Mismanaging Flight Energy

Friday, November 18, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Loss of control in-flight (LOC-I), a major cause of fatal GA accidents, often results from energy mismanagement, which involves failing to maintain an appropriate balance of kinetic energy (airspeed) and potential energy (altitude).
Pilots are most susceptible to energy mismanagement during critical flight phases like takeoff, climb, landing, and maneuvering, particularly when close to the runway where the total energy state is lowest.
Common energy mismanagement scenarios include attempting to fly too slow at low altitude (insufficient EKIN/EPOT), too fast with excessive altitude (too much EKIN/EPOT), or aggressively maneuvering with high wing loading.
Effective energy management is crucial for flight safety, requiring pilots to constantly monitor and adjust their airspeed and altitude using flight controls and engine power, and to make timely decisions like go-arounds to prevent stalls or other LOC-I situations.

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Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a two-part series on flight energy management, describing what it is and how we can use it to enhance safety. The first part ran in November’s issue.

Loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) has become the safety issue du jour, and justifiably so. According to the NTSB, between 2001 and 2011, over 40 percent of fatal fixed-wing GA accidents occurred because pilots lost control of their airplanes. Takeoff and climb, landing and maneuvering are regarded to be the flight phases in which pilots are most susceptible to LOC-I, as the bar graphs on the opposite page detail. And LOC-I almost always results from pilot error. We can lose control whenever we expect too much of the aircraft or expect the aircraft to do something it can’t do. For example, attempting to fly with too much load factor while turning from base to final in the traffic pattern precipitates a stall, and is a major factor in the ways pilots lose control.