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 pilot narrowly avoided a mountain collision due to a slaving failure in his HSI, which caused a nearly 60-degree heading error despite the instrument appearing normal.
- Slaved HSI systems, like the BendixKing KCS55A, can experience a common failure mode where slaving circuitry malfunctions, leading to significant heading errors.
- In case of a slaving failure, pilots can switch the HSI to "free" mode and manually adjust for gyro precession, similar to a traditional directional gyro.
- The incident highlights two crucial lessons: pilots must understand all operational modes of their instruments and always cross-check readings, never solely trusting one display.
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