Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Plane & Pilot

The events of a few months ago highlighted the role that our airplanes play in our lives, when many pilots used them for two very different purposes. The first was to fly in late August to the path of the total solar eclipse, which draped the Continental United States in a swath of momentary darkness as the moon covered the circle of the sun perfectly for a couple of minutes. People who witnessed it were spellbound by the effect, to the point that many of them felt surprised and a bit overwhelmed by the emotion they felt. Some described it as giving them a sense of perspective that we live on a planet and are very small parts of a beautiful, giant world of nature. It’s a feeling that pilots…

Electronic E6B Flight Computer From weight and balance to navigation, the Sporty’s Electronic E6B Flight Computer ($59.95) is designed to make quick, accurate flight planning calculations simple for longtime pilots and flight students alike. In addition to 20 temperature, weight, distance and pressure conversions, it has 24 separate aviation-related functions. These include calculations for crosswinds, altitude, airspeed and rate of climb, to name a few. In addition, it has a clock with local, home and Zulu times, and a flight timer that can be set to either count up or count down. The Electronic E6B features a large keypad to make it easier to use in turbulent flight conditions and a backlit screen for night operations. It also has rubber feet to keep it from sliding around. The unit uses…

“Are you willing to assist in defending a pilot charged with operating an aircraft while drunk?” the attorney asked shortly into our first call. As a pilot, an instructor and an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE), this question gave me a little pause. How could I justify defending a pilot who was under the influence of alcohol while “on the job?” That’s where the story needs more detail. We all know that drinking as a pilot is a definite no-no when we are going to be flying. FAR §91.17 indicates that no person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft within eight hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage or while under the influence of alcohol or while having an alcohol concentration of…

We can only wonder what must have been going on in the mind of the pilot of a Beech A36TC Bonanza as it became increasingly difficult for him to handle the control yoke so the airplane was level enough to avoid stalling or diving. It was a battle he’d eventually lose, with the plane crashing into Clear Lake in Orlando, Florida, killing him and his passenger. The pilot thought he knew what was going wrong but couldn’t fix it no matter how hard he tried. With the luxury of hindsight, NTSB investigators found that the pilot missed what should have been obvious. The fact that he was fairly new to this airplane should not have mattered—the issue was fundamental to flying. The airplane was manufactured in 1981. It had a…

Like life, flying delivers roiling mixtures of expectations vs. outcomes that drive and nurture learning, improving, failing, winning, hoping, striving, spiced all too rarely with exhilaratingly triumphant moments. And some of those triumphant moments, while unfolding, can pass through terrifying on their way to exhilarating. During my first year flying Part 135 charter in King Airs, our daily missions took off out of Washington’s two airports, IAD Dulles and DCA Reagan. I was settling into the rhythm of the job and lifestyle—a close and discreet servant to the rich and famous—all the while busy working to earn the acceptance and respect of fellow pilots. Our passengers—mostly VIPs, such as senators, congressmen and congresswomen, Cabinet members, national TV press and media celebrities, Secret Service, FBI and Washington powerbrokers—made the otherwise routine…

Over the past couple of decades, we’ve come a long way in understanding the nature of the risk we face when flying, especially when flying in instrument conditions, and the role that automation can play in that overall risk picture. We’ve also realized the importance of recognizing where a pilot’s performance might fall short and how we can make our flying safer by coming to terms with our inherent imperfection. We’ve come to understand that the autopilot is a key component to flying safety. Not that you need an autopilot to be safe, but when the airplane you’re flying is equipped with an automatic flight control system and you know how to use it, your level of risk drops, especially for instrument flying and even more for new instrument pilots.…

I almost saw a plane crash. Sadly, I don’t mean to say that there was almost a plane crash. There really was a plane crash. I almost saw it happen. I did see its aftermath from a distance. On November 9, 2015, my crew was on a ground turn in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Up until then, it was what I happily refer to as an “uneventful” day. The weather, for November, was mild. It was sunny, temperatures in the mid-50s and light winds out of the south. I was in the cockpit doing my normal preflight activities: getting the ATIS, reviewing the flight plan, and programming the flight management computer. The fueler was fueling. The ramp personnel were unloading carry-on bags. The gate agent was helping an inbound passenger with…

He didn’t say anything, just nodded his head and walked over to the airplane and pulled a big mud dauber nest out of a fuel vent, handed it to me and walked silently back into the office. I sat on the ramp in my Extra 260 in Tehachapi, holding short of Runway 08, when my fuel tank imploded. While taxiing out, I decided to transfer fuel from my rear auxiliary fuel tank to my main aux tank. I might need the fuel and couldn’t burn right from the rear aux tank; it had to be transferred first. I switched the fuel valve, hit the boost pump, and started to time it so it transferred enough but not too much. I must have been distracted, transferring more fuel than the tank…

PIPER PA23 AZTEC Fremont, OH: 1 Uninjured The pilot reported that, during approach in visual meteorological conditions, he referenced the RNAV instrument approach for the runway to assist with vertical guidance “as [there] is no VASI [visual approach slope indicator]” for that runway. He added that he thought he was high enough as he crossed the adjacent highway, but the airplane hit a semi-truck that was traveling across the airplane’s flightpath. The airplane continued on short approach, landed, and the main landing gear collapsed. Subsequently, the airplane veered to the left off the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left and right engine firewalls and nacelle tanks. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.…

You know the sound. You get in your vehicle, put the key in the ignition, turn the key, and hear the starter turn over in a slow, ow, ow, ow growl...until it dies. You have a dead battery, and you need a jump to get going. So you jump it. Once you have it started, your alternator should recharge the battery in flight, so watch your ammeter. But if you need a jump-start on a frequent basis, it is time to examine your starting system. Often, a frequently dead battery is only the symptom of a bigger issue. Worried about getting stuck somewhere with a dead battery and no way to get going again, I set out to solve my starting issues. At annual inspection time, I sat down with…

Regular readers may recall that I’ve logged my share of hours over various bodies of water, mostly the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and several others you may never have heard of. I often hadn’t heard of them, either, until someone hired me to fly across one. No, this isn’t about ferry flying. Some of my friends who know I’ve survived 13 engine failures in 12 airplanes (yes, one was a double-failure in a Cessna Crusader over the Congo, Africa) are a little amazed at the fact that I’ve never had to swim away from a sinking airplane. They’re also nonplussed that I still regard piston aircraft engines with ultimate trust and respect. Indeed, most of my flying has been in…