Click HERE to view the photo album of our flight to Sun 'n Fun 2005!

Sadly, the wrong fuel type, contaminated fuel, or not receiving as much fuel as ordered has caused far too many fatal aircraft accidents.  Fortunately, such fueling errors are easy to spot . . . IF you take the time to do it!

It's difficult to imagine how somebody might mistakenly fill a Piper Cub or Cessna 152 with JET A.   It happens, particularly around large, busy airports where minimum wage fuel truck operators try to stay ahead of the game on a busy ramp.

This problem has the potential for becoming far worse as more turbo-prop (not to be confused with turbo-charged) general aviation airplanes appear on the market.    Some turbocharged aircraft owners have removed "Turbocharged" labels from the sides of their airplanes to minimize inadvertent fueling with JET-A!

Check the Fuel Color

No student pilot ever gets into the cockpit without first sumping the tanks and checking for fuel color and contaminants.  The rest of us certainly should be doing the same thing . . . but do we always? 

Remember, fuel color isn't always easy to detect.  Dyes are purposefully put into different grades of AVGAS as a final check for pilots.  Sometimes these dyes become excessively diluted so the color isn't readily apparent.  So check carefully.

Quick Check for JET A

You can quickly check for the presence of JET A in your tanks by draining several drops of sumpted fuel on a piece of paper.  JET A will leave a permanent oil stain on the paper.  Pure AVGAS, on the other hand, will evaporate and leave no stain. 

Raise your hand if you have ever left the master switch on and came back to discover a dead battery.  Don't worry, it happens all the time!

Leave the Beacon or Strobes ALWAYS on!

One of the best ways to prevent leaving the master switch on is to always leave your beacon and/or strobe light switch on.   Some pilots have gone so far as to duct tape these switches in the "on" position.

Then, when you leave the airplane, turn around . . . if you see your beacon or strobes flashing, you'll instantly know that the master switch was left on!

The evening lineup at the Camp-of-the-Woods for the upcoming EAA AirVenture could be the best ever.  Notable speakers this year include:

Burt Rutan and Mike Melvill of White Knight/SpaceShipOne;

Actor and pilot Harrison Ford, Chairman of the EAA Young Eagles Program;

Steve Fossett, world record-setting pilot of the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer;

Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, which is working on creating the space tourism industry;

Sir Richard Branson, founder/chairman of the Virgin Companies;

Scott Crossfield, legendary test pilot;

Peter Diamandis, Chairman of the X Prize Foundation; and

Bob Cardin, one of the leaders of the P-38 Glacier Girl project.

In addition, there will be a one-of-a-kind reunion of World War II bombers including
five B-17 aircraft, several B-25s, a B-24, and the only airworthy B-29 in the world will join the fleet.

Click HERE to open a directory of all past, present, and current issues of "Over the Airwaves." Once you have this site open, save it as a "favorite" in your Internet browser.  Once done, you'll always have access to the current (and past issues) of "Over the Airwaves."

Believe it or not, mid-air collisions between airliners (30 seats or more) were fairly common between the years of 1946 and 1978.  Back then, there was an average of one fatal collision a year, but today they are virtually non-existent.   Mid-airs between airliners are non-existent because of (1) on-board Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), (2) corresponding ATC equipment, and (3) the requirement to be equipped with Mode C in airspace around the nation's busiest commercial airports.

Mid-air collisions between general aviation aircraft is another story altogether!

There have been 329 recorded mid-air collisions between general aviation aircraft between the years 1983 and 2000, according to FAA's Office of Accident Investigation.  While decreasing over the past 30 years, the mid-air collision rate has stabilized at an average of 16 per year.

Here are several conclusions drawn by the FAA regarding mid-air collisions:

1. Poor visibility is seldom a factor.  Nearly all mid-airs occurred in good (sunny) VFR conditions, and only six mid-airs occurred at night.

2. Inadequate visual lookout is the major factor. Accident reports from the NTSB indicate that about 88 percent of pilots involved in mid-airs never reported seeing the other aircraft in time to initiate evasive maneuvers.

3. Improper procedures is the next most significant factor.  Inappropriate entry into landing patterns and failure to use the UNICOM radio frequency at nontowered airports are the most common procedural errors.

4. Occur at slow speeds: Most mid-airs involve relatively low closing speeds.  One aircraft usually strikes the other aircraft from the rear, from above, or from a quartering angle.

5. High traffic areas most at risk. Traffic density is a major factor in mid-airs. The typical midair occurs at low altitude on approach and landing or, somewhat less frequently, on takeoff and climbout. In short, most mid-airs occur near airports, especially nontowered airports.

6. Student pilots beware!  Student pilots are involved in 36.5 percent of mid-airs and account for 22.5 percent of pilots involved in mid-airs.  The high frequency of students may reflect their relative lack of experience. However, it also reflects traffic density, as students tend to fly to and from nontowered airports, with frequent takeoffs and landings and frequent entry into traffic patterns.

7. Experience is NOT a factor. Aside from instructional/student flights, experience is not a factor against mid-airs. Half the pilots involved in mid-airs since 1983 had more than 1,500 hours total flight time, while one-third of the pilots had more than 3,000 hours.

Looking out the window, using your radio, transponder with Mode C on, and proper traffic pattern procedures are the four best things we can do to prevent a mid-air collision.

Thunderstorm season is here!  This is the time of the year when many TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) contains ominous warnings of thunderstorms somewhere along your planned route of flight.

What do you do?

Do you cancel your trip in hopes of better weather on another day?  Do you plan a wide diversion around areas containing forecasts of thunderstorm activity?  Do you cast your fate to the wind and blast off in the face of forecast thunderstorms?  Tough questions, all!

Become Thunderstorm Savvy!

Understanding the three stages of thunderstorm development is a good starting point in becoming thunderstorm savvy!  Each of these three stages are summarized below.  Underlined links to images of each stage are included (courtesy of the College of DuPage Weather Staff).

Cumulus Stage: Graph , Picture  

• The downdraft takes over entire cloud.

• The storm deprives itself of supersaturated updraft air.

• Precipitation decreases.

• The cloud evaporates.

It is a simple fact of aviation life that thunderstorms, actual or "chance of", will appear in many METAR/TAFs during the hot summer months.   Fortunately for the VFR pilot, most of them will be readily visible and easily avoided. 

The IFR pilot, on the other hand, faces a different problem.  Thunderstorms embedded in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) cannot be seen without onboard radar or spherics equipment.

The Best Solution . . .

Become thunderstorm savvy by reading everything you can on the subject.  Become a junior meteorologist.  Once you know the facts of thunderstorm life, you will be a much safer pilot! 

Simple Rule of Thumb!

Anytime the dew point is above 70 degrees F (21 degrees C), beware of thunderstorms forming!

Student pilots . . . beware!  Your pilot examiner will expect you to explain the inner workings of the engine that powers your airplane, including number of cylinders, required fuel grade, horsepower, oil capacity, etc.  This is not only important for checkrides, this knowledge could also help you to diagnose an in-flight problem with your engine.

The Four Strokes of an Internal Combustion Engine:

The basic principle for reciprocating engines involves the conversion of chemical energy, in the form of fuel, into mechanical energy. This occurs within the cylinders of the engine through a process known as the four-stroke operating cycle. These strokes are called
intake, compression, power, and exhaust.
1. Intake: The intake stroke begins as the piston starts its downward travel. When this happens, the intake valve opens and the fuel/air mixture is drawn into the cylinder.

2. Compression: The compression stroke begins when the intake valve closes and the piston starts moving back to the top of the cylinder. This phase of the cycle is used to obtain a much greater power output from the fuel/air mixture once it is ignited.

3. Power: The power stroke begins when the fuel/air mixture is ignited. This causes a tremendous pressure increase in the cylinder, and forces the piston downward away from the cylinder head, creating the power that turns the crankshaft.

4. Exhaust: The exhaust stroke is used to purge the cylinder of burned gases. It begins when the exhaust valve opens and the piston starts to move toward the cylinder head once again.

Be sure you know these four strokes along with each of the other "systems" that operate your airplane.

It was one of those beautiful Sunday mornings for a VFR training flight.  My student, young Katlynn Akin, a high school senior, was at the controls.  My training goal for this lesson was to provide Katlynn with the skills to safely recover from a spin. 

The typical spin recovery training follows a predictable format.  The instructor pitches the airplane to its critical angle of attack causing the airplane to stall, then kicks a rudder to produce the necessary yaw which puts the airplane into a spin.  He then tells the student to recover.  Again, this is all very predictable and not very realistic.

To make spin recovery training effective, it has to be unpredictable!

To be effective, I wanted the spin to come as a surprise to Katlynn.  To do this, I asked her to make the airplane fly as slow as possible without losing altitude.  She responded appropriately by first performing her clearing turns, then reducing power, extending the flaps, and holding back pressure on the yoke.

As the pitch angle increased, Katlynn found it necessary to add power to maintain altitude.  The airspeed reduced with each additional increase in power.  Operating well behind the power curve, she discovered that the slowest airspeed required maximum power.  Now operating several knots above stall speed, I instructed Katlynn to make a 90 degree turn to the left.

Out of control!!

Katlynn rolled into a 30 degree bank.  As she did so, the stall speed correspondingly increased.  Noting a sudden loss of altitude, Katlynn pitched up and attempted to level the wings with yoke.  That's when she lost control of the airplane.

The four left turning tendencies (P-factor, slip stream, torque, and gyroscopic forces) were all working together to pull the airplane to the left as she pitched up and attempted to roll right.  Katlynn's action produced a massive yawing moment that resulted in a sudden and unexpected (to her, not me) spin.

The left wing fell out from under us and the nose dropped 60 degrees as the airplane began to spin around its pivot point.  Katlynn frantically turned the yoke in the opposite direction, but to no avail.  As far as Katlynn was concerned, the airplane was totally out of control and losing altitude fast.  All we saw out the front window was the rapidly revolving ground below! 

The spin recovery was immediate . . .

I simply reduced the power to idle, neutralized the ailerons, pressed hard on the right rudder, then pressed forward on the yoke.  The airplane instantly stopped spinning and rolled out into straight and level flight.

We devoted the remainder of our three hour flight lesson repeating this maneuver.

By the end of the 10th cross-controlled stall/spin entry, Katlynn mastered the fine art of proper spin recovery.  She instinctively knew what to do and in what order to do it in.  With this critical skill under her belt, Katlynn will likely never become a victim of an unexpected stall/spin event!

In summary, the training scenario was unexpected (to Katlynn).  And it was real, rather than some deliberately set up maneuver to "simulate" a stall/spin event.  And the training left a lasting impression . . . and one which will serve her well throughout her flying career.

The recently released 2004 Nall Report, the definitive report published by the AOPA Air Safety Foundation on general aviation accidents in the previous year, continues to affirm the fact that three-quarters of all GA accidents are attributed to pilot error!

If these data do not send shivers down the spine of every GA pilot, then something is seriously wrong.  As shown in the table above (source: 2004 Nall Report), 1,147 pilots screwed up badly enough in the year 2003 to have an accident.  Worse, 236 pilots screwed up badly enough to kill themselves and/or at least one passenger in the process!

While the human loss is tragic in itself, think about needless destruction of perfectly good airplanes.  If that doesn't frost you, think about the millions of dollars in law suits and resultant insurance company payouts that resulted.  Remember, every insurance payout is recouped by the insurance companies in subsequent policy holder premiums.

Simple Fact of Life

If the FAA and the AOPA and its Air Safety Foundation cannot affect a significant reduction in this GA accident rate, the solution must come from us as individual pilots and flight instructors.  Each of us must take definitive steps to significantly reduce the probability that any of us will be involved in an accident.

The only way to accomplish this is to follow similar training protocols used by airline pilots.  This means securing meaningful professional level training EVERY year.  By professional level training I mean engaging the best flight instructor you can find and going out and sharpening your stick and rudder skills, going through the entire stall series, unusual attitude recovery exercises, spin recovery training, bounced/ballooned, and cross-wind landings.  And learn to land precisely on the centerline with your nose pointed directly down the runway!

Instrument pilots . . . we have an even more demanding recurrent training requirement.  The six/six rule (six approaches in six months, etc.) is not enough.  Get out in the low IFR weather and (with or without a CFII aboard) practice landing to ILS minimums. 

In addition, each of us should devote at least six hours every year to aeronautical decision making and risk management scenario training.

Remember, practice make permanent . . . not perfect!

Going out by yourself and practicing takeoffs and landings doesn't always cut it.  Instead, secure the services of a trained eye to insure that you are practicing proper techniques.  Remember, accidents happen to pilots at all experience levels, from the primary student to the 20,000 hour ATP.

No, we cannot change the national GA accident rates.  But we can dramatically reduce the probability that we, ourselves, will be involved in an aviation accident.

"I'm an airline pilot with a major U.S. carrier, but flying old taildraggers and warbirds is my passion. I appreciate your newsletter's honest attitude and common sense, informative articles on safety."
                                                                                 --Buck Wyndham, Poplar Grove, ILL

Click HERE to read a letter received this past week from Brian Binns from Southern California.  Brian relates a miraculous spin recovery experience that came very close to taking his life!