Stop!  Read no further before "bookmarking" or saving this page as a "favorite" in your browser.  It is a large edition and is packed with more reading that you can digest in a single sitting!

By definition, fog is simply a cloud that forms within 50 feet of the ground. In most cases, fog is formed when the temperature near ground level is cooled to the dew point. At this point, water vapor in the air condenses and becomes visible in the form of fog.

Fog types depend upon how they are formed.

There are four basic types of fog.  Students beware . . . you'll need to know these four fog types for the private and instrument FAA knowledge test!

1. Radiation Fog:  This type of fog is formed on clear nights, with relatively little to no wind present (see photo left).  It often occurs in low-lying areas like mountain valleys. Radiation fog occurs when the ground cools rapidly due to terrestrial radiation, and the surrounding air temperature reaches its dewpoint.  As the sun rises and the temperature increases, radiation fog will lift and eventually burn off.  Any increase in wind will also speed the dissipation of radiation fog. If radiation fog is less than 20 feet thick, it is known as ground fog.

2. Advection Fog: This type of fog forms when a layer of warm, moist air moves over a cold surface. Unlike radiation fog, wind is required to form advection fog. Winds of up to 15 knots allow the fog to form and intensify; above a speed of 15 knots, the fog usually lifts and forms low stratus clouds. Advection fog is common in coastal areas where sea breezes can blow the air over cooler landmasses.  See photo left.

3. Upslope Fog:  Upslope fog occurs when moist, stable air is forced up sloping land features like a mountain range. This type of fog also requires wind for formation and continued existence. Upslope and advection fog, unlike radiation fog, may not burn off with the morning sun, but instead can persist for days. They also can extend to greater heights than radiation fog.

4. Steam Fog: Steam fog, or sea smoke, forms when cold, dry air moves over warm water. As the water evaporates, it rises and resembles smoke. This type of fog is common over bodies of water during the coldest times of the year. Low-level turbulence and icing are commonly associated with steam fog.

In summary, fog can be expected anytime the temperature and dew point come together.  Exercise caution before launching whenever these temperatures are within two degrees of each other . . . . unless you are instrument rated, current, and proficient.

If you were to reduce the recreational general aviation population into its two simplest component parts, you have:

(1) the concrete/blacktop folks and

(2) the grass folks! 

Curiously, there's very little cross-over activity between the two groups!

These two separate groups grew apart as GA evolved throughout the past 50 years.  What was once nearly all taildraggers on sod quickly became nosedraggers on concrete. 

Real pilots fly off grass!

Let's face it . . . the quest for the $100 hamburger is still a pretty good reason to fly.  Eddy's Restaurant is located less than 150 yards from the Great Valley Airport's grass tie-down area.  And boasting a 3,700' smooth runway, even the big boy airplanes can easily get in there.

Not only is the food good at Eddy's, it also provides a great place to relax and engage in ground school study.

Make your training come alive!

There's nothing quite like flying down low through a winding valley and setting up for landing on Great Valley's Runway 24.  Rising terrain on both sides and tall towers rising high about the traffic pattern force you to stay alert. 

Learning to fly in this environment makes easy work out of flying into tower controlled airports with 150' x 8,000' runways!

And the ground study is a lot more fun!

Pictured above is instrument student Chris Quaranta sitting in Eddy's Restaurant studying the charts prior to our instrument training flight back home.  It's surprising the number of instrument pilots who do not know that you can file an instrument plan to a VFR only grass strip!

Curious paradox of training!

It's curious how we spend so much time learning short field and soft field landing and takeoffs, but so many primary flight students are never given an opportunity to apply these critical skills!  Some believe it is due to some prehistoric insurance regulations.  I wager if you check many of those policies, you'll find no such prohibitions.

If you want to spend a fun day, open up your local sectional chart and begin exploring the wonderful world of grass strips right in your own backyard!

School teachers do it.  Physicians do it.  Professional pilots do it.  They all actively participate in continuing education.  It's not that they need to re-learn what they were previously taught.  Instead, they need to keep up with the advances in their field. 

Nothing advances faster than the field of aviation!

Every pilot, from the J-3 Cub driver to the B-777 captain needs to regularly participate in a systematic program of professional pilot development.  It could be as simple as attending an FAA sponsored safety meeting as part of the WINGS program.  It could be a twice annual workout with an experienced flight instructor.  It could be a new rating or endorsement to your airmen's certificate.

Those who own and operate high performance/complex aircraft are reminded of this need each time they fill out their insurance renewal application.  Insurance companies are insisting on some form of continuing education before they will even consider policy renewal.  Do they know something we do not know?

All continuing education should begin with what hurts pilots . . .

It is no secret that "job one" in any cockpit is safety.  While our mission may be to have fun, to travel to a business meeting, or to haul freight and passengers, our underlying aim is to arrive safely at the other end.  Unfortunately, the accident data suggests that we general aviation pilots continue to have difficulty achieving this aim!  

How serious is the problem?  Well, we continue to substantially wreck about 10 airplanes every week!  We average one fatal accident every day!!!  [Source: Air Safety Foundation Nall Report, 2004] 

I had a conversation recently with a young, recently minted flight instructor from a Florida four year professional pilot program.  The winds were blowing 12 to 19 knots across the runway. I was encouraging him to take his students out for some serious crosswind take off and landing training. 

He replied, "I teach that the best way to deal with crosswinds is to have enough fuel in the tanks to find an alternate airport with more suitable winds."  With that, he spent this day teaching ground school!

"Dang," I said to myself.  I just discovered why there were more landing accidents than any other phase of flight!   Flight instructors are telling students to find alternate airports rather than teaching them crosswind landing skills!  If this is what his Florida alma mater and other aviation colleges are teaching their graduating instructors, it is little wonder why we continue to have so many landing accidents!

Sure . . . its always better to use the most suitable runway as far as winds are concerned.  But stuff happens in the real world that is not addressed in classroom training sessions.  The sudden windshear, a gust from an unexpected direction, the absence of a nearby more suitable runway.   These are the things that can't be addressed by having fuel in the tanks!

Start with crosswind training . . .

Sure . . . you may not like to operate in serious crosswinds, the skills you'll develop in the process in learning to deal with them will make you a better, more proficient pilot.  Find a crosswind proficient flight instructor and go out master these flight conditions.  Persist until you feel comfortable operating right at the demonstrated crosswind capability of your airplane (per your POH).

Advance to hard IFR . . .

It makes no difference whether you are instrument rated or not . . . IFR kills unsuspecting pilots!  As a minimum, learn to relax in the clouds.  Get comfortable on the gauges.  Should an inadvertent penetration of instrument conditions occur, you should have the skills and presence of mind to safely extricate yourself.  VFR pilots should practice this at least twice annually.

By becoming proficient in crosswind landings and IMC flight, you will have dramatically reduced the risks of becoming victim to the two most prevalent causes of GA accidents!

It was supposed to be a routine night flight from Burlington, VT to Waterbury, CT last March.  The 480 hour private pilot with an instrument rating took off in a Mooney M20J expecting to reach his destination an hour or so later.  Tragically, things did not go as planned.

The pilot contacted the NY TRACON and requested clearance for the ILS Runway 36 approach into the Waterbury-Oxford Airport.  The weather information included scattered clouds at 200 feet, visibility 2 miles, wind 080 degrees at 6 knots, and an altimeter setting of 29.98 inches Hg.

Review of radar data revealed that the airplane intercepted the localizer course and crossed the final approach fix (SICOR) about 2,700 feet. The last radar target was recorded at 2107:21, which indicated that the airplane was 2.75 miles from the runway, at an altitude of 1,900 feet.

A witness stated that he heard a low flying airplane, with the engine running continuously. Just prior to the accident, the witness heard the engine rev to high power, and observed lights over the treetops. He then heard the sound of an impact as the airplane came to rest at an adjacent residence. The witness estimated that at the time of the accident, fog was present near the treetops, with visibility less than 1 mile.

Another witness reported seeing a small airplane flying low, near a "lightning cloud." The witness' attention was distracted by her daughter, and when the witness looked up again, she did not see the airplane.

According to the tower manager at OXC, the accident site was located about 1/2-mile prior to runway 36, and 1,000 feet east of the extended runway centerline.
 

This was not your typical, under-the-hood instrument training flight.  It was dark, the weather was down to minimums, lightning was flashing.  This was the real world!

While we will likely never know what was going on in the pilot's mind, we do know that at 1/2 mile from the runway he was 1,000' right of the localizer, and at least 150' below the glideslope. 

Every indication on the panel was likely screaming at him to "go missed."  But maybe he wasn't focused on the panel.  Maybe he was distracted by the flashes of lightning that were illuminating the clouds and fog all around him.

There is a big difference between a simple distraction and fear.  We can learn to ignore distractions, but we cannot learn to ignore fear.  Fear can grip the pilot's mind in a lock-set that blocks the normal processing of information.  When fear steps in, rational thinking typically steps out.  Resignation takes over . . . and tragedy typically results.

But why should this approach evoke fear?  It was a routine, night IFR flight to minimums.  Pilots fly these kinds of approaches all the time.   Correction:  Proficient pilots with proper training fly these approaches all of the time.

Could it be that this pilot felt uncomfortable on the approach?  According to the NTSB report, he had logged only 4.5 hours of actual instrument flight in the previous 90 days.  Did the lightning spook him?  We will never know.  But one thing we do know is, the ONLY way to become proficient on the gauges is to fly frequently on the gauges . . . in real instrument conditions. 

Hood work and time in the FAA approved stationary sim are okay to teach instrument procedures only.  Remaining calm and proficient in the real weather comes only from training and experience IN the real weather!

If you are not current and proficient in low IFR, remain VFR!!!!

In the last issue of "Over the Airwaves" I asked for reader feedback on the question, "Why do two out of every three students quit before receiving their private pilot certificate?"  Here's what you said!

Overwhelmingly, responders placed the blame directly upon the flight instructor . . . his or her personality, temperament, character qualities, and communications skills.  Surprisingly, no one blamed the complexity or difficulty or length of time required to learn to fly.  Nor did they suggest that it was too expensive.   It all came down to the instructor!

In other words, the best predictor of pilot completion is the instructor selected to provide the training.  If the instructor is personable, conscientious, well-prepared, and caring, the probability of achieving the rating is high.  On the other hand, if the instructor is dull, abusive, ego-centric, or chronically unprepared, the probability of rating achievement is low.

While being far from a scientific study, this sampling of our readers confirms the old adage: "Caveot emptor or let the buyer beware!"   In short, the most important thing a prospective pilot can do is to select his or her flight instructor carefully!  Check around with other students and pilots.  Ask lots of questions about who's good and who is isn't. 

Below is a summary of the many observations sent in by readers.  Read 'em and weep!

Unfortunately, it is difficult to measure the interpersonal skills of individual flight instructors.  The only time the instructor is ever formally assessed by the FAA is during his or her CFI candidacy phase. Typically what goes on in the cockpit stays in the cockpit.  The unwary flight student is often afraid to speak up and/or report offenders, thus leaving them to go on and abuse other flight students.

In summary, there are many reasons why a flight student might quit before receiving their rating.  Some have nothing to do with the instructor or the flight school.  Curiously, however, our little survey sample nearly universally pointed to one sole factor.  That factor was the characteristics of the individual flight instructor.

Most flight instructors would agree that teaching VOR (Very high frequency Omni directional Radio) navigation is among the most challenging elements of the private pilot syllabus. 

Why? 

VOR Basics . . .

The aircraft VOR receiver is a simple device that is able to tell which of 360 radials it is on.   All you have to do is center the CDI (course deviation indicator) needle with a FROM flag shown in the little window.  Read the number on the pointer and, voila', there you are!

The TO/FROM flag tells you your position relative to the radial number shown under the pointer.  If you have a TO flag, you are somewhere on the opposite side of the VOR station relative to the indicated radial. 

If you have a FROM flag, you are on the same side of the VOR station relative to the indicated radial.

The VOR does not know which way the airplane is pointing.

This is a source of great confusion to student pilots.  Your aircraft VOR radio only knows which radial it is on.  It does NOT know which way your airplane is pointing. 

Fly to the needle . . . or the away?

Welcome to the ultimate source of VOR confusion.  Do I fly toward or away from the needle to center it? 

Here's the answer:  If your heading indicator shows you pointed toward the VOR station and you have a TO flag, fly towards the needle to center it.  If your heading indicator shows you heading away from the VOR station and you have a FROM flag, fly towards the needle to center it. 

See the relationship???  Flying to a TO flag, fly to the needle;  Flying from a FROM flag, fly to the needle.

What about reverse sensing?

If you find yourself heading away from the VOR station with a TO flag, fly away from the needle to center it.  If you find yourself heading toward the VOR station and with a FROM flag, fly away from the needle to center it.

See the relationship?  Flying to a FROM flag, fly away from the needle;  Flying from a TO flag, fly away from the needle.

Keeping it simple!

When flying towards a VOR station, always set the needle so that you have a TO flag - then fly towards the needle to center it.

When flying away from a VOR station, always set the needle so that you have a FROM flag - then fly towards the needle to center it.

It's almost as if the NTSB has been reading "Over the Airwaves!"  In a just released study of 72 general aviation accidents that occurred between August 2003 and April 2004, the NTSB concludes that weather-related accidents are a leading cause of aviation fatalities and that they (NTSB) has long been concerned with the disproportionate number of fatal accidents associated with weather. 

They further concluded that even though weather-related accidents are not frequent, they account for a large number of aviation fatalities -- only 6 percent of GA accidents are weather-related but they account for more than one in four fatalities that occur in GA annually.

In other words, if a pilot gets tangled up in weather he or she can't handle, there's a good chance he will not survive!

One of the more interesting observations contained in the NTSB study report is that a pilot candidate can miss all of the weather related questions on the private pilot knowledge test and still receive a passing score!  Interestingly, this could be fixed by replacing out-of-date questions such as those that address RMIs (radio magnetic indicators) and NDBs (non-directional beacons) with more weather-relevant questions. 

It should be evident to anyone who has read through one or more issues of "Over the Airwaves" that the editorial intent of this free bi-weekly e-publication is to disrupt the status quo.  Its aim is to awaken all pilots, including flight schools and independent flight instructors, to the need to change our six decade-old training rituals.  

"Over the Airwaves" has no sponsors to cater to nor any paid membership to risk annoying.  We can call it as we see it . . . from the perspective of extensive actual hard IFR flying and lots of aggressive, all-weather flight instruction in the toughest weather environments on the globe.

"Over the Airwaves" is for the serious aviator and aviation enthusiast who does not have time to read through lengthy narratives to get to the message.  It is for pilots who have grown tired of reading through the legally cleansed, politically correct, Plain-Jane vanilla articles found in many of the glossy, snail mail-delivered aviation magazines.

"Over the Airwaves" calls general aviation as it is . . . safe for the properly trained proficient pilot and down-right dangerous for the vast majority of all GA pilots who are the products of poor training and/or who do not engage in a systematic ongoing recurrent training program. 

If you know a pilot or aviation enthusiast who deserves this kind of hard-hitting, call it as it is e-publication, send them this issue.  Have them click HERE to sign up for a free subscription.

If someone were to ask you what the most valid, most accurate, most up to the minute weather report was, you'd be wise to answer:  "Pilot Reports" (PIREPs). 

Similarly, if you to either launch into or cruise through declining weather, you'd by wise to request any recent PIREPs from ATC.  Or, if you encountered ANY unusual or unforecast weather conditions along your route of flight, you'd be wise to call ATC immediately and file a PIREP.

File a PIREP anytime you wish to report or confirm cloud base and top heights, presence or absence of precipitation or ice, and/or simply to issue a ride report.  Lastly, if you encounter any unexpected severe weather conditions that pose an immediate risk to the safe outcome of your flight, file URGENT PIREP!

How do file a PIREP?

You can call in a PIREP either to the ATC controller or to FSS.  Simply key the mike and say, "Nxxxx, I have pilot report for you."  He or she will reply, "Go ahead, ready to copy."

It makes things much simpler for the controller if you call in the information in the order shown below.   This is not critical, however.  You call it in.  The controller will get it into the correct order. 

Here is an example of a properly communicated pilot report:

"Buffalo Approach, Cessna 4120K, on the Dunkirk VOR 090 radial 25 miles out, time 1450 Zulu, 6,000 feet, Cessna 182, clouds 8,000 feet overcast, visibility 4 miles in rain, outside temperature 5 degrees Celsius, winds 270 at 30kts, light turbulence in heavy rain."

Here is how your PIREP gets coded for everybody else to see:

You read the story of Ravi Bansal and my exciting week long factory training experience.  Now you can read the story  right along with photos.!

Hundreds of readers sent back heart-felt appreciation for this day-by-day, blow-by-blow description of our efforts to learn how to fly this . . . the fastest production single engine piston on the market today!

Click HERE, put on your "imagining cap" and share our wonderful experience!

Okay, so you know this stuff, right?  Think again!  I have yet to complete a Biennial Flight Review (BFR) with a pilot who really did know this stuff.  It gets memorized for the next rating oral exam . . . then forgotten.

Take a few minutes and run through the airspace classification chart below and the narrative description of each class of airspace.

I have several World War II fighter pilot friends who have shared with me their remarkable (I should say heroic) flying experiences during one of the darkest periods of our nation's history. One is John Lipiarz, a P-47 pilot and the other is Gerald Miller, a P-51 pilot.  Each of these men did their share to win the war . . . and each man returned to resume long and healthy lives.

What impresses me most about what these men have told me (once I could strip through their modesty) is the extent of flight training they received before being shipped overseas.  There were months of basic flight training, more months of advanced flight training, transition training, then more training.  It was nothing like the 50 or 60 hours of training we give to civilian flight students today.  These guys survived largely because they were prepared!

On the other hand, German Luftwafer pilots during the latter days of the war were like "ducks on a pond," according to General Chuck Yeager.  These unfortunate souls had just enough training to get their airplanes into the air and that was it.  Most never made it home.

We civilian pilots today have a different enemy.  That enemy is ourselves and the unpredictable world around us.  Sadly, however, much of today's flight training industry does not recognize this enemy.  As result, too many of our pilots are dying . . . along with the passengers entrusted in their care.  How many you say?  We average about 350 year, year after year.  That is about one for every day of the year!

Hold on, says industry advocacy groups.  That's only a drop in the bucket compared to the total number of general aviation flight hours each year.  Statistically, we have an acceptably small fatal accident rate, they add.  Try telling that to a wife or mother of the victim of a little airplane crash!  Let's not forget that 75 percent of all GA accidents are attributable to "pilot error."

What's the solution?

We must stop preparing students for the checkride and start teaching them how to fly safely.  This means preparing them for the vagaries of weather rather than canceling flight training when the winds kick up or when the ceiling and visibility lowers.  We must get serious about human factors, risk assessment, and aeronautical decision making.  There is an enemy out there, but the folks who make the rules can't seem to recognize it. 

Not surprisingly, we cannot bring about change all at once.  Why?  Because the majority of today's flight instructors, themselves, were never trained in challenging crosswind conditions or in low ceiling and visibility conditions!  They were the victims of the myopic training programs that graduated them.  They were trained to pass the several required checkrides on the way up to becoming a flight instructor.  No more, no less.

I am going out on a limb by saying that many (not all) general aviation pilots die today because of what was missing from their training.  And the problem is perpetuating itself because those GA pilots who do go on to become flight instructors train exactly the way they were trained.  

Tragically, there are thousands of working flight instructors fresh out of school who have never operated in 14 to 17 knot crosswinds, never saw the inside of a cloud, have no idea what real airframe icing looks like, never encountered the leans or even know what they are. The feeling of vertigo is foreign to them. They never experienced the sudden lift created by a developing thunderstorm, or had their bellies hurt by their seatbelt as unforecast turbulence hammered their airplane.  They moved directly from checkride to checkride to CFI without ever acquiring the flight experience required to properly educate their students. 

Worse these same inexperienced flight instructors are often employed by some of our nation's leading flight schools!  Is it because they work cheap or who will do anything to build hours for that airline job?

Listen please!  I am not suggesting that flight instructors should be boring holes into thunderstorms or flying into known icing conditions!  These conditions kill.  What I am suggesting is that human factors and weather are, indeed, the enemy.  Much, much more needs to be done to provide GA pilots with the tools to survive this enemy.  We cannot achieve this when we cancel flight training whenever the enemy appears!  That is as senseless as teaching your children not to talk to strangers.  Strangers are all around. They better know how to deal with them!

How about you?

We can't change the flight changing industry overnight, but YOU can change.  You can do something about the level of your own pilot proficiency.  You CAN and SHOULD become crosswind proficient.  You should be capable of safely extricating yourself from instrument weather conditions.  You must be able to recover from a fully developed spin.  It just takes proper training and lots of practice!

As a minimum, if your flight instructor cancels your flight lesson when winds are blowing directly across the runway at 14 to 16 knots (or anything less than the published demonstrated crosswind capability of your airplane), fire him or her and find one who is crosswind proficient.  If your instrument instructor cancels flight training when the weather is at minimums for your airport, fire him or her and find one who is instrument proficient to minimums.  If your instructor refuses to take you through the first turn of a spin, fire him and find one who will.

Remember, any poor soul can get an airplane off the ground.  Most can even learn to land one in calm conditions. But a true aviator is prepared for all contingencies!  And when he is prepared for all contingencies, both his safety margins and airplane utility expand dramatically.