Aviation Safety

The twin 350 hp engines were droning smoothly in the background, sending a pleasant tickle through the soles of my feet. From where I sat behind the panel, everything looked good.

The moving map on the GPS showed we were right on course, with an ETA of about 90 minutes. The on-board radar showed light rain ahead, but no thunderstorms or other nastiness. We had plenty of fuel on board, with the tanks reading nearly half full each. The autopilot was engaged and held our course through the occasional light chop.

Outside, visibility through a murky low was about 50 feet, but we cruised along smartly because, hey, there was nothing to hit. While the poor visibility was making my passengers…

File this one under Pilot as good guy, sometimes to a fault.

I like to help out controllers when I can. If the departure end of the airport is stacked with departures while Im making a leisurely VFR approach, Im quick to volunteer to extend downwind to let a couple of airplanes out. If Im in a slow airplane approaching final in front of a fast one, Ill offer to take a vector or turn to put me behind the other airplane.

While there are a lot of pilots who share this attitude, some take helpfulness to counterproductive extremes.

I was transitioning some busy airspace recently when a pilot called the tower, reporting inbound from the southwest. The controller asked his positi…

Ask yourself the following question: Which has more influence on the safety of your next flight: inflight weather-related decisions or stick and rudder skills?

Odds are, those who use their airplanes for serious transportation will opt for the weather decisions, while those who do primary instruction or fly recreationally will choose the stick and rudder skills. The accident record shows that both are important, and for all kinds of airplanes. Just as there are Super Decathlons that occasionally stumble VFR into IMC, so there are Cessna 210s that depart the runway following a loss of control due to a crosswind.

Risk management says you need to assess the type of flight youre about to…

The following information is derived from the FAAs Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts. Click here to view “Airworthiness Directives.”

———-

Recently, a Cessna 172R made an off-airport landing after the pilot/CFI was unable to restart the engine following a power-off stall demonstration. The engine idle speed and fuel flow setting were found to be out of adjustment.

Other model 172R and 172S aircraft were examined and found to exhibit settings that were as much out of adjustment or worse than the one involved in the off-airport landing.

Reports concerning 182S and T206H models indicate this problem may involve…

I enjoyed reading the article Spinning a Tangled Web by John Lowery [Airmanship, April], however, some of his references to the T-37 spin characteristics and recovery procedures are incorrect. I have over 3000 hours instructor pilot time in the Tweet and Johns interpretation of the spin procedure is one of the little things that frustrated a lot of us IPs in Undergraduate Pilot Training.

Instructor training offered some real student interpretation challenges also, especially from instructor candidates coming from Century series aircraft. The T-37 spin recovery procedure calls for Throttles idle, rudder and ailerons neutral, stick – abruptly apply full AFT and hold, determine d…

The following briefs were selected from the 176 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in May 2002. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed. Click here to view “Accident Totals, May.”

———-

May 01, Baltimore, Md.
Beech 400A
At 1653 eastern time, a Beechjet 400A overran the runway during landing at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The two pilots and four passengers were not injured. The captain was making the landing and did not hear the flight cleared for a visual approach. As the copilot began programming the…

Remember that pilot personality self-survey, with the half-dozen psycho babble attitudes guaranteed to make a smoking hole? There was resigned, anti-authority, impulsive, macho and invulnerable.

We think a more accurate way to assess whether a pilot falls into one of these groups is to connect him to an EEG and see which button lights up following the words, Caution wake turbulence, departing 757.

Would your button be Resigned? Impulsive? Invulnerable? If you dont spend your spare time tearing up gyros for fun, the prospect of an uncommanded flight upset might make your blood run cold.

A better-than-average grasp of airmanship may cause you to understand that the instinct to p…

Any cloud connected to a severe thunderstorm carries the threat of violence. – AC 00-6A

One of the dangerous myths of aviation is that of the all-weather general aviation airplane. And while its true that modern technology has done wonders in making flying more reliable and safer, its important to remember that Mother Nature always has the last word. Heres an important case in point.

This mishap involved a turbocharged Piper Saratoga that broke up in flight in the vicious winds found in and around severe thunderstorms. The pilot was attempting to find his way through a band of thunderstorms, which extended from northeast to southwest over central New Mexico. Two cells ne…

Aviation is full of mysteries. Perhaps rooted in reality, they take on an almost mythical air about them. Pilots know they are true, without being able to justify that position and without really knowing where that knowledge came from.

The downwind turn, operating lean of peak and flying on the step have all been part of that aviation lore – and in fact may be so still for some pilots.

The fact is that many pilots treat their airplanes like its a complex remote control for a big screen TV. They know only enough about its operation to meet their anticipated daily needs. Instead of studying the book on the airplane and engine, they put their effort into learning to fly instrument a…

Its crucial to learn the right habits from your very first flights because they form the foundation of your skills for the rest of your flying career.

When the proverbial fertilizer hits the fan, people tend to revert to their earliest patterns of responses. The problem is, sometimes thats not the right response.

During a badly bounced landing for example, the pilot has very little altitude and airspeed to use in trying to execute a go around or other recovery. In most aircraft, a go-around requires bringing the nose up to about 5 degrees above the horizon and adding full power.

Thats apparently what the crew of a Twin Otter tried to do after a bounced landing. This tale isnt…