Learning From Other’s Mistakes:  An Overview of the 2024 Piper PA-46 Accidents

Simplified Instrument Approach Briefing

ByHank Gibson August 27, 2016September 12, 2016

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.

Landing Light Replacement

ByAndrew Robinson November 2, 2015November 5, 2015

One evening this summer, my wife and I were flying down the southern shore of Long Island in my father’s E33 Bonanza. We enjoyed the sunset as we flew westbound and our plan was to fly the New York Hudson corridor, where we would arrive just after dark. As we approached New York’s airspace, two voices in my head started having a debate.

The first voice said: “You should turn on your landing light when you get to New York to make the airplane more visible.”

The other voice said: “That’s true, but I bet you’ll burn the landing light out”

Well, as it turned out, both voices were right. My landing light fired right up when I needed it to fly the Hudson, but when it came time to land back home I had no such luck. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that I had been given the chance to practice my blackout landings. This Bonanza model has only one landing/ taxi light which is mounted in the lower cowling behind the propeller. This location is less than ideal because the filament in the bulb is fragile and can be damaged by engine vibration.

We landed uneventfully and after putting the airplane away, I decided it was time to look into upgrading the lighting to something a little more modern. I was unsure of my options, but seeing as the airplane needed a replacement bulb regardless, it seemed like a good opportunity to make a change.

After doing a little reading, I learned that HID or LED landing lights would be the best solution to my problem. I was familiar with LED aircraft lights, but had never heard of HID before.

Here is what I learned:

HID Landing Lights

HID, or High Intensity Discharge landing lights, create light by arcing electricity through a sealed gas capsule. They are brighter than LED and traditional incandescent, and the light created more closely resembles the look and feel of sunlight. HID installations require a ballast to carefully regulate the flow of electricity to the gas capsule and also require a “warm up” period after being turned on in order to reach their full brightness.

Fitting an aircraft with HID landing lights tends to be more expensive and time consuming than installing an LED light and would likely require involvement by an A&P/ IA. However, if you want the brightest light available, HID is probably the best bet.

Pros

• Brighter, more natural looking light
• Draws less power than standard bulbs
• Long bulb life
• Does not generate much heat

Cons

• More expensive than other lighting options
• Lights must “warm up” after being turned on
• Cannot be pulsed easily
• Cost/complexity of installations

LED Landing Lights

LED, or Light Emitting Diode landing lights, have no filament and work by moving electricity through diodes which are connected into a circuit. These lights have become very popular for many uses due to their simplicity, low cost, and brightness.

While not as bright as HID light, the LED lights require no “warm up period” and can be easily pulsed. LED lights draw much less power from the aircraft’s electrical system than traditional bulbs and boast incredible life length. LED bulb installation is very simple and can often serve as a direct replacement for the original lights.

Pros

• Instant light (no warm up)
• Incredible life length (>5,000 hours)
• Low Cost
• Simplicity of installation
• Can be pulsed easily
• Low power draw

Cons

• Not as bright as HID lighting

After weighing the options, I decided to replace the incandescent bulb in the Bonanza with an LED bulb. I read the reviews online and talked to some of my friends who work in aviation and eventually decided on the Lycoming Alphabeam. The Alphabeam is FAA/PMA approved and is available through Aircraft Spruce and other aviation parts vendors. The bulb cost around 250-300 dollars and I was able to install it as a direct replacement for our old light. All I had to do was take the old one out, put the new one in, and make a logbook entry.

Below are some pictures of the installation:

Last weekend I finally had an opportunity to take the airplane out after dark and see how the new light compared to the old one. I am pleased to say that it did a wonderful job and exceeded my expectations.

If you are interested in seeing a side by side comparison of the different lighting options, a quick Google search should provide what you are looking for. In my own experience, I would say that the LED light was brighter than the old light and did a very good job illuminating the taxiway and runway. It was extremely nice not to be concerned that my light wouldn’t work as I was setting up for landing at an unfamiliar field after dark. I also enjoyed feeling that I had the option to leave it on during climb and cruise in order to increase my visibility to other aircraft.

Many models of aircraft have multiple landing/ taxi lights installed which greatly reduces the likelihood of having to land without one. In our case, spending the extra money to upgrade to the LED bulb made sense because of the desire for increased reliability. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive way to upgrade your airplane, LED or HID lighting may be something to consider.

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.

Pilatus Jet Nears Certification

ByHank Gibson October 11, 2017

The Pilatus Jet, the PC-24 Super Versatile Jet, is nearing certification.  Pilatus expects the Pilatus Jet to receive European and US certification by December.  The first delivery may even take place before the end of the year.

In developing the PC-24 Pilatus Jet, Pilatus, based in Switzerland, has taken the same approach as they did with the PC-12, their insanely successful single engine turboprop.  Versatility is the key, with their mindset being to make the PC-24 Pilatus Jet the first flying Suburban jet.  Pilatus emphasized STOL  and unimproved strip operation in their design.

The huge cargo door so familiar on the PC-12 has been crafted into the PC-24 Pilatus Jet giving access to a massive cargo area.  According to Pilatus’ website, the jet has a takeoff distance of only 2,690 feet, which is unheard of for a a business jet.  There is seating for 11 + a pilot (yep, it’s a single pilot airplane!), so the whole family can come along.  With a max cruise of 425 knots and a range of almost 2,000 miles, it’s a get somewhere airplane.

The price tag for a new PC-24 Pilatus Jet will be $8.9 million, which is just under what a new Phenom 300 costs.  There is a 90 order wait list, so if you get on it now, you can get one faster than a Cirrus Vision Jet!

Reading Weather Prog Charts

ByHank Gibson January 27, 2015July 14, 2026

There are a multitude of weather products out there today to assist pilots in preparing for a flight.  Aviationweather.gov is the best source for getting all the information a pilot needs for planning a flight.  Aviationweather.gov is the National Weather Service’s source for all aviation related weather products.  When I teach about weather and weather briefings, I recommend to my students to utilize Aviationweather.gov in the planning stages, but still call the Flight Service Station to get a full fledged weather briefing before takeoff.

When preflight weather planning, one of the best ways to get a picture of what is happening over a broad area is utilizing the Low Level Significant Weather Prog charts.  The Prog chart gives a forecasted 12 and 24 hour picture of what type of weather to expect over the US.  The Prog chart gives the expected flight rules, areas of turbulence, and where the freezing level is located.  If you’re looking at the 4 panel view, the Surface Prog chart shows fronts, pressure areas, and areas of expected precipitation.  That covers just about everything, doesn’t it?

I believe the Prog charts are underutilized in planning.  Foreflight and Garmin Pilot have given easy access to radar pictures, satellite pictures, METARs, TAFs, and several other sources of weather information.  But, a lot of the easy access data you can get from those apps is current data (with the exception of the TAF) while a lot of the forecast data takes some hunting around.  So, products like Prog charts aren’t often utilized.

The other problem arises when pilots know about Prog charts, but don’t know how to read them, then don’t know how to find the legend to decipher the chart, the chart is often set aside and quickly forgotten about just because of a lack of knowledge.  Have no fear, though, as now we will use an example 4 panel Prog chart to decipher the lines and colorations.

Just looking at the Low Level Significant Weather Prog Chart above, it can be a little confusing.  That’s why they make a legend!

Coupling the legend with the chart above, we can determine some things.  First, California, parts of the Pacific Northwest, a small part of southern Arizona, and a good portion of the Midwest and East coast are going to have marginal VFR conditions in the next 12 hours.  Wisconsin, Illinois, a good portion of the Northeast, and a small portion of the Pacific Northwest will suffer IFR from IFR conditions.  There are going to be a good amount of low level turbulence in the northern and eastern parts of the country.  Finally, the freezing level starts at the surface running in a jagged line across the midwest states and curling up into the Northeast.

That’s a good bit of information, isn’t it?  If a pilot is planning a VFR flight into the Northeast tonight, it would probably be best to wait for another day, according to this chart.

Now, to see what is causing the conditions above, we need to look at the Surface Prog Chart.

The green circular areas above show that some form of precipitation is in that area.  The circular dots with the triangle located in Mexico and Baja California are depicting moderate rain showers.  If the triangle was gone, it would just be moderate rain.  In the northeast, all those symbols are showing moderate to heavy snow showers.  Across the plains, we see a lot of high pressure, meaning visibility and nice flying weather.

These charts are invaluable when it comes to flight planning, especially over long distances when the weather could be changing a lot over the period of your flight.  Put them to use the next time you are planning a trip and you’ll learn you have a much better picture of what the weather is doing.

Bruce’s Custom Covers

ByHank Gibson February 15, 2018February 26, 2018

I have used a few different sun shields in airplanes in my flying career.  I have found one that I really like. Bruce’s Custom Covers knocks it out of the park for usability and ease of storage.

Let’s start off with functionality.  Like other window sun shields, Bruce’s Custom Covers fit very nicely into the airplane glare shield and side windows. Depending on the type of airplane you have, some of the window covers use the suction cups and others don’t.  I recently had 2 customers order from Bruce’s, one that owns a P210 that uses the suction cups for all windows, including the glare shield, and the other owns a Cirrus which doesn’t use the suction cups on anything.

They work great.  They do the job of blocking the sun and keeping the cabin much cooler while the airplane is sitting on the ramp.

The thing I like best about Bruce’s Custom Covers is their storage.  Other sun shields require you to roll them up and lash a tie around them. Bruce’s, on the other hand, come folded very neatly in a black canvas bag.  The folded covers don’t take up nearly as much room as the rolled up covers, plus they are really easy to just fold up and store.

Bruce’s Custom Covers also sells plugs for cowling, pitot tubes, etc., as well as aircraft exterior covers.

Bruce’s Custom Covers gets my recommendation for anyone wanting to get some new sun shields.  For those of you in Texas, you know you need them!

The Flight Director as a Backup

ByHank Gibson September 3, 2014

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.