Safety Archives - Page 27 of 31 - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Proper Pattern Entry Procedures for Non-Towered Airports

In case you are accustomed to flying in and out of a towered airport, you may be unfamiliar with proper pattern entry procedures and ground operations at non-towered airports. Luckily, the procedures are fairly simple and easy to remember.

However, Max Trescott has recently written a post where he pointed out that some pilots seem to have forgotten such procedures. As Max recalls from his previous weekend of flying:

At Jack Edwards, I came nose-to-nose with another aircraft while our airplane was making a proper entry on the 45 to join the downwind. We had crossed over the field 1000 feet above the traffic pattern altitude (TPA), then descended and turned to enter the 45 at pattern altitude. We announced our position every step of the way and heard another aircraft following. They crossed over the field at about 500 feet above the TPA, but then descended and turned directly onto the downwind. They turned immediately in front of us onto the downwind while apologizing over the radio for cutting us off.

Once on the ground, the other pilot admitted that he was accustomed to flying out of a towered airport. Hence, Max uses the incident to write a very detailed overview (including diagrams) of the proper procedures for pattern entry as outlined by the FAA plus he also mentions that he had written about the topic five years ago on his pilotsafetynews.com website. Both of his posts are well worth reading should you be planning a trip in and out of a non-towered airport in the near future.

Hypoxia and the need for high altitude training

Recently, Bruce Landsberg (the President, AOPA Air Safety Foundation) wrote about the pilot of a Cessna 400 who became temporarily incapacitated due to hypoxia (or the lack of oxygen) some weeks ago while flying. Luckily, his daughter (who is not a pilot) was able to talk to ATC and work out a descent plan into a more oxygenated atmosphere where her father eventually recovered and was able to safely land the aircraft without further incident.

Both the pilot and his daughter are extremely lucky and there is no better way to fully appreciate the dangers of hypoxia than to take a look at the video from an August post of ours entitled A ride in a “hypoxia” chamber or to listen to an audio exchange between ATC and a Learjet whose pilot was suffering from the affects of severe hypoxia. Watching the video and listening to the audio exchange clearly shows that pilots must ask whether they and their equipment are ready for the challenges that come with flying in less oxygenated environments.

Bruce concludes by saying that high altitude training is essential even if you are not flying a pressurized aircraft above the mandatory FL250 while pilots who consistently fly above 14,000 feet should receive solid training – good advice worth heading.

Have you ever missed… An airport?

The recent news that a Northwest flight overshot the Minneapolis-St Paul airport by some 150 miles was fairly unusual. After all, we are not talking about a small private aircraft but a large commercial airliner that is (apparently in theory) in constant contact with air traffic control.

As James Fallows noted on the Cirrus Owners & Pilots Association (COPA) blog, they “did not make an ordinary mistake, like missing Exit 32A on a busy freeway and having to get off on Exit 32B.This is more like….” However, he further comments that:

Once when I was flying westward toward the Rapid City airport in South Dakota, I found myself lining up 25 miles away instead with the much bigger runway of Ellsworth Air Force Base nearby. I must not have been the first one to do so, because the controller said in a routine way, "What you’re probably heading for is Ellsworth. You want to turn your head ten degrees to the left and look for a little airport that’s closer. That’s where you want to go." This was embarrassing enough, and it was just my wife and me, not a bunch of paying passengers.

And if you look at the Google Earth picture of the area, one can see how he and other pilots might easily mistake the larger runway for the smaller one – especially from a distance on a hazy day or if the sun is setting. However, missing an international airport is another story.

Nevertheless and not to embarrass any pilot out there but we must ask: Have you ever missed or have nearly missed an airport? Moreover, are there some airports out there where pilots, especially those unfamiliar with the area or in certain weather conditions or at certain times of the day, could simply miss?

Remember to check the tire pressure

Winter will soon be here and colder temperatures will impact the performance of your aircraft – including tire pressure. Hence, a recent post about tire pressure by John Fiscus (the Flight Academy’s Chief Pilot) on the Cirrus Owners & Pilots Association (COPA) blog is will worth reading.

As John reminds us, its important to keep track of tire pressure because low pressure can have bad side effects such as excessive tread wear to loss of control during landings. And although the wheels may be hard to see, John also reminds us that they are not so hard to see when you get down close to the pavement and this is also a good time to check the white stickers on the brakes.

However, since it can also be hard to tell from simply looking at the tires that the pressure is too low, John gives the following helpful suggestion:

Make sure you’ve parked near where the air in your tires can be filled (many portable tanks won’t do this too well) and, using a pressure gage, release the pressure in one of the main gear down to about 30 or 25 psi. Now fill the pressure back up to 62psi in SR22s and 53psi in SR20s. You should be able to notice the difference quickly, a very significant bulge will be evident when the pressure is low.

In addition, John also suggests a second method that requires a bit more work because it involves fitting a block of wood under a fairing when the tires are properly inflated.

Regardless of what method you use though, keeping track of your tire pressure is a relatively easy thing to do that will also keep you safe the next time you fly.

Remember your preflight check on cold days

With winter and cold temperatures approaching, now is the time to remind pilots to be extra cautious during preflight checks. Hence, General Aviation News has recently reprinted an article from Darcy Kaapke of CourtesyAircraft.com to remind pilots of the hazards of not being fully prepared for take-off in winter time or in cold temperatures. These hazards include condensation in the fuel tanks, thickening of the aircraft engine’s oil, poor battery efficiency, frost on the spark plugs and (of course) snow and ice on the wings.

One of the most important tips Darcy reminds pilots is to pre-heat the engine and the cockpit as cold starts are not recommended for aircraft in super cold temperatures. Hence, an external pre-heater or power source is an option for pre-heating the aircraft but even then, pilots should always ensure that they give their aircraft adequate time to warm up before taking off.

Darcy’s article is well worth reading and will help to ensure that you and your passengers have a safe season of flying this winter.

Visual distractions outside (and inside) the aircraft

Scott Spangler has recently posted a very interesting entry (entitled Visual Distractions Still Affect Flight Safety) on Jetwhine that is well worth reading by every pilot – and not just by pilots who fly in areas with plenty of visual distractions (think spectacular scenery). Scott begins his post by commenting that when he first began learning how to fly back in the 1970s, the skies over the Los Angeles basin were already fairly crowded. However, everyone was extra careful because the smog was so bad that it almost always obscured visibility.

Then one day the skies were unusually clear where the mountains and the ocean surrounding the city were clearly visible and Scott decided it would be a perfect day to go flying. However and just as his flight instructor warned him, he soon found out why having more visibility (and hence, visual distractions) is not necessarily a good thing:

Ground and the control tower certainly seemed to be working a lot more airplanes. The flight to our practice area over the bay was akin to that of a spastic sidewinder rattlesnake as I saw and avoided multiple targets that wandered blindly through the unusually clear air.
All I really learned that day is that I didn’t like flying when you could see the mountains because too many other pilots were so distracted by the view that they spent too much time looking and didn’t put enough effort into seeing other airplanes, like the one I was flying.

Scott further mentions some reports in the latest issue of Callback (the publication of NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System) that show that visual distractions outside of the aircraft are not only still a problem but that visual distractions are increasingly showing up inside the aircraft and on the panel. He then repeats a few scary incidents from the issue and ends his post by asking a question worth asking again:

Do pilots today hand-fly anything other than take offs and landings, and does their gaze–their attention and situational awareness–stop at the instrument panel?

Definitely a question and an answer worth thinking about…