Raise your hand if you've ever been tired.
Yep, that's everybody middle school age on up that's not a professional aviator. If I asked a roomful of pilots, maybe a few reluctant hands would casually (and most definitely with hesitation) go up. Few more may give into honesty just for the sake of moving the discussion along. But, for the most part the macho bravado of the pilot personality would win silencing the vast majority into ambiguity. The way of modern life for most of us is that fatigue is a daily and accepted occurrence and for some, a way of life.
No airplane passenger in their right mind wants tired pilots at the controls as they rocket through the air in an aluminum tube. No airplane passenger in their right mind wants inebriated pilots up in the business end either, but many studies have concluded that being awake for extended periods of is like being legally drunk. While this is not news for pilots, passengers usually find this information shocking. Though the facts and symptoms of fatigue are widely accepted by the pilots that won't openly admit to being tired, industry, for reasons including financial considerations, have vetoed multiple times to adopt updated fatigue countermeasures legislation. Scheduled flying operations, by nature, allow for regular down time for pilots to recoup.What about non-scheduled flying operations like charter and business aviation? Charter flying is regulated by the FAA much like airline flying, but business aviation flying runs the gamut of flying equipment ranging from single engine piston aircraft serving an area like the size of the Chicago metropolitan area covering nearly 12,000 square miles to large ultra long range twin engine jet aircraft flying global missions non-stop. The affects of fatigue are the same, the countermeasures are the same, but the opportunity to fight fatigue is reduced.
While strict fatigue mitigation strategies are abundant, the ability to institute them formally into non-scheduled business aviation operations can seem an impossible task. For a example, a flight crew was tasked to airline to the Caribbean to pick up their passengers and fly the aircraft back to base all in the same duty day. The crew's airline flight left Chicago's O'Hare airport at 0600 to connect through Charlotte and arrive in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) at 1430. The private flight left TCI at 1530 for a 2 hour and 40 minute flight to New Orleans to clear customs, spent 45 minutes on the ground, departed for Chicago arriving after 2 hour and 20 minutes of flying time. By the time the crew disembarked the passengers, performed post flight duties the time on the clock was around 2130. Considering the both crew members woke up at 0330 for the hour drive to the base airport to preposition their cars and catch a cab to O'Hare, it was already a long day for them when the airliner touched down in TCI.
Together the crew discussed their concerns with management and after the conversation decided that the mission could be completed as scheduled. Also, during that conversation they received clarification that future trips would be scheduled differently with the airline portion of the trip occurring the day before to allow for proper and adequate rest. To mitigate the fatigue risks the crew began three days before the trip changing their sleep patterns to go to bed an hour earlier each evening, they refrained from alcohol and caffeine consumption, rescheduled any evening workouts for earlier in the day and agreed on a strategy of micro-sleeps during the airline flights the day of the trip using ear plugs and sleep masks.
What's important to keep in mind is a professional pilot is someone that does their due diligence in all aspects of their craft with integrity. The flight crew's planning resulted in them being alert, rested and ready for the long day ahead. They completed the mission successfully-without instance of any abnormal fatigue-to the complements of satisfied and thankful passengers.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Citation School Day 3: The Kitchen Sink, Part II
The droll tone in Jim's voice and the tension visible on Joann's furled brow gave away the challenge that was about to be.
As our jet propelled aluminum tube rocketed through simulated New York airspace, in a heartbeat the ship went from fully functional powered by both engine generators to dark, quite and powered by a 24 volt lead acid battery. The annunciator panel and master warning lights lit up like a rock concert and the flight navigation displays went as dark as a moonless night away from the city. The failure of the electrical generators rendered many of the electrical sub-systems useless and therefore required a no-flap landing with the ILS instrument approach (hand) flown by reference to the only gyro still operating--the stand-by gyro located away from my visual convenience near Joann's instrument cluster.
The stand-by gyro approach is an exercise in many things, but precise control inputs to the flight controls and throttles ranks number one in my book. If the control movements are too excessive-as they can be when staring at a poorly lit instrument the size of a deck of cards from across the cockpit-the approach is guaranteed not to be stabilized and the procedure a hot mess. After Joann finished the emergency checklist items during our extended downwind leg to the ILS back into JFK, we configured the ship for landing (read extended the gear, minus the flaps) I briefed her on our CRM technique for the procedure. CRM, crew resource management, means many things, but during this procedure it meant specifically having Joann read me airspeed deviations of at least plus or minus 5 knots and course deviations on the localizer (lateral navigation) and glideslope (vertical navigation) of at least half a dot. For example, if I was 5 knots fast, Joann would say, "airspeed fast", or if I was half a dot left of the localizer Joann say, "left of course, right turn five degrees. Stop. Left turn. Stop. On course." To both of these challenges I would respond, "correcting." With both of us on the same page and our airplane configured for landing and stabilized, we notified approach control that we were ready for the turn onto final for the runway.
Beyond flying precision and crew coordination, the no flap landing technique requires a steeper pitch attitude because the wing's center of lift is more forward than on typical landings with flaps and less power because of the absence of the flap's drag, but more airspeed due to because of the increased stall speed. So, all the power and pitch settings I knew for the Citation's different configurations were now utterly useless and it was now a matter of guesswork and whittling away at tolerances to figure out the proper pitch and power setting to get the appropriate performance. All down the localizer and glideslope for a 5 mile eternity Joann is barking out corrective orders as my palms get sweaty and my neck and shoulders increasing strained from leaning right into her personal space over the center pedestal and looking down. My anxiety is nearly at a boil because the ILS navigation is increasing in sensitivity as we fly closer to the runway (and ground) and my control inputs are decreasing to compensate. Then suddenly, like it was there the entire time, runway 4L became visible as the ship broke out of the clouds at 200' above the ground. Just a few knots fast and with ever so minor adjustments we landed on Terra Firma, on the runway's center line coming to a full stop on the runway.
Instructor Jim was very pleased with my airmanship and the performance of the crew. We debriefed the sim session and briefed up for the next day's challenge in the Citation short course: high, hot and heavy (summer operations) and snow, blow'n and froze (winter operations). With that situation over and passed, there would be no rest for the weary, even as badly as I needed it. Tomorrow's session included the worst case scenarios from the two most challenging flying seasons in one day. Would I be up for the task and the two surprises I knew Jim was keeping silently in his bag of tricks?
As our jet propelled aluminum tube rocketed through simulated New York airspace, in a heartbeat the ship went from fully functional powered by both engine generators to dark, quite and powered by a 24 volt lead acid battery. The annunciator panel and master warning lights lit up like a rock concert and the flight navigation displays went as dark as a moonless night away from the city. The failure of the electrical generators rendered many of the electrical sub-systems useless and therefore required a no-flap landing with the ILS instrument approach (hand) flown by reference to the only gyro still operating--the stand-by gyro located away from my visual convenience near Joann's instrument cluster.
The stand-by gyro approach is an exercise in many things, but precise control inputs to the flight controls and throttles ranks number one in my book. If the control movements are too excessive-as they can be when staring at a poorly lit instrument the size of a deck of cards from across the cockpit-the approach is guaranteed not to be stabilized and the procedure a hot mess. After Joann finished the emergency checklist items during our extended downwind leg to the ILS back into JFK, we configured the ship for landing (read extended the gear, minus the flaps) I briefed her on our CRM technique for the procedure. CRM, crew resource management, means many things, but during this procedure it meant specifically having Joann read me airspeed deviations of at least plus or minus 5 knots and course deviations on the localizer (lateral navigation) and glideslope (vertical navigation) of at least half a dot. For example, if I was 5 knots fast, Joann would say, "airspeed fast", or if I was half a dot left of the localizer Joann say, "left of course, right turn five degrees. Stop. Left turn. Stop. On course." To both of these challenges I would respond, "correcting." With both of us on the same page and our airplane configured for landing and stabilized, we notified approach control that we were ready for the turn onto final for the runway.
Beyond flying precision and crew coordination, the no flap landing technique requires a steeper pitch attitude because the wing's center of lift is more forward than on typical landings with flaps and less power because of the absence of the flap's drag, but more airspeed due to because of the increased stall speed. So, all the power and pitch settings I knew for the Citation's different configurations were now utterly useless and it was now a matter of guesswork and whittling away at tolerances to figure out the proper pitch and power setting to get the appropriate performance. All down the localizer and glideslope for a 5 mile eternity Joann is barking out corrective orders as my palms get sweaty and my neck and shoulders increasing strained from leaning right into her personal space over the center pedestal and looking down. My anxiety is nearly at a boil because the ILS navigation is increasing in sensitivity as we fly closer to the runway (and ground) and my control inputs are decreasing to compensate. Then suddenly, like it was there the entire time, runway 4L became visible as the ship broke out of the clouds at 200' above the ground. Just a few knots fast and with ever so minor adjustments we landed on Terra Firma, on the runway's center line coming to a full stop on the runway.
Instructor Jim was very pleased with my airmanship and the performance of the crew. We debriefed the sim session and briefed up for the next day's challenge in the Citation short course: high, hot and heavy (summer operations) and snow, blow'n and froze (winter operations). With that situation over and passed, there would be no rest for the weary, even as badly as I needed it. Tomorrow's session included the worst case scenarios from the two most challenging flying seasons in one day. Would I be up for the task and the two surprises I knew Jim was keeping silently in his bag of tricks?
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Citation School Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
This is the day at Simcom Scottsdale, AZ where the workload increased exponentially and would remain high until the check ride that was scheduled for early Sunday morning. I could no longer keep up with writing Aptitude & Altitude and had to singularly focus on the remainder of my ground school and simulator training. I was foolish (maybe even a bit brazen) to figure I had any additional time in my day beyond ground school, sim training, studying, eating, a quick workout and sleeping. So, after my instructor Jim Lawson through the kitchen sink at me in the simulator on day 3, I knew from the lump on my skull that my daily routine had to be modified.
The fact that Dunkin' Donuts coffee has migrated westward to Arizona made each morning's early wake-up a bit more palatable. The school day began with a brief interrogation, err question and answer forum, addressing aircraft limitations and emergency memory items I would need to know cold for the oral exam followed by a review of pertinent aircraft information. Then, after 4 hours of discussing the Citation V's pressurization, air conditioning, oxygen and ice and rain protection systems, we left the classroom and headed up to the sim lab for what I will now refer to as a "kick in the pants."
The two previous sim sessions were geared toward getting to know the new airplane and sim partner in normal operational situations with minor malfunctions to impress practical systems knowledge learned as theory in the classroom. The third session of the short course assumes that, with normal progress, the student is ready for catastrophic emergencies. The session started with a "new" airplane that was to quickly deteriorate into a flying lemon after an initial "hot start". After the virtual mechanic cleared that malfunction, we taxied from the ramp, lined up on runway 31R where during the take off roll we promptly got a right engine fire light at the co-pilot's "V1" call. Joann and I continued the departure, followed safety protocol, ran the emergency checklist (testing the memory items I was quizzed on earlier that day) and were able to extinguish and restart the failed engine during turns in a holding pattern.
We landed back at JFK airport after a hand flown ILS to landing. During the next departure, that pesky right engine's thrust reverser deployed at V1 and my co-pilot and I again ran through the procedures to secure the malfunction and landed after an auto pilot flown full ILS approach. The next takeoff included a left engine failure we were not able to restart in the air; so, we pointed the ship back to JFK for an emergency landing. Well, due to ATC issuing a take-off clearance to another airplane on our landing runway, we executed a publish missed approach on our remaining engine and received vectors back for landing (and apologies) from JFK Approach Control. We landed single engine after flying a LOC approach to runway 22L. Again, our virtual mechanic cleared the malfunction and we were treated to another new airplane. Joann and I took off without incident and received vectors from Approach to fly directly to DPK VOR for the full GPS approach procedure to runway 22L. Something was up. I could feel the tension building in Joann and hear something different in my instructor's voice as he played the roll of ATC. During the procedure flying the intermediate segment, right on cue, things went from perfect to really, really bad...
To be Continued...
The fact that Dunkin' Donuts coffee has migrated westward to Arizona made each morning's early wake-up a bit more palatable. The school day began with a brief interrogation, err question and answer forum, addressing aircraft limitations and emergency memory items I would need to know cold for the oral exam followed by a review of pertinent aircraft information. Then, after 4 hours of discussing the Citation V's pressurization, air conditioning, oxygen and ice and rain protection systems, we left the classroom and headed up to the sim lab for what I will now refer to as a "kick in the pants."
The two previous sim sessions were geared toward getting to know the new airplane and sim partner in normal operational situations with minor malfunctions to impress practical systems knowledge learned as theory in the classroom. The third session of the short course assumes that, with normal progress, the student is ready for catastrophic emergencies. The session started with a "new" airplane that was to quickly deteriorate into a flying lemon after an initial "hot start". After the virtual mechanic cleared that malfunction, we taxied from the ramp, lined up on runway 31R where during the take off roll we promptly got a right engine fire light at the co-pilot's "V1" call. Joann and I continued the departure, followed safety protocol, ran the emergency checklist (testing the memory items I was quizzed on earlier that day) and were able to extinguish and restart the failed engine during turns in a holding pattern.
We landed back at JFK airport after a hand flown ILS to landing. During the next departure, that pesky right engine's thrust reverser deployed at V1 and my co-pilot and I again ran through the procedures to secure the malfunction and landed after an auto pilot flown full ILS approach. The next takeoff included a left engine failure we were not able to restart in the air; so, we pointed the ship back to JFK for an emergency landing. Well, due to ATC issuing a take-off clearance to another airplane on our landing runway, we executed a publish missed approach on our remaining engine and received vectors back for landing (and apologies) from JFK Approach Control. We landed single engine after flying a LOC approach to runway 22L. Again, our virtual mechanic cleared the malfunction and we were treated to another new airplane. Joann and I took off without incident and received vectors from Approach to fly directly to DPK VOR for the full GPS approach procedure to runway 22L. Something was up. I could feel the tension building in Joann and hear something different in my instructor's voice as he played the roll of ATC. During the procedure flying the intermediate segment, right on cue, things went from perfect to really, really bad...
To be Continued...
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Citation School Day 2
Today started with a question and answer review of the power plant and fuel systems. After that, Jim introduced the electrical system. The Citation V has a very easy to understand power supply and bus distribution system. It interesting to note the bus arrangement is carried over from Citation models that are single pilot certified having access to right side circuit breakers from the Captain's panel.
The second simulator (stimulator in pilot vernacular) session consisted of a normal normal takeoff from 13R (one-three right) at JFK to a North departure into the practice area to perfect the steep turns and stall series. All went well and Jim was pleased that I performed within ATP standards on day 2. Joann and I received vectors to the ILS 4R and (of course) went missed approach to hold at DPK VOR. It's been like 10 years since I've flown a non FMS aided hold and I was going through the mental gymnastics as our number one engine failed. It turns out the fuel system lost motive flow and starved the engine.
I called for the appropriate engine shut down in flight checklist followed by a successful inflight starter assisted relight as we got within 2 miles of the VOR. Slightly surprised my my ability to decide to perform a parallel entry and start the clock passing over the station we received a clearance from ATC to fly the GPS approach 4R. Joann programmed the GPS as I continued the hold allowing her enough time to complete her PNF duties. Guess what? We went missed and got vectored to a VOR 4R circle 31R.
Since most visuals in simulators do a very poor job of providing depth perception, circling in the the virtual world is overly complicated as visual cues on the ground seem to show up out of nowhere as opposed to gradually coming into view. The circling approach is a maneuver where crew synergy and coordination are essential to a successful outcome. Joann gave me excellent pointers on when and where to turn as I entered the right circle for the runway and finally landed successfully.
Joann and I are becoming crew mates and earning each others' trust in the simulator. Her motivation is to remain employed as a SIC crew member for the Citation program at Simcom. My motivation is to pass the FAA checkride in a few days and remain employed too. Beyond that common employment goal, our motivation is to continue to improve our flying skill and hone our craft. It's just better when you get a nice landing out of it, simulated or not.
The second simulator (stimulator in pilot vernacular) session consisted of a normal normal takeoff from 13R (one-three right) at JFK to a North departure into the practice area to perfect the steep turns and stall series. All went well and Jim was pleased that I performed within ATP standards on day 2. Joann and I received vectors to the ILS 4R and (of course) went missed approach to hold at DPK VOR. It's been like 10 years since I've flown a non FMS aided hold and I was going through the mental gymnastics as our number one engine failed. It turns out the fuel system lost motive flow and starved the engine.
I called for the appropriate engine shut down in flight checklist followed by a successful inflight starter assisted relight as we got within 2 miles of the VOR. Slightly surprised my my ability to decide to perform a parallel entry and start the clock passing over the station we received a clearance from ATC to fly the GPS approach 4R. Joann programmed the GPS as I continued the hold allowing her enough time to complete her PNF duties. Guess what? We went missed and got vectored to a VOR 4R circle 31R.
Since most visuals in simulators do a very poor job of providing depth perception, circling in the the virtual world is overly complicated as visual cues on the ground seem to show up out of nowhere as opposed to gradually coming into view. The circling approach is a maneuver where crew synergy and coordination are essential to a successful outcome. Joann gave me excellent pointers on when and where to turn as I entered the right circle for the runway and finally landed successfully.
Joann and I are becoming crew mates and earning each others' trust in the simulator. Her motivation is to remain employed as a SIC crew member for the Citation program at Simcom. My motivation is to pass the FAA checkride in a few days and remain employed too. Beyond that common employment goal, our motivation is to continue to improve our flying skill and hone our craft. It's just better when you get a nice landing out of it, simulated or not.
Citation School Day 1
Flight training for many turbine powered aircraft is like drinking from a fire hose. In fact, I've never hear any other analogy in over twelve years of piloting such aircraft. It's so much information presented in a such an abbreviated time line that it can be, and at times is, simply overwhelming. Depending on the sophistication of the aircraft's systems and flight guidance computers, initial training can last from 2 week to 6 weeks. Normally, the Citation V (CE-560) pilot initial course is a full 14 days; but, with the certain time constraints I elected to do the 7 day short course. The primary difference is the short course is 4-6 hours of ground school followed by 2-3 hours in the simulator where the regular course is a week of ground school followed by a week of simulator. Since the Citation series of aircraft has many similar models, the FAA has designated 1 pilot type rating, the CE-500, for models 500, 501, 550, 551 & 560. It's confusing at first, especially when Cessna throws in the model names: Citation SP, V, Ultra, Encore and Bravo.
My Simcom Instructor, Jim Lawson, is a retired American Eagle airlines captain. We briefly chatted about the airline industry for a few minutes before getting down to business. Jim then startled me by offering the opportunity to save 2 days of training by means of the upgrade program since I was already SIC typed in the V with about 30 hours logged. I politely declined. Since I am the only customer in the course, I received one-on-one attention as we dissected the V's operating limitations, power plant and fuel system. As you can imagine, this scenario has its pros and cons when it's time to answer end of unit review questions.
After a brief break, and a briefing on what tasks we were going to accomplish in the simulator, I was introduced to my training co-pilot, Joann. Joann is a twice furloughed United Airlines pilot and seat filler when folks like me go through the course without a training partner. She did her job professionally reminding me of simulator nuances as we taxied out and departed 4R at JFK, flew to the practice area and carried on through the stall series, steep turns and finally ATC vectors back to JFK for some approach work.
Simulators run on computer programs. 1 + 2 = 3. Everytime. Always. Never, never have I flown a simulator that acted exactly opposite of how the actual aircraft behaved. When flaps are selected in many aircraft there is a tendency for the airplane to balloon and gain a bit of altitude. An experienced pilot anticipates this behavior and compensates with the appropriate control input. When selecting flaps in the real world the aircraft, in described, balloons. In the sim, the aircraft sank requiring quite a bit of back pressure on the yolk for what seemed like eternity before it wanted to climb. This is what's called a "sim-ism." Most "sim-isms are exaggerations of the ship's handing characteristics, meaning they are amplified and more sensitive requiring less input. Not only did this require more input, but it was the exact opposite input!
Joann and I aced our autopilot coupled ILS to a missed approach, our hand flown ILS to a missed and our vectors to a full VOR approach as autopilot malfunctioned over JFK. I turned the heading bug to the left to intercept the 208 radial from the JFK VOR and the ship goes right. In my confusion I'm verifying what I did and making sure I fat fingered the correct buttons in the correct sequence. I mean, I'm new and I'm going to make mistakes. Thankfully, Joann's experience kicked in (I think she knew the profile) after about 10 seconds of me muttering "what's going on here...?" and she guided me back to reality ensuring me the auto pilot had indeed failed. We (I) regrouped and refocused using CRM and landed safely back at JFK to end the session.
My goal in any training event is to be somewhere between the best the instructor has ever seen and the worst to date. Jim seemed happy even as Joann bolted for the door (I was told to her son's birthday party--suspect) during the debrief, systems review and preview and assignment for the next day's classroom and sim sessions. Tomorrow will be the last day the airplane works without a single failure (minus the last takeoff and landing my intuition is telling me) for the next 6 days. While I fly the V with everything broken I'll test my flying ability and challenge my command-leadership.
Training and testing is what helps make us better pilots and operate as professionals even if we are not. Professional is a mindset and philosophy that Elite Aviation Training teaches and encourages our students to follow every lesson, every flight. Elite's instructors do the same even when they are the student!
My Simcom Instructor, Jim Lawson, is a retired American Eagle airlines captain. We briefly chatted about the airline industry for a few minutes before getting down to business. Jim then startled me by offering the opportunity to save 2 days of training by means of the upgrade program since I was already SIC typed in the V with about 30 hours logged. I politely declined. Since I am the only customer in the course, I received one-on-one attention as we dissected the V's operating limitations, power plant and fuel system. As you can imagine, this scenario has its pros and cons when it's time to answer end of unit review questions.
After a brief break, and a briefing on what tasks we were going to accomplish in the simulator, I was introduced to my training co-pilot, Joann. Joann is a twice furloughed United Airlines pilot and seat filler when folks like me go through the course without a training partner. She did her job professionally reminding me of simulator nuances as we taxied out and departed 4R at JFK, flew to the practice area and carried on through the stall series, steep turns and finally ATC vectors back to JFK for some approach work.
Simulators run on computer programs. 1 + 2 = 3. Everytime. Always. Never, never have I flown a simulator that acted exactly opposite of how the actual aircraft behaved. When flaps are selected in many aircraft there is a tendency for the airplane to balloon and gain a bit of altitude. An experienced pilot anticipates this behavior and compensates with the appropriate control input. When selecting flaps in the real world the aircraft, in described, balloons. In the sim, the aircraft sank requiring quite a bit of back pressure on the yolk for what seemed like eternity before it wanted to climb. This is what's called a "sim-ism." Most "sim-isms are exaggerations of the ship's handing characteristics, meaning they are amplified and more sensitive requiring less input. Not only did this require more input, but it was the exact opposite input!
Joann and I aced our autopilot coupled ILS to a missed approach, our hand flown ILS to a missed and our vectors to a full VOR approach as autopilot malfunctioned over JFK. I turned the heading bug to the left to intercept the 208 radial from the JFK VOR and the ship goes right. In my confusion I'm verifying what I did and making sure I fat fingered the correct buttons in the correct sequence. I mean, I'm new and I'm going to make mistakes. Thankfully, Joann's experience kicked in (I think she knew the profile) after about 10 seconds of me muttering "what's going on here...?" and she guided me back to reality ensuring me the auto pilot had indeed failed. We (I) regrouped and refocused using CRM and landed safely back at JFK to end the session.
My goal in any training event is to be somewhere between the best the instructor has ever seen and the worst to date. Jim seemed happy even as Joann bolted for the door (I was told to her son's birthday party--suspect) during the debrief, systems review and preview and assignment for the next day's classroom and sim sessions. Tomorrow will be the last day the airplane works without a single failure (minus the last takeoff and landing my intuition is telling me) for the next 6 days. While I fly the V with everything broken I'll test my flying ability and challenge my command-leadership.
Training and testing is what helps make us better pilots and operate as professionals even if we are not. Professional is a mindset and philosophy that Elite Aviation Training teaches and encourages our students to follow every lesson, every flight. Elite's instructors do the same even when they are the student!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Super Cool
I had a college professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that was cool. He was fair and relatable as an instructor. He assigned homework, but not busy work. He understood the senior in college "graduation-itis" syndrome. For "therapy" he rides motorcycles and flies airplanes. Cool. In fact, he took a cross country motorcycle ride and documented it on Facebook. Way cool. Thousands of ERAU graduates have taken his courses and have gone on to be successful in their endeavors and careers partly due to his mentoring and career advice. Super cool.
As with any strong reputation, (both good and bad) there can be an inherent danger of confusion. As related to aircraft icing, super cool water droplets are nowhere near as cool as the college professor I described earlier. These insidious water droplets are killers of aircraft and pilots, a true misnomer. A well publicized aircraft accident involving a Colgan Air commuter plane on approach in icing conditions into Buffalo, NY on February 12, 2009 illustrated this important point. The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) provides an excellent animation of this fatal accident of an aircraft that was certified for flying into this type of weather condition. For more information on this accident and its aftermath, read the NTSB's accident synopsis.
As most pilots know, unlike transport category aircraft, many general aviation aircraft are not certified by the FAA to fly into what is commonly known as flight into known icing, or FIKI because the certification process of the required equipment is time consuming and expensive. To remember if your aircraft has anti-ice only equipment and/or deice equipment remember this: anti-icing equipment is turned on before entering icing conditions and is designed to prevent ice from forming whereas deicing equipment is designed to remove ice after it begins to accumulate on the airframe. The obvious danger is a layer of ice no thicker or rougher than a piece of coarse sandpaper can reduce lift by 30 percent and increase drag up to 40 percent. Even aircraft equipped and certified for FIKI are significantly affected by ice accumulation on unprotected areas of the aircraft.
Super cooled water droplets are defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as "Liquid water that is below 0°C, or water that stays in liquid form if undisturbed even though it has been cooled to a temperature below its normal freezing point. The smaller and purer the water droplets, the more likely they can become supercooled." Because these droplets are held in suspension as liquid below freezing, the primary danger of them is they freeze on impact to any surface of the aircraft as illustrated in the following graphic in step number 5 and can cause all sorts of havoc.
There are numerous sources and training aid on planning for, avoiding and mitigating inadvertent flying into icing conditions. Check out NASA's Glenn Research Center web page for more detailed information on aircraft icing and complete the free training on this deadly topic. Many aviation managers and professional pilots view aircraft icing training as an essential industry "best practice" and complete it on an annual basis as any recurrent training.
Like other flying seasons, winter flying in the snow belt poses its own unique challenges that pilots must assuage. It's definitely not a time to hang up the wings for 3-4 months and wait it out. EVERY pilot should ALWAYS respect FAR 91. 527 (known as the Clean Aircraft Concept), execute proper planning and diligent methodology as essential functions for a safe and enjoyable winter flying experience. Check out Elite Aviation Training for current dates and times of our winter flying seminar, "Icing the Cake: Winter Flying Operations".
Have fun flying this winter season and leave the icing to the cake!
Tailwinds...
As with any strong reputation, (both good and bad) there can be an inherent danger of confusion. As related to aircraft icing, super cool water droplets are nowhere near as cool as the college professor I described earlier. These insidious water droplets are killers of aircraft and pilots, a true misnomer. A well publicized aircraft accident involving a Colgan Air commuter plane on approach in icing conditions into Buffalo, NY on February 12, 2009 illustrated this important point. The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) provides an excellent animation of this fatal accident of an aircraft that was certified for flying into this type of weather condition. For more information on this accident and its aftermath, read the NTSB's accident synopsis.
As most pilots know, unlike transport category aircraft, many general aviation aircraft are not certified by the FAA to fly into what is commonly known as flight into known icing, or FIKI because the certification process of the required equipment is time consuming and expensive. To remember if your aircraft has anti-ice only equipment and/or deice equipment remember this: anti-icing equipment is turned on before entering icing conditions and is designed to prevent ice from forming whereas deicing equipment is designed to remove ice after it begins to accumulate on the airframe. The obvious danger is a layer of ice no thicker or rougher than a piece of coarse sandpaper can reduce lift by 30 percent and increase drag up to 40 percent. Even aircraft equipped and certified for FIKI are significantly affected by ice accumulation on unprotected areas of the aircraft.
Super cooled water droplets are defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as "Liquid water that is below 0°C, or water that stays in liquid form if undisturbed even though it has been cooled to a temperature below its normal freezing point. The smaller and purer the water droplets, the more likely they can become supercooled." Because these droplets are held in suspension as liquid below freezing, the primary danger of them is they freeze on impact to any surface of the aircraft as illustrated in the following graphic in step number 5 and can cause all sorts of havoc.
 |
| Courtesy National Weather Service |
There are numerous sources and training aid on planning for, avoiding and mitigating inadvertent flying into icing conditions. Check out NASA's Glenn Research Center web page for more detailed information on aircraft icing and complete the free training on this deadly topic. Many aviation managers and professional pilots view aircraft icing training as an essential industry "best practice" and complete it on an annual basis as any recurrent training.
Like other flying seasons, winter flying in the snow belt poses its own unique challenges that pilots must assuage. It's definitely not a time to hang up the wings for 3-4 months and wait it out. EVERY pilot should ALWAYS respect FAR 91. 527 (known as the Clean Aircraft Concept), execute proper planning and diligent methodology as essential functions for a safe and enjoyable winter flying experience. Check out Elite Aviation Training for current dates and times of our winter flying seminar, "Icing the Cake: Winter Flying Operations".
Have fun flying this winter season and leave the icing to the cake!
Tailwinds...
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Practice Makes Proficient
According to the experts that know, the economy has bottomed out and taken a turn for improvement. While this is good news all around, in the terms of aviation and especially pilot proficiency, this is compelling news. Because of the heavy toll the economy's downward spiral took on pilot's disposable income, the total number of general aviation flight hours has decreased steadily since 2007; the year economic experts agree the world-wide recession began. For those with a pilot's license, the choice between maintaining flying proficiency and spending disposable income became less difficult. For many, flying took a backseat to heightened financial awareness.
Now, companies in the private sector are hiring, adding jobs and once again putting money into the pockets of pilots nationwide. Being proficient means being knowledgeable, demonstrating competency and maintaining aptitude (which we discussed last time). Increased disposable income should follow increased proficiency, and as GA flight hours once again increase, a reduced accident rate. But, we human beings forget things and become rusty. At one time in my life I knew all the State's capital cities in alphabetical order. Now, not so much.
Flying combines fine motor skills (muscle memory), spatial orientation and an intellectual component. Said another way, flying is a marriage of physics, math, law, motor skill, decision making, critical thinking...did I forget anything? Simply put, there's a lot to remember and a lot to forget! There are a number of to keep all that knowledge fresh in the mind. How are we as the pilot community going to increase flying hours and keep the accident rate low?
Beyond hitting the books and re-reading the most current FAR/AIM or other various hard bound (and stale) publications, a great free way to keep current is to subscribe to any number of free electronic publications like (reading this blog) AOPA's Aviation eBrief, PilotWorkshops.com Pilot's Tip of the Week and Flying magazine's newsletter, to name a few. Also, you can join Elite Aviation Training's mailing list and receive our informative newsletter. The FAA Safety Team hosts a website that offers a searchable clearing house of aviation training seminars and events, hosted by FAASTeam reps, like Elite Aviation Training, from around the country on many aviation topics of interest. Most of the training events are free. Another free way to help maintain proficiency is to simply chair fly.
Running checklists, imagining conversations with ATC and role playing emergency scenarios does have its stark limitations. Getting an hour in the simulator with an instructor is more beneficial for practicing instrument procedures, but any affordable simulator that GA pilots can rent lack the fidelity to practice takeoffs and landings and any VFR procedures, including flying straight and level. Arguably, the best way to maintain proficiency is to actually fly an airplane with a certified instructor. Smelling the avgas, talking to authentic ATC personnel, feeling the weight of the controls and seeing the rotation of the propeller makes the experience as real as it gets. People become pilots to fly airplanes and enjoy the adventure not to sit in a dark room and stare at computer monitors.
If you haven’t flown in a while, Elite Aviation Training offers a Proficiency Evaluation for any pilot certification level, including single engine and multi-engine ratings as well as instrument rated and VFR only pilots. The first defense in any potential aviation accident is recent training with a highly qualified and certified instructor. Contact Elite today and we will begin your Personalized and Comprehensive proficiency evaluation.
So, let's knock the rust off the wings and get flying!
Tailwinds...
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