Sunday,
May 6, 2007 Vol. IV No.
9 |
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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.
"30 Fatals in
30 Days"
The NTSB fatal accident reports for the month of April reveal an all too sad truth about general aviation. There were 30 fatal airplane wrecks in the month of April. Flying can be risky! This truth is doing more harm to our fragile industry than any ill-conceived user fee plan or escalating fuel prices could ever achieve! Every day of the week, on average, one pilot and, perhaps, a couple of family members or friends board a small airplane with every intention of having an enjoyable flight. Tragically, something goes terribly wrong and that flight ends in disaster. Again, this happens every day of the week, on average! Why Headline the Problem? So why am I headlining this tragic fact? Why must we read about the negative side of general aviation week after week in OTA? Isn't such reporting exacerbating the public's growing negative image of general aviation? These are all good questions, well deserving of a responsible answer. The answer is simple. Any problem, whether polio, influenza, or flight hazards, must be identified before it can be treated. Curiously, however, GA manufacturers, membership organizations, and trade publications are doing their dead level best to sweep our fatal accident problem under the carpet. For example, we do not hear EAA talking about the tragic accidents that typically occur to and from Sun 'n Fun or AirVenture each year. No mention is ever made by EAA about their causes or the lessons we can learn from them. Another example is AOPA. Goodness knows that AOPA has its hands full dealing with our many political battles. Sure, AOPA created the Air Safety Foundation to deal with GA safety issues, but we see or hear little drum beating or outrage over our chronic fatal accident rate from these two otherwise fine membership organizations. Here's another example. Since 80 percent of all fatal accidents are due to pilot error, one would expect the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) to be pounding the drums over our fatal accident rate. Their silence on our flawed flying behaviors and the chronically poor instruction we are receiving is deafening. Lastly, it is bad business for GA aircraft manufacturers and suppliers to the aviation community to be talking about our daily fatal wrecks. Manufacturers say, "Give us a private pilot certificate and three days of factory training and you'll be good to go with one of our high performance birds." So who is beating the drums?? Who's pointing the finger of blame?? "Over the Airwaves" puts the blame squarely where it belongs!
But there are reasons for this. Considering the fact that we are the products of a broken flight training industry, we can be justified in deflecting criticism of our lack of apparent airmanship skills. After all, what other industry would give us instrument flight instructors who, themselves, have never flown in the clouds? What other industry, whose entire safety depends upon effective aeronautical decision making skills, would give us flight instructors who have less than 50 hours total solo time? What other industry would focus so much training in enclosed flight simulators that our graduates never learn to look out the window? Similarly, we pilots are influenced greatly by those who indulge our appetite for aviation guidance and knowledge. These are our large pilot membership organizations and publishers of what fills our mailboxes every month. These are the folks who influence our beliefs and attitudes regarding the safety of flight. These are the folks who help us set our daily flying priorities. Today, these priorities seem to be: (1) fighting user fees; (2) recruiting new members and new pilots; and (3) spending small fortunes of heavily advertised gadgets for the well-healed pilot. Did anybody mention reducing our fatal accident rate?
Curiously, we have a new entity to point the fickle finger of blame upon. This is the FAA itself who, in the name of cost savings and privatization, has given us what appears to be a gravely flawed replacement to 54 otherwise very effective Flight Service Stations. This replacement system, through its ill-conceived and demonstrably ineffective communications system, has given new meaning to the word DUATS! Shame, shame, shame! Yes, Virginia, there is a solution . . . The solution to our once daily fatal accident experience lies in getting through to every certificated GA pilot and flight student on the globe with the truth. That truth is poignantly simple. That truth, once understood by all, will produce a dramatic reduction in our fatal accident rate. That truth is . . . genuine flight safety resides in the heart, not the head, of the pilot. Each pilot must come to an awareness in his or her heart that this thing we do in the air is consummately safe IF (very big IF) we fully understand the risks and if we possess the knowledge and skills necessary to mitigate these risks. Our risks come in four categories:
Yep . . . we did have 30 fatal accidents during the month of April. Most likely happened because the pilot was not up to a particular challenge that day, whatever that challenge was. Goodness knows, we have plenty of directions to point the finger of blame but, ultimately, the blame comes right back to us, the pilots. It is us who have to fix this problem. Nobody else. But do we ALL
know that? Fly safe, Bob
Miller, ATP, CFII Removing the Mystery from WAAS!
Let's take a walk back to GPS Course 101. There are 24 satellites in low earth orbit, each making one complete orbital circuit every 12 hours. Each satellite transmits packets of data that are received by our GPS receiver. Our GPS units translate these data packets into position, velocity, altitude, and time. It does this by measuring the time it takes each data packet to reach our GPS receiver. Unfortunately, however, things do not always operate as planned. Since proper position reporting depends upon timing, a 1/10th of second error translates into an 18,600 mile position error. Thus, highly precise satellite clocks are used, but they, too, are not 100% accurate. Another source of error is ionospheric interference. This interference can "bend" the GPS signal which, in turn, creates slight timing errors.
This is why IFR approved GPS units are equipped with RAIM (receiver autonomous integrity monitor) capability. RAIM alerts us if we lose adequate strength or required satellite position geometry. Even with the best satellite clocks available and optimal GPS signal strength, we can still experience positional errors of up to 30 meters. While acceptable for enroute and approach navigation, errors of this magnitude prohibit using GPS technology for precision (vertical) navigation approaches. Enter the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)! If we could instantly make corrections for satellite clock and ionosphere induced errors, could we replicate the vertical accuracy of an ILS? You bet! Here's how WAAS works. The FAA has placed 37 WAAS reference station sites throughout North America. Each site knows its own precise location. It then compares the satellite-determined location against its own known location. The results of this comparison are sent to a WAAS master station (WMS). The WMS uses these comparisons received from the 37 reference stations to compute and transmit a correction factor to a geostationary satellite, which then rebroadcasts this correction factor back down to our GPS receivers. The net gain in GPS accuracy from WAAS is thus increased from 30 meters down to 2 to 3 meters! This is what makes vertical guidance possible. As of December, 2006, there were 640 LPV (localizer performance with vertical guidance) approaches in the United States. The FAA plans to add another 300 LPV approaches in 2007. Considering the fact that it costs more than $2 million to erect each conventional localizer/glideslope transmitter, WAAS technology is already proving its financial worth! Christian Airmen Educational Foundation Sets Its Sights High!! OTA readers heard it first about eight months ago when the Christian Airmen Education Foundation (CAEF) first took shape. Since that date, its board of directors has been seated, its incorporation has been filed, and its federal tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code has been obtained.The CAEF is believed to be the only federally tax-exempt foundation in the United States whose exclusive corporate vision is to "promote Christian principles and values in aviation.” Now operational, the CAEF is planning a number of programs that fulfill the mission statement below.
The CAEF was first inspired over 30 years ago by the founding members of Christian Airmen, Inc., the owner/operators of the Akron, NY (9G3) Airport. "We waited upon the Lord for the right time," said CAEF president, Larry Cummings. "That time proved to be now!" CAEF Board of Directors . . . Members of the CAEF board of directors are: Larry Cummings, businessman, (president); David Gray, Moog Corporation (vice president); Liz Zaky, West Seneca Public Schools (treasurer); Bob Miller, CFII/Over the Airwaves (secretary); Daniel Costello, Buffalo Air Traffic Control Supervisor; David White, attorney; Jeff Boshart, President, Boshart Enterprises; and Richard Forrestel, Chairman, Cold Springs Construction. Current Priorities . . . "Right now our priority is endowing CAEF with the financial resources necessary to launch our mission," said David Gray, vice president. "We're asking all members of the aviation community from around the world to step to the plate with individual and corporate tax deductible contributions. We need more young people in aviation. This is our way of making it happen!" Tax deductible contributions can be sent to: Christian Airman Education Foundation, Inc.C/O David White Attorney-at-Law 10535 Main Street Clarence, NY 14031. Other giving options include planned gifts, real property, and aircraft. More information can be obtained from Bob Miller at rjma@rjma.com or David White at casecracker6461@aol.com. Grieving Widow Asks Why?
Part of her grief, she said, is due to the fact that nobody, including the NTSB, could offer her a plausible reason for the crash. She said her husband was a good pilot who engaged in frequent recurrent training. His airplane was had been maintained well. It had, in fact, just returned from a major instrument upgrade. The accident scenario . . . The accident had all of the characteristics of a stall/spin while maneuvering in IMC. Why it happened remains unknown. "I know my husband," she said. "I can't imagine how he would have allowed such a thing to happen." Sadly, these things do happen, and despite the fact that we cannot always get answers, we CAN infer some very valuable lessons. In this particular case, the pilot was known to nearly always fly on his autopilot. Given the fact that his airplane had just come out of avionics maintenance, it is quite possible that his autopilot may have been receiving a corrupted signal from either his turn coordinator or his attitude indicator. Had this, in fact, occurred, his airplane may have entered an uncommanded, yet imperceptible, turn while in the clouds. Keep in mind that his attitude or turn coordinator, if defective, may not have displayed his turn on the instrument head(s). As the airplane banked, the autopilot may have dialed "up" trim to maintain altitude. As the turn steepened, the autopilot continued to apply more up trim. Eventually, the autopilot, unable to maintain altitude, may have disconnected. This could have resulted in a sudden lowering of the nose all while in a steep turn. Within seconds, a fatal spiral could have easily resulted! Lesson for all of us! Attorneys for both sides concluded that if the accident had been the result of faulty autopilot operation, the pilot is still ultimately responsible for controlling the airplane. The case was then closed. While we cannot argue with this reasoning, there is still a valuable lesson we can learn from this tragic accident.
Curiously, avionics quirks such as this are seldom revealed in the wreckage nor are they identified by NTSB accident investigators. So what do we pilots do? How can we prevent this from happening to us? Simple! When airplanes bank, they turn. If we can manage to hold heading by whatever means, magnetic compass if that is all we have left, we can keep from banking. With no banking, there can be no spins or spirals! Unfortunately, the sudden disorientation caused by the yanking and banking motions of a temporarily out of control airplane can render even the most proficient pilot useless in trying to resolve the problem. Regrettably, typical GA simulator training doesn't prepare pilots for this insidious scenario. My caller and her family suffered a tragic loss for which they are still grieving. Sadly, we're experiencing similar stall/spin fatal accidents nearly every week in the United States. As this accident reveals, they happen to good pilots, too. But good pilots can learn from this experience. Become a Cloud Savvy Pilot
Clouds, in fact, are nature's way of revealing weather. They are also the way nature replenishes the world with fresh drinking water. As pilots, we need to become intimately familiar with these wonderful objects in the sky! Some clouds are good!
Punching through these clouds is like taking a sleigh ride to heaven. Once on top, we can bathe in the warm sunshine while those mere mortal folks on the ground see only gray and rain!
Flying through altostratus and altocumulus clouds seldom produce a bumpy ride. Instead, they offer a unique sensation of "speed" as we fly into and out of these beauties. And Some are Bad!
Have you ever had difficulty determining the relative safety of penetrating one cloud versus another? There is one sure-fire way to measure the relative safety of any cloud. That is to examine and consider their size, from bottom to top. The thicker the cloud mass, in thousands of feet, the riskier it becomes. A towering cumulus cloud, for example, can start below 6,000' AGL and rise upwards high into the flight levels. The energy inside these towering forces of nature can be enough to cause bone-jarring injuries to pilot and passengers. It is that energy that literally lifts them high into the atmosphere. Beware of what you don't see! Clouds are the friends and enemies we know. Embedded clouds, on the other hand, are the enemies we don't know. Hidden by surrounding haze or stratus clouds, embedded clouds offer no warning signs to the hapless aviator. The worst manifestation of an embedded cloud is a thunderstorm. Detectible only with spherics equipment (storm scope) or onboard live weather radar, extreme care should be taken anytime embedded thunderstorms are predicted or reported. Proficient pilots are cloud savvy pilots. They can read the clouds like a New York City cab driver reads traffic flows. Know them. Understand them. YIKES! Three Prop Strikes by Three Different Students in the Same Flight School ! !
This, indeed, was the recently reported experience of a New York State Part 141 flight school. Fortunately, there were no injuries. Sure . . . everybody's insurance rates go up, but who's counting, anyway? Let's fix the problem! Notable gaps in flight instruction are often revealed by examining the experiences of flight students graduating from specific flight schools or even particular flight instructors. In this case, a string of prop strikes suggests that inadequate training is being given in the area of ballooned and bounced landings. Balloon or bounced landings are caused by a variety of reasons. The most common cause are gusty crosswinds that upset the upwind wing just as the aircraft is touching down. Incorrect control inputs often result in a momentary stall, followed by a sudden dropping of the nose in a steep pitch attitude. Bang! The spinning propeller strikes the runway surface. Another cause is excessive airspeed at touch down. Refusing to stop flying, the airplane begins a series of increasingly worse bounces down the runway. Typically, it is the third bounce where things go terribly wrong. The nose drops and the spinning propeller strikes the runway surface. An Ounce of Training Prevention . . .
We need to give our students opportunity to experience the effects of gusty crosswinds on our airplanes as they settle to the runway. We need to provide them with the skills to deal with these potentially upsetting events. Second, we can create the effect of a sudden wind gust by giving a sharp tug on the yoke or stick just as the airplane is touching down. This nose-raising input requires our students to instantly apply power and to quickly lower the nose to a level attitude to prevent an inevitable stall and prop strike. If we repeat these exercises throughout our training, prop strikes will NEVER be repeated! NTSB Issues Probable Cause Determination on Cory Lidle Cirrus SR20 Crash Over New York City . . .
Click HERE for a video simulation of this crash.
In its final
report, the Board stated that there were no system,
structural or engine malfunctions found. The pilot/owner was
properly certificated to fly the accident airplane. The
pilot-rated passenger was also a certified
Radar data indicate that the
airplane was in the middle of the East Channel at the start
of the 180-degree turn as opposed to beginning the turn from
the eastern shoreline. In addition, wind out of the east
would have effectively shortened the available distance to
successfully make the turn. Click HERE for a video image of the radar tracking data.
Finally, the
Board found that the pilots should have recognized, during
preflight planning or while they were considering flying up
the East River after they were already in flight, that there
was limited turning space in the East River exclusion area
and they would need to maximize the lateral distance
available for turning.
Comment . . . The New York City Hudson and East River VFR corridors have been used for decades by GA pilots to experience an unparalleled view of the NY skyline. Curiously, no special training is required other than the ability to read a sectional and the possession of sufficient airmanship skills to operate safely at low altitudes and near obstructions. As in all low level maneuvers, having "wind awareness" is an essential ingredient for following a desired ground track. Similarly, having golden "backdoors" should things not go as planned is another basic requirement. Tragically, the exhibited absence of one or both of these essential requirements took two lives, produced injuries on the ground, likely permanently closed the East River VFR corridor, and dealt general aviation the cruelest blow to its reputation since the JFK, Jr. crash back in the 1990s. This is a very high price to pay for such omissions. Know Your Airspace!
Long forgotten as a memory exercise required for the private pilot oral exam only, many of our fellow pilots have little or no understanding of the weather minimums, equipment needed, or communications requirements of the airspace they regularly fly in! Perhaps it's time for a little review . . . A quick reference to the chart below provides an overview of how our airspace is classified. Class A: Beginning with Class A, which is the easiest to understand, it is the airspace from 18,000' to 60,000' MSL. We cannot go up there unless we're on an IFR flight plan.
Class B: I like to think of Class B as being reserved for "BIG" airports, like JFK, ORD, SFO, DEN, and LAX. We cannot go inside Class B airspace unless we receive a specific clearance from ATC. Student pilots cannot go in there at all unless they have received specific training and have a logbook endorsement from their instructor. We also need a transponder with altitude encoding to enter Class B airspace. Lastly, we must have at least 3 miles of visibility and we must remain clear of clouds! Class C:
Getting into Class C airspace is easy. We simply need to establish two-way communications with ATC. As for weather, we require 3 miles of visibility and we must remain 500' below, 1,000' above, and 2,000' feet abeam of any clouds. Class D: As for Class D airspace, that's reserved for our smaller, less active tower controlled airports. The rules for operating inside of Class D are the same for operating in Class C airspace . . . except we do not require a transponder. Class G: Class G is "GOOD" airspace meaning that it is essentially uncontrolled by ATC. Class G includes about 95 percent of all of the airports in the United States. It excludes, of course, all Class B, C, and D airports. The rules for operating in Class G airports are minimal. We require 1 mile of visibility and must remain clear of clouds. These rules change for Class G airspace in the very rural parts of the nation (outside the faded blue ring on your sectional chart). There, we still require only 1 mile visibility, but we must remain 500' below, 1,000'above, and 2,000' abeam the clouds. Class E: Lastly, we have Class E airspace. Class E means "everything else." It fills the spaces between all other airspaces. No radios are required but we must have 3 miles of visibility and we must remain 500' below, 1,000' above, and 2,000' abeam any clouds when below 10'000' MSL. In Class E above 10,000' MSL, we need 5 miles visibility and we must remain 1,000' above the clouds, 1,000' below the clouds, and 1 mile abeam the clouds. Basic entry, equipment, and pilot certification requirements for each class of airspace are summarized in the chart below.
Understanding the different classes of airspace is far more than an academic exercise needed to pass the private pilot oral. Instead, our knowledge of the airspace classification can keep us from receiving a certified letter in the mail from the FAA! It can also protect us from colliding with another aircraft! New York Times Explains Sharp Drop in Flight Students
All of the typical reasons, e.g., money, time, changing attitudes, etc., are given for this sharp drop in the public's interest to learn to fly. Curiously, the Times article suggests that "fear" is a reason for the decline in new students. "One problem is fear, in an era when people describe their cars by the number of airbags, not the number of horses," says the article's author. One statistic that does not appear in the NY Times article is the flight student drop-out rate, currently estimated at more than 50 percent. The fact that less than one-half of all new flight students go on to receive their private pilot certificate goes unmentioned in the article. Reasons for dropping out . . . Well intentioned flight students drop out of their training programs for many reasons. Unfortunately, the most common reason, in my opinion, is due to abysmally poor flight instruction. Poor flight instruction draws out the training process to unaffordable lengths. I've had primary students from other flight schools come to me in despair because they are not progressing quickly enough through their private pilot training program. When I look in their logbooks and see 198 hours of dual instruction (yes . . . 198 hours!), my knees buckle in frustration. Unfortunately, there is very little oversight of the flight training process. Flight schools are a business. Less than reputable flight schools believe that the longer they keep students enrolled, the better their cash flow! Thus, inefficient or non-effective flight instruction is rewarded rather than corrected. This is a sad but true fact of life in today's flight training industry. It is also a major reason why we continue to suffer an excessive flight student drop-out rate. Click HERE to view the above referenced NY Times article. When things get tough . . . focus on these 3 instruments!
We hear a lot of talk about developing an effective instrument scan. Clearly, being able to move our eyes quickly across the entire panel, interpret what we see, then act accordingly are vital instrument skills. But what happens when things get really tough aloft. Severe turbulence, for example, can compromise our instrument scanning skills in a New York minute. Thunderstorms, icing, engine roughness sometimes cause our minds to instantly turn to "mush" as we struggle to make sense out of our rapidly changing situation. When this happens, my eyes go instantly to three life-saving instruments. The first is the airspeed indicator. Going too fast means I'm going DOWN. Going too slow puts me at risk of a STALL. My first task is to establish and maintain Va (maneuvering speed) whenever my flight condition is in doubt. Second, I go for the attitude indicator. Job #2 is keeping the wings level. I don't worry much about altitude, but I am keenly aware of the need to keep wings level. Third, my attention goes to the ball in the inclinometer. We prevent adverse yaw and the risk of a spin by keeping the ball centered. In summary, these three instruments, together, provide sufficient information to keep things under control even in the most turbulent conditions.
Beware of Windsock Errors!
You are lined up on the runway and ready to launch. A quick glance at the windsock tells you where the winds are coming from, right? Wrong! Believe it or not, your windsock could steer you into some sudden surprises immediately after lift off.
Look at the
adjacent illustration and note the various wind
currents being influenced by surrounding airport
structures. While the windsock may be
showing crosswinds from the left, you might
actually encounter crosswinds from the right shortly
after
The solution is easy. Don't depend solely on a single wind indicator when taking off or landing. Look around. Many airports have multiple windsocks. Others, of course, use various electronic wind direction indicators.
The message is
simple . . . always remain "wind aware" whenever
operating near the ground! User Fees Getting Closer . . . Just in case you believe user fees will not affect all of us, take a look at what the FAA revealed in a PowerPoint presentation to industry leaders in the recent AVS Senior Management conference, as reported by Aero-News Net on April 28, 2007.
"According to the FAA's figures, the increases will
bring in an additional $52 million in user fees -- more than the
projected $48 million a previously-announced, four-fold increase
in fuel taxes will bring to FAA coffers," says Aero-News
Net. This, of course, is in addition to a proposed four-fold increase in avgas excise taxes (about $.70 per gallon). Meanwhile, Senators Jay Rockefeller and Trent Lott introduced their own FAA funding plan this past week that would phase out the 4.3 cents per gallon tax that the airlines currently pay. In its place, there would be a new per-trip fee of $25 for general aviation pilots (jets only) who file IFR flight plans! Clearly, the jury is still out on how the new FAA Reauthorization bill will look, but the news is clearly not good for GA. Poor Skills Spell Disaster for New Instrument Pilot
Approach to the Macon Downtown Airport . . .The pilot checked in with Atlanta Approach 2.5 hours later. He requested and received vectors for Localizer Runway 10 Approach to the Macon Downtown Airport. His first attempt at intercepting the localizer was unsuccessful and was vectored back around for another try. He was cleared for the approach and was instructed to switch to the local advisory frequency. On to Middle Georgia Airport, then panic . . . Unfortunately, the pilot was having difficulty remaining on the localizer, so he called Atlanta Approach and requested vectors to the Middle Georgia Airport near Macon. ATC acknowledged his request and was told to expect vectors to the ILS Runway 5 Approach. After being cleared for the ILS Runway 5 Approach, the pilot was instructed to contact the tower. The tower then called Atlanta Approach and advised them that the pilot had panicked and went missed. Atlanta Approach Control contacted the pilot, and asked if he was all right. The pilot responded "that he was a little worn out from flying, and would try to get it under control." He was then vectored back around for another try. After cleared for his second attempt to this airport, he contacted the tower and reported that he had lost the localizer, and had flown through it. The pilot asked if he could be taken around to do the approach again for a third attempt. Recall, the pilot had also flown two missed approaches at the Macon Downtown Airport. So this was his 5th attempt to land!
The pilot received radar vectors back to the ILS
runway 5 approach. At about one half mile from the
approach the pilot requested to come around for another
approach after drifting off course. He was now on his
6th attempt.
The pilot advised Atlanta Approach that he needed to try
it again because he had totally missed it. The pilot was
issued radar vectors again for the ILS runway 5 approach.
He was now on his 7th attempt. Finally, over to the Peachtree City Airport . . . .
Atlanta Approach Control advised the pilot that he could
go to another airport where the weather was better. The
pilot acknowledged and was radar vectored to the Peachtree
City Airport-Falcon Field (FFC) Localizer Runway 31 Approach
where he was quickly cleared for the approach. This was his
8th and final attempt.
Review of the pilot's logbook revealed, he had a total
flight time of 437.8 flight hours. The pilot logged 17.1
flight hours of actual instrument flight time, and 133
flight hours of simulated instrument time. The private pilot
held a third class medical certificate dated June 25, 2004,
and was valid when wearing corrective lenses. Selected surface weather observations for the destination and accident area, in part, follow. No observations were available for Macon Downtown Airport (MAC).
Wreckage Examination . . .
The main
wreckage was located one mile from the approach end of
runway 31 in a heavily wooded area. Examination of the
crash site revealed that the airplane collided with trees
and the ground. The crash debris line was 300 feet in length
on a heading of 330-degrees magnetic.
The Office
of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation preformed a
postmortem, and Toxicological examination of the private
pilot on January 2, 2006. The reported cause of death was
blunt force trauma.
Clearly, this pilot was not up to the task flying REAL instrument approaches in REAL instrument conditions. A review of his logbook provides key insight in this regard. Of his 150 hours of logged instrument experience, 133 hours were in simulated conditions. Only 17 logged hours were in actual conditions. We cannot determine how many approaches were made in actual instrument conditions . . . perhaps none! The Middle Georgia tower controller's report to Atlanta Approach that the pilot "had panicked" is telling. It reveals the mental state of the pilot as he was trying unsuccessfully to execute his third instrument approach. The pilot's own statement "that he was a little worn out from flying, and would try to get it under control" is also telling! As with all such accident reporting, we cannot tell for sure what was going on in the pilot's mind. My guess is that he was simply overwhelmed by the ACTUAL instrument conditions. Perhaps all of his previous instrument approach experience was in simulated conditions. A Word to the Wise . . . Simulated instrument conditions, whether in a simulator or under the hood, simply do not cut it. They do not replicate the realism of actual IFR conditions. Pilots who believe otherwise, unfortunately, often suffer the same sad outcome of this accident pilot. Recommended Flying Periodical
Each of us has our favorites. One of my favorites is IFR Magazine. This monthly is written by accomplished IFR pilots for accomplished IFR pilots. Each article contains enough nuggets of wisdom to justify the 7 issues for $19.97 subscription price. For a sample, click HERE. Density Altitude Demons . . . Summer is rapidly emerging here in the Northern Hemisphere. With its arrival comes our need to review the effect of rising outside temperatures on our aircraft performance. Time for a little review The air we breath is packed with gaseous molecules of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (18%) plus a variety of other inert gases. The greater the number of these molecules in a given volume of air, the better our piston engines perform and the greater lift we achieve as we move through the air.
We also know that 50% of the weight of the earth's atmosphere occupies the space from the surface up to 18,000' MSL. Pressure Altitude: This weight, of course, changes minute by minute as air masses move over the ground. High and low pressure areas routinely alter the weight of our atmosphere. This atmospheric weight is referred to as "pressure altitude." On a standard pressure day, the weight of the atmosphere at sea level will lift a column of mercury (Hg) 29.92 inches in an evacuated tube. On high pressure days, the Hg will lift another 1/2 inch or so. Just the opposite occurs on low pressure days. Each one inch of Hg translates to 1,000 feet. Thus, if the pressure increases to, say 30.12 inches, airplanes sitting at an airport having a field elevation of 840 feet will operate as if they were at 640 feet (30.12 - 29.92 = .20 or 200'.) Two ways of determining Pressure Altitude: There are two ways to determine pressure altitude at your airport. 1. Barometric Pressure Difference: The first way to determine pressure altitude at your airport is to simply compute the difference between the reported barometric pressure in inches of Hg and the standard of 29.92 inches. Remember, one inch equals 1,000 feet. If the barometric pressure is greater than 29.92 inches, translate the difference into feet, then SUBTRACT those feet from your field elevation. If the barometric pressure is less than 29.92 inches, translate the difference into feet and ADD it to your field elevation. 2. Set 29.92 in the Kollsman Window:
Density Altitude: Density altitude is simply pressure altitude corrected for temperature. As the temperature goes up, so does density altitude. This relationship between temperature and density altitude can be seen in the chart (left). Find the pressure altitude for your airport on the diagonal lines. Then find the temperature on the bottom of the chart. Track the vertical temperature lines up to your pressure altitude, then track the horizontal line to the left of the chart to find the density altitude. Why does higher density altitude decrease aircraft performance? The warmer the air, the fewer air molecules in a given volume. Fewer air molecules means decreased engine performance and less lift. In summary, density altitude calculations are critical whenever operating from higher altitude airports AND whenever outside air temperatures are higher than, say, 85 degrees F. Donations needed to spread the OTA flight safety message around the globe!! If you found Over the Airwaves helpful to you personally and/or beneficial to general aviation and would like to support its continued publication, please consider making a donation to the effort. Simply click on the button below to access a secure link through which donations can be made. Your donations are used exclusively in the preparation, advancement, and promotion of Over the Airwaves to and for pilots all over the globe.
There, in a single quote, is a vivid illustration of futuristic thinking gone wrong by a so-called transportation expert. One needs to look no further than the incredibly flawed takeover of the FAA's flight service stations by Lockheed Martin . . . a move which, by the way, was supported by AOPA. While we might safely endure a 30 minute wait on the telephone to get through to a FSS briefer, such delays when being vectored by a Wal-Mart type corporation to the final approach course on a dark, wintry night would be intolerable. Safety, heck . . . the objective here is to save tax dollars. So who's to pay for all of this? Yep, that's where user fees come in! And we all thought user fees were some sort of clandestine effort to bail out the airlines. Wrong! In truth, if this futuristic thinking is allowed to take root, our wonderful world of flight will cease to exist. Government performs some things well . . . Despite our mistrust of government intervention into the affairs of private citizens, there are some things government does well. An example is the recruiting, training, and deployment of our armed forces. Another is protecting the public health. Printing money and regulating the nation's economy are, of course, government functions. While government has occasionally faltered in each of these endeavors, e.g., the 1960's Bay of Pigs invasion, the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, etc., it still represents a far better option than contracting with private companies to wage our wars. The same can easily be said about our nation's air traffic control system. Air traffic control is a zero-defect industry. There can be no delays when over 5,000 airplanes on IFR plans are transitioning our nation at speeds ranging from 90 knots to .92 mach. So what do we do? Whether we like it or not, each of us has a personal obligation to keep a very close eye on what is happening to aviation in America today. We've already witnessed the destruction of our flight service stations. We're on the very threshold of user fees. Once user fees become the law of the land, bids will go out to take over our air traffic control system. But we have to do MORE than keeping a close eye on this, we must become proactive on election day. We must understand the platforms of our two party system. We must read between the lines. Do the Republicans have it right? What will the Democrats be proposing. Clearly, the party occupying
the White House today is causing havoc with our national
airspace system! Fly safe,
Bob
Miller, ATP, CFII Supporting Sponsors
APS Emergency Maneuver Training specializes in upset recovery training, stall/spin awareness, aerobatics and spin recovery training.
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Considering
the undisputed fact that 4 out of every 5 fatal wrecks
are due to pilot error, the blame lies squarely on the
shoulders of us pilots. We're the ones who, when
things go wrong aloft, have proven ourselves incapable
of saving the day.
Then
we have the aircraft manufacturers. These folks,
of late, have been providing us with wonderful
labor saving airplane systems. Glass cockpits,
integrated auto-pilots, and ballistic airplane
parachutes to save the day when these labor saving
devices fail us at the worst possible time.
"Hey, anybody know what these foot pedals are
for?"
Is
your GPS WAAS enabled? If so, what does it mean?
How many of us really know?
The
GPS system used in IFR flight depends upon our ability to
receive adequate signal strength from a minimum of five
satellites, all of which are arranged in suitable geometric
position. 
My phone rang this
past week as I was preparing this
OTA
issue. The caller identified herself as the widow of a
pilot who was killed several years ago in his Cessna 210.
I had reported the story in an earlier
OTA
issue. She said she continues to suffer the loss of
her husband every day despite the passage of time.
That lesson is this.
Autopilots fail, and they often fail without
notice. Worse, faulty instruments that send
incorrect input signals to the autopilot may also go unnoticed.
In the clouds, loss of aircraft control can quickly result.
Personally,
I love clouds. I like their form, beauty, and
constantly changing shapes. I enjoy flying in and
warming up to the cozy feeling one gets from being inside a
cloud.
My
favorite clouds are stratus and stratocumulus clouds
typically found below 6,000' AGL. These clouds
are like giant curtains that separate the dark gloomy
earth's surface from the brilliant sunshine above.
The
higher level altostratus and altocumulus clouds are fun,
too. These beauties are typically found between 8,000'
and 16,000' AGL. They are less dense than lower level
clouds and often transparent. 
Call
it a bad run in a flight school when three different soloing
students experience prop strikes. Call it
dangerously deficient instruction when the only thing in
common between these three errant flight students is their
CFI!
There are two training exercises that can
put an end to prop strikes on landing. Every CFI needs
to employ each in his or her training syllabus. The
first, of course, is to engage in lots of crosswind
training. Deliberately select crosswind runways,
especially on gusty days. 
This
past week the NTSB today determined that the probable cause
of a small airplane crash in Manhattan last October was the
pilots' inadequate 
Take 100 weekend
aviators and ask them to explain the different classes of airspace.
Curiously, you're likely to receive back a room full of
blank, expressionless faces! 
Class C airspace
surrounds airports where we typically find commuter and
medium size airliners. They include airports at places
like Buffalo, Albany, and Syracuse, NY. Yes, we need a
transponder with altitude encoding here as well.
"The
number of student pilots is down by about a third since
1990, from 129,000 to 88,000," according to an April 26,
2007 NY Times article titled, "Up, Up, and Never Mind."
Free
sign up for
Over the Airwaves
takeoff.
This change in wind direction could be enough to
cause serious aircraft upsets!
Similar increases in the cost to obtain airworthiness
certificates, designee appointment and renewals, type
certificates, and STCs will follow.
If
you are like me, you have far more than your share of
aviation publications to read each month. They come in
the mail and, like
Over the Airwaves,
they come over the Internet.
