Safety Archives - Page 21 of 31 - Golf Hotel Whiskey

How to become a safer pilot

Jason Schappert has recently written a great post for his MzeroA blog about how to become a safer pilot. Jason began his post by pointing out that regardless of their size or bulk, airplanes are actually delicate machines. Moreover, Jason noted that it takes a significant amount of time to learn how to become a safer pilot.

Jason then gave five tips to become a safer pilot. These tips included:

Practice Frequently. As a student pilot, there are plenty of opportunities to develop the skills necessary for safe flying plus its a great opportunity to practice as there is always an instructor to watch over you and correct you when you make a mistake.

Pay Attention to Your Instructor. A pilot’s instructor will play an important role in how someone develops as a pilot. However, Jason also pointed out that not all instructors are created equal as some are just trying to make extra money in order to build time for a future pilot position. Nevertheless, you should still use your instructor to the fullest extent possible.

Always Keep Your Wits About Yourself. A pilot will need to be cool under pressure in the cockpit in order to fly in an orderly and a safe fashion. Moreover, a pilot must always follow proper procedures even when under pressure – whether the pressure is due to flying conditions or due to the passengers on board.

Avoid Being Overconfident. All pilots, even those who are highly rated, need to avoid becoming overconfident. Moreover, Jason further added that pilots who are overconfident in their instrument skills will more than likely get themselves into trouble.

Stick to the Regulations. Rules are rules and they exist for a reason. Hence, a pilot will need to fully understand and comprehend all of the rules inside the cockpit and apply them on every single flight.

Keeping Jason’s above tips in mind will go a long way towards making you a much safer pilot.

Don’t forget to tighten the fuel cap

General Aviation News regularly reprints summaries of accident reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the USA and this recently mentioned report involving a Cessna 182 dating from August 2008 is well worth repeating. The crash near Caldwell Texas resulted in two serious injuries and substantial damage to the aircraft involved. According to the brief report summary:

Prior to departure the airplane was filled with approximately 24 gallons of fuel. An airport security camera recorded the airplane being refueled. The video showed that the pilot, after refueling, did not put the right wing’s fuel cap back on. During the cross-country flight, the Cessna engine lost power. The pilot attempted to conduct a forced landing to a nearby airport. The airplane did not have enough altitude to glide to the airport. It hit a light pole and crashed into a athletic field near the airport.

Besides the fact that the pilot was caught on camera not putting the fuel cap back on, the on-site investigation found the right wing’s fuel cap itself on the ground near the aircraft’s wing (the left wing’s fuel cap was still in place). Moreover, blue streaks were found on fuselage and the right wing had fuel streaks that were consistent with 100LL aviation fuel being siphoned from the fuel tank during flight.

In other words and the next time you refuel – be sure to replace and tighten the fuel cap!

What is Europe’s scariest airport?

The Dallas Morning News’ Airline Biz Blog has posted a list (along with videos for each entry) of the top 10 scariest airports in the world according to SmarterTravel and we recently noted that only one UK airport, Barra Airport (its actually a beach) on the Isle of Barra in Scotland, was mentioned. Moreover, only one other airport in Europe made the list: The Gibraltar Airport. However, the Gibraltar Airport seems to have made the list more due to the fact that the main road in and out of Gibraltar crosses the airport runway. Hence, flying in and out of the airport may not be as scary as driving to the airport!

However, we still want to ask our European readers and regular European flyers: What are the scariest airports in Europe and why? Are the Barra and Gibraltar Airports really that scary compared to some of the other airports mentioned like Paro Airport in Bhutan where pilots probably should have carrier training or Toncontin International Airport in Honduras with it notoriously short runway and inconveniently located mountains? Feel free to post your comments below.

Father Scott’s VFR rules and personal minimums

We have recently written about the need for pilots to set personal minimums for every flight but a recent post by Father Scott Garrett for the Alaska Dispatch’s Bush Pilot blog is well worth reading because Father Scott is the pastor of the Holy Rosary Mission in Dillingham, Alaska, and he uses a 160 Cherokee Warrior to visit many of the remoter areas of his parish. Given the unpredictable weather of southwest Alaska and after flying in the Bristol Bay area for five years, Father Scott has acquired a few rules or personal minimums that he will follow religiously before deciding whether to fly or to continue a flight.

To being with and in order for Father Scott to fly in VFR weather, there must be at least three miles visibility and a ceiling of 1000 feet or otherwise its IFR. Here are the rest of his rules.

1. Avoid having to request a "Special VFR." (SEE NOTE BELOW).
2. Takeoff only if departing or arriving destination is reporting VFR conditions.
3. Find out if the weather system is moving in or out.
4. Use multiple weather media, i.e. Dillingham FSS, Kenai FSS, weather cam.
5. Turn around if the ceiling gets below 500 feet.
6. Do not fly unless there is at least 3 miles visibility and 500 foot ceiling.
7. Do not fly if wind is blowing at 30 knots or greater.

Father Scott further added that when the weather looks marginal, he will personally visit the weather professionals up in the Dillingham Flight Service Station to talk to them about their weather data. After that, he will feel much safer if he decides to head out into the Alaskan wilderness. Moreover, he has convinced himself that he does not want to get stranded again in one place for more than three days (like what has happened in the past).

And while you may not be an Alaskan bush pilot, Father Scott’s advice and personal minimums are well worth taking a closer look at to see how they can help to make you a safer pilot.

A personal minimums guide and checklist

Chris Findley, a flight instructor and the founder of myFlightCoach.com, has written a great post for the Let’s Go Flying blog about personal minimums. Chris began his post by telling the story of how a student of his once showed up to a training session knowing what the current weather was like but not knowing what the predicted weather was going to be. This led to the discussion about personal minimums and as Chris pointed out:

They are a way for you and I to think through the conditions of a flight and determine, outside the pressure of the moment, what is safe and reasonable for us.

Chris noted that this will obviously be different for each and every pilot and that it will depend on factors such as a pilot’s training, experience, physical condition and health along with atmospheric conditions, aircraft and type of flight. However, he also added that what is most important is that a pilot thinks through these things ahead of time in order to be able to make a good go/no-go decision.

Chris then noted that flight instructor and ATP Darren Smith has written a great personal minimums checklist (which can be downloaded here) broken down into four simple categories:

1.) Pilot: How many takeoffs/landings have you had in the last 90 days? Hours in make/model of aircraft? Are you familiar with the terrain and airspace? Physically, have you been ill or are you taking any medication that might impair your skills? The old “I’M SAFE” acronym comes to mind– Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion. Have you eaten?
2.) Aircraft: Fuel reserves in place? Experience in type? Aircraft performance- weight, density altitude, performance charts? Equipment on board-functioning properly, updated if necessary, required documents and inspections?
3.) Environment: Wind? Crosswind? Adequate runway? Weather forecast? Ceiling/Visibility?
4.) External Pressures: Alternate plans if you can’t complete the trip by air? Plan if you are delayed? Other pressures to complete the flight?

In the case of one new pilot that Chris knows, his personal minimums checklist is simply:

Wind: X knots headwind, X knots crosswind
Ceiling: X,XXX ft
Visibility: X miles
Thunderstorms:for XX miles
Experience: X Takeoffs and Landings within XX days.

And for him, if these conditions are not present at the time he plans to take off, he remains on the ground.

Chris ended his post by saying that personal minimums give pilots a framework for making both good and solid decisions and then he mentioned an old adage well worth repeating again:

Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.

All about density altitude

The July/August issue of FAA Safety Briefing featured an interesting article (“Climbing into Thin Air”) discussing density altitude – an invisible danger for high-altitude mountain flyers on hot summer days. The FAA article began by providing this description of density altitude:

There is a thief among us! Without warning, it can sneak into your airplane and rob you of precious lift, thrust, and power. And, if you’re not careful, it can quickly put you in a deadly spot during your next flight.
The culprit here is not something particularly obvious, nor is it something pilots who routinely fly at or near sea level are used to dealing with.

The article then related the story of a fatal accident that recently occurred in Arizona where a pilot failed to attain and maintain an adequate airspeed during takeoff in high density-altitude conditions. This resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

The article continued by noting that when density altitude is high as a result of temperatures that are above standard at a given altitude, the air is less dense than normal. Hence, an aircraft will perform as if it were flying at a higher altitude with decreased climb performance and acceleration ability. This can be a big problem if you are flying on a hot and humid summer day and if you are operating from a short runway that has a few tall pine trees at the end of it.

However, a hot day can have an affect on aircraft performance at any altitude. Hence, the article quoted one flying expert who suggested that pilots need to become familiar with the weight-and-balance along with the performance and limitations sections of a pilot’s operating handbook (POH) or airplane flight manual. In addition, avoiding takeoffs and landings at midday when temperatures are usually at their highest and instead taking advantage of cooler mornings or evenings will also help to avoid performance surprises.

In other words and if you plan on doing any summer flying, be aware that humidity and temperatures can impact your aircraft’s performance and be sure to plan accordingly.