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12 Days of Christmas – the ideal pilot gifts

Some of my flying blogging buddies are running a series of posts about pilot gifts. For example, Vincent wrote about his wish for a Cirrus SR-22 and Max Trescott recommended the movie FlyAbout (which I also enjoyed very much). Well, I’ve been nice and not at all naughty this year and I hope Santa will bring me a Breitling Navitimer. I like it because it looks really technical and you can use the bezel as a kind of whizzwheel calculator to do time, speed and fuel consumption calculations. The design dates back to 1952 and it was originally designed with aviators in mind.

Cirrus SR22 crash lawsuit

Let’s face it, lawsuits and legal liability are everyday facts of life – even if you life outside of the USA. Hence, Max Trescott has recently posted an 11-minute video interview with the attorneys for plaintiffs involved in a fatal January 2003 crash of a Cirrus SR22. The plaintiffs received US$16.4 million in damages as a result of the crash. However, this was after the NTSB had placed full blame on the pilot and stated the cause of the crash was “spatial disorientation.”

Like all legal cases, this one is somewhat complicated and Max does a very good job of summarizing the facts and the decision (hence, we won’t repeat the details here). However and if you are a pilot or a CFI and you also regularly fly with passengers, Max’s post and the video are well worth checking out to determine just what legal liability you could be facing should something go wrong.

Automation surprises: Something every pilot may soon experience

John Ewing has recently written an interesting post on Aviation Mentor where he noted that as general aviation becomes more and more complex, pilots should expect to experience more and more so-called “automation surprises.” What are “automation surprises” – especially in the aviation context? As John explained:

Automation surprise occurs when a system, such as a GPS receiver and/or autopilot, does something the pilot neither expected nor intended. The result is that the aircraft deviates from an assigned heading, route, altitude, or approach path and the pilot may lose situation awareness, too.

You have probably already experienced a few automation surprises behind the wheel of a new car in recent years; however, experiencing an automation surprise in an aircraft obviously carries a much greater risk. John classified various potential automation surprises into a couple of broad categories (operator error, unexpected mode changes, missing the missed approach and procedure problems) and he listed several suggestions to help pilots avoid automation surprises that are well worth repeating again here:

Know your own limits with regard to currency/proficiency
Know thy aircraft’s equipment
Monitor what the automated systems are doing
Stay ahead of (or at least be in synch with) ATC’s game plan
Maintain situational awareness
Develop and use SOPs (standard operating procedures)
And be prepared to catch and correct errors.

However and as John concluded at the end of his post, you are the last line of defense for when automation goes bad and its important to always monitor your technology to ensure that its working properly.

Hence and its worth asking: Have you ever experienced an automation surprise with new technology (GPS, glass cockpit)? If so, what happened and what advice or warnings would you give to other pilots?

A CFI’s unauthorized aerobatics kill three

General Aviation News regularly posts a synopsis of accident reports from the National Transportation Safety Board and a recent synopsis of a report dated November 2007 caught my attention. The incident involved a Piper Cherokee in Ranger Texas and resulted in 3 fatalities and a destroyed aircraft. According to the report, the accident occurred during an instructional cross-country flight in visual meteorological conditions with a CFI in the right seat, a student in the left seat and another student in the back seat who was there to listen to radio transmissions.

However, the report noted that the CFI in the right seat was known for performing aerobatics in the school’s aircraft and before the flight, the back seat student’s flight instructor specifically told him not to “do any funny stuff” with the back seat student on board as she did not want him to pick up any bad habits. Nevertheless, the back seat student’s instructor further reported that:

She had heard, before the accident, that the accident flight instructor had done a barrel roll in one of the flight school’s airplanes. In addition, another flight student reported that the accident flight instructor had demonstrated rolls and spins to him during flight lessons. Prior to the accident the back seat passenger had sent an e-mail to friends in which he referenced the accident instructor as a “megalomanic instructor” and commented on how he did aerobatics during lessons although they were not supposed to.

Although no one witnessed the accident, investigators determined that the aircraft experienced an in-flight breakup while doing an aerobatic maneuver. In fact:

Five maneuvers of interest were identified in the radar data. They consisted of dives and abrupt pull ups. During the last maneuver the airplane’s airspeed exceeded 134 knots calibrated airspeed. According to the airplane’s type certificate data sheet, the airplane’s maximum maneuvering speed was 116 knots.
No pre-impact mechanical deficiencies with the airplane were noted, and all fracture surfaces were consistent with overload separations.

Obviously there is no excuse for using an aircraft in a manner that it was never intended to be used for – especially by a CFI with student pilots on board. Moreover, one commenter noted that the FAA in the USA has a track record of flights there and hence “you should think twice before pulling something very lame as this instructor did.” Definitely another point worth noting!

How to deal with an In-flight engine fire

An in-flight or an on the ground engine fire is a type of emergency that few pilots practice for. In fact, many pilots may not be aware of the proper procedures to follow in the event of a fire.

Hence Jason Schappert, the bloger behind the MzeroA blog, has recently created a video podcast that covers the basics of how to deal with an engine fire. As Jason explains, you must first consult your checklist and switch the mixture to cutoff and then shut off the fuel shutoff valve, master switch and the cabin heat/air. Jason also reminds pilots that the airspeed used during an emergency descent will vary according from aircraft to aircraft and that pilots need to always consult their landing without power checklist on the descent. And of course, the key to surviving an engine fire in flight is to simply remember to not panic as the fire may extinguish itself during the descent.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB1rcJRBmfk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Please turnoff your aircraft’s engine, you may disturb the Dutch wildlife!

Here is a bizarre story coming out of the Netherlands involving aircraft, wildlife and insane court rulings. Martijn Moret has reported a story (the actual article is written in Dutch) on his blog about a court case involving 2 private pilots in 2 single engine aircraft who crossed the Oostvaardersplassen at 1500 feet which according to the official VFR map along with Dutch aviation legislation, is completely legal. In fact, 1,500 feet in this area is actually the maximum altitude due to Schiphol Airport being in the vicinity; but the area is also a wildlife reserve and hence, the minimum altitude is also 1,000 feet.

Apparently, wildlife rangers in the area issued a complaint claiming the pilots were violating the law on disturbing wildlife in the area while the pilots claimed they were following all local rules along with aviation legislation. Martijn then relates what happened next:

The judge(s) ruled that although the pilots were following all aviation regulations, they had still violated the law on disturbing wildlife, and convicted them to EUR 250,- each. Also, this offence is a marked as a crime, which means the 2 now have a police record. The court did not feel responsible for the contradicting legislation and called for government to change this. The pilots will appeal the ruling.

Martijn notes that the Netherlands has 11 airports and 162 nature areas and that all of aviation is subject to plant and wildlife legislation – even when it contradicts aviation law.

So remember: If you are flying over the Netherlands and do not want to be subject to legal action for disturbing the wildlife, please turn off your aircraft’s engines!