Sunday,
September 16, 2007 Vol. IV No.
18 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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:
"Cat & Mouse" It's often been said that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. The same can be said about having a little bit of cockpit weather avoidance technology. Take the case of a Piper Seneca pilot who was flying recently from Greensboro, North Carolina to Sanford, Maine. The pilot's father, a retired airline pilot, was riding along in the right seat and the pilot's sister was riding in the back. In his preflight briefing, the FSS specialist had told the pilot to expect thunderstorm activity along his route of flight.
The pilot replied in the affirmative, saying that he had GPS with radar weather. It was a Garmin 396 with uplink XM weather. That was the last communication received from the pilot. The pilot's Garmin 396 was recovered from the wreckage. The final seconds of this flight were recorded in its internal memory. It revealed that the airplane descended at over 9,000 feet per minute and reached a ground speed of over 470 miles per hour during the final seconds of its flight. Crash investigators confirmed that both wings and the right stabilator had separated from the fuselage during the descent. Thunderstorm penetration The National Weather Service surface analysis chart overlaying the path of the aircraft confirmed that the pilot had passed through a low pressure system and a stationary front extending northeastward from Pennsylvania into New York. The accident site was immediately north of this frontal boundary. US Weather Service radar images depicted echoes of moderate intensity over the accident site. Additional echoes of strong intensity were recorded within 5 miles east of the accident site. Another strong-to-very strong echo was shown moving from south to north.
Pure speculation, but . . . The NTSB report gives us little insight as to what the pilot was thinking as he approached the line of severe weather. His pre-flight briefing had warned him of thunderstorms along his route. Our only hint of what the pilot may have been thinking is evidenced by his reply to the controller's query about his having weather radar. Was the pilot relying upon the XM weather display on his handheld Garmin 396 to pick his way through this line of thunderstorms? If so, he certainly would not be the first pilot to attempt such a risky activity. Playing "Cat and Mouse" Uplink NEXRAD weather provides a useful "big picture" of the weather around us, but it is no match for the timeliness of real onboard live radar and a stormscope. But even with live radar and stormscope technology, playing "cat and mouse" with a line of thunderstorms is about as risky as it gets.
Perhaps these cells were developing even more quickly than the average three to five minute update cycle of uplink XM weather. Truth be told, I've used onboard live radar and a WX-500 Stormscope in my T-210 to knit my way around and occasionally through a large area of airmass thunderstorms. But well developed lines of thunderstorms is an entirely different weather event. Unlike airmass thunderstorms, frontal zones concentrate all of the ugly forces of nature in a single, often well-defined line in the sky. Picking reliably safe holes through such lines is nearly impossible, regardless of what weather avoidance technology we have in the cockpit. So where does this leave us? Is having a little bit of weather avoidance technology in the cockpit better than having none at all? Sure, but not for the purpose of playing "cat and mouse" with lines of thunderstorms! Many of today's GA cockpits are technologically richer and more well-endowed than Boeing 747s rolling off the assembly line in 1999. We can put weather and terrain avoidance capability in a J-3 Cub and give it the navigational ability to fly point-to-point across continents for less than $2,000! Wrap this weather, terrain, and navigational capability around a turbocharged, 300 plus horsepower Cirrus SR22 or Columbia 400 and we are quickly approaching the major leagues of general aviation. Two exceptions . . .
Second, we GA pilots typically do not have the training, experience, and the logistical support systems of our corporate or airline brethren. Thus, for us to play "cat and mouse" with the weather is simply fool-hardy thinking. Many mice have tried it and many mice have been eaten in the process! Yes, a little bit of weather avoidance cockpit technology can be a very BAD thing. While it certainly pays to equip our airplanes as best we can, we must remain sensible about its use. Uplink weather has merit when looking at the big picture ahead, but certainly not for picking our way through holes in a line of potentially fatal weather. In summary, let's not allow ourselves to be "suckered" into dangerous weather because of all the technological bells and whistles integrated into our new glass cockpits or those uplink weather depictions found on our handheld GPS units.
Remember, weather remains the number one cause of all fatal
accidents! You and I do not have to add to the
problem! Bob
Miller, ATP, CFII
Teterboro Five Departure - Are you REALLY ready? Sample scenario . . . it's a rainy, IFR night. The New York Class B Friday evening "push" is in full swing. You have just lifted off of Teterboro's Runway 24 via the "Teterboro Five Departure." The tower switches you over to New York Departure Control.
Newark's "nose to tail" overhead arrivals are landing on its Runway 22R. Most of the Newark inbounds are international arrivals. Many of those crews have been aloft for over 8 hours. They are anxious to get on the ground! Get the picture? You are climbing into the busiest airspace on the globe. Switching frequencies to the NY Departure Control, you hear some troubling radio static. You make your call. No reply. You try again . . . still nothing. You switch back to the Teterboro tower controller. The radio silence is deafening. You fumble with the audio panel, check volume, then you switch radios. Again, it's all toast and scrambled eggs. A freak alternator spike or lightning strike just fried your radios! What do you do? Okay . . . our academically proficient readers immediately know that FAR 91.185 holds the solution to failed radios. You know what to do, right? Sure . . . in this case follow your assigned departure procedure (DP). Take a look at the "Teterboro Five Departure" below. Recall, you've just departed Runway 24. Are you REALLY ready to fly this DP? You better be! 
Since you committed this DP to memory prior to takeoff, this scenario should present no particular challenge. Equally important, you have already set up your navigational radios (GPS, DME, VOR) to enable your compliance with the DP instructions. No student licenses permitted here! Unlike VFR operations, there are NO student pilots alone in IFR conditions. Every PIC aloft is required to know precisely what's happening. No excuses are allowed. Perform correctly, or expect an FAA enforcement action . . . or worse! The world of IFR flight is a mixed bag of challenges. On one end of the scale, the greatest challenge may simply be remaining awake as we motor on endlessly in the night. On the other end, it could be a sudden electrical failure as we make our first turn on the Teterboro Five Departure, with heavy rain beating on our windscreen and a sick passenger in the right seat! The instrument ticket contains no limiting qualifications. There are no "sport or recreational instrument pilots." If we file an instrument flight plan, nothing short of maximum proficiency is required.
The Mother of All Models! If you like model airplanes, this video is for you! Click HERE. This baby has a 30 foot wingspan and weighs 463 pounds! Airspeed - The key to remaining aloft!
Abused perhaps more than any other flight parameter, maintaining proper airspeed is the key to remaining safe in airplanes. We can look out the window and see how high we are flying. We can look at the horizon and tell if we're in level flight But airspeed. That's different. It takes an airspeed indicator to tell us how fast we are flying. So what's the problem about airspeed? The problem? Plenty! Flying too slow, for example, requires the wing's angle of attack to come precipitously close its critical or stalling attack angle. Flying too fast, on the other hand, creates aerodynamic loads that can cause our airplane to self-destruct. The key to maintaining proper airspeed can be found on the airspeed indicator itself. Note the four prominent colors as follows:
This is the normal operating range of the airplane. Most flying occurs within this range. The lower end of the green arc indicates our minimum steady flight speed obtained in a specified configuration. For most airplanes, this is the power-off stall speed at the maximum takeoff weight in the clean configuration (gear up, if retractable, and flaps up). The upper limit of the green arc is the maximum structural cruising speed. Do not exceed this speed except in smooth air. White Arc: The white arc is commonly referred to as the flap operating range since its lower limit represents the full flap stall speed and its upper limit provides the maximum flap speed. Approaches and landings are usually flown at speeds within the white arc. The lower limit of white arc is the stalling speed or the minimum steady flight speed in the landing configuration. The upper limit of the white arc is the maximum speed with the flaps extended. Yellow arc: The yellow arc is the caution range. Fly within this range only in smooth air, and then, only with caution. Red line: Never-exceed speed. Operating above this speed is prohibited since it may result in damage or structural failure. Guaranteed BEST Way to Cut the Cost of Flight Training!
It all depends on one important factor. No, that factor is NOT how much the rental airplane costs or how much the instructor charges. Nor is it the basic intelligence of the student (though some IS required). It is certainly not weather factors, because we can always find adequate days to train. I'd like to think it all comes down to the skill of the flight instructor. While this is a factor, of course, it's not the biggest factor. The biggest factor in reducing training costs is . . . The biggest factor in reducing overall training costs is . . . frequency of training! Yep, those flight students who train every day, or even four to five times a week, can get through the private pilot training curriculum and become SAFE pilots with less total training hours than are required for students who train less frequently.
How did he do it? John did it just like another of my primary students that I trained this summer, Kyle Randall, of Akron, NY. Kyle, too, completed his primary training and obtained his private pilot certificate in just 40 hours. So did Darren Karjama, of Toronto, Ont. and many others before them. How did they do it? Easy. Each of these young men trained with me four to five days a week, with each session running between four and six hours in length! Unlike the practice of scheduling flight students for one or two hours at a time, once per week, this concentrated form training not only imparts the required knowledge, attitudes, and maneuvering skills, it permits these necessary attributes to become engrained in the mind and body of the student. There is little need for re-learning at the beginning of each training session. Each flight starts fresh with new material, thus the rate of learning is far faster than when dragging the training out over months and, in some cases, years! Every flight is a cross-country flight! Again, unlike performing repeated maneuvers in the "practice area" and repetitious takeoffs and landings at the home or one or two nearby airports, our training is conducted while on cross-country flights. Every airport is new to the student, the airspace is always different, the controllers are different, the terrain is different and, yes, the many airport cafes and restaurants, where most of our ground instruction takes place, are different!
To them, cross-country solos are non-events. They're not intimidated by rapid-fire controllers or complex airport diagrams. Getting lost is a term they've never heard before. Special use airspace or TFRs? Not even an issue! As for weather training, these students see or experience it all. Most importantly, folks like John, Kyle, and Darren are better pilots for it. But for them, the best part is that they saved a ton of money in the process! Any down sides? You bet. Some of us put on a few pounds in the process of doing ground school instruction in airport cafes! Instrument training? Works even better! This form of concentrated flight training works even better for instrument students. There is nothing more costly than s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g your instrument training out over several months (and years). The amount of re-learning between sessions can become VERY costly. Sure . . . it's a sacrifice! Finding a hole in your week large enough to train like this is difficult to achieve for busy, working adults. Be creative. Take a two week vacation and learn to fly . . . or least get most of it done. If that cannot be arranged, commit at least one FULL day a week to flight training. Even that arrangement can speed your training considerably. But there can be another problem . . . like finding a flight school or flight instructor willing to train like this. This form of concentrated training may not fit the schedule of many busy flight schools or part-time CFIs. If that's the case, look around. Travel to a different city (or different country as several of my Canadian students did) to get what you're looking for. Sometimes it just pays to remain on the ground!
Unfortunately, if any such alarm sounded in the brains of these pilots, they apparently were not listening. Here is what happened . . . The pilot and a pilot-rated passenger departed in the early evening from Pennsylvania. They were bound for Williston, Florida in a Piper Comanche Shortly before midnight, they stopped for fuel at Florida's Gainesville Regional Airport. Exiting the aircraft, one of the pilots joked with the line-boy about being tired, and "dragging," after being in the airplane for such a long time. The pilots also voiced their concern about continuing on to their destination that night. They mentioned two or three times that they were too close to their final destination of Williston, Florida and that they did not want to spend the night in Gainesville. After refueling, they checked in with Flight Service indicating that they planned a VFR departure to the south. Weather at Gainesville that night was 10 statute miles visibility with scattered clouds at 2,200 feet and 3,000 feet with broken clouds at 10,000 feet. The temperature was 17 degrees Celsius, dew point temperature 14 degrees Celsius. The pilots took off and headed south. Then tragedy struck! Radar revealed that the airplane made numerous course changes following its departure from Gainesville. Its altitude varied from 1,900 feet MSL down to 800 feet, with its groundspeed fluctuating between 150 knots and 91 knots until radar contact was lost 13 minutes later. Data during the last 36 seconds showed the airplane was in a right descending turn. The last 24 to 36 seconds prior to loss of radar contact showed the average rate of descent was about 500 feet per minute, and the average groundspeed was 161 knots. About 12 seconds prior to loss of radar contact, the average rate of descent and groundspeed was about 2,500 feet per minute, and the speed about 150 knots. The airplane eventually struck a tree at about the fifty foot level. Both pilots died in the resulting fire. According to FAA records, the left seat pilot was not instrument rated. He had a total of just over 300 hours. The right seat pilot had logged a total of 227 hours. He was instrument rated, but had logged only 8 hours of actual instrument experience.
All too classic scenario . . . It's late, we're tired, and we desperately want to get to our destination. We have only another short hop to make and we can call it a day. Surely, every pilot with more than a couple hundred hours in his or her logbook has experienced this scenario. Questionable weather ahead adds to the internal debate going on in our head. In this case, it was still VFR but the narrow three degree spread between the temperature and the dew point should have caused more alarms to go off. It didn't. Putting fatigue aside and discounting the risks of questionable weather ahead, these two fellows did what far too many of us do everyday. They tempted fate . . . and lost! The "16 hour Rule" for me!
Like most of us, 16 hours of consciousness is about my limit for responsible thought and judgment. Anything beyond that, for me, has questionable value. When applied to piloting airplanes, this "16 Hour Rule" has enormous implications. Had these pilots obeyed this rule, they quite likely would have been with us today! Exceptions to the rule . . . . sure, but!
For me, an extra night on the road, in a comfortable hotel with a nice breakfast in the morning, nearly always trumps a late night flight while exhausted and longing for bed! Guest Editorial This is a new section that will appear from time to time in Over the Airwaves. In it will be placed valuable perspectives shared by OTA readers that can help us all to achieve a better understanding of our world of flight. If you have something pertinent to say about the safety of flight and you'd 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.
As Harry very ably points out, putting things into the context of real world flying requires us to move beyond the FAA syllabus. We need to move beyond the "practice area" and a few nearby airports and into the national airspace system where the unpredictable often happens! Ford Tri-Motor Fans . . . here's one for sale!! You've dreamed about someday owning a Ford Tri-motor? Here's your chance. Click Here. "It was a very exciting day!"
As reported in earlier OTA issues, I have been conducting one-day training flights into the five New York City airports, along with a scenic flight up the Hudson River VFR corridor.Below are the shared comments of one of my recent participants in this training event. He is Dale Thuillez, an attorney from Albany, NY. Dale owns a wonderfully equipped Bonanza A-36. Here are Dale's comments:
The New York City tour is an excellent way to sharpen your ATC communications skills. Flying through some of the busiest airspace and into and out of large, complex airports not only builds skills, it is also a big confidence booster.
For the casual VFR pilot who might like to treat his or her family to an occasional day of shopping, dining, and entertaining in arguably the greatest city in the world, the NYC tour will provide you with some insider tricks on how to get around the Big Apple in style and class! Click HERE to learn more about it. Get the $599 fee while it lasts!!! Have Helicopter, Will Travel! Like many dads, I sometimes have difficulty making it to all of my kids' sporting events. In my case, my 17 year-old daughter, Erica, had been ragging on me for not making it to each of her varsity field hockey games. Last week, Erica mentioned that she would be playing an away game in a rural farm community some 50 miles south of Buffalo, NY. I knew she wanted me to come and watch, but a tight schedule made it impossible to be at two places at once.
"Sure, Bob," came his reply. Then, some 30 minutes later, we sat down on vacant land adjacent to the field hockey field and caught the second half of the game. Following the game, I persuaded the team coach to allow Erica to return home with us in the helicopter rather than riding over an hour on the team bus. Needless to say, I scored a lot of "dad-points" with daughter Erica! The impression left on parents of the opposing team, who typically arrived by pick-up truck and tractor, was also memorable! Aviation is a wonderful tool. With a bit of creative thinking, we can make it solve a lot of family issues! Aero-News.Net Features OTA in Podcasts
"Bonanzas to LaGuardia" is the latest in a series of podcasts I have been doing with Aero-News.Net's Paul Plack. It describes a day-long training flight to New York City's 5 surrounding airports. You can hear, or download for later listening, this 15 minute interview 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.
Whether it is famed aviator like Scott Crossfield (first pilot to fly twice the speed of sound) or the holder of multiple aviation records such as Steve Fossett, the same question always arises. We ask, "How could such a thing happen to him (or her)?"
All too often we hear of a fatal airplane accident involving people known to be excellent and very safety-minded pilots. "Golly, if it can happen to them, it could certainly happen to us," we say under our breath. We sometimes wonder if we should give up flying!
Bad stuff does happen to good pilots!
In short . . . we're human, but that's a poor excuse for making mistakes and one that could instantly shorten the life of any pilot.
Sure, stuff happens to any pilot. That goes with being human. But it is the truly proficient pilot who handles this "stuff" correctly, all of the time.
For argument sake, let's eliminate from our discussion the sudden failure of a critical aircraft component in flight. Such events account for less than 10 percent of all fatal accidents.
Instead, let's look closely at the over 80 percent of all fatal aircraft wrecks where pilot factors played a key role. If we could resolve many of these issues, our deplorable fatal accident rate would be reduced to a mere trickle.
Let's begin with the pre-flight inspection
Keep in mind that we suffer at least one fatal fuel management-related accident every week in the United States.
Next is the weight and balance okay? Is there frost on the wings? Is our airplane properly configured for takeoff, e.g., flaps, trim?
Lastly, the weather. Can we safely maneuver through the weather conditions along our planned route of flight? Do we have "golden backdoors" in case the forecast conditions are wrong? Remember, weather factors are the number one cause of all fatal accidents.
Then look at in-flight factors
Once aloft, our world suddenly changes. Unlike all other forms of human conveyance, we obviously cannot stop and get off when things start to go wrong. There's no pulling over to the side of the road or lowering of the lifeboats when the unexpected happens.
Can we maintain sufficient airspeed to prevent a stall and keep the wings level when either disoriented in the clouds or when caught in moderate to severe turbulence?
Wow, if we could conquer these issues, our fatal accident rate, again, would tumble.
What if an off-field landing is required . . . in the wilderness, at night, or over open water. Do we have necessary survival gear, floatation equipment, etc.? A portable GPS and a hand-held radio is all we need to give a passing aircraft our lat/long coordinates. Even simpler than these items is a 406 MHz ELT.
Are we okay with crosswind landings? Occasionally the weather forecasts do not hold up. We may have no choice but to land in 18 knot gusty crosswinds.
Then consider the quality of our flight training . . .
They demonstrate this position by canceling flight training whenever the winds kick up, or when the visibility and ceiling lowers, or when it's raining or snowing, then it's back into the cozy flight simulator they go with coffee cup in hand!
What's more, these folks proudly boast that they've never had a training accident. Of course they haven't. The only risk their students encounter is falling off the chair in front of the flight simulator!
Regrettably, many of today's GA pilots are products of this kind of fair weather-only training. After graduating, with new certificates in hand, their first encounter alone with unexpected gusty crosswinds on landing produces bent airframes, broken props, and damaged egos. This kind of stuff happens five to six times every day in the United States as noted by any systematic reading of the daily NTSB reports.
Worse, the new pilot's first encounter alone with rapidly declining visibility, airframe icing, and moderate to severe turbulence aloft often results in loss of aircraft control. If these hapless pilots are fortunate enough to be operating a Cirrus or similar aircraft equipped with a ballistic recovery chute system and they pull the handle in time, they will survive. If not, they and their passengers often die.
In summary, bad stuff in airplanes happens for a reason. It makes little difference whether the pilot is a rank beginner with bad primary training or a 27,000 hour, grizzled old veteran of two dozen air wars plus 30 years of flying the line in crowded airliners sitting next to obedient but over-worked first officers.
The simple truth is, fate IS the hunter as Ernie Gann wrote. We cannot ever let down our guard. If we do, we, too, could be the skilled and proficient pilot that everybody wonders why he or she died in a flaming, headline-grabbing airplane wreck.
As for me, I'll choose to deal deliberately with the risks rather than to become victim of carelessness, overconfidence, ignorance, or neglect. I hope you do, too.
 Donations help to spread the word! 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 PayPal, credit card, and personal check donations can be made. 
Personal Checks: If you prefer to send a personal check, you can do so by making it payable to "Over the Airwaves" and mail it to: Bob Miller Your donations are used exclusively in the preparation, advancement, and promotion of Over the Airwaves to and for pilots all over the globe.
Upcoming!!!
Click HERE for details. Past Issues of Click
HERE
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 two
weeks: Greg Barnhard, Orchard Park, NY; Cameron Dunlop, Corning, NY;
Dan Maloney, Clarence, NY, Barry McCollom, Kerrville, TX; Thom
Riddle, Buffalo, NY; and
[Disclaimer: Material contained in this
e-newsletter is for informational purposes only.
It should not be construed as directive,
doctrinal, or instructive. Readers should
consult with their flight schools, certificated
flight instructors, Flight Standards District
Office (FSDO) and/or appropriate FAA
publications including the Federal Aviation
Regulations (FARs), the Aeronautical Information
Manual (AIM), and applicable FAA Advisory
Circulars (ACs) for specific guidance relative
to any information or before employing any
recommendations contained in this e-publication.
Further, nothing in this e-publication is
intended to be inconsistent with or contrary to
any official FAA rule or regulation, nor should
such material be interpreted or construed as
such. Over the Airwaves is intended
exclusively for the purpose of promoting and
enhancing heightened reader awareness of flight
safety issues. This website is not a substitute
for competent flight instruction. There
are no representations or warranties of any kind
made pertaining to this service/information and
any warranty, express or implied, is excluded
and disclaimed including but not limited to the
implied warranties of merchantability and/or
fitness for a particular purpose. Under no
circumstances or theories of liability,
including without limitation the negligence of
any party, contract, warranty or strict
liability in tort, shall the website
creator/author or any of its affiliated or
related organizations be liable for any direct,
indirect, incidental, special, consequential or
punitive damages as a result of the use of, or
the inability to use, any information provided
through this service even if advised of the
possibility of such damages.] ©2007 Over the Airwaves, Buffalo, New York, USA.
ISSN 1937-3848, Trademark pending. |
Several
hours into this flight, ATC advised
the pilot of an area of severe weather about six miles ahead of
the airplane's flight path. The controller asked if
the pilot had onboard weather radar. 
In
this particular instance, ATC's calling out of severe
weather just a couple of miles ahead of the airplane
suggests that the atmosphere was very unsettled and that
storm cells were developing quickly. 
There
are two exceptions, however, that distinguish us from the
big guys. First, our little GA airplanes, regardless
of how well they are equipped, are not
heavy-iron, turbine powered machines capable of operating above most
dangerous weather. 
You
can tell by the rapid-fire radio chatter that the NY
controllers are tired and in a "take no prisoners"
mood. You also know that Teterboro lies just a few
miles north of Newark. LaGuardia is just 13
miles to the northeast and JFK lies 14 miles to
the east. The air is saturated with kerosene
burners moving at twice your climb speed.
Few will argue that learning how to fly
can be expensive. Curiously, it can be far more
expensive for some than for others. 
Meet
John Kalonaros of Hamburg, NY. John began his
primary flight training with me one week before Oshkosh this
year. He finished up three weeks after we both
returned. His total logged dual and solo time was
within minutes of 40 hours.
We
have all experienced the pressure to get somewhere.
When this pressure occurs in an airplane, alarms should
be sounding off in our brain!
I
have a personal rule that has served me well in several
decades of safe flying. I call it my "16 Hour
Rule." Very simply, I will not commence a
flight if any portion of that flight takes me
beyond 16 hours since awaking earlier in the day.
For example, if I'm up and out of bed at 8am, I will not
allow myself to be airborne at the controls of an
airplane after midnight that same night.
For
every rule, of course, there are exceptions. I've
made exceptions to my "16 Hour Rule" as well.
But I have never made an exception without putting
myself on notice. I tell myself that what I'm
about to do is inherently risky. I examine this
risk in light of other factors including, for example,
the weather, other qualified crew members present, and
the actual urgency of my intended flight. 
It was forecast to be over 100 degrees in the L.A.
area, so my IFR student wanted to some ground review
(in the air conditioned office) on flight planning
rather than flying. Sounded good to me.
I asked him to plan a flight from
Long Beach to
Bakersfield, with
the need for an alternate due to clouds/visibility
forecast at Bakersfield.
We had just
departed New York's LaGuardia Airport when the
controller handed me off to Kennedy tower.
As we traveled into and out of each
NYC airport, I realized that the
controllers treated us exactly the same as everybody
else. They expected no more nor any less of us
than the other pilots. They did not talk down to us in
any way.
For
IFR pilots, there is simply no better way to finely tune
your GPS button pushing, OBS twisting, frequency changing,
and needle chasing skills than to go nose-to-nose with some
of the fastest talking controllers this side of the
Mississippi. You can also log an IPC and BFR in the
process!
That's when I called my good friend, Mark Croce, owner and
pilot of a Robinson R-44 helicopter. "Mark, do you
have time to take a quick flight?" 
There are few events in aviation so frustrating as
learning of the loss of an otherwise skilled and proficient
pilot while at the controls of an airplane. 
The
troubling fact is that bad things do happen in airplanes to
exceptionally skilled aviators, but not for some unknown or
mysterious reason. More often than not, they happen
because of a simple oversight, mistake in judgment,
complacency, neglect, or carelessness. 
First
and foremost . . . do we have fuel in the tanks and do we
know precisely how much and where it is? 
What
about icing emergencies? It's night . . . what's the first
indication of ice on our wings and airframe? Do we know
where our best escape routes are? Do we go up or down?
Many
traditional flight schools typically
proclaim that "good pilots" shouldn't be operating in
flight conditions that can get them into trouble. On
the surface, there is nothing wrong with this argument.
