The basic principles of aerodynamics are immutable.  They can be carved into concrete and passed on from generation to generation without change.  Similarly, aircraft control systems and engines behave in a predictable fashion.   While improving over time, they reliably respond to the pilot's input.  Even the national airspace system with its many intricate details serves we pilots very well.

The only complicating factor in an otherwise well organized industry is weather.  Weather is, in fact, the only uncontrolled variable in the great experiment we call aviation.  And it is also the most lethal of all accident causes. 

According to AOPA's Air Safety Foundation's 2004 Nall Report, 71.4 percent of all weather-related accidents result in fatalities.   In other words, if weather was the major contributing factor to your accident, you have less than one chance in three that you will survive the event!

There are lots of reasons why weather accidents shorten the lives of we GA pilots.  Unlike our airline brethren who fly high above most weather, we operate inside the boiling cauldron of nature's weather making machinery.  Our airplanes are minimally powered.  Most lack weather avoidance technology like stormscopes, radar, and uplinked weather maps.  And we have no dedicated dispatch departments staffed with meteorologists to chart our routes for us.  Lastly, most of our pilots are weather novices with little, if any, formal training in the dynamic forces of nature that create our weather.

Basically, we have three choices.  The first choice is to adopt a weather avoidance attitude.  That is, don't fly whenever weather is a factor along your planned route of flight.  Thunderstorms forecasted.  Don't launch.  Icing in the prediction, don't launch.  Winds blowing at 16 knots with gusts to 22 knots across the runway.  Don't launch. Snow covered runway.  Don't launch. Low ceiling and poor visibility at your destination.  Don't launch. 

Very few weather-caused accidents occur to people with this attitude.  Of course, they don't do much flying either.  For bettor or worse, the weather avoidance attitude is what most primary pilots are taught.

The second choice is to adopt a weather optimist attitude.  This means launching with the belief that predicted weather will not pose a problem - or if it does, it can be easily solved.  This is a favorite among those who frequently fly low to remain below lowering ceilings and declining visibility (scud running) . 

Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) may be the stated cause of the accident, but weather was the real factor.   Weather optimists also experience a disproportionately high percentage of landing accidents - particularly when high crosswinds are present.

Weather optimists fall victim to airframe icing and inadvertent thunderstorm penetrations.  These encounters, in turn, lead to loss of control, spatial disorientation, and stall/spin crashes.  It is the weather optimist who suffers the most weather related and often fatal crashes.

The third choice is to adopt a weather savvy attitude.   The weather savvy pilot recognizes the inevitability and variability of weather and has created a finely honed inventory of back door options.  Thus, when weather is encountered, forecasted or not, the weather savvy pilot knows well in advance what action he will take. 

If he lacks an instrument rating, the weather savvy pilot always has a solid gold back door to a safe harbor airport.  And if that solid gold back door closes up, he is sufficiently proficient at instrument flying to travel, wings level, to VFR.  In other words, when the world suddenly closes up around him, he has both the will and the skill to survive.  If the winds unexpectedly exceed the demonstrated crosswind capability of his airplane, he always has a more suitable alternate runway or airport within his fuel range.  And if that option closes, he has the crosswind landing skills to save the day.

If he is instrument rated, the weather savvy pilot is, first and foremost, instrument current.  There are thousands of instrument rated pilots in the world today who have not seen the inside of a cloud in months . . . if not years!  An instrument rating is a dangerous resource in the hands of a non-instrument current pilot.

The instrument rated weather savvy pilot is an expert at back door analysis, e.g., aeronautical decision making (ADM).  He always knows where the freezing level, minimum vectoring altitude (MVA), and cloud tops and bases are wherever he flies.   If he encounters airframe icing, he can quickly bolt to either clear or warmer air above or below.

The weather savvy pilot takes maximum advantage of on-board weather detection equipment and he knows how to interpret it.  His aircraft is equipped with anti-icing and de-icing gear. 

Most importantly, the weather savvy pilot is optimally trained.  He attends weather seminars, he regularly accesses online weather sites.  Lastly, he flies frequently in weather.  That's right.  He's not only academically prepared.  He has the weather experience to put the entire weather savvy package together!

Happy Holidays! Bob Miller, ATP, MCFI Master Certificated Flight Instructor Buffalo, NY rjma@rjma.com 716-864-8100

There is something dreadfully wrong with the system when a perfectly good airplane, being flown in excellent VFR conditions by private pilot with a certificated flight instructor at his side, botches a landing so badly that both die in the process!

Such was the case on February 29, 2004 in Blountville, TN.  Weather at the time of this fatal crash was wind variable at 3 knots, visibility 10 miles, 15,000 scattered, 10,000 broken, temperature 61 degrees Fahrenheit.

The pilot of the Cessna 210 Centurion received his landing clearance from ATC.  After that, everything seem to go wrong. 

Witnesses reported that "the airplane appeared to be unstable as it was turning from left to right and going up and down. The airplane touched down hard on the runway and bounced back into the air about 15 to 20 feet high in the vicinity of the 5,000-foot runway marker. The airplane started to yaw to the left. The nose of the airplane was pitched up about 60-degrees and the wings were level. The airspeed was very slow. The airplane appeared to be left of the runway and stalled. The left wing dropped and the nose pitched down. The airplane disappeared from view below a gully on the southeast side of the runway."

NTSB Probable Cause:

There were many links in this accident chain that should have been corrected early in the approach.  The first was the apparent instability of the final descent to the runway.  The second link was the abnormally long landing, with the touch down at the 5,000' runway marker.  The third link was the 15 to 20 foot bounce.  The fourth link was an improper bounced landing recovery and subsequent stall.

Any one of these links in the accident chain could have been broken by the smooth application of power and a properly executed go-around maneuver.  Where was the CFI during this approach and attempted landing?

Committed to landing . . . at all costs!

The observable facts of this fatal accident suggest that pilot and CFI were committed to landing this airplane regardless of circumstances. 

Such landing commitment would be justified if the aircraft was: (1) on fire; (2) dangerously low on fuel; (3) being surrounded by thunderstorms; (4) loaded down with ice; or (5) being pursued by TSA Blackhawk helicopter.  None of these conditions were mentioned in the NTSB accident report.  So what was the urgency?

The Landing Pilot's Mantra:  "I'm going around, I'm going around, I'm going around!"

The best thing a pilot can be telling him or herself on short final is, "I'm going around."  He should then be spring loaded to do just that if he is not completely stabilized and configured for a full stop landing.  The actual process of setting the wheels on the runway surface should be regarded as the reward for a stabilized approach and proper landing technique.   That reward only comes when it is, indeed, earned.

Had the accident pilot and his instructor been voicing this mantra, they would likely be alive today to tell us about it.

Yes, it's still seven months away but get it in your calendar anyway!   July 24 - 30, 2006!

If you've been there before, I do not need to promote it here.  If you haven't been to Oshkosh, do yourself the favor of a lifetime and experience this global event!  Bring your favorite kid, pitch a tent under your wing, and build memories that will last a lifetime.

Click HERE to open the AirVenture 2006 website.

Mention single engine IFR flight to heavy metal, multi-engine drivers and you'll often hear phrases like, "You must be nuts.  I'd never fly single engine IFR!" 

The reasons for these responses nearly always point to possibility of engine failure in IMC.  While we can endlessly debate the pros and cons of single engine IFR, there is one thing that we can all agree upon.  That is, GPS technology has substantially improved the probability of a safe landing should that single engine quit in the clouds. 

Here's the scenario . . .

You are on a night flight cruising at 9,000' along the leading edge of a warm front spanning three states.  Solid instrument meteorological conditions exist from FL 240 right down to 300' AGL.   The nearest VFR is at least 200 miles away.  Things are going along very well.  You are enjoying a smooth ride through the stable night air. 

Your attention is suddenly caught by a flickering red oil pressure annunciator light.   Apparently a high pressure oil line worked itself loose causing a steady oil loss since your departure 55 minutes earlier.  Within minutes, your engine begins to labor.  You've suffered complete loss of oil pressure and the engine comes to a grinding halt!

The world as you know it begins to fall apart!

As any primary pilot knows, the engine drives your vacuum pump(s) and your alternator.  Without vacuum and electricity in the clouds the situation is essentially non-survivable.  At best, you've got 30 minutes of battery power remaining.

Your problems begin to proliferate just as fast as your rapidly increasing heart rate.   The actions you take in the next nine minutes will determine the outcome of your flight.

The landing may be nothing more than a controlled crash but you will likely walk away if you follow these ten basic steps.  You may even be able to use the airplane again. The key is to not panic.  Work the problem and, most importantly, practice this scenario repeatedly until you have it mastered!

We have all seen the dramatic images of JetBlue Flight 292 (Airbus 320) landing at LAX this past September.  Now you can hear a portion of the radio transmission's between the captain and his maintenance base and company dispatch as they worked together to diagnose the problem and to develop a workable solution!   Click HERE.
 

No matter how you define it, when up is no longer up and down is no longer down in your brain, you are disoriented.  Sadly, when this occurs, you must respond fast and properly or you and everybody else aboard generally dies!

The Marvelously Created Inner Ear!

Spatial disorientation begins, of course, in your inner ear.  What works perfectly well on the ground can easily get fooled in the air.  This, of course, supports the claim that, "if man were meant to fly . . ." you know the rest!

Think of your inner ear as a glass of water.  When you rotate the glass quickly back and forth, you'll observe that the water inside remains still.  It doesn't rotate.  Now, imagine tiny hairs attached to the inside wall of the glass.  As you rotate the glass back and forth, these tiny hairs swing back and forth in the water.

Your inner ear is comprised of semi-circular canals or tubes containing fluid.  These canals are lined with hair-like projections that move back and forth with the fluid.  These hair-like projections, in turn, are linked to nerve fibers leading to your brain. 

To be more precise, the semicircular canals detect angular acceleration of the body while the otolith organs detect linear acceleration and gravity.  The semicircular canals consist of three tubes at right angles to each other, each located on one of the three axes: pitch, roll, or yaw. Each canal is filled with a fluid called endolymph fluid. In the center of the canal is the cupola, a gelatinous structure that rests upon sensory hairs located at the end of the vestibular nerves.

Get the picture!

As your head turns to and fro, back and forth, up and down, the fluid in your semi-circular canals sloshes around, bending the hair-like projections which send signals to our brain telling it which way our head is moving, if its upright, or if its laying down, etc.

From walking upright to flying an airplane!

The inner ear orientation system works great for earth-bound people.   Problems occur, however, for those who fly.  Our movements in the air often occur more slowly than they do when we walk around.  Thus, the fluid in our semi-circular canals cease moving, due to friction, even though our heads are still turning.  When this happens, our brain is tricked into believing that our head motion has stopped moving.  Then, when our head really stops moving, our inner ear fluid begins to slosh in the opposite direction.  This tricks our brain into believing that our head is moving in the opposite direction when, it fact, it is stopped!

Spatial Orientation - It's all in the ear!

Recognizing our vulnerability to spatial orientation is the first step in preventing it from occurring.  The second step is to develop a keen sense of trust in our instruments.  Learn to scan from one instrument to the next, always cross-checking to ensure that your instruments are working properly.

The third step is to get up in the clouds with a safety pilot or a flight instructor.  Close your eyes and allow the airplane to roll or pitch into an unusual attitude.  Open your eyes and recover solely by reference to the instruments.  Practice this often.

Remember, spatial disorientation is a factor in nearly every IFR accident.  The victim pilot either failed to trust his instruments or he became confused by mixed visual messages being sent to his brain (from the instruments) and by what he was "feeling" in his body!

If you read enough NTSB general aviation accident reports you will quickly discover that investigators oftentimes have no clue about what was going on in the cockpit that precipitated the accident.  Since there is no cockpit voice recorder (CVR) or flight data recorder to analyze, we can only speculate as to what was happening.

A relatively new term has crept into the corporate and air carrier training departments that may help us to better understand what precipitated an accident.  It is called "the startle factor."

The startle factor characterizes any event that catches the pilot off guard.  It could be a wake turbulence encounter, sudden severe turbulence, a catastrophic airframe failure, or autopilot malfunction.  It could also be a problem within the pilot himself such as a sudden bout of vertigo, temporary loss of consciousness, or nodding off to sleep. 

Sudden departure from the desired flight attitude . . .

Whatever the cause, the aircraft is temporarily out of control.  It is suddenly rotating on either or all of its three axis, e.g., lateral, longitudinal, vertical.  Fortunately, this scenario very rarely happens, but when it does, the pilot must act quickly and correctly.

Since it does happen so rarely, most GA pilots are totally unprepared to initiate the required recovery procedures on a timely basis.   Few GA pilots, in fact, ever received emergency upset recovery training.  Unlike our corporate and airline brethren, GA pilots seldom ever practice upset recovery procedures.

So what should we do if caught in a serious upset situation?

First and foremost . . . remain calm.  Quickly assess your pitch and bank attitude, then level the wings and return the aircraft to level flight.

The FAA has developed a highly effective two-part video for air carrier crews on emergency upset recovery training.  While this video addresses large turbine aircraft, many of the aerodynamic principles and upset recovery techniques apply to small, general aviation aircraft as well.

Each part of this video has a 20 minute run time.  Click on the links below.  Several minutes may be required for these videos to load.

Air Carrier Upset Training - Part I

Air Carrier Upset Training - Part II

Note:  Thanks to OTA reader Ken Beyea, Assistant Training Director, NetJets Aviation, Inc. for passing along these links to us.

You are a professional pilot with 21,000 hard earned hours neatly recorded in your logbook.  You've been flying the same area of the country most of your life.  You know the surrounding terrain like the back of your hand. 

That's what may have been going through this pilot's mind this past May 19th at 9:44 CDT near Ralls, TX when he clipped the top 3 feet of a 197 foot high tower.  Unfortunately, that was the last thought he will ever have.  The outboard 3 feet of the right wing fell near the base of the tower.  The remainder of the wreckage was found 830 feet from the tower.

Weather was not a factor.  Reported visibility was 10 miles with a high overcast ceiling at 25,000'.

And the rest of the story . . .

What the pilot apparently didn't know was that the tower had been erected only 15 days prior to the accident.  It had no obstruction light on its top.  Thus, even if the pilot had carefully reviewed a current sectional chart he would not have noted the presence of a tower. 

Was there an FDC NOTAM reporting the presence of the tower?  We don't know, but the absence of a required obstruction light suggests that the tower owner likely did not notify the FAA of its presence.

Flying low can be fun, it can get you under the clouds . . . and it can deadly!

Curiously, the most recent four out of five fatal airplane accidents for which the NTSB has issued a probable cause finding involved in-flight collisions with towers or power lines!  While this may not be statistically significant, it should make us all aware of the hazards of flying low.

As in this accident, flying low over familiar terrain with the latest charts and having all the NOTAMs may not be sufficient to protect us from running into something.

Airframe icing is arguably the most misunderstood, often feared weather phenomenon in Mother Nature's bag of tricks.  On a par with thunderstorms, airframe icing is a major risk factor that has caught far too many pilots off-guard, unprepared, and without a lifesaving backdoor.

Paradoxically, the traditional way we prepare primary and instrument pilots contributes significantly ice-related fatal accidents.  We compound this problem by creating unclear and ambiguous regulations (FAR 91.527) regarding flight into icing conditions.  It is little wonder why general aviation pilots continue to get into trouble with icing. 

Traditional Approach to Flight Training . . .

The traditional approach to wintertime flight when icing is in the forecast is to cancel flight training.  Here's the problem.  Take a look at the following FSS briefer's comment regarding icing:

Bingo - there's that icing in the forecast.  Don't fly . . . or if you do fly, remain well clear of clouds.  Countless training missions are cancelled and even more pleasure or business flights are postponed, often for weeks, because of this FSS briefing statement.  From a training perspective, this cancellation policy leaves the primary and instrument student unprepared for a chance icing encounter later on in her or her flying career.

Go back and look more carefully at the FSS briefer's statement.  See the word "occasional" in the statement?  Does that statement indicate that ice is "known" to exist precisely where and when you plan to fly?

Now look at what the word "occasional" means:

See the source of confusion?  It's the word "occasional."  They use the word "occasional" because they cannot be certain when, where, or if icing will actually be present in the clouds or precipitation!  All they are really saying is that conditions are such that icing may form. Then, again, it may not.

Surprising as it may sound, most freezing clouds DO NOT contain ice!  Either the water droplet size is too small to adhere to the airframe, or the temperature within the cloud is so cold that all of the water droplets have become ice crystals which, again, do not adhere to the airframe. 

Imagine hearing the following FSS briefer statement:  "Occasional hurricanes in Florida and along the Gulf Coast from April to October."  Would that statement automatically preclude us from flying down to Sun 'n Fun next year?  Of course not.  The statement merely says that conditions for hurricane development occur in Florida and the Gulf Coast from April to October.  That's all.

A More Realistic, Scenario-based Approach to Flight Training

A more realistic, scenario-based approach to dealing with ice is to engage in a responsible "back door" analysis.  The point being, regardless of the legal interpretation of "known icing conditions," if you fly IFR in the winter, you are likely to encounter icing conditions, forecast or not.  As such, you better know how to deal with it.   If you do not believe this, why do we find pitot heat installed on small training aircraft?  Think about it.

In short, if you launch and encounter icing . . . do you have any reasonable escape routes?  Can you exit the icing conditions BEFORE they pose any serious threat to the safe outcome of your flight?  If so, where do you go and how much time do you have to get there?

If solid gold back doors exist, go flying . . . in the clouds!  If you have no back doors, don't fly!

Where to go?

You are cruising along at 8,000 feet.  You notice the leading edges of your wing beginning to frost over as are the edges of your windscreen.  You are in "trace" icing conditions.  These conditions are enough to capture your attention. 

Several minutes later you notice that a frosty white (rime) ice (or clear or mixed rime and clear) layer is beginning to accumulate in the same locations. 

You've encountered light to moderate icing conditions.  Immediate action is now required.  You call and report the presence of ice to ATC.  ATC replies with two words:  "Say intentions."   You respond with a clear statement of intent . . . because you already have a plan worked out in you mind should icing be encountered.  No panic, no emergency declaration is needed. 

Your plan involves getting to either (1) VFR conditions, or (2) warmer air.  As long as you are within easy reach of one of those two conditions, you've got golden back doors!   If you cannot easily get to one of those two conditions, you should not have launched!  Nonetheless, you're there . . . and you need to do something.  Got a plan? 

You know where VFR or warmer air is . . . . right??

To escape icing conditions, you can request from ATC any altitude change you like from the service ceiling of your aircraft down to the minimum vectoring altitude (MVA).  You knew before you launched that either VFR conditions or above-freezing air existed within that range of altitude. 

Again, if neither VFR nor above-freezing air exists within this altitude range, you didn't launch, right?  Remember, you must have back doors before you enter freezing clouds.  If you do not have back doors, don't go there!     

What if it is freezing from the surface all the way up?  If so, you have no warmer air back door!  What if IMC conditions exist from 200'AGL all the way to the flight levels?   Then you have no back VFR back door either.  Again, either warmer air or VFR conditions must be close at hand when you venture into freezing clouds.

A word about temperature inversions and warm fronts.

Temperature inversions are common in the winter, particularly after the ground and nearby large water masses have frozen solid.  The ground and frozen lakes help to cool the first several thousand feet of atmosphere.  Above that, warmer air can often be found.

Similarly, temperature inversions often occur along the leading edge of warm fronts.  The warm front typically moves over and above the colder air below.  These fronts can be both good news and bad.  The good news is, as you climb through the front, the air gets warmer.  The bad news is that rain falling from the warmer air above passes through the colder air below . . . and can turn quickly into freezing rain! 

A word about aircraft anti-ice and de-ice systems

There is no question that the more ice protection that your aircraft comes with, the better.  None of this equipment, however, allows you to remain in icing conditions.  At best, it simply gives you a few more minutes to find your way out of icing.

Anti-icing Equipment:  This equipment retards the accumulation of ice, e.g., pitot heat, carburetor heat, stall horn heat, TKS (weeping wing) system, heated prop, heated windscreen.

De-ice Equipment: This equipment removes ice that has already formed, e.g., inflatable wing boots.

Aircraft certified for flight into known icing conditions is a dubious distinction and one that gives rise to a great deal of confusion.  It suggests, for example, that such aircraft can maneuver safely for extended periods of time  in icing conditions.   Such is certainly NOT the case. 

And a word about turbocharging

Unlike anti-icing and de-icing equipment, turbocharging affords a more permanent solution to in-flight icing.  The high-flying capability of turbocharged aircraft enables them to fly above most of the ice-laden clouds.   Turbo-charging is, in fact, one of the very best ice prevention measures a general aviation pilot can use.

Lastly, take advantage of on-line digital icing imagery

The U.S. Weather Service is making great strides in helping to know where icing exits.  Several interesting sites are cited below:

In summary, known icing conditions occasionally exist from the surface to the flight levels in the northern half of the continental United States from November through March.  With certain exceptions, FAR 91.527 prohibits flight in known ice, yet hundreds of IFR flight plans are filed in the northern climates every day by private and commercial pilots. 

Most of these pilots encounter varying degrees of icing if they are in the clouds.  They notify ATC and are given amended clearances to escape these conditions.  Are they breaking the law?  Are they incriminating themselves by filing an icing PIREP?  If so, the FSDOs could be kept busy for years prosecuting pilots for violation of FAR 91.527.

In truth, icing exists where you find it.  Sometimes it is predicted.  Sometimes PIREPs indicate its presence.  Oftentimes there is simply no information about icing along your planned route of flight.

So what do you do?  The answer is  . . . be careful.  If you encounter ice and successfully deal with it, no problem.  If, on the other hand, icing precipitates an in-flight emergency, priority handling, or worse, an accident, you could find yourself in a legal bind. 

Use your best judgment.  Learn as much as you can about the whys and wherefores of icing.  Become a student of this unique winter weather phenomenon.  Keep in mind everything you have learned about back doors . . . and never launch without having one.

How were runway braking reports conducted prior to the use of current technology (Mu readings)?

At long last, some elements within the FAA are beginning to embrace the notion that traditional approaches to education . . . the approaches used for 200 years in teaching our children . . . do NOT necessarily work in aviation.  The notion of establishing learning standards, then teaching to those standards may work in learning geometry or history, but they do not work in the multi-dimensional world of aviation. 

In short, you cannot sit at a desk and pound aeronautical theory into the head of a primary flight student then go to the practice area and conduct task-oriented training for an hour or two and hope to create a safe pilot.  You'll get him through the PTS, but he may be hopelessly under-prepared for the real challenges that await him in the national airspace system!  If this was the extent of your student training, beware!

Cut pilot error-caused accidents by 50% and we can save 130 pilot and passenger lives annually!

There are many factors dictating a change in the way primary pilots are trained.  One emerging factor is the increase in TAA (technically advanced aircraft) aircraft.  All it takes is a moving map display to qualify as a TAA aircraft.  Add the bells and whistles such as uplink weather, terrain awareness, and traffic alerts, we now have 40 to 50 hour pilots operating more technically sophisticated airplanes than a TWA senior captain flying B-707s from New York to London in 1968!

With this deluge of in-flight information bombarding the weekend pilot, he or she performs his pre-flight planning on the fly, literally.  Now, he kicks the tires, lights the fires, launches into the scud, then checks the enroute weather on his 2"x3" portable video display. 

And he's legal.  That's right, per FAR 91.103, he has ALL available information electronically flashing at him.  Add MFDs (multi-function displays) and PFDs (primary flight displays) such as found on the G1000 Cessna 182s, Columbia 400, and the Cirrus SR22 and you have low time, VFR-only pilots flying transcontinental flights from factory to home with more information than they can possibly digest.  So who's looking out the window, anyway?

The standard is not the problem, but the way we teach it is!

There is no question that the Primary Test Standards (PTS) and CFR part 61 as they apply to primary and instrument training are due for major overhaul, but that's not the major problem.  The real problem, according to FAA Safety Inspector and FITS Program Manager, Tom Glista, is the traditional way we teach pilots.  We've got to get away from traditional CFI mantra, "I'll show you and then you show me until you get it right."  This task-based aviation training is geared to the practical test standards (PTS) and that's all!  It does little to prepare pilots for the real world challenges that await them.

Every flight from day-one is a cross-country mission.

One of the occupational hazards I've been experiencing as a busy flight instructor is the risk of serious weight gain!  No, this doesn't come from sitting and observing students fly around the practice area doing maneuvers or performing endless take offs and landings at the home or nearby aerodrome.  

Nor does it come from sitting at a desk or classroom pounding words of knowledge test wisdom into the heads of under-stimulated students.  Instead, it is because every training flight is a mission to a different distant airport with nearby cafe or restaurant where we simultaneously eat and debrief the mission. 

Each flight is a new challenge to a new location in an ever-changing national airspace system.  Contrary to a popular misconception, the cockpit of a real airplane operating in the national airspace system is a very good learning environment.

We do not use statements like, "George, today we're going to the practice area to cover power-off stalls."  Instead, we say something like, "George, let's go to Pittsburgh for lunch."  Why Pittsburgh (160 mile flight) in particular?  We choose Pittsburgh on this day because we have to fly through challenging weather to get there.  Besides, it's an exciting Class B airport with some pretty neat nearby restaurants.

My CFI critics accuse me of "padding" my instructor fees by making long trips like that, particularly for primary pilots.  If all we did was cruise from Buffalo to Pittsburgh, they'd be right.  In truth, however, we typically include elements from the entire Private Pilot PTS and much of the Instrument Pilot PTS on each flight.  In addition, we cover a few scenarios not even included in either Part 61 or the PTS, e.g., engine failure GPS descents through the clouds to an airport below, iced over windscreens, and spatial disorientation.

Flight students actually save money but that is a secondary benefit!

From the first orientation flight to the pre-checkride review, our training flights are always missions to a distant location.  We fly in rain, snow, wind,  low ceilings and visibility, or shine.  Students see first hand what they can handle versus some theoretical "don't fly" conditions they read or are told about.  Learning occurs at a far more rapid rate then when performing "exercises in the practice area."  Nearly all dead reckoning and radio navigation is conducted in IMC conditions on long cross-country flights, particularly when training from November through May here in Western New York.

When it is time to move on to the instrument rating, we move through those PTS elements at lightning speed.   In fact, much of the instrument curriculum is a review of what we covered during  primary training.

The ultimate benefit of this kind of training comes from the fact that students are well-trained, experienced aviators by the time they venture out on their own.  There are few, if any, surprises left for them to experience.  And when they do occur, they know how to deal with them.  Turbulence, upsets, gusty crosswind takeoffs and landings, icing, nil runway braking . . . and, most importantly, real aeronautical decision-making experiences are neatly recorded in their logbooks.

Why all this attention to the faulty flight training methods??

Why all of this focus on faulty flight training methods?  We pilots are the only loose link in the general aviation chain!  Our airplanes are properly designed and deemed safe.  Our national airspace system and the professional air traffic controllers that make it work perform admirably.  Our airline and corporate flight department brethren have elevated safe flight to an art form.  Like lower life forms, we GA pilots are the only component of a much larger system that eat our young!

Those among us who remain in denial or who take comfort in the words GA safety statistical spin-meisters are, frankly, a serious part of the problem.  General aviation in the hands of a non-proficient, poorly trained pilot, of which there are many, is downright dangerous! 

Change is necessary . . . because each accident costs us dearly in loss of life, heightened insurance premiums for all of us, and another black eye on the face of general aviation.

Change comes hard in any endeavor, and the more aggressively people resist change and who cling to the traditional approaches to flight training, the more it will cost us all around.