rudder right to allow the left main gear wheel to touch the runway. Practice this exercise until you can rhythmically shift from one wheel to the other in a single pass at the runway. When you can do this smoothly, your landing skills will reach a new high in proficiency! Self-Induced Pressure, IFR Conditions and Poor Judgment - a deadly trio!
The 49 year old, non-instrument rated, 300 hour, single and multi-engine rated pilot had received three standard FSS briefings in preparation for his planned VFR flight last January from Pueblo, CO to Tyler, TX. His FIRST briefing was received at 5:15pm. He told the briefer he planned to depart 7:00pm. During this 17 minute briefing, the FSS specialist advised the pilot of an AIRMET for moderate icing that was in effect for the Pueblo area and instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) were present in the Tyler, Texas area. The pilot decided to delay his departure, saying to the specialist that, ". . . ultimately, I have to be in Houston before 7pm tomorrow night."
The briefer reported IFR weather at his destination, but improving throughout the day. He also suggested said, ". . . don't dilly dally getting out of Pueblo . . ." The pilot obtained his THIRD standard briefing at 4:52am. During this 17 minute exchange with the specialist, the pilot was told of IFR conditions in the area that were moving south, moderate icing condition for the state of Colorado, low ceilings and visibility along the planned route of flight. The pilot inquired about the conditions in Houston and asked, "What is uh Houston looking like cause I gotta go to Houston by seven tonight." The briefer replied saying that the terminal forecast for a local Houston airport was to expect high cirrus clouds, a broken cloud ceiling at 500 feet, 5 miles visibility, and fog moving into the area. Are you forming a picture yet? It's clear that the pilot needed to get from Pueblo, CO to Houston, TX. He received three extensive standard briefings, so he was concerned about the weather. At this point, he concluded that he had to depart Pueblo before the snow storm arrived and that he must reach his destination before the predicted fog moved in. He departs . . . The pilot took off at 6:40am. The controller instructed the pilot to squawk 0346 and reported the current weather conditions as "2,000 overcast, visibility 10." The pilot responded, "I figured I'd get out of here before the weather set in." A few minutes later, the pilot
called ATC and said, "I'm just at 6,700 and I'm just coming to the bottom of
the clouds and I'm going to descend a little bit and proceed on course.
Actually, it looks like it is kinda broken and scattered down here, it looks
like the ceiling is a little bit higher than this." One minute later, the airplane then entered a 3,000 fpm climb and a turn to a heading of 286 degrees. The airplane then entered a 1,300 fpm descent and subsequently, radar contact was lost. The pilot was reported missing
and a search and rescue operation was initiated. The airplane
wreckage was located 40 miles south of Pueblo, CO in snow covered terrain by the
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) some 27 hours later. At the
time of the accident, the Pueblo ASOS, 40 miles northeast of
the accident site, reported the wind from 340 degrees at 5
knots, visibility 10 statute miles, sky broken at 2,200
feet, overcast ceiling at 4,900 feet, temperature minus 1
degree Celsius, dew point minus 2 degrees Celsius, and an
altimeter setting of 29.71 inches of Mercury.
Sadly, one doesn't have to read beyond the second paragraph of the full NTSB report to know that this was a fatal accident about to happen. A non-instrument rated pilot launches into night IFR conditions . . . 'nuff said! Where do we go wrong in the flight training industry? The NTSB report said this pilot had logged 7 hours in simulated instrument conditions. Could it be possible that this pilot had never been in real IFR conditions?
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Note: Stump the Chump is reserved for the most unique or challenging aviation-related questions whose answers are not readily apparent to the otherwise astute pilot or industry observer. Tom's question and answer are shown
below:
If you have a perplexing question for which you cannot find an answer, send it to the folks at Stump the Chump. If we use it in Stump the Chump, you will receive a free OTA coffee mug!Pilots' love affair with cars! Okay, so some of us pilots, particularly those over age 60 (which is quickly becoming the majority of us), once had a life outside of airplanes. Tune in to the following video, turn up the sound, and enjoy. Click HERE. Thanks to OTA reader, Paul Pedersen of Buffalo, NY for sharing this one with us. KUDOs to AOPA
One example of this came to play last week when I and my student, David Bushman of Baltimore, MD, were held for over two hours on the run-up pad adjacent to the Westchester-White Plains Airport (KHPN) Runway 16 waiting for IFR release to LaGuardia Airport. That's right . . . over two hours! Aside from the customary NYC haze, the weather didn't appear to be an issue, so I called the KHPN tower and queried about the reason for this excessive delay. The tower controller replied, "I can't tell you why on the air." Hmmm, I thought. This was a curious answer. My first thought, frankly, was that the air traffic controllers were engaging in a work slow down or some other job action. Not content with this response, my student and I each picked up our respective cell phones while monitoring the tower on a hand-held radio. I put in a call to Flight Service to see if they had any explanation. At the same time, Dave called AOPA's Pilot Information Center. We both waited several minutes for their answers. FSS couldn't get through to FSS - no surprise here! The FSS briefer I spoke with in the Leesburg, VA facility said that he did not know the answer. He then put me on hold while he telephoned the Islip NY FSS thinking that they might have an answer. Several minutes later, the briefer came back on the line saying that he could not reach the Islip FSS. I chuckled, noting that it was reassuring to know that occasionally Flight Service can't get through to Flight Service! AOPA to the rescue . . . AOPA, on the other hand, quickly came back with an answer. Claire Kultgen, an AOPA Technical Specialist, made a few phone calls to the FAA traffic management folks and uncovered a scarcely noticeable piece of information. See text box below:
For those OTA readers who, like me, may sometimes choke on FAA coded language, AOPA explained that the reason for our delay off of KHPN was due to something called the "Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) Ground Delay Program (GDP)."The GDP is activated by the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) anytime the orderly flow of flights into and out of a particular airport is compromised by weather or other operational factors. What it purports to do is "hold" aircraft on the ground rather than in the air anytime traffic delays are occurring. What AOPA's Claire Kultgen quickly discovered was that a GDP was in effect on the day we were attempting to depart KHPM. Claire was also able to get us a reliable prediction as to when we would actually be released. Good going, Claire, and good going to AOPA, as well!
Somewhere in the growing complexity of the private and instrument pilot rating curriculum we have lost the art of flying. Today's highly digitized cockpits, characterized by glass panels, GPS navigators, coupled autopilots, and electronic checklists, surely must leave flight students wondering how Charles Lindbergh ever got the Spirit of St. Louis off the ground, much less to Paris!
In the mad dash to simplify the cockpit, aircraft manufacturers are creating an entire generation of button pushing pilots who quite likely could not "dead stick" their aircraft into an emergency landing site or recover from a nasty aerial upset.
We have flight schools providing multi-engine training in Diamond Aircraft's new DA-42 Twin Star. This is a great airplane, but it only has two control levers, one for each engine, and auto-feathering props. It's the easiest twin in the world to fly. So what are these newly minted, multi-engine rated pilots supposed to do when they step over to a Baron or Cessna 310?
Likely the most simplified of all cockpits can be seen in the new generation of Very Light Jets (VLJs). These swift birds feature a single power lever with two basic speed settings: (1) flight idle; and (2) go fast!
See a problem developing here?
Somewhere in the process of all this we're quickly losing our stick and rudder skills. We're becoming cockpit automatons who, one day, will get in, push a single button or speak one word into a voice recognition device, and sit back and watch ourselves being automatically transported to our destination. Hey, cockpit crews are not far from this in the Boeing 777 and, soon, the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Actually, there may be no problem for students going through flight schools enroute to airline or corporate jobs where the equipment they will someday fly is no different technology-wise than the equipment they were trained on.
But what about the guy or gal who wants a pilot certificate for purely private flying? Will the airplanes they will be flying have similar push-button technology or will they likely be flying more vintage aircraft with round gauges, VORs for navigation, and no autopilots?
Bells and whistles aside, today's new pilots still need to have the basic skill sets to fly the airplane when the gadgets fail.
|
Unfortunately, there is no way other than to monitor the
machine-gun paced radio chatter between controllers and
air crews to appreciate the breadth and talent of these
fine people. But more important than keeping
things moving, these air traffic controllers do so with
zero-tolerance for error.
Somehow,
however, "snake-eyes" never appear.
"Plan B" gets tossed into the mix before it's too
late and everybody goes home that night without
wondering where all the bits of molten metal landed on
the streets below. 
The
first such award goes to a Cessna 210 pilot who suffered a
total electrical failure while in night IMC. His
departure airport was reporting a 700' overcast ceiling.
Several minutes into the flight his voltage regulator tanked
and he began to lose electrical power.
Both we pilots and the FAA know and
understand that engines occasionally fail when we are flying
in VFR conditions. That's why the Private Pilot
Practical Test Standards require that all new pilots be able
to demonstrate proper engine-out procedures.
Like
most proficient pilots today, I would be reluctant to launch into IFR conditions without at least a hand-held
GPS on board. 
changes that Jepp
frequently
publishes, or we read through a seemingly
endless list of FDC (Flight Data Center) NOTAMs that
accompany every DUATs published pre-flight route briefing.
When distractions occur, every pilot,
from rank beginner to turbulence-weary veteran, has been
admonished to, first, fly the airplane.
The
air traffic controllers I know are patient people.
Thus, unless we hear them shouting instructions to us in a
high pitched tone of voice and include in their phraseology
such words as "NOW," or "IMMEDIATELY," they are patient
enough to allow us time to get things under control before
before executing their instructions.
to
ice. How about down to 6,000 for as long as possible?"
They
were having a pilot cookout on the airport
grounds on a Sunday afternoon late - quite a few
dozen pilots around. A female student grabbed
her instructor and said "Let's go fly."
accept
a suitable emergency landing site straight ahead rather than
to risk a stall/spin event when making a power-off, low
altitude steep turn back to the airport.
Like
a bad habit, sub-freezing clouds return on the scene in the
Northern Hemisphere about this time every year. Thus
begins another year of "cat 'n mouse" with the FAA's
still ill-defined rules governing flight into "known icing
conditions."
Why
do we have icing accidents? We have them because much of
the flight training community has been convinced that ALL
sub-freezing clouds possess the same killer qualities of a
Great White shark circling the shallow waters adjacent to a
beach full of bathers.
The
key to flying in sub-freezing clouds is no different from
swimming in ocean beaches. In either case, know where
dry land is and remain close enough to get there in a hurry.
Less
than one hour after receiving his call, Mark Croce and I
lifted off of Buffalo in his Cirrus SR22 G3.
This
is a recently added 
The
illustration above depicts the weather forces than commonly
produce freezing rain. Note the blue cold air sliding
from right to left under the red warmer air above. If
this frontal line is associated with wet moist air, clouds
will form along the line. Warm water drops (rain) will be
squeezed out of the cloud and will fall through the colder
air below.
Call
it "get-there-itis" if you like, this VFR-only Piper
Seneca pilot paid the ultimate price for, perhaps, a bit of
impatience.
The
pilot obtained a SECOND standard briefing at 8:42pm, noting to the specialist
that he planned to depart between 4:00am and 6:00am. He told the briefer
that he wanted to beat the incoming weather.
Six
minutes later, radar targets revealed the airplane entered a descent of
approximately 2,500 feet per minute (fpm) and a turn to a heading of 342
degrees. 
This
is the second challenging question for our experts in
the Stump the Chump section of
