Indice dei contenuti per December 2020 in Flying

I’ve long been a believer in regular, periodic proficiency training. A basic flight review every two years does little to ensure our readiness for the challenges that flying presents when we least expect it. When I worked at the Cessna Aircraft Company a decade ago, I flew according to the parameters set by the flight operations department, which included an annual instrument proficiency check, as well as an annual flight review for the flying-club aircraft. Each syllabus incorporated scenario-based training. Cessna implemented a detailed single-engine-piston flight manual in 2008 in response to a fatal accident that killed a well-respected demo pilot and a dealer representative in a Cessna Caravan. Outlining risk management at its core, the manual accompanied other policies that—among them—required better annual flight checks. The FAA/Industry Training Standards…

A lot has been written over the past few years about pilots relying on the automation to fly the airplane to the detriment of actual hands-on-the-stick piloting skills. I have long been baffled by pilots’ reliance on the autopilot. But perhaps this attitude comes from my Air Force training early on and particularly from a black, black night at low altitude over the Atlantic Ocean. In October 1973, the war in Vietnam was winding to a close. For the previous three years or so, I had been flying the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter to Southeast Asia and all over the Pacific Ocean, supporting the US missions in that part of the world. Then, a new crisis: Israel had once again been attacked by Egypt, and the Air Force was tasked with…

You can imagine our deep sense of grief when occasionally we’d return to a city on our ground-school circuit and someone would say, “Did you hear about Bill?” “No,” we’d say, “what happened to Bill?” They would then explain the aircraft crash that had killed Bill. It happened all too often. We began to realize the things that were killing these learning pilots were things the FAA was not asking on the knowledge tests. The problem was, the FAA wanted a bell-shaped distribution of test scores on the test results. It was difficult for them to get a bell-shaped curve because our highly motivated students would come back to our classes and discuss with us what they had been asked on their knowledge tests. We would immediately change our courses…

Airline flying is pretty cushy work most days, particularly at the major US carriers, with largely reliable aircraft, a fairly robust support network, and nearly universal procedures that keep everyone on roughly the same page. Most airline pilots, by temperament and long experience, are perfectly content with the atmosphere of ordered boredom that normally reigns on the flight deck. There are, indeed, very few situations that require the Sully-esque nerves of steel and lightning-quick reflexes with which our species is sometimes credited. These attributes are in fact actively discouraged thanks to a long and distinguished history of airline pilots creating emergencies out of benign situations through overly hasty action. There’s an idiosyncratic phrase in common usage at my airline: “Wind the clock!” It refers to old timepieces that needed daily…

The building was a hulking blue, metal-sided affair, pockmarked by a nondescript door and a window air conditioner—but no window. It might have been difficult to reconcile the uninspiring appearance with the promise held within if not for a sign that declared: “Airplane rides, you fly the plane. Air-conditioned lounge and gift shop.” So I pulled up to Ocean Aviation in Ocean City, Maryland, with two grandsons in tow. We were there for introductory flights for Clemens, 15 years old, and Graham Robinson, 12, who live not far away in Delaware. Noelle at the front desk had been very helpful setting up the two flights, assigning us to CFI Justin Mallory. It was hot—91 degrees Fahrenheit We tumbled into the Part 141 flight school, appreciative of that air conditioning. Mike…

Osh-Polu What organizers cheekily termed “Osh-Polu” gathered pilots on the Big Island of Hawaii in August for awards and flying camaraderie. The fly-in took place near Hawi, Hawaii, at Upolu Airport (PHUP/UPP), which features a single runway (7/25) 3,800 feet in length. The first event was held in August 2019, and we look forward to 2021, when the third event likely won’t have the restrictions imposed during 2020 (though the weather smiled upon them, with winds below 25 knots). “The general aviation community out here is a small group of folks, but we’re a tight community,” said Clark Patrick, event organizer. “We did a number of contests and the usual fly-in happenings.”…

Looking for Amelia I congratulate Peter Garrison on the excellent analysis of Amelia Earhart’s doomed flight [in October’s “Earhart and Range”]. It never made sense to me that they would arrive in the vicinity of Howland Island and, having failed to find it, embark on a dead-reckoning gamble to yet another island with only an hour of fuel remaining. How could one even dead-reckon without knowing the starting position? I would rather stay on the current target and maximize the search time. Michael Jastrzebskivia email Blackhawk Notes I just received my October 2020 Flying and immediately read the article about the Blackhawk upgrade for the King Air 350. I have a special interest because I own and fly a 350 exactly (for all practical purposes) like the one in the…

If you’re an active IFR pilot or training to become one in the US, you have a choice of two instrument approach-plate providers. One is Jeppesen (now within Boeing Global Services), and the other is the US government, which provides plates known as digital terminal procedure publications—and often known to pilots by two outdated terms: National Aeronautical Charting Office or National Ocean Service plates, named after the offices that once produced them. Most airline and corporate pilots tend to use Jeppesen plates rather than the d-TPPs, though, these days, either can be made available on iPads, tablets and other airborne flight management systems. A Jeppesen subscription costs more than access to comparable d-TPP content. Generally, the majority of necessary IFR approach information is contained on a single Jeppesen chart, whereas…

I read Peter Egan’s columns in Cycle World and Road & Track for three decades of my life. I try to emulate his candor and colloquial storytelling style here on these pages. Every so often, Peter would put together a humorous top-10 list. If memory serves, it usually revolved around the failure of Lucas electronics in English sports cars or the 10 things your motorcycle says about you. Most people don’t know that Peter is a pilot as well. As someone in the upper percentile of his fan base, what better way to pay homage than to take a page from his book and write a top-10 list for Flying? And so, I give you the “top 10 things passengers ask when they get in my airplane for the first…

If the term “Swiss Army knife” means nothing to you, imagine a compact, fits-in-your hand tool chest that solves a host of little problems, such as opening a bottle away from the kitchen, tightening a loose screw, cutting some string, sawing a small piece of wood, or plucking a rose thorn out of a dog’s paw. These are tools you never think you’d need—until the moment you do. Garmin’s D2 Air GPS touchscreen smartwatch, the latest addition to the D2 aviator series, is a like a Swiss Army knife for pilots. It’s a wrist-worn timepiece, but it’s also chock-full of useful apps, including a pulse oximeter for flights into the higher altitudes, a quick point-out to the nearest airport, or the ability to check an updated terminal forecast. The D2…

In December 2019, a Canadian-registry Piper Aerostar 602P with three aboard left Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, Mexico, to return home to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The group stopped overnight at Chino, California, east of Los Angeles—perhaps to visit the aviation museum there—and continued the next day to Nanaimo with a stop at Bishop, California. They left Bishop at 2:25 in the afternoon (1425 PST) on an IFR flight plan. The trip took a little more than three hours. By the time they were nearing Nanaimo, it was dark, and the airport was reporting a 400-foot ceiling and 2.5 miles visibility in light drizzle and mist. The pilot told the controller that he would be making the Runway 16 ILS approach. A few minutes later, the…

A few years ago, I strolled a back alley in Volterra, Italy, and stumbled upon a cluttered workshop where craftsmen were sculpting large chunks of alabaster into gorgeous works of art. Every surface wore a light coating of fine alabaster dust probably dating back to the 16th century. The worn hand tools and the techniques the artisans were using looked as if they had been passed down through the generations—relics from a time when the elders taught their children the family trade and those children taught their children. The passing of an artisan’s skills from one generation to the next has always been a time-honored tradition meant to ensure that a family’s legacy is preserved far into the future. This philosophy is very much intact at Felts Field (KSFF) in…

OK, this is a little out of character, but last night, I “joined” (I think that’s the term) an aviation webinar—mostly because it was presented by the son of my friend Barry Schiff but also because the subject was intriguing. Brian Schiff is an interesting guy. Longtime captain for a major airline, Brian was soloed by his famously prolific aviation dad on his 16th birthday. At heart, he has always been a GA guy who owns and flies a Citabria and is an active, accomplished flight instructor. His presentation, “SoCal Airspace Anomalies,” dissected the intricacies of navigating the challenging (to put it mildly) Southern California airspace—legally. At some time after 11 p.m., glassy-eyed and numb-brained, I left the webinar for bed. But I was so impressed with Brian’s briefing and…

For the past three years in the aviation press, occasional spy photos have appeared, showing an unusual blimplike airplane parked at the former George Air Force Base, now Southern California Logistics Airport, near Victorville, California. This oddity has now made its formal debut. Its name is Celera 500L, and it is a product of Otto Aviation. Otto makes impressive claims for the Celera, notably that it will cruise at 400 knots at 65,000 feet and have a range of at least 3,900 nautical miles. Powered by a diesel engine and burning jet fuel, it’s said to be eight to 10 times more efficient than comparable jets, to achieve a carlike 25 or so miles per gallon and a 22-to-1 glide ratio. As I write this, very few specifics about the…