FLYING LESSONS for May 26, 2011

ground or straight-and-level, cruise flight. Don’t fall victim to a pilot-induced engine failure. Comments? Questions? Tell us what you think at mastery.flight.training@cox.net. Thanks to AVEMCO Insurance for helping bring you FLYING LESSONS Weekly. See www.avemco.com/default.aspx?partner=WMFT. Do you have an aviation safety-related product or service you’d like to see associated with FLYING LESSONS Weekly? Contact mastery.flight.training@cox.net for sponsorship information. Readers, you can help too. Every little bit helps cover the expenses of keeping FLYING LESSONS online. Show your personal support through a secure PayPal donations button at www.mastery.flight.training.com. Thank you, generous supporters! Debrief: Readers write about recent FLYING LESSONS: Several readers wrote about last week’s discussion of pitch trim runaway emergency procedures. The procedure and picture below, repeated from last week, applies to a post-1983 Beech A36 Bonanza. But the concept applies to all airplane equipped with an electric trim system—see the Pilot’s Operating Handbook and autopilot/trim system supplements for the correct procedure in the airplane(s) you fly. A few readers commented: I fly an F33A Bonanza and I have never been exposed to the runaway trim procedure you described today. Thank you for sharing that experience and your preflight process. I plan to add that to my preflight procedure at once. Thanks again for everything you do to help us all fly safer.—Don Ward ©2011 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. Tom, This is a VERY valuable, concise procedure. Many thanks.—Andy Reardon We’ve added a slide and your procedure on runaway trim to our Emergency Procedures presentation—Hank Canterbury, Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program Sample Autopilot Malfunction/Electric Trim Runaway Procedure (1984 – 2005 A36 Bonanza) ©2004 – 2011 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. For training purposes only. Adhere to your airplane’s POH and/or supplement procedure. Readers, what’s your opinion? Tell us at mastery.flight.training@cox.net. We’re still receiving reader comments about the seventh most common cause of fatal general aviation accidents, according to a 2010 FAA study. So we’ll hold off a week on moving on to Cause #6, and run some reader insights about attempted visual flight in Instrument Meteorological Conditions. Reader Lorne Sheren writes: Well said as usual. Being a current instrument rated pilot flying a capable airplane, I had always dismissed VFR flight into IMC as a "can't happen to me" event. Not true. In fact this can happen very easily during the final phase of flight, [when] weather looks good, IFR has been cancelled (going into an non-towered field), and, "poof" a wisp of ground fog, innocuous when viewed from above but deadly when viewed from the side. Unless a go around is immediately initiated under these circumstances there is no terrain or obstacle clearance and you are perilously near the ground. A second can make a difference. And although we all give it lip service, at that point in time how many of us are really spring loaded to go missed? Another, more subtle point- going IFR into a non-towered field: what is VFR? How many of us cancel IFR while still in the air? Most of us, right? It's easier, and more considerate if there are departures waiting. But suppose something, anything, happens, before or during landing. You lost the benefit of having someone know you are missing. So I would urge us all not to cancel that valuable IFR [clearance] until you are safely on the ground. It's not like we have to sprint out to the pay phone anymore [to cancel], and the difference to the fellow departing a mere minutes. In fact my wife gets really angry now when I cancel in the air. Reader Joseph M. Foresto of FAA Headquarters AFS-810, Flight Standards Liaison to the Office of Runway Safety, reminds us of a handy tool to help avoid VFR into IMC. Joseph writes: I want to congratulate you on a great learning site. Regarding VFR into IMC, allow me to offer your readers this: Estimating In-Flight Visibility [posted on the Mastery Flight Training Tools for Flying Safely page]. It’s easy to remember, if you have to fly less than 3000 AGL to maintain contact with the ground, your in- flight visibility is less than three statute miles. See www.mastery-flight-training.com/tools_for_flying_safely.html ©2011 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. Thanks, Joseph, for this excellent weather evaluation tool. Reader Bill Caton adds about the Categorical Outlook Flying decision-making matrix that was the subject of our VFR into IMC discussion last week: Several [of my] friends are going to your matrix and love it. One owns the Comanche I had [previously owned] and the other owns the Arrow I owned. They passed it along to their friends. Thank you, Bill. I’m glad you find this valuable. See www.thomaspturner.net/Categorical%20outlook%20matrix.htm Next week, we’ll begin our look at ways to avoid the sixth most common cause of fatal general aviation accidents: Initial Climb—Aerodynamic Stall. Setting Personal Minimums FLYING LESSONS reader and newly minted private pilot Jay Graph makes an astute observation, and asks: I wonder if pilots sometimes get in dangerous situations, such as flying into IMC, because they evaluate the weather subjectively (e.g. "It looks good enough"), instead of objectively (e.g. "I will not fly if clouds are lower than X feet AGL"). I hear a lot about "personal minimums", but I don't really know what this means. Can you give me some examples? What does a personal minimum look like for someone like me with less than 100 hours? Congratulations on beginning the adventure of a life in the air, Jay! Setting personal minimums is one of those things we all hear about, but few instructors provide any guidance to new pilots on how to go about it. Luckily FAA Safety Briefing editor and FLYING LESSONS Susan Parsons addressed the issue recently in the FAA’s general aviation safety magazine. See her article “Getting the Maximum from Personal Minimums”. I also wrote an article a couple of years ago that may help, as part of my “Leading Edge” series on AVweb. See “After the Checkride: Your Next 100 Hours”. Hopefully these two items will get you started on a strategy to create and employ safe decision- making limits in your flying, and to slowly expand your personal minimums envelope as you gain experience. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. See: www.mastery-flight-training.com/faa_developing_personal_min.pdf www.avweb.com/news/leadingedge/194320-1.html Share safer skies. Forward FLYING LESSONS to a friend. Flying has risks. Choose wisely. Thomas P. Turner, M.S. Aviation Safety, MCFI 2010 National FAA Safety Team Representative of the Year 2008 FAA Central Region CFI of the Year FLYING LESSONS is ©2011 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. Copyright holder provides permission for FLYING LESSONS to be posted on FAASafety.gov. For more information see www.mastery-flight-training.com, or contact mastery.flight.training@cox.net or your FAASTeam representative.