I ran across the story about the Korean Air flight that crashed in Guam in the late ’90s the other day. It was a 747 that hit the side of hill about 3 miles short of the runway, killing most of the people on board. The flight was at night (arrival time was about 1:30am) and the pilot’s lost sight of the runway on a visual approach due to inadvertent IMC entry. They didn’t execute a missed approach soon enough, got too low, and crashed.
These were experienced pilots, mind you, who had flown into that airport a number of times. They were experienced enough to know when to execute a go around. There were several other factors that led up to the crash, but, ultimately, they lost sight of the runway due to inadvertent IMC entry.
To all the VFR pilots out there, what do you do if you accidentally fly into a cloud? It’s a lot easier to encounter inadvertent IMC at night, simply because you can’t see the clouds in front of you. It is no less dangerous during the day, either.
So, we’re going back to the basics today. What really is the best course of action for a VFR pilot when flying into a cloud? One option (and in my opinion, the best option) is to turn around. Immediately start scanning your instruments, execute a shallow banked 180 degree turn while maintaining altitude, and fly out of the cloud you just flew into. If you have an autopilot, turn it on immediately and let it do the turn.
What if you were descending or climbing when you encountered the inadvertent IMC? In this case, just reverse whatever you were just doing. If you were descending, climb. If you were climbing, descend. Caution is needed, though, as climbing or descending when flying on instruments for an inexperienced IFR pilot could lead to a greater chance of disorientation.
One thing that could assist in spotting those clouds at night is turning the cockpit lights down. This will allow you to see outside a little bit better and start to notice when those ground lights are disappearing.
Most VFR pilots only do instrument flying on flight reviews. That doesn’t lead to a very high level of proficiency, so go out and grab your instructor and tell him to put you under the hood once a month. You’ll be a better pilot overall for it.
IFR pilots, taking a note from the Korean Air flight; if you lose sight of the runway on a visual approach, especially at night, go missed and ask for the instrument approach procedure. Don’t try and duck down below the clouds as there may be a hill or a mountain directly below you.
I’ve noticed that a lot of general aviation pilots tend to ignore the flight director on the attitude indicator. A lot of pilots don’t even know what it’s there for or how to use it. Talk to any airline pilot, though, and he or she will tell you how important the flight director actually is.
In most high performance airplanes, the flight director comes on when the autopilot comes on. Essentially, the autopilot is following the flight director, which tells the autopilot where to go. The flight director can also be used with the autopilot off, when hand flying an approach, for example. By turning the flight director on, it will show you where you need to fly to stay on course and on glide slope.
The flight director is most often controlled by the autopilot controller. The same buttons you use to put the autopilot in heading mode also tells the flight director to follow the heading bug when the autopilot is off. When you move the heading bug (or change course on the GPS, depending on which mode you have selected), the flight director will show you when you need to turn and when you need to stop turning. It directs your flight attitude, hence the name.
I recently discovered it’s a great backup when you have some instruments on the fritz. I went on a long flight in a steam gauge Piper Malibu and the attitude indicator started reading erratically. While flying straight and level, it would randomly indicate that I was in a 10 degree bank to the right, swing back and show wings level, then show a 3 degree turn left. This went on for a while. We were in VMC conditions, so legality wasn’t a problem, but it was kind of disorienting.
After a little while of this, the autopilot started acting up. It would start oscillating the pitch up and down, making it seem like we were going through a moguls course in the air. I ended up turning the autopilot off and hand flying the airplane.
This led to a conundrum, since my attitude indicator was unreliable. I could definitely look outside, since it was VMC, seeing when I was level and when I wasn’t. That would create a higher workload for me, which on a long flight like I was on, would lead to an increase in fatigue. The solution? The flight director!
I turned the autopilot off, but I left the flight director up. It wasn’t referencing the bank angle that the attitude indicator was showing since the KFC 150 goes off of the turn coordinator. So, if I just followed the attitude indicator, I could just keep scanning the instruments and relieve a little bit of my workload.
It actually worked really well. By just following the flight director, I was able to stay on course and on altitude with only minor attitude adjustments whenever we hit turbulence.
So, if you’re attitude indicator and autopilot decide to stop working on you, then bring up the flight director, push the same buttons you would if you were using the autopilot, and it works as a great backup.
In January, Cirrus announced the Generation 2 SF50 Vision Jet. After getting the Generation 1 Vision Jet certified in late 2016, Cirrus didn’t waste any time in starting in on improvements.
The improvements are pretty sweet, making the G2 Vision Jet even easier to fly and step into for Cirrus’ target market, SR22 owners.
Here are the improvements on the G2 Vision Jet.
RVSM Approval
The G2 Vision Jet has received RVSM approval, allowing the airplane to fly at 31,000 feet. RVSM stands for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (read more about RVSM here). RVSM airspace starts at 28,000 feet, the G1 Vision Jet’s ceiling. Now that the G2 Vision Jet is RVSM certified, it can fly at 31,000 feet.
For piston pilots, you are left scratching your head as to the advantage of this. In a jet, the higher you go, the thinner the air, so the faster you go, and the less fuel you burn since the thin air needs less fuel to mix with. This caps out at a certain altitude and the speed begins dropping and you start losing efficiency (even though the fuel burn is quite low).
According to Cirrus, at 31,000 feet, the G2 Vision Jet cruises over 300 KTAS and gets a range boost to almost 1,200 nm.
Garmin Perspective Touch+
Cirrus & Garmin have taken the new NXi interface and paired it with the Garmin Perspective Touch to create the Touch+. You can read about the improvements on the NXi here, all of which are included in the Touch+ in the G2 Vision Jet.
The big improvement that is included in the Touch+ is Autothrottle capability. An Autothrottle is integrated with the autopilot. It automatically adjusts power settings and speeds based on the phase of flight without the pilot having to touch the throttle. Pretty cool.
New Cabin
The G2 Vision Jet has a redesigned cabin as well, making it an extremely passenger friendly airplane. The second row has been redesigned and equipped with a center console. There is also a drop down TV screen that allows passengers to connect their mobile devices to it to watch movies or videos while traveling (no internet on board, yet. That’ll probably be the G3 Vision Jet!).
Cirrus also put in more noise reduction in the cabin, creating a quieter ride for passengers. Cirrus also allows for multiple different seating configurations, depending on the needs of the owner.
As always, Cirrus is on the leading edge of airplane technology, creating airplanes that are easy as well as fun to fly. I’m excited to see how they continue to improve the design to both the SR22 and the Vision Jet.
Thunderstorms are not to be taken lightly. I know you have probably heard that many times in your flying career. Weather related accidents account for approximately 25% of airline and GA accidents.
The Airman’s Information Manual suggests giving a 20 mile berth around thunderstorms. If you are an experienced aviator or a newbie please take this piece of advice seriously. At one flight school where I taught, we had the policy of maintaining a 25 mile buffer around isolated thunderstorms. A bit excessive you think? Maybe, but safety is a good thing!
On this particular day, I was operating a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter during a power line patrol. Power line patrol by itself offers numerous challenges. The job consists of flying along electric power transmission lines at approximately 40 feet above the ground at 40 knots. The crew consisted of me (the pilot) and an observer. The observer is an employee of the power company and it is his job to determine which line(s) will be patrolled during the given day. As I fly along the lines, the observer is checking for anything out of the ordinary such as broken, cracked, or even shot out insulators, excessively large bird nests at the top of structures, or woodpecker holes in wooden poles. The observer knows the lines and he is also a great help in letting me know there is a crossing, and potentially higher, line in our flight path. That makes him a true safety asset! It was late afternoon during the summer and we were about to finish up for the day. We only had about another 10 miles of line to follow before calling it a day. Up ahead, I noticed an isolated thunderstorm near our power line. I could see the heavy rain falling below the anvil shaped leading clouds. It appeared to be well beyond the end of our day’s work so we pressed on.
As we drew closer to the thunderstorm, we were suddenly tossed up on our left side like a dog toy in mid-flight! It seemed like we were 90 degrees to our normal cruise attitude and, to make it worse, we had the doors off on that hot summer day. I was able to recover and we did an immediate about face and high tailed it home. Forget the rest of that line, tomorrow is another day.
The destructive force of thunderstorms cannot be overstated. In addition to extremely heavy rain, they can contain strong wind shear, large hail, and severe turbulence, each of which can damage or destroy an aircraft. Take care when one of these bad boys is near your flight path. Give it plenty of respect and a lots of room, for safety’s sake.
Alan VanDoren is a 7000 hour ATP pilot. He has flown both fixed wing and helicopters as a police pilot, missionary pilot, flight instructor, and most recently as an EMS pilot. He has flown in five countries around the world and also teaches university level aviation courses in his spare time.
In instrument flying, I am all about keeping things simple. There is a ton of detail that an instrument pilot can get bogged down in. When an instrument pilot gets bogged down, he gets distracted from flying the airplane. When he gets distracted from flying the airplane, dangerous circumstances can happen.
I like to keep things simple. When I first started instructing, I developed a very simple instrument approach briefing that captures everything that is necessary on an approach plate, but prevents getting bogged down in the details.
I call it the BBC instrument approach briefing. Here it is:
Brief
First things first. The first step of an instrument approach briefing is to brief the approach plate. There are a bunch of acronyms out there that instructors tell their students to memorize that only cause confusion instead of helping get the plate briefed. To keep it simple, just work your way across the plate and you’ll get all the information you need.
Start in the top left hand corner of the plate, with the approach course, then work your way right and down, as follows:
Approach Course (or Nav frequency if flying a VOR/ILS/LOC)
Runway information
Notes (these are good to brief the night before as a lot are irrelevant to GA pilots
Missed approach
Frequencies
Planview and MSA
Profile View and Minimums
Simple enough, right?
Build
Now that you know what you are planning on doing, you can now take the second step in the instrument approach briefing and build the approach in your GPS. You know your approach type, you know your transition, and you know what your minimums are. Taking all that information, you can now build it in to your system.
Checklists
Once everything else is done, don’t forget the checklists. The descent and before landing checklists still need to be done as part of an approach. The best time to do these is before joining the approach so that you don’t have to worry about flying the approach and looking at a checklist at the same time. Even better, memorize the checklist and you don’t have to look at anything!
Most importantly, you want to be configured properly for the approach by the final approach fix. Gear, flaps set, power set, so all you have to worry about at that point is following the needles and trusting your instruments.
Sadly, in January, a pretty great airplane was put out to pasture. Textron (the conglomerate that now owns Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, and Lycoming) announced it was ceasing production of the Cessna TTx. With the end of the Cessna TTx production, an airplane that was the main “competitor” to Cirrus (if you can call it competition; Cirrus consistently outsold the Cessna TTx by a wide margin each year), it leaves the SR series to stand alone atop the High Performance piston single market.
I got to go through Cessna’s FITS Accepted Instructor (CFAI) course back in 2012 and have flown in the Cessna 350 and 400 (which is what they were known as at the time; the Cessna TTx name came around in 2011) for about 120 hours. I really like the airplanes. I’m partial to the Cirrus, but the Cessna 350 & 400 are fast airplanes and great for 1-2 people. I flew a 350 (the non-turbo charged version) from New York to San Antonio last fall and routinely saw 170 knots at 12 GPH.
Columbia started out making the 350 & 400 (the turbo-charged version) in the early 2000s, but went bankrupt in 2007. Lancair started Columbia to make a certified version of their popular kit planes. If you see a Lancair ES floating around, you would swear it’s a Columbia with only 1 door. Cessna bought the design from Columbia in 2007 to begin manufacturing the airplanes themselves.
Cessna then made a huge mistake as they moved the production facility from Bend, Oregon to Mexico. Production completely halted in 2009 as the planes coming out of Mexico were found to have defective composite work. The sales never really recovered, even though Cessna put the Garmin G2000 panel in the Cessna TTx, complete with a touchscreen key pad. A FIKI system was added as an option in 2012.
A prospective buyer can still get a great value on a used 350, 400, or TTx, as they are valued a little lower than a Cirrus. The 350, 400 or TTx all make excellent single pilot or two person speedsters with very comfortable amenities.
If you’ve ever been to Nantucket Airport during the summer, you’ll understand when I say that it is a crazy place. During the summer months, especially on weekends, the airport is visited by an endless parade of airplanes ranging from the smallest GA airplanes to the biggest private jets.
One sunny Sunday afternoon I was standing in line at the front desk of the Nantucket FBO when the ramp door opened and a very grumpy and entitled man walked in. The man marched right up to the front desk and barked a fuel order at the girl working there, which she mistakenly read back wrong. After yelling at her for her wrongdoing, he announced that he had flown in to go to the restaurant and stormed off to drown his sorrows in fish and chips. Although he was a jerk, his attitude got me thinking about FBO’s and everything that the people who work at them do for us pilots.
For anyone who may not know, FBO stands for Fixed Base Operator. FBO’s can be found at airports everywhere and their business is to provide services such as fuel, hangar space, and tie downs. Bigger FBO’s can offer more services including rental cars, food, maintenance, flight instruction, etc. FBO workers have the ability to make life really good or really miserable for pilots, and, it seems to me, we pilots have the same power over them. Based on my personal experiences and the experiences of some friends who have worked at airports around the country, here are some things to think about next time you taxi onto an FBO ramp.
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I’ve divided this article into two sections:
FBO Etiquette: What can we as pilots do to make life easier for the workers at the FBOs
FBO Pilot Perks: Ways that FBOs can help make a pilot’s life better (besides basic services like fueling)
FBO Etiquette
Be Polite
Everyone I talked to about their time working at an FBO said that simply by being friendly and polite is one of the biggest ways we can help. Most of the people that work at the FBOs love aviation and likely are working there to be around the industry in hopes of eventually being more involved. The girl working the desk at Nantucket didn’t deserve to be yelled at just for reading a tail number back wrong; don’t forget that “please” and “thank you” are still magic words.
Call Ahead
Whether you are flying to the airport, or you left your airplane at the FBO and you need them to pull it out or fuel it, calling ahead is greatly appreciated. Most FBO’s have a radio at the front desk and have their frequency listed online and in foreflight. Call ahead and tell them that you’re coming, when you’ll be arriving, and what you’ll need when you get there (gas, rental car, taxi..etc). That way they wont feel rushed and you may get what you’re looking for more expediently upon arrival.
Fuel orders
If your fuel order is difficult or confusing (example: 6.54 gallons in the right side and 4.32 in the left) you may be better off just to do it yourself at the self serve. One of the guys I talked to said that he would have pilots ask for extremely specific numbers and then stand there watching, ready to pounce when it wasn’t fueled exactly right. Its also worth noting that fuelers do make mistakes. Its highly recommended to watch and make sure that the correct truck (Jet A or 100LL) is the one pulling up to dispense your gas. Make sure you check that the fuel caps are properly installed before departing.
Look outside
A lineman motions for the pilot to stop.
Taxiing onto the ramp is not the right time to be doing your after landing and shutdown checklists. Wait until the airplane is stopped before taking your eyes off the person marshaling you to your parking spot. I’ve been told that it isn’t uncommon for a pilot to be looking inside while taxiing and it makes the linemen very nervous as they are motioning to the pilot to stop (For those unfamiliar, with lineman hand signals, here’s a helpful link).
Brakes
Unless you have talked to them and get the okay, don’t leave the parking brake on when leaving your airplane at an FBO. Often the lineman will direct you to park upfront to make loading and unloading easy, but if you’re going to stay for a long period, the airplane will need to be towed and parked out of the way. Leaving the parking brake on can make serious headaches for the people trying to organize the ramp after you leave.
Lights
Don’t blind the poor guy parking you by leaving all your landing, taxi, and recognition lights on as you’re pulling into your spot at night. Likewise, when you are ready to leave your parking space, its courteous to signal the person waiting in front of your airplane by flashing one of your lights at them so they know you are ready to be directed off of the ramp.
FBO Pilot Perks
Good parking
This one is pretty basic. I’ve heard through the grapevine that you may get parked in the boondocks as punishment for being rude to the FBO staff. However, if asked, much of the time they can pull your airplane right up front and may even let you pull a vehicle onto the ramp to load people and bags more easily.
Cheaper hotel rooms/ rental cars
Some FBO’s have special rates with hotel and rental car companies around in the area. Although it varies from place to place, you may be surprised with the amount you can save on these travel essentials. I had a flight last week where I called and was given a quote of 185 dollars for a rental car…after telling them that I was parking at the local FBO, I got the special price of 125. Check with the FBO you will be stopping at for any of their current offerings.
Fuel discounts
Sometimes the price of fuel or the minimum uptake to waive the fees can be negotiated. Sometimes, the fees may be forgotten entirely. If you are unable to take the minimum amount of fuel to waive the landing or ramp charges, tell them what you can take and you may be pleasantly surprised with the response. Its not uncommon with our Bonanza that even though the “minimum” may be 20, I can waive the fees by up-taking 10 or 12 gallons instead.
Points/ Rewards cards
Some FBO’s offer incentives to pilots for buying gas. Many of the rewards programs are free to sign up for and will pay the fuel purchaser cash based on how much fuel they buy over a specified time period. I am a member of the Avtrip program which rewards fuel purchases at Avfuel airports with points that are redeemable for money. Avtrip is just one example of an FBO fuel rewards program; if you fly regularly, it may be worth looking into whether or not there is a fuel rewards program you can take advantage of.
Crew Cars
Most FBO’s have cars designated for use by the pilots. They are extremely nice for going to get lunch or taking care of whatever short errands you may need to run around town. Most crew cars are limited to about 1-2 hours of use, but they can often be loaned out longer based on the discretion of the people working the desk. On a few occasions, I’ve had the cars loaned to me for longer, even over night, by the nice people at the FBO (They always appreciate pilots splashing a few gallons of auto gas into the cars while they are out, too).
FBOs and the services that they provide are invaluable to pilots, both commercial and private. If we as pilots are willing to work with the linemen and service reps we can make both our lives and their lives easier. Remember to be polite and don’t be afraid to ask if you need something….that’s what they’re there for!
Andrew Robinson is a 135 Charter Pilot and flight instructor who lives with his wife and 2 daughters in Pennsylvania. He flies Pilatus PC-12s and instructs in Beechcraft Bonanzas.
Most VFR pilots only do instrument flying on flight reviews. That doesn’t lead to a very high level of proficiency, so go out and grab your instructor and tell him to put you under the hood once a month. You’ll be a better pilot overall for it.
First things first. The first step of an instrument approach briefing is to brief the approach plate. There are a bunch of acronyms out there that instructors tell their students to memorize that only cause confusion instead of helping get the plate briefed. To keep it simple, just work your way across the plate and you’ll get all the information you need.
