A number of years ago a friend called to tell me his chilling tale of a low-IFR departure in his turboprop. Shortly after takeoff, the controller warned him of an impending collision with a mountain range two miles ahead.
Trust, but Verify
A number of years ago a friend called to tell me his chilling tale of a low-IFR departure in his turboprop. Shortly after takeoff, the controller warned him of an impending collision with a mountain range two miles ahead.
Key Takeaways:
- A slaving failure in a slaved HSI system, such as the BendixKing KCS55A, can cause significant, unannounced heading errors (e.g., 60 degrees) despite the instrument appearing normal, leading to dangerous situations.
- To mitigate such failures, pilots can switch the HSI from "slaved" to "free" mode and manually adjust for gyro precession, similar to a traditional directional gyro.
- The incident emphasizes two critical lessons: always understand how to operate your aircraft systems in all modes, and never solely trust one instrument, but rather consistently crosscheck all readings.
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