Aviation Safety

The days mission was a relatively simple out and back to a Class C airport, a couple of hours on the ground, and back to home plate. It was about 45 minutes of flying time each way. Although it was spring in Texas, the same weather would be a nice but humid peak summer day in many locations. White puffies with bases around 3500 feet msl and extending to at least 10,000 were everywhere.

When the curriculum gets around to risk-management topics, one of the hazardous attitudes we learn about in ground school is invulnerability. The thing is this trait isnt necessarily about feeling as if we ourselves are bulletproof, but rather the notion that bad things happen to people other than ourselves. I have been a victim of this more than once. Dont worry-no sheet metal was bent.

When I got my private at age 18, I was flying a Cessna 152 off a pasture. It didnt take much to memorize the steps necessary to get the old girl started: I followed the old adage, Kick the tires and light the fires. When the checklist said, Gas on fullest tank, it was pretty easy, since the 152s fuel selector is an on/off affair and always draws from both tanks. In my 18-year-old brain, the checklist seemed like an unnecessary list of the obvious. It either directed me to change the airplanes configuration to what it already was in or change it to one that was patently obvious given the stage of flight. In short, my early experiences did not help me build the best of habits.

I was motoring home from New Orleans a couple of months ago, sliding eastbound along the shoreline, IFR at 9000 feet. After a controller gave me a frequency change for the next controller, I switched over and listened, which I always do when coming onto a new frequency. The first transmission I heard was a pilot saying something like …and we have four hours of fuel aboard. Hmmm. In my experience, its rare for anyone to talk about their fuel availability on an ATC frequency unless theres an emergency in progress and ATC wants to know souls and endurance.

Its that time of year again in North America: Summer is upon us and theres nothing we can do about itwithout a passport, even if we want- ed to. The good news is we no longer have to deal with freezing precipitation, cold, low clouds hugging a run- way for warmth or preheating our engines. More good news is that the number of reasons to hop in an air- plane and go somewhere will grow. Options will include small y-ins and pancake breakfasts to the large, name-brand events, and everything in between. There is other stuff going on with the change of seasons, which may or may not be good.

Thank you for addressing the issue of VFR flight following (Hacking VFR Flight Following, May 2017)! Your piece was good enough that I recognize I sometimes have gotten short shrift from ATC due to some communications ineptitude. An item you didnt address was the loss, and subsequent efforts to reestablish, radio contact en route. Another clarification could be wording with ground control at Class C airports to request advisories prior to departure.

Its that time of year again in North America: Summer is upon us and theres nothing we can do about it without a passport, even if we wanted to. The good news is we no longer have to deal with freezing precipitation, cold, low clouds hugging a runway for warmth or preheating our engines. More good news is that the number of reasons to hop in an airplane and go somewhere will grow.

The pilot reported that when he raised the landing gear shortly after takeoff, he heard a loud crunch as the gear entered the wells. The pilot climbed the airplane to about 3000 feet and observed the landing gear circuit breaker was popped and the alternator was off. The pilot attempted to extend the landing gear normally several times, however, the circuit breaker popped each time and the gear remained retracted. The pilot also attempted to use the emergency gear extension, to no avail.

Effective May 1, 2017, you may no longer need to hold an FAA third-class medical certificate to serve as pilot in command. The change results from FAA implementing a Congressional mandate enacted last year, which directed the agency to develop appropriate regulations to eliminate the third-class medical for specified flight operations. The image below, prepared by the FAA, highlights BasicMeds major provisions.

The relatively inexpensive and ubiquitous availability of in-cockpit Nexrad weather radar has helped minimize the risk of using personal airplanes compared to, say, 30 years ago. But risk and aviation seem to be a zero-sum game, since one result of this technology is that were more likely to get up close and personal with cumulus clouds in all stages of thunderstorm development than ever before. Thats not a good thing, but it is real. Along the way, most of us havent taken to heart the technologys inherent limitations for our purposes, like latency.