Table of contents for December 2015 in Flying

NO-NONSENSE RISK MITIGATION FOR PILOTS LIKE US “You can’t teach judgment.” “I’m afraid no amount of ‘risk management’ training is going to change your attitude.” These comments were in response to John’s May column, “Double Trouble at Denver.” John had revealed our incredible series of risk-management failures on a trip in the early ’70s — getting caught in a snowstorm in two separate airplanes with mechanical problems. John then expressed our fond hope that other pilots could learn from our mistakes and practice the habit of risk management. Then here in the pages of Flying, another columnist opined, “I am rather skeptical about whether risk management (judgment) is something that can be taught and tested.” The readers and the columnist are to be excused. A lot of people confuse risk…

CUTTING THROUGH THE MYTHS TO GET TO THE FACTS OF FLIGHT April may have been the cruelest month in T. S. Eliot’s London, but here in Los Angeles, it’s September. On the 3rd, consequently, my wife, Nancy, and I decamped for Cape Cod. Not in my airplane. For one thing, Nancy has pretty much turned against flying. I suppose that if the “Big One” — the long-awaited catastrophic temblor on the San Andreas fault — destroyed the city and all the highways leading out of it she would be willing to get into the airplane to escape, but short of that she prefers to drive or take an airliner. Besides, my airplane had had a gear problem that ended up with my revising and rebuilding part of the retraction system,…

MUSTANGS IN FLIGHT I am looking at the cover of the October 2015 issue and am in awe of the beauty of this photograph of four Mustangs in flight. Jim Koepnick has created the perfect image of these wonderful aircraft. In more than five decades of reading Flying, I can’t recall a more inspiring photograph. Now that I am grounded, it is through my memory and images like this that I can re-experience flight. For this, I thank you. Robert Zimmerman Conifer, Colorado What a beautiful shot of the P-51s. I couldn’t help but notice the tail numbers on the B models Berlin Express and Old Crow were the same. Since these paint schemes are normally historically perfect I knew there must be a great story here. I looked up the…

ACCIDENT ANALYSIS THAT GOES BEHIND AND BEYOND THE NTSB REPORT Although the term “precision approach” merely means that vertical guidance is included, it seems to imply that the approach ought to be executed with precision by both pilots and controllers. On a December evening in 2013, a Cessna 310 carrying a pilot, 60, and his two daughters, 17 and 20, crashed while executing a missed approach at Jacksonville Executive (CRG) in Florida. The pilot filed an instrument flight plan, but declined the specialist’s offer of a weather briefing because, as he said, the weather “looked good.” At the time, CRG was reporting a 400-foot overcast and 2 miles visibility in mist. Darkness was almost complete when the 310 approached Jacksonville. The approach controller gave the pilot the freshly updated ATIS…

TALES OF WHEN FLYING, DISCOVERY AND LIFE CONVERGE It was a perfect early summer day in Minnesota, warm and clear with a wisp of breeze, the sort of day that we northern fliers will be dreaming of when the snow flies — right about the time you’re reading this. I relaxed on our back deck, savoring my morning coffee and watching our dog, Piper, run around the grassy yard with Chai, my sister’s poodle that we were dogsitting. My schoolteacher wife, Dawn, lay contentedly in the sun, deep into the first novel of her summer vacation. “What should we do today?” I asked without expecting much of an answer. Dawn thought for a second and cocked one eye up from the book. “Let’s take the dogs to the beach. Is…

FLYING THE HEAVY METAL WITH AN AIRLINE CAPTAIN Upon my return home from a recent trip to London, I reflected on a chain of events from my flight there. When I put on the fourth stripe 25 years ago, I perceived my primary function simply as the boss on the flight deck. The responsibility for safely operating an airliner rested directly on my shoulders. The cabin crew was certainly under my jurisdiction, but they were on the other side of the cockpit door and, for the most part, acted autonomously. As a 33-year-old captain, I was probably a bit naive. It wasn’t long before I came to the realization that some trips are more about managing than about flying. This particular London flight was no exception. Still on the reserve…

GREAT LAKES 2T1A Lillian, Alabama/INJURIES: 2 Fatal The pilot of the experimental, amateur-built airplane completed one 15-minute local flight with a passenger on board. During a second 15-minute local flight with a different passenger, two witnesses near the accident site observed the airplane flying about 500 feet above ground level. They did not notice anything unusual about the flight and diverted their attention. The airplane was subsequently reported overdue and located about six hours later. The airplane impacted wooded swampy terrain in a level attitude on a heading consistent with the closest airport. A strong smell of fuel at the accident site indicated the presence of fuel at impact. There was no evidence of pilot incapacitation. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the exception…

A NO-HOLDS-BARRED LOOK AT PILOTS, PLANES AND LIFE IN THE AIR We all know that unannounced, catastrophic, mechanically caused engine failures — loss of power with no previous warning — are so unlikely you’re better off worrying about meteor strikes or an outbreak of bubonic plague. But engines continue to quit because, as Yogi Berra put it, “We make too many wrong mistakes.” A commitment to periodic assessments and training (not just token flight reviews) would remedy stuff like poor preflight planning, carelessness, bad decisions, lack of knowledge and substandard proficiency. Still, the dreary statistics say this just ain’t gonna happen. So learning how to survive an emergency — whatever the cause and whomever’s to blame — is an important part of every practical test. I love telling stories about…

LIGHTSPEED ZULU PFX HEADSET One of the quietest aviation headsets we’ve ever tested, the Zulu PFX adapts to your ears, environment and preferences to deliver the perfect amount of noise cancellation with Streaming Quiet ANR. Providing exceptional audio clarity and quality, the headset’s capabilities can be customized through the FlightLink app, which also allows you to record and play back audio and stream music from iOS devices to the headset. $1,175 | lightspeedaviation.com POWERUP 3.0 Perfect for aviation enthusiasts of any age, the PowerUp 3.0 transforms paper airplanes into personal drones. Simply attach the crashproof carbon-fiber body to your paper airplane (templates included) and remotely control it using the free app on your Bluetooth-connected smartphone or tablet. With a 180-foot range, you can fly your paper airplane for about 10…

FROM THE OPERATING ROOM TO FLIGHT OPS: A SURGEON’S JOURNEY Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was a popular book in the ’70s, and though I’ve tried several times, I’ve never been able to penetrate more than a few dozen pages. That said, I’ve always been a proponent of keeping my rolling stock (on the ground and in the air) in good working order. Maybe it is the Zen part I had trouble with. Maintenance has been uppermost on my mind recently. My wife, Cathy, and I own a 36-year-old Piper Cheyenne I that has been remarkably parsimonious of late when it comes to big-ticket maintenance. The thing about a turboprop, though, is this: You can fly along for hours with minor maintenance needs only to come a cropper…

A LOOK BACK AT FLYING MAGAZINE 25 AND 50 YEARS AGO 25 YEARS AGO OUR COVER FEATURED THE MOONEY TLS, WHICH WE TITLED THE “BEST MOONEY YET.” THE 270 HP SINGLE-ENGINE RETRACTABLE EARNED THAT PRAISE BY DELIVERING 200 KNOTS IN CRUISE AT 17,000 FEET WHILE AFFORDING MORE CABIN SPACE THAN EVER AND SIPPING A PITTANCE OF FUEL IN THE PROCESS. We reported on Cessna’s introduction of the Citation X, which would go on to become the world’s fastest business jet for years. When announced, Cessna projected the X’s speed would max out at Mach 0.90, a figure the Citation X surpassed when it rolled out of production facilities with a top speed of Mach 0.92. Flying columnist Gordon Baxter waxed rhapsodic about his love for Oshkosh, saying, “If the Oshkosh…