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Sunday, October 9, 2005 Vol. II No. 20
Prepared by Bob Miller, ATP,
MCFI |
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Sunday, October 9, 2005 Vol. II No. 20
Prepared by Bob Miller, ATP,
MCFI |
Welcome to the
Over the Airwaves
aviation newsletter. 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. For a
free subscription to
Over the Airwaves,
click
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Dear Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts:
We've been using many of our current methods to teach people how to fly for the past six decades. The feds put out a standard, today called the PTS, and the majority of our flight schools, independent flight instructors, and the publishers and purveyors of flight training materials all line up to prepare flight students to meet those standards. In high school, we call this "teaching to the test." The test is taken, the student passes, and everybody is happy. It makes little difference that much of what the student learned for test day is soon forgotten. For some students, this can one day spell disaster, as it does for over 550 general aviation pilots each year who experience a serious airplane accident. Tragically, over 350 of these pilots and their passengers die in these mishaps. Given the overwhelming GA industry support of our six decade old flight training methods and the ever-present technique of "teaching to the test," it is a wonder that any change ever comes about. Could this explain, in part, why our abhorrent GA fatal accident rate, despite what the statistical spin-meisters say, has remained substantially unchanged over the past two decades? Today's new young flight instructors and those who taught them are all reasonable men and women. As pointed out by George Bernard Shaw (see quote above), they dutifully conform to the aviation society. They are given a standard and then teach flight students how to meet that standard. This is why we have seen such little progress in the flight training business. Eventually a new breed of man or woman comes along who are are not seen as reasonable. They are people like Burt and Dick Rutan who proved that it doesn't take a $30 billion budget to put a man in space. And we have people like John and Martha King who boldly state that flying GA airplanes is as dangerous as riding motorcyles. These are the people who achieve progress. Aviation has had its share of unreasonable people who moved against the tide. People like General Billy Mitchell, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Igor Sikorsky. Aviation today needs more unreasonable people like the Rutans and the Kings and the early promotors of change. We need unreasonable people like YOU to aggressively and enthusiastically pursue and secure meaningful recurrent training and to acquire the realistic experience required to operate safely in our increasingly complex national airspace system. We need unreasonble people like you to expand your operational envelope, increase your margin of safety, and greatly expand the utility of your pilot certificate. Set new standards for yourself, secure the best flight instruction you can find, and add new ratings and endorsements to your certificate. We also need more unreasonable men and women in the FAA to a take a serious look at FAR Parts 61 and 91. We are in a brave new world with widespread radar coverage, technically advanced airplanes, and a nervous Transportation Security Agency second guessing everything we do. Many of the old rules are now longer realistic, FAR 91.185 for example. Few of us like regulatory change, but now is the time! Lastly, we need more unreasonable flight instructors and flight schools who fully understand the public trust placed them. That trust implies far more than addressing 60 year old flight proficiency standards and curricula and getting their students through their next checkride. It means, instead, equipping them with the knowledge, experience, skills, proficiency, and attitudes to safely deal with the enormous challenges that await them in tomorrow's turbulent and troubled skies. If we all did this and, as a result, we pilots stopped doing stupid things, the GA industry would literally boom! Insurance rates would eventually drop, more little airplanes would be built and sold at lower prices, public pressure against GA would fade away, and Phil Boyer and the other fine folks at AOPA would have to spend less time on Capitol Hill pulling our irons out of the fire! Wishful thinking? I don't believe so. Maybe it's time we all become our own unreasonable man or woman!
Countless thousands of primary students have struggled with the landing part of learning to fly for decades. They balloon, bounce, careen and otherwise scare the heck out of their flight instructors in their eager attempts to put the airplane safely back on the ground. If you want to quickly learn how to land - try hover taxiing! Hover taxing is how helicopters move from one place on an airport to another. They climb to about six feet, then "hover taxi" to their desired location. Airplanes can be made to do the same thing . . . but always over and above a runway! Hover taxiing an airplane is a great way to develop landing skills. Here's how it works. Find a long runway, say 8000' or longer. Request a "full length option" landing clearance from the tower. This authorizes you to use the entire length of the runway to either land, touch and go, or "hover taxi" the full length. Your goal (or the goal of your student) is to descend to within six feet of the runway surface, then hold that altitude in slow flight configuration (5 knots above stall) for all but the last 2,000 feet of the runway. When reaching the last 2,000' point, apply full power, establish a positive rate of climb, retract the flaps, and go around for another "hover taxi" exercise. This very high workload exercise requires consummate power and pitch control to keep the airplane at the desired six foot altitude and airspeed over the runway. Don't worry if you occasionally descend and touch the runway. Simply apply power and proper pitch to re-establish yourself six feet above the runway. Once this technique is mastered, add multiple touchdowns to the exercise. See if you or your student can touch down and takeoff on the runway at least nine times before going around. You can really speed up this training . . . If winds permit and tower concurs, conduct this training back and forth along the same runway. In other words, at the completion of each pass, tear-drop back to the same runway in the opposite direction. Example: Hover taxi along Runway 28, take off, then tear-drop back and hover taxi runway 10. You will really save time doing this! Three hours of hover taxiing is generally enough to impart safe landing touchdown skills to any new student pilot!
The "Turkey Trot" is a series of alternating main gear touch and goes! For example, you touch the left main first, then the right, then the left, then the right. This left then right wheel touch and goes is a very high workload manuever requiring perfect power, pitch and roll control skills. It's not the for the weak of heart pilot!
Find a day when the winds are blowing across the runway at 10 to 15 knots and perform the same hover taxi exercise. In addition to pitch and power, the pilot adds proper roll and rudder technique to maintain correct runway alignment in this very, very high workload exercise! If more accidents occur during landing than in any other phase of flight, it makes good sense for all of us to spend time practicing this hover taxi exercise. It's also a good exercise to include in biennial flight reviews (BFRs). DPEs: Considering including this exercise in your checkrides!
Okay instrument students (and non-proficient instrument pilots), just how well do you understand the "profile view" section of your approach plates? How carefully do you study this important section before commencing an instrument approach? This is a favorite topic of designated pilot examiners (DPEs) when conducting instrument checkrides. It is also a favorite of mine when conducting an instrument proficiency checks (IPC). Looking at the several "profile view" examples below, you can see how much information these little drawings contain.
Given the sad fact that many instrument accidents occur on the final approach segment of the instrument approach procedure, it would do us all well to thoroughly comprehend the information contained in the "profile view" of our printed instrument approach procedure.
Power lines pose a unique threat to pilots. They are difficult to see when operating at low altitudes. Another one just like it . . . A similar power line accident occurred this
past April near Jefferson, Texas. The pilot of a Piper
Arrow and his two passengers all died after striking a power
line. Examination of the accident site revealed that
the top static power line oriented on an east-west heading
was
A representative from the Upshur Rural Power Company reported to the NTSB that the power poles on either side of the water were approximately 75 feet in length. It was also reported that the severed static line at mid-span was about 55-feet above the water. Evidence surrounding this case along with witness statements strongly suggest that this 300 hour pilot was in a classic low-level "buzzing" type incident. Swooooping down low is fun . . . but deadly! I could never understand how a car can get hit by a train. Trains don't jump out of nowhere and attack cars. Similarly, it's hard to imagine how an airplane can get hit by power lines. Power lines don't jump up and strike airplanes out of the sky!
It takes a
deliberate effort on the part of a pilot to fly low enough
to strike power lines!
That's a whopping $2.66/gallon difference. Take on 40 gallons of the lower price fuel and you've instantly offset the cost of that $100 hamburger! How do you know where the best fuel prices are? Simple . . . go to http://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html and plug in the identifier of any airport within 35 miles of your destination or enroute fuel stop airport. It will instantly display all of the area airport fuel prices. There is no better time to support your small airport FBO! Small local airports sell fuel at dramatically lower prices than the big concrete airports. Check for yourself and see. Sure . . . you may have to pump it yourself but today, more than anytime in our history, it makes a BIG difference in your fuel bill. Another suggestion . . . become a fuel tanker! One of the first upgrades I made to my Cessna 210 was to add a 28 gallon auxiliary fuel tank. I fill this tank every time I find bargain fuel prices. The cost of this extra weight is more than offset by the fuel price savings I realize. If there is an STC out there for aux tanks in your make and model airplane, get one installed!
As of May 12, 2005, there have been 2,211 security-related airspace violations in the Washington, D.C. area. This includes violations of the FRZ, P56, P40 (Camp David), and other violations that occurred before the ADIZ was put into effect. Primary and instrument pilot students . . . Be sure you can define each of the following designated airspaces on your upcoming oral exam! Certificated pilots . . . don't even think about flying within 100 miles of Washington, DC without understanding this security-restricted airspace!
Today it's Washington, DC. Tomorrow it could be New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, or Los Angeles! Reacting out of shear ignorance and political deal-making, the Department of Transportation is proposing to make the ADIZ surrounding Washington, DC permanent. If that happens, the Feds will have a first time license to limit where we can fly! AOPA has been working feverishly to prevent this from happening. We can help by taking five minutes to send an e-mail comment to our lawmakers opposing this dangerous precedent. The FAA is accepting comments until November 2, 2005. Comments may be filed online by going to the Department of Transportation’s Docket Management System at http://dms.dot.gov. The click on "Simple Search." Next, enter "17005" as the docket number. Lastly, click on the "Comment/Submissions" button to enter formal comments. First time users of this system will require an extra two minutes to register. Alternatively, written comments may be mailed to: Docket Management Facility, US Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh St. SW, Washington, DC, 20590-001. The box below displays the comments I sent in. You can write something similar or make up your own entirely. The important thing is that we each participate in this law making process.
Few hangar flying topics evoke as much debate as the subject of airframe icing. The shear volume of information and mis-information on this topic during these bravo-sierra sessions can be astounding!
The other group is a bit more enlightened. They recognize that ice will likely be in the forecast in the northern latitudes from November through March. These folks don't lock their airplanes in the hangar during these winter months. So which group is the most prudent? The best way to answer this question is to examine what meteorologists actually know about icing. They know that icing, for the most part, occurs ONLY in the clouds. They also know that not all clouds contain ice, even when their temperatures are below freezing. In other words, there could be icing in one cloud and not in another. There could also be icing in one part of the same cloud and not in another part of the same cloud. Lastly, there could icing in one cloud at a given time and no icing in the same cloud six minutes later. Clear as mud, right? Here is a little more science about icing. Clouds are nothing more than water droplets ranging in size from 10 micrometers to 450 micrometers. To put this in perspective, a visible water droplet like a typical raindrop is about 400 micrometers in size.
Similarly, the largest water droplets, say between 300 and 450 micrometers, even when cooled below freezing, form ice pellets and bounce off of the airframe. The magic water droplet size for aviators is 30 to 300 micrometers. These mid-range size water droplets have the potential of remaining in liquid form even though their temperatures are below freezing. They are called "super-cooled water droplets." They form solid ice when they impact the aircraft. A couple of complicating factors . . . Water droplets act differently depending upon the severity of freezing temperatures. They can exist in super-cooled liquid form so long as the temperature doesn't dip below -20C. Once the temperature gets that cold, they freeze as ice crystals and bounce off of the aircraft rather than sticking to it. Another complicating factor is humidity. Cold, relatively dry clouds contain super-cooled water droplets, but there may be too few of them to pose a threat to aircraft. High altitude freezing cirrus clouds are examples of this condition.
[Photo left: Note ice build-up on the leading edge of the wing!] Unstable clouds where air molecules inside them may be rising at, say, one meter per second can be a very high risk as far as airframe icing is concerned. Here, tiny, non-risk water droplets of less than 30 micrometers in size are lifted inside the cloud and grow in size. They reach their largest and most risky size of 200 to 300 micrometers right at the top of the clouds. Let's go back to our two feuding groups of flight instructors: The "no go" group receives the following statement in their flight service station briefing. "Occasional icing in the clouds and precipitation from the freezing level to FL 240." The "no go" group says, "Yup . . . there's that ice warning forecast. Flight training canceled today!"
So what is a girl supposed to do? Like all good girls, the proficient pilot must think! She applies what she knows about the conditions in which airframe icing occurs. She assesses the likelihood that she'll encounter icing during her planned flight. Here are some of the factors she considers. I call this "back door" analysis.
You can see why icing is such a controversial topic among aviators. The variables and options are numerous and there is no "one rule fits all." Clearly, leaving the airplane in the hangar from November to April is not a solution. Nor is blindly flying into freezing clouds. This all comes under the heading of aeronautical decision making and risk management assessment - a topic that is just beginning to be talked about in flight training circles. As for me . . . Yes, I regularly fly in freezing clouds both in my known-ice certified T-210 and in training aircraft. Have I encountered unexpected icing conditions in both kinds of airplanes? Again, yes! Have I ever had an icing emergency? No . . . but on several occasions I did have to make a hasty retreat to my pre-planned back door! The keys here are two-fold: (1) take immediate action, and (2) always have a golden "back door." A word about Icing PIREPs One of the more serious "old wives' tales" put forth by, well . . . ignorant pilots is that "you will incriminate yourself if you file an icing PIREP from a non-known ice airplane." This tragic piece of mis-information probably leads to more icing encounters than anything else! Your failure to call out icing leaves others behind you unaware of what lies ahead! Nowhere has anybody been able to find a documented case where an air traffic controller initiated punitive action against a pilot for filing an icing PIREP. In fact, most controllers have no idea if your airplane is certified for known ice or not! In short, whenever you encounter even trace ice, advise ATC immediately! Flight Instructors . . . avoid telling your students to remain on the ground anytime they hear the word "icing" in a weather brief. Instead, teach them how to make responsible risk management decisions and how to engage in "back door" analysis. Otherwise you leave them dangerously unprepared should they encounter unforecast icing on a long wintertime cross-country flight. In summary, icing conditions are where you find them. The important thing is to follow FAR 91.103 and secure ALL available information about the weather before your launch including recent PIREPS. If you do not have any backdoors, don't launch! For a more indepth discussion on icing, click HERE.
To help us understand how this works, air traffic controller Rick Cote, Airspace and Procedures Specialist, Northern California TRACON, volunteered the following guidance:
Yes, Rick, this does clarify this often misunderstood issue. Thanks for jumping in and helping us on this one.
If you do not think that fuel contamination kills, think again! In 2003, the NTSB investigated 16 accidents caused by fuel contamination. Four of these accidents were fatal. Fuel contamination includes: (1) water in the fuel; (2) sediment in the fuel; and (3) incorrect fuel type or grade. Curiously, fuel contamination is easy to detect prior to take-off. Sumping the tanks is the most common way to check for contamination. Simply insert a fuel testing cup in each tank's sump point, draw out several ounces of fuel, then check for contaminants. Know your colors! Fuel is color-coded at the refinery by inserting a faint dye denoting its type. This helps to insure that we know which type of fuel we are putting in our tanks (see table below).
Test for Jet-A: If you operate at an airport where both piston and jet aircraft are fueled, it is imperative that you check for the presence of Jet-A fuel in your tanks. You can do this by pouring several drops of your sumped fuel on a piece of paper. If the drops dries quickly leaving no ring or stain, the presence of Jet-A in your tank is unlikely. On the other hand, if it leaves an oil stain or ring, DON'T fly. You fuel could be contaminated with Jet-A! Water in your fuel! Since the specific gravity (weight) of water is greater than gasoline, it will drop to the bottom of the tank. It will also drop to the bottom of your fuel tester. Bubbles at the bottom of your tester is a sure sign of water in the tank. BE CAREFUL: You could have so much water in your tank that the entire tester is filled with water, thereby revealing no bubbles on the bottom! Here's where the smell and pour test comes in. Be sure to smell the contents of the tester. If little or no smell of fuel is noted, beware! If you suspect that the entire contents of the tester is water, spread it quickly on the ramp. If it doesn't dry within a few seconds, suspect water! How does water get in your fuel? The most common culprit for water in your fuel is your own leaking fuel tank caps! Another source is condensation caused by frequent temperature changes inside your tank. Remember, sumping your tanks not only confirms fuel quality, it is also an effective way to remove accumulated condensation and sediment from your takes. Fuel contamination kills. Check your fuel quality before every flight!
Congratulations to three local Western New York women who have discovered the joy of flight. Not content to sit back and watch the men have all the fun, these three adventuresome ladies are advancing aggressively toward their private pilot certificates. As their instructor, I have had the privilege of seeing each advance their aviation skills.
Meet Christine Donop . . . Christine is a thirty-something single lady from Lewiston, NY. A second grade public school teacher by profession, Christine loves outdoor adventure. She drives a pickup truck and enjoys fishing with her dad onboard her 14' motorboat. She started flying because "it was something that looked like fun," she said. Meet Katlynn Aikin . . .
Katlynn is a 17 year old freshman studying aviation science at Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire. She first became acquainted with aviation as a member of my Akron, NY High School "Introduction to Aviation" class last winter. Katlynn took to flying like a duck takes to water. In fact, it was cold water down the back of her neck that enabled Katlynn to perfect her approach to landings. She is working towards becoming an airline pilot.
Liz King, of Orchard Park, NY, is the personification of every aviators' perfect wife. The mother of three kids (oldest age 15), Liz wasn't about to sit around and watch her pilot husband, Bill, have all the fun in airplanes. So when the kids are in school and hubby is at the office, she takes her flying lessons. Together, she and Bill recently purchased a Cessna 152 to train in while they work together building their RV7. There are tremendous opportunities for women in aviation. The "glass ceiling" has, indeed, been broken here. Whether you simply want to poke holes in the sky like Christine or be the captain of a B-747 like Katlynn . . . . or share flying adventures with your husband like Liz, every woman can be what they want to be in aviation!
Thanks, David. Your input on this confusing topic is very helpful!
Starting this past September 1, when filing an FAA Flight Plan (FAA Form 7233-1), operators will use a new set of aircraft equipment suffixes to indicate Advanced RNAV and RVSM capabilities. Either “/J”,“/K,”“/L” or a newly defined “/Q” will be filed to indicate Advanced RNAV and RVSM capabilities. “/W” will continue to indicate RVSM capability only. The revised table also contains significant changes to the definitions of “/E”,“/F” and “/Q.” Here's how the revised equipment code table looks:
There was a day some 40 or 50 years ago when a person could graduate from high school then go out and make his or her mark in the world. Back then, a 12th grade education sufficiently equipped most people to obtain a good job and earn enough money to own their own home and to purchase a new car every couple of years. Similarly, there was a day when person could receive 40 or 50 hours of flight instruction, pass a test, and become a safe pilot. For better or for worse, those days in education and flight training are gone. Those 40 or 50 year old minimum standards for each are still on the books . . . but they no longer apply. It is a brave new world today. It is tough to get by with only a high school diploma. And you certainly cannot get by with a basic 40 or 50 hours of flight training and hope to run with the big dogs around the local airport. Those big dogs, by the way, are little airplanes that today go much faster than their 30 or 40 year old counterparts. They are the Cirrus, the Columbia 400, and the expanding line of homebuilt RVs. More and more pilots are stepping up to these big dog airplanes believing that their primary training is sufficient to keep them safe. They are also stepping into the older, more traditional airplanes like the Cessna 172 and Cessna 182 with all new glass panels. These technically advanced airplanes (TAA) are easy and fun to fly - for the pilot with equally advanced training. We now have uplinked weather displays that
embolden the minimally trained pilot to venture further into
darkened skies. We have moving map displays coupled with
autopilots that "promise" to bring the airplane right to the runway
threshold . . . regardless of the weather outside. Some will
really believe that . . . and die!
There will always be room in the sky for the minimally trained
private pilot . . . Yes, just as in ending your education with a high school diploma today, there will always be a niche in aviation for the minimally trained private pilot. That's what the Recreational Pilot and Sport Pilot certificates are for. Kick the tires, light the fires, and go punch a hole in the sky. That is a wonderful privilege to enjoy. But for the rest of us who expect to climb up into the national airspace system and travel to distant cities, that bare bones private pilot certificate earned with just 40 or 50 hours of training can lead to serious trouble. Worse, if that bare bones private pilot training did not include mastery of gusty 15 to 20 knot direct crosswind landings and a minimum of 10 or more hours of experience in real instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), you could be in real trouble some day. Sure, we all know that low time private pilots
should not be operating in stiff crosswinds and certainly not in the
clouds. But the unexpected sometimes happens through no intent
of our own. Think of it this way . . . it is better to have
the training and proficiency and not to need it than to need
the training and proficiency and not to have it!
A college degree for every pilot Where the private pilot certificate is roughly equivalent to a high school diploma, the instrument rating is equivalent to a college education. Like a college degree, the instrument rating opens up a whole new world of safety and opportunity for the general aviation pilot. Even though the holder of an instrument ticket may
not ever plan to cruise in hard IFR or shoot instrument landings to
minimums, the skill acquired in the pursuit and acquisition of this
rating makes him or her a far better, more proficient pilot.
Post graduate studies are also an option for some Carrying the traditional education metaphor a bit further, going beyond the instrument rating to the commercial and the airline transport pilot (ATP) raises the skill and proficiency level even further. Again, there may never be an intent to fly for hire or to command an airliner. Instead, the simple process of training and meeting the high standards of these advanced certificates is a mark of accomplishment and proficiency. Hey . . . it's only your life and the lives of passengers entrusted in your care that we're talking about here. Stay in school!
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Yes,
George. You can learn to land in less than three hours
of flight training!
And
when you really get good, try the "Turkey Trot"
And
you can master cross-wind landings the same way!
The
details are still sketchy, but the circumstances are all too
familiar. Earlier this week, a recent U.S. Air Force
Academy graduate, Second Lieutenant Taryn Robinson and her
Stinson Flying School instructor flying a DA20 impacted
power lines near San Antonio, Texas. Lieutenant
Robinson suffered burns over 80 percent of her body plus a
broken neck. Doctors give her a 50-50 chance of
surviving. Her instructor died in the crash.
At
long last . . . we've found a way to pay for that $100
hamburger. You can do it by shopping carefully for
your aviation fuel. For example, pilots in the New
York City area can land at Teterboro and tank up at Atlantic
Aviation at $6.41/gallon. Or they can refuel at Sussex
County Airport just 15 minutes to the north for
$3.75/gallon.
As
of May 12, 2005, there have been approximately 1,682 pilot
deviations filed for violations of the restricted airspace
in and around the National Capitol Region since the ADIZ was
put in place February 13, 2003. 
I am particularly enthralled listening to
flight instructors debate this issue. One group group
of CFIs insist that icing in the forecast is an automatic
"no-go" decision. They claim
FAR 91.527
which
prohibits flight into known ice conditions unless certain
anti-icing equipment is on the airplane.
The
tiniest water droplets, between 10 and 29 micrometers, are
too small to pose any icing risk to airplanes. Even if
cooled below 32 deg F., they flow over, under, and around
the airframe thereby causing no icing problems.
The last complicating factor is stability of
the air. Airframe icing occurs primarily in unstable
air. Winter stratus clouds are generally quite stable.
Air within them rises at about one centimeter per second.
The chances of picking up ice in these kinds of clouds are
very low.
Hold it a minute. Does the briefers
comment constitute "known icing?" Not
necessarily. That's why his cautionary comment is
worded just the way it is. He is saying that "at
times" you may find icing in the clouds. Conversely,
it says that "at times" you may not find icing in the
clouds. 
In our previous OTA issue I mentioned that
many instrument pilots are not aware that you can file an
instrument flight plan to a grass field. You can!
And if you can get in under instrument flight rules, you can
obviously file an IFR flight plan from a grass strip.
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Elizabeth King . . .
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