Aviation Safety

The FAA has set minimum requirements that pilots must meet in order to legally fly, but meeting those minimums probably arent enough to keep you safe.

A couple of years ago Daniel Webster College established an orientation program for incoming freshmen in which they would be indoctrinated into the ways of college life. One speaker, a professor of Humanities, discussed the virtues of the educated man in days gone by versus the learned man or woman of today. One of his points was that although there was a time when an individual could, in fact, read every book in existence and learn all that educated people should know, those days were long gone. His point was that it is no longer possib…

There comes a time in every pilots career when they get ready to launch on a flight they really shouldnt make.

The warning signs are there. Maybe the pilot isnt feeling up to snuff. Maybe the mechanical health of the airplane is suspect. Maybe the weather is either threatening to go bad or already is below the pilots or legal minimums.

This is the stuff of flying. Forget about stick and rudder. Forget about IFR radio technique. Forget about navigation. Think instead about the C that comes with being PIC. Command. It implies the skill to measure the likelihood of a favorable outcome and the wisdom to know if the risk is worth the outcome. In short, its the competition between judgm…

Some 14 months ago, 20 people died when a U.S. Marines Prowler cut a ski gondola cable in a valley near Cavalese, Italy. Captain Richard Ashby, the pilot, and Captain Joseph Schwitzer, the navigator, were facing trial on criminal charges as this issue went to press. Although the easy explanation is that the jet was flying too fast and too low through the valley, the scenario includes another twist.

Air crews rely on maps given to them by the United States to plan their mission, says Frank Spinner, a civilian lawyer hired to assist Ashbys military lawyers. When you have an uncharted obstruction that goes 500 feet above ground level smack in the middle of an approved low-altitude route,…

Like it or not, some pilots hibernate during the winter. Their return to the air in spring brings numerous special hazards – to themselves and to others. Woe to the pilot who wakes the airplane from its long winters nap on the first warming day of spring with nary a thought to what may have happened to both his skills and the planes airworthiness during the cold winter months.

Piloting skills, of course, erode after a few months layoff. To a degree, deterioration of flying skills is related to experience. If youve accumulated tens of thousands of hours and have flown the same aircraft for years, then the adverse impact of a short vacation from flying will be relatively slight. On the…

You may see it coming, a boiling black cloud looming in your windshield. Others will have pinned you in on either side, making penetration likely.

More likely you will not. Youll be in the clouds and pick up a little turbulence. Then a little more. Then the rain starts. It may be torrential, but you hang on, thinking itll soon be over. The sudden flash of lightning and instant crack of thunder suddenly slam you with the reality that youve gone and done something stupid.

Youve flown into a thunderstorm. Hang on, the ride is going to get wild.Tales of airplanes being ripped apart by thunderstorms are held up time and again by instructors warning the unwary against thunderstorm penet…

I thought I would send you a note of something that really could have ruined my day.

I had asked a friend to go flying with me one evening. The sunsets here in North Dakota are fantastic and I thought she might really enjoy seeing them from a different perspective. I had already pre-flighted the airplane when she called and said she would be late. I told her I would take-off and do some landing drills while I awaited her arrival.

We have a small non-towered airport and I explained that when she arrived that she should park next to my vehicle on the ramp and keep her headlights on and I would then taxi to her and pick her up.

When she arrived I landed and taxied to her, facing the…

A Piper PA28-181 Archer crashed in night IMC approximately two miles from its destination airport, killing the pilot and passenger. The aircraft was destroyed. The instrument rated commercial pilot had approximately 300 hours total time, including 70 hours actual or simulated IMC and 90 hours in the accident aircraft. Witnesses reported hearing the engine begin to run roughly then go silent followed by the sound of impact a few moments later. FAA investigators drained less than one gallon of fuel from the left wing tank and found only trace amounts of fuel in the right tank. Fuel starvation was listed as the cause of the accident.

I have read dozens of accident reports similar the one a…

About five years ago I was a student pilot with about 35 hours, when it came time for me and my CFI to try a dual cross-country flight.

We planned to depart Merrill Field in Anchorage, Alaska, that morning and fly direct to Ruth Glacier on the flank of 20,300-ft. Mt. McKinley. When I entered the hangar where my rented C-172 was parked, the owner greeted me and said that Mike, another student, had fueled the airplane the night before, flown one-half hour practicing touch-and-goes, then landed and returned the airplane to its hangar.

He also assured me that, to save time, the Skyhawk had already been pre-flighted and was ready to go. My instructor came in and also said the airplane…

While waiting at the hold short line for runway 25 in the clubs Cessna 172, my instructor mentioned that there was a government King Air rolling up behind us from taxiway Alpha.

I was cleared for takeoff from our 3,947-foot msl airport to the practice area. This meant a right turn at 500 feet agl then staying below 5,500 feet until cleared higher. At 300 feet agl the tower asked me to start the right turn toward the practice area and to stay below 6,500. I presumed this was to clear the way for the King Air traffic and get our high-priced helped back to the legislature. Shortly after my turn, the King Air was cleared to take off. While climbing through 5,000 I made a quick instrument s…

I was on a cross-country flight in instrument weather with my family in a rented Cessna 177RG. We were headed from Houston to Graham, Texas, which is west of Fort Worth.

This model 177 does not allow selection of the right fuel tank or left fuel tank only. Its similar to a 152 in that the choice is either fuel on or fuel off. I was surprised when I checked out in the airplane and flew an instrument refresher two days prior to the trip that a complex airplane was designed in this manner – and I have more than 5,800 hours in light aircraft and another 2,200 in jets and turboprops.

I was at 4,000 feet when, after about 1 hour of flying time, I became convinced I was experiencing a fuel i…