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Please read this Introduction. It explains why I wrote these lessons for you to use and practice. Practicing these lessons could save your life!
Click on the following lessons: Lesson One , Lesson Two , Lesson Three , Lesson Four , and Lesson Five .
 “He was a good pilot.” How many times have you heard this? Usually after a pilot has just killed himself.
It was October 5, 2005; I had to stop grieving! My personal physician killed himself a couple months before that in a Super Cub accident. His death made it five close personal friends whom I really cared for and who I’ve lost to aircraft accidents — all due to pilot error and improper decision-making.
My doctor’s death was the impetus that motivated me to start writing these lessons for my students, and frightening as it is for me, to start publicly speaking at the Alaska Airman’s Tradeshow every May in Anchorage.
Why did these pilots do it? What situation, what mental state, what distraction caused these “Good Pilots” to make such simple pilot errors and wrong decisions that would cause their death, and in some cases, the deaths of their friends who were with them as passengers?
My doctor was the only private pilot; the others were all working professional pilots. One worked for an airline and owned a J-3 cub. The others were working 135 pilots. All of them had been through my school to earn their SES rating. All of them were good! But, now, dead.
I had to act; henceforth, these lessons and this new website. In my research, talking with NTSB investigators and FAA inspectors, I discovered over 75% of all aircraft accidents were caused by improper decision-making, along with poor skill and poor, or perhaps forgotten?, understanding of the “Basics.”
I hope my efforts in bringing these lessons to you will drive you to examine your “decision- making policies,” to realistically appraise your piloting skills, and inspire you to improve.
Practice, Practice, Practice. Know thy self, know thy aircraft, and do not exceed the limitations of either.
Vern
P.S. “Thinking oneself to be superior is often the case of a delusional mind.” Author unknown
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These lessons are one-pagers that I have sent out with my annual letter to our students. Questions and discussion are encouraged. Just email me and I'll answer. See you on the water, Vern
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Lesson One - January 2005
Glassy Water, Perhaps?
My personal physician was killed a couple months ago in a Super Cub accident. His death makes it five close personal friends whom I really cared for who I’ve lost to aircraft accidents — all due to pilot error and improper decision-making. I taught Lee to fly about 30 years ago and still remember the day he soloed. It bothers me a lot to lose this highly skilled, talented good doctor. Not just a good doc, but a great doctor, one of the few in Alaska that patients came from the Lower 48 to be treated by.
Here are my feelings about what happened. I share these thoughts with you so that it may help you in your flying. I do not want to lose you!
1. It appears this accident was not caused by mechanical error. Lee had just taken off in his Super Cub on floats from Lake Hood in Anchorage. Within three minutes he was turning around to return to Lake Hood because he decided the fog was thicker than he thought (according to his last transmission to the tower). He was only about 200 feet above the water when he started his turn. Witnesses said it looked like he made a 90-degree bank and dove into the water. If so, this means he performed a descending turn over glassy water which, you remember, is an absolute no-no. But this glassy water was not the classic mirror reflection, but the gray muddy water of Cook Inlet, which merged with the fog. Perhaps he didn’t recognize it as glassy. It didn’t take long for the airplane to disappear under the water. With the nose and most of the wings under the water, the tail was sticking above for only a few seconds before it too went under. To date, neither the airplane, nor the body of the pilot has been found.
2. He didn’t fly enough to keep current. He did not practice a 180-degree turn, and most significantly as he turned, he didn’t practice adding back pressure to keep from losing altitude. He intimated when I told him to call me for his BFR, that he had found someone else who was “easier.” Pilots, doctors, and successful business people have good-size egos. They like to hear they’re doing well. That’s okay if they are, but what if they’re not. It’s safer to hear you need to work on something(s) that may save your life, than to have a pat on the back.
3. Procedure discipline, e.g. following the rules of flying, following the limits of your particular aircraft, following the laws of physics, is critical. Pilots, who have flown for a long time, but not commercially, sometimes grow lazy, sloppy, and unsafe. There is a reason behind BFR’s. Don’t treat them as an unnecessary requirement which the FAA just made up. Treat a BFR like other professionals do who are required to take recurrent training in their fields in order to maintain their licenses. This goes for you too.
Safe Flying —
Keep the Dirty Side Down — Be Procedure Oriented
See you on the water,
Vern Kingsford
CFII, ATP, DPE
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Lesson Two - April 2006
Look, Think, Choose, and Apply
Lately, it’s come to my attention that there is a disproportionate number of airplane crashes among older private pilots. Experts agree that about three-quarters of all aviation accidents are caused by pilot error. Remember my Lesson No. 1 last year? My doctor added to this statistic. In his case, it wasn’t due to lack of motor skills, but from not flying enough to keep current.
Flashback to South Africa about a year ago. I’m sitting in recurrent 4x4 training in South Africa for my Land Rover Defender 110 Tdi, and a “light bulb” turns on. The instructor is teaching how to approach and handle driving over an obstacle, i.e. a steep rocky hill. "Look.... Think.... Choose.... and Apply,” he says.
Bingo! That’s exactly what a pilot needs to do when he or she is looking for a place to beach the float plane, not to mention flying in general.
Look - at the situation and all the alternatives.
Think - of all the choices, be it land, beach, go around, or go away.
Choose - your course of action. This is the decision-making process at work.
Apply - the techniques you’ve learned to handle the given situation.
Learning is repetition and sometimes singing a jingle aids in remembering the memory items under a stressful scenario. One such example is my ditty: “Gas, mixture, mags, and switches makes the airplane fly.” This is usually applied when you’re in the air and the engine is no longer running smoothly or is quiet.
So next time you’re trying to decide to land on a particular lake, sand bar, or a very short field:
Look, Think, Choose, and Apply
Safe Flying — Keep the Dirty Side Down — Be Procedure Oriented
See you on the water,
Vern Kingsford
CFII, ATP, DPE
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Lesson Three - January 2008
Know Thy Emergency Procedures by Heart
There is an old aviation axiom: “There are those that have and there are those that are going to.”
On September 21, 2007, I was flying back to Moose Pass in my Cessna 206 on floats from hunting charters in Kotzebue, AK. Approximately 100 miles NW of McGrath an unexpected brief shudder came from the front of the airplane, followed almost instantly by a loud explosion or “bang!” A large hole appeared in the top of the cowling where the piston and rod exited, and the prop came to an abrupt dead stop. My trustworthy Continental IO-520 catastrophically failed during cruise flight and I became one of “those that have.”
Thanks to you though --- Yes, thanks to each of you, during the past 30+ years as an instructor and pilot examiner I’ve practiced hundreds of power-off landings. When “IT” happened, I flew the airplane down just like I had imagined a thousand times whenever I flew over strange territory and thought of what would I do if…? I just never imagined a burnt forest. Because of my practice, neither my passenger nor I sustained any significant injuries. I do have a very sore neck and back, but they are getting better quickly. The C-206 was rolled up in a ball.
Bob Hoover, renowned aerobatic and test pilot, says,
“If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible.”
While I was landing my plane among the blackened trees, we started breaking the tops of the trees, severely banging the beading edges. My thoughts were: "How I am going to fix the wing." Then the left wing hit a large tree which slewed us sideways, breaking the floats, and we rolled over.
The C-206 had been perfectly maintained. Just 20 hours prior to this engine failure the A/C had a very thorough inspection, including borescope, engine oil analysis, compression check, etc. A very thorough disassembly of the engine and propeller by the NTSB has not been able to come up with a reason the engine failed so severally.
What is the moral to this event? Sh..t happens! So be prepared.
However, as I have often said in my classes,
“You do not rise to the occasion. You rise to your level of training and practice.”
So my New Year’s greeting is:
Train for the emergency.
Know, like you know 2 x 2 = 4, your speeds & emergency procedures for the aircraft you are flying.
Be prepared, then you too, with a lot of luck, will survive.
See you on the water,
Vern Kingsford
CFII, ATP, DPE
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Lesson Four - November 2008
Back to the Basics: Pitch, Power and Trim,
A Philosophy to Fly By, A Philosophy to Survive By
Many of the pilots that come to our school say, “Vern, you should write a book”. Well, “that ain’t going to happen.” But, in these next few newsletters, I am writing down many of the ideas and exercises that I have learned or developed over the years so you will have them. If you study these ideas, commit them to memory, practice the exercises, I promise, you will become a better pilot!
To help you beome a better pilot or a better Cirrus pilot (if you know any Cirrus pilots, be sure they get signed up for this newsletter and for a float rating in our mountains), pay attention to the following.
The ASES and ASEL PTS require that you demonstrate a short field accuracy landing within 200 feet for a Private and 100 feet for a Commercial Pilot. Airspeed must be within +5/-5. Boy, do I have to guess at this one most of the time. Yet when I demonstrate landing after landing I put it exactly on the spot. SO CAN YOU! --- IF you learn, understand and practice this exercise I am about to teach you.
The title for this series is: Back to the Basics: Pitch, Power and Trim, a Philosophy to Fly by, a Philosophy to Survive by.
Ask the next pilot you come across, “What controls airspeed?” If he doesn’t state it this way or if you cannot state it this way, you do not know or understand it either. “What controls airspeed?”
Proper answer: “When power is fixed (all the way on or all the way off), pitch controls airspeed. When power is variable, power controls airspeed.”
Now, the exercise: Climb to a normal altitude for practice (at least 1500 ft AGL) and set up for level flight, aircraft trimmed to hands-off flight. Just sit there and watch things. Altitude should not change (do this on a calm day), airspeed should be steady.
Note the pitch of the aircraft, the nose in relation to the horizon, i.e. how many inches below the horizon is the top of your cowling? Note the indication on your attitude indicator, (horizontal horizon if you’re an old guy). Note the indicated airspeed and tach settings or manifold settings if you’re using a constant speed. Note the trim position indicator.
Really study and lock in your mind’s eye what you see. You will use these visuals when you begin to practice the visualization exercise we will do in a later newsletter.
If you have done the above, make both mental and written notes of exactly what you see. You’re now ready for the next phase of the exercise.
A good pilot knows his airplane! What will yours do if you reduce power 300 RPM’s? What will it do if you increase power 300 RPMs? What will the airspeed do if you decrease power 300 RPMs and let it descend? Do not touch the trim! Did you know? What did your airspeed do?
OK! While at straight and level flight begin to reduce your power 100 RPM at a time, maintaining your exact altitude and trimming to hands-off flight between each power reduction. Take your time --- what you are doing is important. Note how much the airspeed changes with each power reduction. Note the amount of change and REMEMBER how much it is, write it down.
Continue performing this exercise until you are at minimum control speed. Minimum control speed is defined as that speed at which any further increase in back pressure will give you an indication of a stall. Note that indicated airspeed; it is important for a future discussion. After each power reduction, while noting the indicated airspeed, also note the attitude changes in relationship to your cowling and the horizon and the indication on your attitude indicator. Lock these indications in your mind’s eye. Practice this exercises until you know at any given power setting, what the resulting airspeed will be.
Note the weight of your aircraft, the temperature, and altitude
you were flying at on the day you practice this exercise.
NOTE! You must let the airplane stabilize between each power change. Realize that you are in, for purposes of this example, a mass weighing in at 2000 pounds. That’s one ton moving through the air at 100 miles an hour more or less. How much kinetic energy are you producing? It takes time to STABILIZE. (Energy management will be the subject of a future newsletter.)
Practice, practice, practice this exercise and you will be ready for my next subject --- the stabilized approach for consistent on-the-spot landings. If you want to develop the skill required to put the airplane down exactly on the “spot” you must understand the “stabilized approach” and energy management.
Safe landings,
Vern
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Lesson Five - February 2010, Ballito, South Africa
Energy Management
Back to the Basics: Pitch, Power and Trim
A Philosophy to Fly By, a Philosophy to Survive By
Lesson No. 4 ended with, "If you want to develop the skill required to put your airplane down exactly on the 'spot' you must understand the 'stabilized approach' and energy management."
Did you practice the suggested exercises? If you did, you will be ready for this lesson.
Every pilot knows that our type of flying, general aviation, has more accidents with fatalities than the airlines, corporate or military flying. You are the key to making your own flying as safe as these others. Insist you develop the discipline necessary to practice these lessons, to know your aircraft systems and operating procedures. Do regular testing of your skills with a "Boot Camp" type of instructor, respect the environmental factors affecting your flight and know your limits.
What is energy management? Why do you need to know? It is not taught to pilots during flight training unless you are learning to fly gliders. At least it is not called "energy management." When the space shuttle returns for landing, it is the ultimate demonstration of "energy management." A definition taken from notes to update the FAA Instrument Flying Handbook defines energy management as, The dissipation of potential and kinetic energy. If you are ever going to land your airplane on "the spot" you must understand the resulting effect of an extra five or ten knots of airspeed.
Here's a headline from a recent report by the NTSB, "Pilots ill trained for Water Landings," The report states the A/C that landed in the Hudson touched down 3 or 4 times harder than necessary. In my opinion, he did not have enough airspeed to make a softer landing, but given when the engines failed during take off, could he have done anything different?
Read Lesson 3 above about my C-206 engine failure. The touch down was not 3 or 4 times harder than necessary. If so this lesson would not be written. A C-206 on floats with flaps full, needs at least 90 MPH indicated to have enough energy to successfully make the flare and land safely as possible under the conditions. I had practiced this procedure hundreds of times using 90 MPH indicated and full flaps in float equipped C-206s while simulating emergencies. The difference, when practicing, the touchdown was on water; I was able to take off again.
Let's take the FAA definition of energy management: The dissipation of potential and kinetic energy. What is kinetic energy? Simply put, it is the resulting energy produced by the speed of a moving mass times its weight. This energy is variable by increasing speed or weight. What is potential energy? It is the amount of energy a mass not in motion would have if it started moving. The FAA definition leaves out an important form of potential energy, that is, the power that is produced by the engine which is instantly variable with the throttle (assuming the engine is still running).
So, how do we use this understanding of energy management to make an "on-the-spot landing every time?"
1. You start by knowing your airplane. Know the speed required to accomplish the flare. Do the practice exercises in Lesson 4.
2. Learn what it means to watch the "spot." Is it moving up? You are going to land short. Is it moving down? You will overshoot it.
3. Learn how much distance in front of the actual touchdown spot is necessary to slow down. You must plan on slowing down sometime and you don't fly the approach at your touch down speed. The FAA recommended approach speed of 1.3 Vso works sometimes, but not all the time. A PA-18 on floats needs 1.5 Vso to safely accomplish a power-off landing.
You must realize the initial "spot" you choose should be well ahead of your actual "spot" of intended touch down. This area on approach, the distance between the aiming spot (spot of impact) and touchdown spot is your "deceleration zone." The length of this deceleration zone will vary by your ground speed. Excess airspeed, headwinds, tailwinds, all of these will determine the length of your "deceleration zone." The spot movement up or down in your visual field, is always an indicator of where you will impact as long as your ground speed is constant (stabilized). It is all up to you.
The above tips will work only if you have achieved precise airspeed control (by practicing Lesson 4). I just sat through an approach in an A-320 into a small airport near Iguazu (pronounced, ee-wah-zoo') Falls in Argentina. The pilot kept varying the power more than I have ever experienced. Up, back, up, back, we were bouncing all over the sky until he touched down precisely on the landing zone with a 50 knot gusting crosswind. That is what he needed to do to make a stabilized approach. He definitely understood what energy management is and used the variable power (energy) available from his engines to bring us in under those challenging conditions.
The techniques used here apply to wheels, skis, or floats, the airplane doesn't care. However, an airplane equipped with floats will require more airspeed to accomplish a soft power-off landing because the extra drag created by the floats and often a longer seaplane prop dissipates more of the kinetic energy. For example, in a Super Cub on wheels it requires 55 MPH indicated to accomplish a power-off landing. On floats it requires a minimum of 65 MPH indicated to accomplish a power-off landing. This is managing your energy, varying airspeed, varying power. You are the master. You are in control.
These methods are for your practice so you will gain understanding in the principles of pitch, power and trim. Developing proficiency in using these methods, and integrating them into your everyday flying will greatly increase your piloting skills, thus enhancing your safety.
PLEASE realize....these techniques are what I use and practice. Other pilots might have something else that works for them. "There is always more than one right way." If you have a technique that is working for you, use it! If you don't, practice what I shared in this lesson, it works.
Next lesson: The stabilized approach. When do you pick the spot?
Anyone who feels they can explain these techniques better or differently, please email your comments to us at sma@seward.net and we will include them in the next lesson.
Flying is as safe as you make it.
See you on the water,
Vern
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