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Beware of the Lunch Monster
He prowls around, preying on innocent pilots.
He’s very sneaky, creeping unexpectedly and attacking after the propeller begins to turn.
He’s very cunning, veiling his intentions until, BOOM, he attacks.
Beware of the Lunch Monster!
Whenever I am doing a full day of training (which is usually how transition training courses are planned out, in full day sessions), I always plan a lunch stop. My metabolism has the speed of a rocket ship, so I get hungry and need some sustenance in the middle of the day. I have a running list of airports to stop at that have good lunch spots at them or nearby, so my customers and I usually end up at one of those airports.
Almost without fail, if a customer is having an excellent flying morning, nailing all the procedures, picking up all the techniques, and overall, flying pretty well, then eats lunch, the afternoon doesn’t go quite as well. Doing some of the same things we did that morning, but the customer’s performance isn’t quite as good. Most of the time, it’s just a brain lockup or landings aren’t quite as squeaky as they were in the morning.
Part of it is fatigue after flying for 2-3 hours in the morning. The other part is what I call the Lunch Monster. Eating a big lunch can sap away brain power and cause a person to lose energy around 2-3pm, leading to an afternoon lull (or the Lunch Monster attacking!).
According to Forbes.com:
Diet contributes to energy levels too. “Eating a lunch that is too big is the most common reason for feeling sleepy in the afternoon,” says Rebecca Solomon a nutritionist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. “All your energy goes into digesting the enormous meal.”
The goal is to keep the body’s Cortical and Cortisone levels even since they’re the hormones released by the body in reaction to stress–they produce the fight or flight response. Their levels are elevated when you have sugar, caffeine and processed food, so you feel awake and energetic. But a few hours later, when those levels drop, you’re sluggish.
Solomon recommends eating a meal that’s balanced with healthy fats (from olive oil or avocados, for instance) with protein and healthy carbohydrates (whole wheat bread or pasta). The portion will vary for people of different sizes, but a general rule is you should be hungry about four hours after the meal.
Another healthy eating habit: Consume small portions of foods throughout the day, including almonds, carrots and hummus and fruit. Enjoy lunch around 1:30 or 2 p.m., just before the time you normally feel fatigued.
Now, most of the stops on my list of restaurants don’t fit the bill of healthy fats and healthy carbohydrates (plenty of protein, though, especially the BBQ joints). For those days, bringing along a snack like almonds or dried fruit is a great idea to munch on mid-afternoon. Trimming down the amount eaten at lunch helps a lot too.
So, the next time you have a long day of flying or training, beware the lunch monster and prep some good snacks when your flight instructor says you’re stopping for BBQ!
He prowls around, preying on innocent pilots. He’s very sneaky, creeping unexpectedly and attacking after the propeller begins to turn. He’s very cunning, veiling his intentions until, BOOM, he attacks. Beware of the Lunch Monster! Whenever I am doing a full day of training (which is usually how transition training courses are planned out, in…
PIREP: Austin Bergstrom Recovering After Flood Damage
The massive storms that rolled through the Austin Bergstrom and San Antonio areas last Friday not only put a dent in the landscape, they put a dent in the skies too.
The Austin Bergstrom (KAUS) control tower suffered significant flood damage Friday. 6 inches of rainfall in an hour caused water to come pouring into the first floor of the tower, flooding the radar room and knocking out the power. This led to transmission outages for the tower, ground control, clearance delivery and the ATIS. Similar to the Chicago Center fire last year (though this was a much smaller section of airspace), the area normally controlled by Austin Approach was replaced by a big, gaping radar hole.
By 8:45am on Friday morning, the Austin Bergstrom airport actually closed. One runway eventually opened back up Friday afternoon, but massive delays and cancellations had already taken place. All the ILS approaches were down and Houston Center had taken over the airspace normally occupied by Austin Approach control.
A temporary, emergency tower vehicle was brought in by the FAA (it’s essentially an RV with communications and a giant window) by the end of the weekend. All arrivals and departures were restricted to 17L and 35R.
Due to the radar outage, I heard there was as much as a 4 hour delay even for planes coming into Austin Bergstrom from Dallas, and that was in VMC conditions on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday brought IMC conditions which only enhanced the delays.
The latest news is that Austin Approach will be opening back up, but in a satellite base in San Antonio. The Austin controllers will be using the SAT radar room and will be receiving their radar picture via satellite. The approach frequencies should be up and running today or tomorrow. The Austin Bergstrom tower is up and running and most of the ILS approaches are operational at this point.
In the meantime, expect delays going in and out of Austin. If you don’t have to get to AUS, EDC, or GTU, you’re better off delaying a day or two until Austin Approach is back up and running.
The massive storms that rolled through the Austin Bergstrom and San Antonio areas last Friday not only put a dent in the landscape, they put a dent in the skies too. The Austin Bergstrom (KAUS) control tower suffered significant flood damage Friday. 6 inches of rainfall in an hour caused water to come pouring into…
Flying WAAS GPS Approaches
When flying a WAAS GPS approach, there are several different levels of WAAS signal that a GPS receiver can get. The most precise is an LPV signal. LPV stands for Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance. An LPV approach has the lowest minimums of all the WAAS GPS approaches, typically in the range of 200-300 feet AGL. A GPS glide path (GP) is guaranteed with an LPV approach and the minimum altitude is a decision altitude (DA).
Just like a localizer, an LPV course width get’s tighter and the CDI becomes more sensitive the closer the plane get’s to the runway. Even though the LPV approach minimums are so low and the approach is down to a DA, they still aren’t considered precision approaches by the FAA (which leads to some extra planning when selecting an airport as an alternate that only has GPS approaches, since the AIM specifies only the LNAV minimum are to be considered if an alternate airport only has GPS approaches, bringing the 800 foot ceiling requirement to bear)
An LNAV/VNAV approach is still a WAAS approach that has a GPS glidepath, but is slightly different than an LPV approach. An LNAV/VNAV final approach course does not get more sensitive the closer the plane gets to the runway. The smallest course width on an LNAV/VNAV approach is 0.3 miles either side of center. LNAV/VNAV approaches will, most of the time, have higher minimums than LPV approaches and can have minimums no lower than 250′ AGL.
The third type of WAAS approach is strictly a non-precision approach with a Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA). These are designated LP approaches, which stands for Localizer Performance. These are like old school Localizer only approaches that, similar to the lateral portion of an LPV approach, the course width tightens the closer to the runway that a pilot is. There is no glide path by definition of an LP approach, though there is a caveat.
Now, by looking at an approach plate that is a WAAS approach, but only has LP minimums listed, a pilot would assume there would be no glide path. Depending on what type of GPS unit the airplane has, that pilot could be wrong. Garmin Perspective units (Cirrus G1000), all GTN 750s and GTN 650s, All G1000 NXi units, most Garmin 430W and 530W, and all Avidyne IFD 550/540 and 440 units will display an advisory glide path on an LP approach, designated LP+V.
What does LP+V indicate? An advisory glide path is just advisory, but it is totally legal to follow down on a non-precision LP approach. The kicker is obstacle clearance is not guaranteed and the pilot needs to keep an eye on minimum altitudes at the different waypoints on the approach. The big thing I tell people is, when you arrive at the MDA and the runway is in sight, following the advisory glide path below the MDA could get you in trouble with obstacles. Don’t just hone in on your instruments when you break out of the clouds. Look out the windscreen and make sure you won’t hit anything.
If you arrive at the MDA on the advisory glide path and the runway isn’t in sight, DON’T GO BELOW THE MDA! Most autopilots won’t level off at the MDA, even if that altitude is set in the altitude pre-select, so this will involve turning off the autopilot before the MDA and manually leveling off, or engaging the altitude mode of your autopilot at the MDA.
One other type of GPS approach that you will encounter is an LNAV approach. This is a non-WAAS approach down to an MDA, but your GPS unit may still give you a +V. Most modern ones will.
When flying a WAAS GPS approach, there are several different levels of WAAS signal that a GPS receiver can get. The most precise is an LPV signal. LPV stands for Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance. An LPV approach has the lowest minimums of all the WAAS GPS approaches, typically in the range of 200-300 feet…
Jet A Fueling Mismanagement
I’m sure at this point, most pilots in Texas have heard about the Cessna 421 that went down two weeks ago in Lufkin. The Golden Eagle suffered a dual engine failure (the pilot lost the first at 2300 feet, then the second at 1700 feet) in IMC on climb out. He broke out at 1,000 AGL miraculously lined up with US 59, south of the Lufkin airport. The pilot had to dodge a car as he was attempting his landing, stalled the airplane, sheared off the landing gear, then slid into the median. No one died, but lots of bumps and bruises. All were airlifted to Houston.
The cause was a lineman at LFK put Jet A in the 421, which is a piston airplane and takes 100LL Avgas. The story that I saw said the pilot and two passengers were returning to Houston from Kansas City and diverted to LFK due to weather. They landed in driving rain and spent the night. I have not seen any reports saying whether the pilot sumped the tanks or not the following morning.
There were several factors that led to this accident. If you take one factor out, the accident probably wouldn’t have happened. Let’s take a look at the sequence of events.
The 421 arrived in a driving rain storm, so the pilot and passengers probably disembarked quickly to get out of the weather. Factor number 1 presents itself here. We don’t know whether or not the pilot told the lineman to put Avgas in it or not (he may have just said fill it up), so we’ll leave that aside.
Understandably, the pilot dashed inside to get out of the rain, but they neglected to monitor the fueling. Whether or not the fueling took place that night or the next morning, we can’t say. I have started to greatly encourage my customers to monitor the fueling of their airplanes, especially when it’s a fuselage that can either have Avgas piston engines or Jet A turboprops, as is the case with the Cessna 421.
Factor number 2, we already know about. The lineman messed up and put the wrong fuel in. If their was uncertainty about what type of fuel, he would have been prudent to await the return of the pilot to ask, even if that meant delaying the pilot’s departure.
Factor number 3 is the matter of sumping the fuel. We don’t know if the pilot sumped the fuel or not. The tricky thing about sumping is Jet A doesn’t settle out of Avgas like water does unless it sits for a long, long time. The two ways to determine if you have Jet A in your Avgas airplane are to smell it, as Jet A has a very strong diesel smell, or do the paper towel test. The paper towel test consists of dumping a fuel sample onto a paper towel, then let the Avgas evaporate. If you are left with a nasty, oily residue, you’ve got Jet A in your tanks (not to mention it will smell like diesel).
To prevent misfueling of your airplane, take the following steps:
- Be specific in telling the lineman what type of fuel you want, not just “fill ‘er up”
- Monitor the fueling and watch which truck pulls up to your airplane
- This is especially important with fuselages that can have either Pistons or Turbo-Prop engines, like the PA-46 line or the Twin Cessna line
- Always sump your fuel, definitely smell it, and if there are any doubts, try a paper towel test
I’m sure at this point, most pilots in Texas have heard about the Cessna 421 that went down two weeks ago in Lufkin. The Golden Eagle suffered a dual engine failure (the pilot lost the first at 2300 feet, then the second at 1700 feet) in IMC on climb out. He broke out at 1,000…
The Aviation Insurance Landscape
This is a re-post from Assured Partners Aerospace’s 2nd quarter Newsletter. The full newsletter can be found on Assured Partners website.
Until the war in Ukraine, the aviation insurance market could be described as “stabilizing” after a couple years of volatility with higher premiums and tighter underwriting. However, and hopefully perhaps only for the short-term, the Ukrainian war immediately brought uncertainty back into the worldwide aviation insurance market.
According to Business Insurance, “the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine represents the biggest potential loss to the aviation war market since 9/11.” One leasing firm alone has reportedly already filed a claim of approximately $3.5B for aircraft and engines they say have effectively been seized by Russia. And, because the aviation insurance arena is so small, what happens around the world at this magnitude can have cascading, detrimental effects on the US aviation insurance market.
In addition, the well-publicized spike in fuel prices could have another cooling effect on aviation operations. Generally, less air activity combined with higher operating costs equates to more frequent requests for reduced coverage, taking premium dollars away from an already-small market.
Aviation insurance buyers should therefore remain on the alert throughout 2022 for potentially quick changes to the aviation insurance marketplace that might affect either their current insurance program or their next renewal.
See our recommended insurance agencies on our Aircraft Acquisitions page.
This is a re-post from Assured Partners Aerospace’s 2nd quarter Newsletter. The full newsletter can be found on Assured Partners website. Until the war in Ukraine, the aviation insurance market could be described as “stabilizing” after a couple years of volatility with higher premiums and tighter underwriting. However, and hopefully perhaps only for the short-term,…
Hank Gibson Earns ABS Instructor Designation
Texas Top Aviation is proud to announce that Hank Gibson has completed the training to become an American Bonanza Society Instructor, or ABS Instructor. He is now qualified to give instruction in Beech Aircraft.
As an ABS Instructor, Hank brings over 2800 hours of flying experience in a variety of aircraft to the cockpit of Beechcraft. Along with his ABS Instructor Designation, Hank is also a Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot (CSIP) and a Cessna FITS Accepted Instructor in both Cessna high and low wing piston aircraft (CFAI+). Hank is proud to add the ABS Instructor designation to his list of qualifications.
The process of becoming an ABS Instructor is quite comprehensive. The coursework consists of 20 powerpoint lessons covering anything and everything related to flying Debonairs, Bonanzas, Travel Airs, and Barons. The ABS Instructor course is quite in depth and detailed, giving the graduate a full understanding of the Beechcraft piston line of aircraft. To find out more about ABS Instructors, see the ABS website.
Hank is now giving initial and recurrent training in Beech Debonairs and Bonanzas. Please visit the Texas Top Aviation Bonanza Training page for more information on Bonanza and Debonair initial and recurrent training. Interested in Bonanza or Debonair training with a qualified ABS Instructor? Contact Texas Top Aviation today!
Texas Top Aviation is proud to announce that Hank Gibson has completed the training to become an American Bonanza Society Instructor, or ABS Instructor. He is now qualified to give instruction in Beech Aircraft. As an ABS Instructor, Hank brings over 2800 hours of flying experience in a variety of aircraft to the cockpit of…
