Aviation Safety

In our February 2013 issue, we briefly discussed the late USAF Col. John Boyds famous OODA Loop, a decision-making process originally developed to assist fighter pilots in air combat training. We noted, Key to understanding and implementing the OODA Loop, according to Boyd, was the accuracy and rate with which we step through the decision-making process. If we fail to accurately assess our environment, we cant make effective decisions. If we fail to make those decisions quickly enough, external events will overtake us and also result in poor decisions. The OODA Loop is derived from the acronym formed by it’s four basic steps: observation, orientation, decision and action.

You want me to do what? You didnt say it aloud, but you may well have been thinking it when the controller directed, N12345, hold northeast of XYZ on the 050 radial, 20 DME fix, three-mile legs. Expect further clearance at 45 past the hour; time now 20 past the hour. A hold? Who holds anymore?

My 1954 Cessna 180 was mostly stock when I bought it. That didnt last long. I quickly added a STOL kit, wing extensions and bigger tires. As a result, the stall speed went down, useful load went up and, to a degree, the pilots operating handbook, POH, became a work of fiction because it no longer matches the actual airplane. This outcome is not uncommon.

Around 600 BCE, Lao Tzu quit a good government job to seek his fulfillment in nature. He summarized his resulting thoughts in the Tao Te Ching, which can be translated as something like The Way of Nature. Its central tenet is that wisdom can be achieved by accepting reality and its causes, and responding accordingly. Questioning or pushing back against nature causes disharmony. In essence, one must go with the flow of nature to avoid unhappiness.

It had been a long day: Several hours breathing O2 in the low teens, covering more than 1000 nm. But I was on the ground, safe and sound, at Cheap Gas Muni. I was all topped off and on the takeoff roll for the short hop to Cheap Hangar Field. I had to do some broken-field running to get here late on this summer afternoon, but thanks to Nexrad and ATC, I was able to avoid the big bumps and hadnt even gotten wet.

Have you encountered a situation or hazardous condition that yielded lessons on how to better manage the risks involved in flying? Do you have an experience to share with Aviation Safetys readers about an occasion that taught you something significant about ways to conduct safer flight operations? If so, we want to hear about it.

Ive been thinking about recent attempts to produce and bring to the market refurbished aircraft, especially of types no longer in production, like the Cessna 150/152. These are worthy efforts, and can be a good option when the economics work out. Theres a lot of life left in Cessnas 150/152 series, and modernizing them for the flying club market can make sense under the right circumstances.

The left main gear downlock actuator failed while the airplane was airborne and the landing gear was in the up position. Since the lock collapsed into its locked position before the gear was down, the left main gear was out of sequence. The result was that the pilot followed the flight manual procedure of pumping the gear fully up and then making an emergency gear-up landing.Part total time: 3379 hours

Your article on GPS approaches featuring WAAS-enhanced glidepath generation was very informative and clarified a number of points. There is also another approach which is not an official FAA approach and, as far as I know, is only available using Garmin WAAS navigators. It is a LNAV+V approach, and you will not see it on the minima section of an approach chart.

At about 1050 Eastern time, the airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted trees and terrain after a losing control during initial climb. The airline transport pilot and passenger were fatally injured. Visual conditions prevailed.