Aviation Safety

The following briefs were selected from the 223 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in August 2001. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed.

Aug. 01, Sugar Grove, Ill.
Beech Bonanza
At 11:31 central time, a Beech A36 lost engine power and was damaged in the ensuing forced landing. The pilot was not injured. The flight was a post-maintenance test flight and the airplane had just come from its annual inspection. A ground run showed no anomalies, but during a post-accident inspection it appeared a fuel line had loosened enough to leak but not enough to come off its f…

[IMGCAP(1)]The key for all landings is the pilots ability to estimate how the airplane will descend to its landing. This ability directly affects the timing of configuration and power changes and the amount of maneuvering that might be necessary to arrive at a suitable touchdown point. The pilot needs to be able to maintain the correct glide angle while maneuvering the airplane.

The most important ability – and it comes easier for pilots with glider flight experience – is the ability to estimate the gliding angle and what distance can be picked up with it. All pilots should be able to do a pretty good job of estimating where their airplane is going to land, knowing the normal glide ang…

[IMGCAP(1)]Ill admit right up front that I live for winter. After dealing with the sweltering heat and high density altitudes of the summer, its a relief to have the cooler temperatures.

However, there are the obvious dangers with operating in a snowy climate, to include frost and snow covered aircraft surfaces, snow covered runways, rapidly changing weather, lower visibilities, more hours of darkness and icing, just to name a few.

In snow country, the preparation for a winter flight is more time-consuming than a summer flight because of these conditions, and requires some additional items and procedures.

When planning a winter GA flight, watch The Weather Channel. You can get…

[IMGCAP(1)]The first time a pilot on an ILS approach sneaks under the glide-slope is almost always a situation where he is on an ILS final, approaching minimums. Hes close to decision height and suddenly there are patches of ground appearing intermittently below. An instant later, the strobes are visible. He drops below the glide path and the runway is straight ahead. The pilot later realizes that remaining on glide slope at decision height would have meant executing a missed approach and possibly a trip to the alternate airport.

On the next gamble, he descends a little bit more below the glideslope path – and it works again. In fact it may work a number of times. The best estimates i…

[IMGCAP(1)]I was driving down a country road when I had to blink to make certain I wasnt hallucinating. There was a Cessna 152 by the side of the road. It was undamaged, which was surprising because the road had a number of power lines running along it.

I stopped to see if the person standing next to the aircraft was okay. He said the flight instructor had pulled the mixture to simulate an engine failure when they were doing S turns along a road. The student had few options for an emergency landing area and chose the road. There was no time to try re-starting the engine.

The student said the flight instructor had walked down the road to try to find a better stretch of the road for…

Theres a classic childrens story in which a little train says I think I can, I think I can – and lo and behold, it can. The power of mind over body is ably summed up in the tale, as it is in cliches such as when theres a will, theres a way.

But whos fooling whom?

Sure, there are times when you can suck it up and get through whatever it is you have to get through. Who hasnt had to work through a deadline or clear a fallen tree before dawn or pull an all-nighter through college? Sometimes you just have to do it.

But for every time you manage to endure the agony, there are countless times when you punt. With your exhaustion swaddling you like a Los Angeles smog, you wearily…