Training & Sims

Last week my wife and I departed Deer Valley Airport, in Phoenix in our Cessna 177RG. Before departing we received a complicated taxi clearance to what looked like a parking lot at the end the active runway. Deer Valley calls itself the busiest general aviation airport in the country with lots of flight training. The parking lot was just a run-up area, able to handle lots of planes.

I first bought a hybrid electric car in 2006 that Ive just replaced with a plug-in hybrid electric car. The technology is amazing and gas usage is dramatically shifted to cheaper electricity. Every time I slow down, Im putting energy back into the battery to reuse. Thus, even when the car says I can drive 15 miles on the battery, if Im in stop-and-go traffic, I can usually count on a lot more.

With an expectation to hire 8000 pilots over the next 10 years, Delta Air Lines has developed new accelerated career-path options to help ensure it has plenty of applicants for those jobs. Delta conducted several years of research to create a pilot outreach and pathway program that will inspire and attract the next generations of high-quality talent, said Steve Dickson, Deltas vice president for flight operations. The new Propel program will provide community outreach, mentoring, and scholarships to help future pilots launch successful careers.

Dont Mess with IceI enjoyed the Me Too letter by Harry Dill in the July issue. I think we tend to forget that moderate ice is not like moderate turbulence. It is right below severe. Also, we all talk about how unpredictable ice is, so having forecast or PIREPed moderate ice turn into severe is common. Oh, and really bad. Harry gave good consideration to clouds and icing, and he made it out okay. However, I would not mess with moderate ice at all. Stick with trace and light, and maybe the worst youll see is moderate. Harry can stop at our place in Maryland for a crab cake and wait for better weather on his way up coast from North Carolina.

Back in May 2016, the FAA issued a notice proposing changes to Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, commonly referred to by pilots as the FAR. They were generally favorable to pilots. Many had been discussed in the aviation press and by pilot groups earlier. In late June 2018, the FAA published the Final Rule incorporating the changes, some with modifications based upon comments received. Lets look at some of the changes, paying special attention to those relevant to instrument training and instrument currency.

The point here is that once George is flying, our mental paradigm becomes letting him fly and just telling him what to do. This occasionally results in way too much energy and button-mashing to make a last-minute change. Its ever so much simpler to be hand flying in the first place and, well, aim elsewhere. So, pick an altitude below which youll always hand fly. Perhaps its 1000 feet AGL, or maybe all the way down to 400 feet (but no lower).

Before I can clear an airplane for a visual approach, I have to ensure the pilot has either the landing runway, the airport, or preceding aircraft in sight. Obvious, right? If youre landing on it or following it, ATC must ensure you can see it. For instance, if there are clouds in the way or the preceding aircraft gets lost in ground clutter or weather, theres no guarantee youll be able to safely navigate visually to the runway.

A DME arc is a curved track at a constant distance around a facility that offers omnidirectional course information and DME, such as a VORTAC, VOR/DME or NDB/DME. This eliminates ILS or LOC DMEs. An arcs radius is 7- 30 NM and is 5-15 NM long, with 10 NM preferred. Thus, arcs can be lengthy and inefficient. The primary area required obstacle clearance is 1000 feet within four NM of the arc along the initial segment, with a 500-foot secondary clearance extending another two NM. In the intermediate segment, the clearance drops to 500 feet.

This is your third trip to Columbia, Missouri (KCOU), where youre flying in from the northwest in your trusty but basic Cessna 182. Equipment includes dual nav receivers, one glideslope receiver and DME. (For those of you watching at home, this is pre-RNAV Distance Measuring Equipment.) A portable GPS offers limited capabilities to navigate outside of your raw-data setup. No big deal; youve been flying this plane and panel for years and are a pro with ILS approaches. The filed route, which will be reversed to get home, departs from Watertown, South Dakota (KATY) and is: POEMS OTG V175 HLV.

An upper air sounding from the Slidell, Louisiana, NWS site, located about 85 SM west of the accident site, depicted a moist low-level environment with saturated conditions from 500 feet AGL to 6000 feet with a capping inversion. The freezing level was identified at 14,700 feet. The wind profile indicated calm surface wind with wind from the south-southeast veering to the southwest and west through 18,000 feet. A low-level wind maximum or low-level jet was identified near 5000 feet at 215 degrees at 25 knots, with winds less than 10 knots below 1000 feet AGL.

I had this exchange on a flight back to a rural Arkansas airport from Florida. I usually fly IFR even in VFR conditions. I was at 6000 feet, with a broken layer below me. I usually cancel about 20 miles in advance, as Memphis Center cannot see me on radar, or communicate with me once I descend below 3000 feet.

An approach to safety of dont have an accident and always effectively weight risks doesnt work because we dont take actions we think will cause accidents. Tom Turner recently presented a Wings seminar, Stop Teaching About Safety, covering this. Safetys an integral outcome, not a separate goal. Instead, he suggested approaching flying as its master and commander: The result will be safety. While being master and commander will work for all pilots, the instrument environment presents unique challenges to achieving that goal.