Search Results for: Lear 45

Its a terrible feeling to be in an aircraft when something goes wrong and all you can see are your options narrowing. Although aviation psychologists have suggested a number of techniques for decision making, some seem too complicated for the cockpit.

When forced to make multiple decisions, navigate, communicate, and control the aircraft in a stressful environment, the KISS method – keep it simple, stupid – is probably best. There is a simple concept pilots should employ in their decision making, and it boils down to five words: Keep a safe way out.

This begins with flight planning. Most people would agree that a good flight begins with a good plan, and keeping a safe way out shoul…

With all too chilling regularity, pilots who fly close to the ground wind up on the losing side of the battle against wires, towers and other obstructions.

There are many reasons pilots fly too close to obstructions, and some of them are legitimate. Forced landings are what they are. Approaches to and takeoffs from small airports carry risks that may be unavoidable. Buzzing, enjoying the scenery down low and pressing on into lowering ceilings, however, open the aircraft to extraordinary risk from stationary objects.

Agricultural pilots, by the very nature of their jobs, operate in an airspace filled with obstacles of every description. Avoiding electric transmission cables, towers of v…

The following briefs were selected from the 105 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in November 1999. 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, November.”

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Nov. 2, Stites, Idaho
Hiller UH-12
At approximately 11:18 PST, a Hiller UH-12E suffered an inflight separation of a control rotor, after which the helicopter struck power lines and crashed. The pilot and one passenger were seriously injured; a third occupant was not injured. The pilot said he was on a fish-spotting mission at…

Aviation Safety has stated that there are basically two smoking guns with the Tomahawks history: the stall/spin and yoke [Aircraft Analysis, February]. As a private pilot with nearly 400 hours in a privately owned Tomahawk, I can only comment on what Ive witnessed.

The yoke problem, as mentioned in the article, was addressed by a couple of SBs. Prior to flight, I commence several box checks with the yoke and have never had the aircraft give a hint of yoke lockup. Regardless, if the yoke bushing is found to be faulty, it can be remedied with an engineering fix followed by another, more thought out, SB, AD or STC. Happily, a replacement bushing or bracket should be a relatively painless r…

Last year, my wife and I were flying our newly acquired Piper Cherokee 235 cross-country from Virginia to Oregon, where we planned to help my parents celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.

After dodging late-summer thunderstorms over Indiana and enjoying big, thick steaks in Grand Island, Neb., we departed for our next refueling stop in Rock Springs, Wyo. We climbed to 10,000 feet and cruised IFR above a low cloud deck. On the airway between North Platte and Scottsbluff, I noticed the oil pressure was beginning to fluctuate slightly.

The big Lycoming O-540 was roaring along and hadnt missed a beat, and the oil temperature was steady and in the green. A few miles later, the fluctu…

The accident record of overshoots and undershoots makes it clear that some people dont practice maximum performance landings enough, but you dont have to review the statistics to convince yourself its true.

Just sit out where you can watch the touchdown zone at an airport with a relatively long runway. Airplane after airplane will show that the pilot cares less about style points than somehow getting the thing on the ground.

Some will dive in at the speed of blazing heat and float halfway down the runway. Some will come in high and land 2,500 feet from the approach end. In either case, touchdown may be followed by the squeal of tires and a half-mile back taxi to the ramp.

A fe…

Pilots in the traffic pattern worry enough about looking for other airplanes that many ignore helicopters, even when tower controllers call out the traffic. The reasoning may be something like: They dont fly patterns that interfere with airplanes, so theyre not a collision threat, and theyre so much smaller than an airliner, how bad could a wake vortex really be?

The risk of collision is something only the pilot in the pattern can assess, but the threat of wake vortices from helicopters is actually much more ominous than most pilots realize.

Real-world research into the effect of helicopter rotor vortices on general aviation aircraft shows that some of the characteristics are the sa…

The article on the Payne Stewart accident [Critical Moments, January] was a well-written discussion of the hazards of flying corporate airplanes at high altitude. I would like to add two points.

When I first joined the airlines, I had not had the benefit of military training. My airline refused to allow their pilots to take altitude chamber rides unless they were in the National Guard or Reserves. Like most pilots who have not been exposed to the effects of hypoxia, I didnt believe the training movies. It wasnt until I left the airline and had to take the training that I became a believer.

Second, I think the rule requiring one pilot to wear a mask above FL350 or when the other p…

I was flying my PA-24-250 Comanche to Lee Airport in Annapolis, Md. It was a beautiful VFR day and, as always, I was taking advantage of ATC flight following. Everything went smoothly until Andrews Approach Control terminated radar services and instructed me to squawk VFR.

Approaching from the south, I noted again the orientation of the single runway, 12-30. There is no automated weather at Lee, so I tuned in to CTAF for traffic advisories and to hear which runway was in use. At this point, things got confusing.

The first response to my call for traffic advisories was a female voice stating she was about to take off using runway 30, and that the wind had been fluky lately. Shortly…

Year after year, airline flights operated under FAR Part 121 get top billing for safest category of flight. This should come as no surprise, considering the many well-known safety advantages enjoyed by airline pilots.

They receive the best training around, including high-fidelity, full-motion simulator training not available to most GA pilots. Their job performance is closely scrutinized by their peers, by management, and by the FAA. An average line holder flies 700 to 900 hours every year, so they generally enjoy a high level of currency and comfort with the airplane they fly.

The hardware is often the best that Boeing or Airbus offers, with better performance margins and greater…