Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2016 i Plane & Pilot

Now that the new ACS testing standards are in effect, the good news is, it’s a whole new ballgame. This is a good thing, as the old ballgame, that is, the way the FAA administered tests, was, at best, useless, and, at worst, an abusive bureaucratic exercise that cost test applicants untold millions of dollars over the years in educational products designed simply to teach the test. Luckily, in the process of memorizing the answers to the FAA’s terrible test, a little aviation knowledge worked its way in around the edges, as we pilot applicants studied with one goal in mind, and that goal wasn’t aviation knowledge, but simply passing the test. And what a terrible test it was, and I’ve made no secret about my opinion on the subject…

CESSNA 140 1 Uninjured The pilot reported that during a night visual meteorological condition flight he was about 5 nautical miles away from the destination airport and could see the runway lights. The pilot further reported that he was not able to see the terrain and it was a “black hole approach” As the pilot initiated a descent toward the runway, the airplane impacted terrain in a wooded area about 4 nautical miles west of the runway threshold. The pilot reported that he did not observe the terrain any time before the impact, but could see the bright runway lights. The left and right wings were substantially damaged. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The Federal Aviation…

• The new rule applies to drones that weigh less than 55 pounds and that are flown for commercial purposes. • The rule does not apply to noncommercial (hobbiest) operations. They will continue to be conducted under rules that will now be contained in FAR Part 101. • Commercial operators can apply for an exemption to the rules and the FAA will grant it if it determines the operation can still be conducted safely. • All operations are line of sight. • The operator of the light commercial drone must be at least 16 years old and have a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating, or be supervised by someone with a certificate. • The regulations require pilots to keep an unmanned aircraft within visual line of sight.…

“Thunderstorms popping... the Malibu pilot continued his maneuvering for weather avoidance. ...[ATC queried about storm clearance], and the pilot responded, “Yeah, we’re going to be west of that one and might be able to go between those...we’ll take a look and see...” It happened on June 18, 2014: With thunderstorms popping, the pilot of a turbine-powered Piper Malibu PA46-310P JetPROP conversion seemed to be doing a good job of weather avoidance, but then made a turn and flew into a monstrous cell. The airplane crashed at Lehman, Texas, killing the pilot and both passengers. It took two years and four days for the NTSB and its investigators to figure out as much as they could about what happened, and issue their report and probable cause statement. The Safety Board said…

When you’re an entry-level RJ pilot, crash-pad living invariably involves too many pilots, not enough showers and few outlets for aviation entertainment. As we settled into a routine, of sorts, my roommate Nick mentioned a mythical Citabria of which he professed partial ownership. “One day, I’ll run out to Louisiana and haul it up here for a while,” he kept saying. Then, amazingly, “one day” actually came, and Nick’s partners told him to come get it. They had bought a Stearman and the Citabria was only gathering dust. Road trip! We jump-seated to Shreveport, which is as close as our airline could get us to Natchitoches, Louisiana, where the Citabria lived. The rental car companies had nothing on hand. Nick and I scratched our heads and then saw the TAC…

When my daughter was born, my flight instructing career had to become, for the most part, a standard 8:00-5:00 day. That was a major change. Given the demands of the job and the unpredictability of scheduling students as they work their way through the flight syllabus from first forays to long cross-countries, the flight instructor’s schedule can go from breezy to grueling. Some days I’d find myself at the airport for the better part of 12 hours. With the needs of my daughter in mind, I came up with a plan, to strategically schedule five students per day in 90-minute blocks. It was a compromise, as I traded time-building for teething rings and tummy time, with an occasional night cross-country thrown in the mix. But little did I know that…

I was awakened from a deep REM sleep by what sounded like sporadic repetition of “baaharalmminumm” ( forgive my poor onomatopoetic translation). As I mentally park my red-and-white Ferrari SF-16H Formula One car after winning the Monaco Grand Prix and fight my way back to consciousness, the sound repeats itself over and over. Oh, yes, now I remember, I’m in Vágar, Faroe Islands. The strange sound seems to be practically in my room or perhaps just outside my ground-level window. Here in the sub-Arctic, the hotel’s bottom floor is in the basement with windows that open out onto the “green” in this case, more of a dirty gray grass just beginning to recover from the inhospitable winter. I open the blinds of my one small window, and there, staring back…

Youd never see it from the ground. A small stream runs through an ignorable culvert under a county road. In a car, it’s just a bump, if even that. Perhaps a flash, a glimpse of sunlight reflecting off water. Youd never think it was important. Youd never think youd just crossed history. This morning, however, 2000 feet AGL over the lakes of western Minnesota, this stream is completely fascinating. Not only for what it is, but for what it was, a path for riverboats connecting the lakes. The early-morning air is clear, warm, calm, the flying as gentle as a soft Sunday drive, and I’m flying with my friend Mike Paulson. This is a trip we’ve talked about for a very long time. Mike loves all sorts of history and…

The concept of a stabilized approach has been around since powered flight began, and likewise, the concept of a non-stabilized approach, as well. The term “stabilized approach” has been common in the airline and commuter worlds, and has eased its way into general aviation language. Once we have a label, we naturally spend two or three pages in flying textbooks to explain it, exactly define it and then argue about the definition. That definition can be as simple as on course, glide path and airspeed, or pages, yup, pages, of complex definitions with exacting mathematical specifications of how off course, glide path or airspeed you can be and still be considered stabilized. I think simpler is better, but I confess to having seemingly endless, yet enthusiastic, debates over the microscopic…

“Stick forces in the Extra are designed to be fingertip-light at all speeds. The Tucano stick forces aren’t as light... For most maneuvers, I’m using two hands.” In 1993, I stood on the ramp at the Dayton Airshow keenly watching the jets and turboprops in the JPATS competition. The JPATS—Joint Primary Aircraft Training System—program was interesting. In a rare move, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy decided to team up in an effort to modernize their training fleets and replace their T-37s and T-34/Cs. Bids were narrowed down to three jets—the Cessna 526, Lockheed T-Bird II and Grumman S.211A—the turbofan-powered Rockwell Ranger 2000 and two turboprops—the Embraer Super Tucano and Beech-Pilatus PC-9 MkII, which ultimately won and was produced as the T-6 Texan II. The airplanes were interesting,…