Matching the Airplane with Your Mission

The PIC Isn’t Always the Pilot Who Took Off

ByAnne Pargeter November 10, 2016December 1, 2016

You are at cruising altitude and your flight is going just as planned. All of that can change, sometimes without much warning, and you, the non-pilot, are now in charge. Would you know what to do?

This was a scary thought for me until I attended a seminar developed for the non-flyer at a Cirrus Owners Pilot Association (COPA) fly-in. Cirrus is the only small plane with a parachute as standard, so I thought all I had to do in an emergency was pull the chute. It’s a little more complicated than that!
I learned the vast majority of pilot incapacitation happens when the plane is at cruising altitude, so there is time to find a solution.

I was taught ten basic steps to follow to bring the plane safely to the ground.

• First attempt to revive the pilot. If he is choking, it is possible to do a Heimlich maneuver from the side. This may dislodge whatever is blocking his airway and solve the problem. If he is experiencing hypoxia, turn off the heat, open all vents, and, if you have on board oxygen, use it. Also, if you can, get instructions on how to descend to a lower altitude. If the pilot is unconscious due to a heart attack or other medical emergency, there are still things you can do from the right seat.
• Engage the autopilot if it isn’t already on and move the pilot off the controls. *
• Ensure you are connected to the radio. If you hear ATC or other pilots, you are.
• Send an electronic trouble message. Set the transponder to 7-7-0-0 to identify your plane to ATC. This will cause your plane to be highlighted on ATC radar screens.
• ATC will most likely contact you asking what is your emergency. If this does not happen, you will need to transmit a Mayday call. All non-pilot passengers should know how to use the radio to get help, if they know nothing else.
• With help from ATC, decide where you want to go.
• Use the autopilot to fly in the direction suggested by ATC. I was taught that ultimately the choice of where to deploy the parachute is up to me because I am now the PIC, pilot in command.
• Ensure that seat belts are secure and the emergency hammer is between your legs (so you have it to break a window to escape if needed).
• Pull the parachute handle.
• On the way down, shut down the engine and brace for impact.
• After landing, move away from the plane, into the wind. Stay nearby and wait for help.

The seminar covered specific procedures to accomplish these basic steps, what to do if you don’t get a response from ATC, what to say in a Mayday transmission, how to fly a heading, how to check fuel levels, shut down the engine, etc. After the seminar, I felt much more comfortable about what to do if my pilot suddenly lost consciousness.

I was also told to practice what I had learned to avoid panicking in an emergency situation. There are so many things the person in the right seat can do under normal circumstances to practice. Learn how to set heading bugs, learn where the plane’s Electronic Locator Transmitter (ELT) is located and how to activate it. This will help rescuers locate the airplane. Learn how to assess your fuel levels. Practice making routine radio transmissions. Observe what your pilot does and ask questions if you don’t understand something.

Knowing what to do in an emergency situation will give you a sense of control over what will happen to you, your pilot, and any passengers on board your plane. If you have never considered taking a lesson or two for the non-pilot, find yourself an instructor, and learn what you need to know for your plane. Hopefully you will never have to use it, but if you do, you will be ready to be the PIC who lands the plane.

Anne and her husband Stephen are the proud owners of a Cirrus SR20. They plan to put the airplane to better use once Stephen retires. Anne has a background in desktop publishing and writing.

Cirrus Vision Jet Receives FAA Certification

ByHank Gibson November 8, 2016

The long anticipated certification of the Cirrus Vision Jet finally happened.  On October 30th, the FAA awarded certification to Cirrus’ single engine jet.  Marketed as the world’s first single engine personal jet, the Cirrus Vision Jet will seat five adults, two children, and cruise around 300 knots.

The Williams FJ33-5A Turbo Fan engine is operated by a FADEC, single handle throttle, similar to the throttle in the piston powered Cirrus family.  In fact, the SR series was taken into consideration when designing the Cirrus Vision Jet in order to simplify the upgrade for pilots.  Many of the buttons and knobs are in the same places in the Cirrus Vision Jet.

The Cirrus Vision Jet is equipped with the Cirrus Perspective Touch by Garmin that is very similar to the Cirrus Perspective by Garmin in the piston powered line.  Equipped also with the Flight Into Known Icing system and the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), both of which are standard.

Unlike the piston powered Cirrus lines, the CAPS system on the Cirrus Vision Jet is actually mounted in the nose.  Also, unlike the piston lines, the jet CAPS is integrated with the aircraft avionics to slow the airplane to between 67 and 160 knots when the system is activated.  In the jet, the CAPS system was designed to withstand higher weights, higher speeds and higher altitudes.

Cirrus hopes to start deliveries of the Vision Jet by the end of the year, with many more rolling off the line in 2017.  All Cirrus Vision Jet pilots will need to be type rated in order to fly the aircraft.  Cirrus is doing all the type rating training in house at their new Vision Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

To read the full press release, click here.

Pitch + Power = Performance

ByHank Gibson October 10, 2016October 17, 2016

My first chief flight instructor had an addage he would impart to his flight instructors when we began working at that flight school. “Pitch + Power = Performance” he would tell us. Then he’d glare at us and follow up with, “nobody teaches that right, so make sure your students know it.”

Now, having been a CFI for seven years, I would tend to agree with him. I have moved on from doing mostly primary training to transition training. Transition training is taking someone who is already a pilot and teaching them how to fly a different type of airplane. In jets, you get a type rating. In piston engine airplanes, there is no FAA requirement to go through any type of extra training as long as you are rated in category and class (eg. single engine piston). But, insurance companies know that Mr. Fresh Private Pilot can’t just hop from a Cessna 172 into a Cirrus SR22 or a Bonanza, so they require transition training before insuring those pilots.

What did my chief instructor mean when he imparted his wisdom? He was speaking about a particular phase of flight, the final approach phase, regardless of whether it’s a VFR approach or an IFR approach. The pitch of the airplane and the power setting of the airplane have to be utilized together to achieve the proper speed and descent rate (performance).

VFR

On the final approach leg of a VFR pattern, most piston engine aircraft are configured with landing gear down and flaps down in the landing position. This puts the airplane on the back side of the power curve in the region of reverse command. In the region of positive command, in cruise, for example, the more power you add, the faster you are going to go and, if you pitch up, you will go up and you pitch down, you will go down. But, they work together (if you point the nose down, you will accelerate unless you reduce the power); remember, Pitch + Power = Performance.

In the region of reverse command, the pitch controls the airspeed and the power controls your rate of descent, but, again, they work together. Let’s say the airplane is 5 knots above it’s approach speed on final. Initially, the pilot will need to pitch up slightly to bleed off that airspeed. The airplane will want to climb, so as he is pitching up, he’ll need to make a slight power reduction to stay on glide slope.

Alternatively, let’s say the airplane is high, but is on speed. The pilot will make a power reduction to descend to the glide path, but he’ll also need to pitch down to maintain the proper airspeed.

What you don’t want to do is this: if the airplane is high on final, don’t push the nose down to try and get down. This does cause the airplane to lose altitude quickly, but the airspeed increases quickly. With a higher airspeed, the airplane has a lot more energy to dissipate when it gets to the runway, meaning you’ll float longer which can lead to forcing the airplane down or using up too much runway and not being able to get the airplane stopped in time.

IFR

On an instrument approach, you are on the front side of the power curve. When trying to stay on glide slope, the power is controlling the speed of the airplane and the pitch is keeping the airplane on glide slope. This can be a little bit confusing for VFR pilots transitioning to instrument approaches as they are not used to being on the front side of the power curve.

Keeping in mind that Pitch + Power = Performance, let’s put the airplane above the glide slope on an ILS approach. In order to get down to the glide slope, the pitch needs to be lowered as much as needed (it’s always better to pick a pitch attitude to fly and see if it is working to bring the glide slope back to center. If it doesn’t work, pick a new one. Don’t just push the nose down until the glide slope moves) and the power needs to be reduced to maintain airspeed (again, pick a specific power setting). Once the glide slope centers, then the pitch will be raised slightly and the power will need to be increased to hold glide slope and speed respectively.

My 2018 Osh Kosh Experience

ByHank Gibson September 24, 2018September 24, 2018

I got the privilege of going to the EAA AirVenture at Osh Kosh this year.  It was my first Osh Kosh experience.  I’ll be the first to tell you, walking in the gate on the first day is mildly overwhelming.  There are people and stuff everywhere.  Airplanes, tents selling everything from airplane parts to mattresses (I wasn’t really sure how mattresses tied to flying), vendors, colleges, and loads of people.

After I gathered myself from my initial shock, I set out to explore all that I could.  I spent most of the first morning walking around the different manufacturer’s tents, getting a gauge on all the new airplanes I could never afford and only hope to ever fly.

The short of it is, the Cessna/Textron Denali is going to be stellar once it gets completed.  The Epic E1000 (if it ever gets certified) might take a large market share from TBM, though they will have an uphill climb. The Cirrus Vision Jet is very cool and should be a relatively simple step up for SR22T owners.  The Pilatus Jet is huge.  Finally, the Diamond DA62 would be my below 12,500 airplane and the Piper M350 would be my pressurized plane.  Money being no factor, of course.

I decided to take in the entire airshow on Day 1, all 4 hours of it.  Upon realizing I would be very stiff necked if I did that each day for the three days I was there, I decided on Day 2 to check out some seminars and learn something.  I took a seaplane ground school course on Day 2, then listened to a NASA presentation on electric airplanes and low boom sonic jet technology (how to make supersonic passenger flight quieter).

The end of Day 2 at Osh Kosh had to be the highlight.  I got to hang out with Cub Crafters at the 51WI grass strip just north of the OSH Class D airspace.  There was a free BBQ and I got to take a ride in a Carbon Cub.  My landing from the back seat was a bit rusty, but still a very cool experience.  Buzzing the BBQ area in tandem was pretty neat.

Day 3 brought some cooler temps and some clouds.  We walked out to the vintage airplanes, spending the morning gawking at Cessna 195s and Wacos.  Then I took the plunge to explore all the vendor hangars.  My idea was to walk around and see if I can find some interesting and innovative technology.  Well, after 2 of the 4 hangars, my head was spinning, so I decided to watch the rest of the airshow to let my brain drain out a bit.

3 Days was a good amount of time to spend.  I don’t think I could have stayed all week, but only a day or two wouldn’t have been worth it.  I flew up with a former student in his TBM 700, which was a very nice way to travel.  We landed and stayed in Green Bay (KGRB), which was super easy and low stress.  Had a great tailwind on the return and made it to Houston non-stop.

A few closing observations:

The Stratos 716X Personal Jet

If Stratos Aircraft is ever able to bring this to market, it sounds awesome.  400 knots, single engine, single pilot, with 6 seats.  Being a single engine jet, similar to the Cirrus Vision Jet, it’s 100 knots faster, plus with the airflow and engine technology, it doesn’t have that big V Tail in the back, thereby reducing drag.  I have a feeling it would find a good market, but the certification process is a bear to get through.  Just ask Epic.

The Lancair Mako

This is a legit airplane.  Lots of thought was put in to the design of the Mako by the new Lancair organization in Uvalde, TX (KUVA).  The airplane was extremely comfortable, capable, and pretty cool.  The stick is in the center, with throttles on the side (where the stick would be in a Cirrus or Columbia).  AC, full Garmin integration, and the cool factor of the nose gear retracting, but not having a gear handle. Higher useful load than a Cirrus or Columbia, it would be a great alternative (and cheaper) to one of it’s certified competitors.

Avionics

There is a lot of new avionics technology hitting the market.  Dynon, beloved by experimental enthusiasts, is finding a foothold in the certified world with some neat panels.  It will be an uphill battle to take on Garmin, but there is some potential in the retrofit market to offer a cheaper alternative to the Garmin TXi.

Speaking of the TXi, I played around with the 10.7″ panel at the Garmin booth.  It is extremely intuitive. Garmin did a great job of making it a simple touch screen interface, easy to use, and easy to learn.

Avidyne is pushing their iPad integration with the IFD 100 iPad app.  It ties via Wifi or Bluetooth to an IFD 550 or 440 navigator, giving an additional screen in the cockpit to work with.  You have the ability to modify flight plans and such on the iPad and it will show up on the GPS units.

All in all, Osh Kosh was an experience I’m glad to have finally experienced.  I don’t think I would go every year like some folks, but every few years, especially when my sons are older, seems like just enough for me, but not too much.

All Photos Courtesy of William Day, copyright 2018, All Rights Reserved

 

Thanks For Flying With Us!

ByHank Gibson December 31, 2014January 5, 2015

From our family to yours, thank you for flying with Texas Top Aviation in 2014.  We wish everyone a Happy New Year and a great 2015!