A number of years ago a friend called to tell me his chilling tale of a low-IFR departure in his turboprop. Shortly after takeoff, the controller warned him of an impending collision with a mountain range two miles ahead.
Trust, but Verify
A number of years ago a friend called to tell me his chilling tale of a low-IFR departure in his turboprop. Shortly after takeoff, the controller warned him of an impending collision with a mountain range two miles ahead.
Key Takeaways:
- A pilot experienced a near-collision due to a slaving failure in a BendixKing KCS55A slaved HSI, which displayed an incorrect heading (nearly 60 degrees off) while appearing to function normally.
- In the event of such a failure, pilots can switch the slaved HSI system from "slaved" to "free" mode to manually adjust for gyro precession.
- The incident underscores two critical lessons: always understand all operational modes of your systems and consistently crosscheck instrument readings, never solely trusting one display.
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