The RDD LX7

A Proper Cross Country Flight Checklist (Part 2)

ByAndrew Robinson March 2, 2016

Airplane Covers

If you’re going to be leaving your airplane outside at your destination, make sure you have proper covers and plugs to protect it while you are gone. A friend of mine forgot to put his pitot cover on his airplane while it was parked outside and had his departure delayed because of a mud dauber which had moved in while the airplane sat on the ramp.

Tie-Down Ropes

Depending on your destination airport/FBO, there may or may not be tie down ropes available on the ramp. It isn’t uncommon for there to be tie down loops, but no ropes. I generally try to carry a set of ropes in the airplane and even my own set of chocks. If you are going to a fly-in or landing at a private strip, steaks with tie down ropes can be very useful as well. Don’t forget to take your ropes and chocks with you when you leave, though. Ropes and chocks which are left unattended can cause problems for airport machinery (plows) and other airplanes.

Paper and a Pen

Back to basics! Don’t forget to bring a pen/ pencil and something to write on to keep track of clearances and frequencies.

EAPIS/ Boarder Crossing Procedures

If you are planning to fly across the U.S. Border, you will need to have filed the proper paperwork and make sure to bring along your passport/greencard. If you want to fly into Canada everyone on board the airplane is required to have a passport.

Basic Tools

You never know when you may need a screwdriver or some pliers. Having a small toolbox which you can throw in the airplane could be a life saver.

GPS

If you have a GPS, make sure that your data base is up to date.

Camera

Pretty self explanatory…but, don’t forget the camera charger!

Currency

Look through your pilot logbook and the airplane logbook and make sure that everything is up to date. If you need to get an IPC or a BFR done before you leave, give yourself some buffer time in case you have to reschedule.

Other Considerations

Sometimes it makes sense to go to a larger airport despite having to pay additional fees and higher gas prices. Often, if I am traveling at night or after regular business hours, it is worth the extra expense to know that there will be assistance available should I need it. It also isn’t always necessary to get a hotel…there are airports such as Noble County, Ohio (I10) that have beautiful campsites available on the airport. If you like camping, it can be a fun alternative to shelling out the cash for a hotel and rental car.
Camping out next to the airplane can be a fun way to spend the night.

Finally, I like to take the airplane out for a short flight and make sure that everything is working properly before I bring the family and get everything loaded up. (Plus, it’s a perfect excuse to go for a little joyride.) I’d much rather find out that the battery is dead or the plugs are fouled when I have time to fix the issues. If possible, do your test flight on a day when your maintenance shop is open so you can get any problems addressed immediately. If you haven’t done much cross country flying or if you are a little rusty, ask a flight instructor or another pilot to look over your planning. There is also nothing wrong with having an instructor or experienced friend come along on the first few trips until you become more comfortable doing it on your own.

In my opinion, cross country flying is one of the most rewarding things a pilot can do with their certificate. The view available from the window of a general aviation airplane is so different than the one you get out the window of a car or a commercial airliner. If you’re willing to invest the time and money, you’ll get a lot more out of your trip than a few hours in your logbook. So, what are you waiting for….haven’t you always wanted to go to Oshkosh?

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.

Wind the Clock

ByMike Hostage July 26, 2016

There is truth in the old adage that 99% of flying is routine while the remaining 1% holds the potential for events that cause those who fly to hold themselves above mere ground-bound mortals. My 37 years of military flying might have distorted that ratio a fair bit given the complexity of high-energy fighter aircraft and the uncertainties of combat, but rest assured we all earn our right to be proud of our wings every time we fly.

The requirement that a single-seat fighter pilot be able to handle rapidly evolving emergency situations and complex systems diagnosis sets a high bar for any who join that group. However, the lessons we learned and techniques we developed for making fighter aviation significantly safer than in yesteryear have direct applicability to general aviation.

Prioritization and compartmentalization are two important skills that every pilot should have. These skills amount to the ability to look at a complex problem, quickly determine the most critical elements, and mentally set aside those things that can wait so as to deal with highest priorities first. While this does not sound like rocket science, the art is in the doing!

The technique for dealing with the immediate onslaught of information, such as when that caution tone or caution light presents and different gauges or displays go haywire, provided the title for this piece.

All flight training will, at some point, involve what is called situational emergency procedures training, know to military aviators as SEPT. We do this type of training in a simulated cockpit that has all the dials and switches for our particular aircraft. None of the switches and dials do anything, some are just decals on a wooden dashboard, but the presentation allows the SEPT victim to reach for the appropriate switch or lever, while telling the instructor what and why they are doing so.

One of the most common mistakes new trainees make is that of trying to act too fast, before they have fully and correctly analyzed the situation at hand. Herein lies the titled technique. After blurting out a quick and incorrect answer, the instructor would admonish with: “rather than try to react instantly, maintain aircraft control, analyze the situation, then take appropriate action. The best thing you can do is to reach up and wind the clock. This will give your nervous energy some place to channel itself, while your brain takes in the full situation.”

Winding the clock might seem like an archaic notion, but, amazingly enough, even our most modern aircraft have the same clock we flew with as far back as the 1960s. The Waltham A-13A aircraft clock and timer is a wind-up device that only uses power to light up at night. Unless your emergency involved some type of catastrophic impact to the instrument panel, you could count on at least your clock to be functioning normally. Thus, reaching out and winding it was unlikely to cause any worsening of your evolving emergency and would distract your brain from the need to take some poorly-thought-out action, too quickly.

Now, in most aircraft there are a few emergencies that will require immediate, reactive actions. In fighters, we call these Boldface Emergencies. For each type of fighter, we memorize, to the letter, the few key actions that have to be instinctive, to prevent disaster. For all other emergencies, there is time to reach out and wind the clock while assessing all instruments and lights to fully understand your situation.

For your aircraft, know those Boldface or Critical Action Procedures, but for all other emergencies, take the time to maintain aircraft control, “wind the clock” while you analyze the situation, then take appropriate action.

Mike Hostage is a retired USAF pilot with 37 years of experience, flying a wide variety of aircraft.  An instructor pilot for more than half of his 4800 flight hours, Mike is currently qualified in a Cirrus SR-22T and regularly flys his two homebuilt sailplanes.

Building An Airplane

ByHank Gibson August 3, 2018August 3, 2018

Randy Vanstory, a long-time customer of Texas Top Aviation, decided in early 2017 to build his own airplane. Randy currently owns a Mooney M20J and has been active in aviation for a number of years.  He took on the Vans RV 10, starting in February 2017.  He’s about halfway through right now, with an estimated completion of mid-2020.

I asked Randy what gave him the desire to build his own plane.  “I love building things, learning new things, and working on things” he said.  “This satisfies those desires all in one project.”  Randy had a desire to work with his hands, to create something of his own, and building an airplane put several of his passions together in one project.

Lots of pilots out there dream of building their own airplane in their garage.  There is a certain cool factor to putting together an RV or a Lancair in a garage, then trucking it out to an airport, attaching the wings, then flying a personal creation for the first time.  An airplane unique to you, since there isn’t one quite like it any where else.

That’s the beauty of a homebuilt.

Here is a link to Randy’s build video done by Kobalt Tools.

BendixKing Throws It’s Hat in the Glass Panel Ring

ByHank Gibson June 20, 2018June 25, 2018

Two pilots walk into an FBO.  “Nice airplane,” Pilot 1 says to Pilot 2.  “What kind of panel do you have in it?”

“I just went all glass,” Pilot 2 says.  “Put in the Garmin G500 TXi, a GTN 750, and upgraded to the GFC 600 Autopilot.  Even put in the Mid-Continent standby instruments.  It’s a pretty sweet set up.  What about you?”

“Wow, sounds like it!” Pilot 1 responds.  “I went a different route.  I liked all my old BendixKing instruments, so I stuck with the company.  I put in a BendixKing AeroVue Touch panel, a BendixKing KSN 770 touch screen GPS, kept my KFC 225 autopilot, got the ADS-B out compliant BendixKing KT 74 transponder, and finished it off with a King AeroFlight KI 300 Digital Backup instrument.”

Wait, what?  BendixKing?

Yes, my friends, BendixKing is still around.

We are all used to the latest and greatest Garmin products these days.  Don’t get me wrong, Garmin and Aspen make great retro-fit products for your instrument panel, while Garmin and Avidyne are at the top of the touch-screen GPS market, but don’t forget about BendixKing.  They are staying in the game too.

BendixKing announced in April the xVue Touch for experimental aircraft, with the STC for the AeroVue Touch for certified aircraft coming later this summer.  The xVue and AeroVue touch are pretty nifty units, comparable in features to what Garmin is doing with the G500 TXi and G600 TXi.  It will be difficult to claw back into a competitive market share with Garmin, but BendixKing might find a niche market of followers.

Let’s take a look at the unit.

BendixKing AeroVue Touch

Now, I have not used the BendixKing AeroVue Touch or the xVue Touch, only read about them.  But, what I’ve read sounds pretty cool.  The display has really good resolution (BendixKing brags it is the highest screen resolution available), synthetic vision that comes standard (Garmin & Aspen charge extra for synthetic vision), plus VFR Sectional Charts & IFR High and Low Enroute charts, making paper charts even more obsolete.

The display is 10.1 inches and can be easily swapped between a full screen instrument mode or a split screen setup as seen above.  Apparently, BendixKing has 3-D moving maps available on the AeroVue Touch too, which is standard.

The one thing Garmin has on the BendixKing AeroVue Touch right now is engine information.  The G500TXi has a full complement of engine gauges available; the AeroVue Touch doesn’t, yet.  BendixKing says it’s in the works, as well as radio information and autopilot control.  I’m assuming the future autopilot control software would mean you could remotely mount an autopilot controller and input all functions from the AeroVue Touch display.  The nice thing about these future upgrades is all the software updates are free through BendixKing.

The sticker price for the forthcoming unit is going to be about $12,600.  Garmin’s 10.5 inch G500 TXi is $16,000, while Aspen doesn’t offer anything quite that big.

BendixKing KSN 770

I’ve been keeping my eye on the BendixKing KSN 770 Touchscreen WAAS GPS for a few years now.  It never really has caught on quite like the Garmin GTN 750 or the Avidyne IFD 540.  BendixKing took the same route that Avidyne did in creating a hybrid touch GPS (or mini-MFD if you want to look at it that way) where a pilot can perform functions either using the touch screen or utilizing soft keys on the edges.  I like the hybrid touch approach as I have been bounced around in turbulence while trying to tap something into a Garmin GTN 750 and it can prove difficult.

Similar to the AeroVue Touch, BendixKing utilized split screen technology in the KSN 770.  It’s a full WAAS unit that is already certified.  It’s sticker price is $14,200, compared to the Garmin GTN 750 at $17,200 and the Avidyne IFD 540 at $15,000.

Other BendixKing Gadgets

Here are some other BendixKing Gadgets both available now and in the works:

• AeroFlight KI 300-BendixKing’s Digital Standby Attitude Indicator
• KT 74 ADS-B Out Transponder-Slide in replacement for vintage King transponders
• KFC 230 AeroCruz Touchscreen Digital Autopilot-2 or 3 axis options.  Will be the only touchscreen digital autopilot available on the market.  Also able to utilize the servos from older KFC autopilots.  Should be available late fall or winter ’18.

Cirrus Electrical System Health

ByHank Gibson June 30, 2016July 7, 2016

As all Cirrus pilots know, SR20s and SR22s have 2 batteries in the Cirrus electrical system (technically, they have 3, as Battery 2 is made up of 2 12 volt batteries in series with each other).  Battery 1 provides power to the starter and is a backup for the entire Cirrus electrical system, while Battery 2 provides backup for the Essential Bus items.

If you look on the engine page of either an Avidyne or a Garmin Cirrus, there is a section showing the Cirrus electrical system health.  With the engine running, you have voltmeters showing the voltage from Alternator 1 and Alternator 2, ammeters showing the amperage output from Alt 1 and Alt 2, and an ammeter showing the charging rate of Battery 1.  There is no indication for Battery 2.

This brings up a question.  How does the pilot know that Battery 2 has any kind of a charge?  What happens if the whole Cirrus electrical system goes caput and all that’s left is Battery 2?  Will Battery 2 have juice then?

The answer is actually rather simple.  As part of the pre-flight inspection, the first step in the cabin inspection is to turn the Battery 2 switch on, then check the Essential bus volt meter.  The checklist says the voltmeter should be reading between 23-25 volts.  This tells you how much voltage Battery 2 currently has. The next step (after ensuring the flap lights are out) is the turn Battery 1 on.  Battery 1 then powers the Main Bus and Essential Bus.  The voltage showing on the Main Bus shows how much voltage Battery 1 currently has.

Easy enough right?  Now you can impress friends and family alike with your Cirrus electrical knowledge!

Garmin 530/430 Missed Approaches

ByHank Gibson May 25, 2016May 29, 2016

Flying a missed approach can be stressful enough.  When you haven’t done one in a while and your GPS isn’t showing you how to get to the missed approach point and you can’t remember which button to press, that adds a lot more stress.  Recipe for disaster?  Quite possibly!

No need to fear, we are here to help.  The procedure for getting a Garmin 530 or 430 to give you missed approach guidance is actually simple and straightforward, if you know what to do!

Note: Because of the variety of different autopilot configurations in different airplanes, this article will focus solely on the GPS.

What the GPS is Thinking

The way Garmin designed the Garmin 530 and Garmin 430 is to be as helpful to pilots as possible.  Their thinking was, 95% of the time, a pilot will make a landing on an instrument approach.  This is pretty accurate as most of the time, this is what happens.  Most general aviation pilots don’t fly approaches to minimums all that often, thus negating the need for a missed approach.

Garmin designed their software with this in mind.  When an airplane crosses the missed approach point, the GPS will go into what’s called suspend mode (a SUSP annunciation appears above the OBS key).  It will keep the missed approach point as the active waypoint because it assumes the pilot is going to land.

This can be confusing to pilots.  This is what happens when software engineers and pilots come together. Engineers often believe they are smarter than pilots! (See the Airbus fly by wire roll out)

The Procedure

In the case of a missed approach, the button pushing on the GPS is actually relatively simple.  There is no SUSP key to take the GPS out of SUSP mode (thanks Garmin!).  Instead, you press the OBS key.  This will take the GPS out of SUSP mode, making the first waypoint on the missed approach procedure the active waypoint.  Your GPS will now give you guidance on the missed approach procedure.

If you are going missed off an ILS, LOC, or VOR approach, then there is one more key you’ll have to press. Your CDI needle (whether it is digital or analog, an HSI or just a CDI gauge) will be reading off the NAV radio and your CDI indication on the GPS will be VLOC.  After you press the OBS key, press the CDI key on the GPS so you will start getting course guidance from the GPS again.

That’s it.  Button pressing on the different autopilots will vary, but if you are familiar with yours, you’ll be able to tell it to follow the GPS and climb to the proper altitude.