Controlled Flight into Terrain
(CFIT)
Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT)
 Causes of CFIT need to be understood by instructors
and explained to students.
 The FAA has found four discrete CFIT concerns which
affect gliding operations.
 Failure to maintain situational awareness.
 Landouts; Ridge flights.
 Failure to avoid distractions.
 Traffic pattern issues leading to failure to make a safe
landing on the airport.
Maintaining Situational Awareness
 As it relates to operating a glider, situational
awareness elements include:
 Maintaining awareness of height/position
required to reach a safe landing area.
 Keeping a mental picture of the location of
other traffic.
 Maintaining awareness of physical
obstructions such as wake turbulence, lee
turbulence, potential for windshear etc.
 Keeping a “safe angle” (especially when in the
traffic pattern).
Maintaining Situational Awareness
 Failure to maintain situational awareness typically
involves:
 Uncertainty of position.
 Loss of awareness of parameters necessary for
continued safe flight.
 Impaired physical and/or mental ability to plan ahead,
or follow the existing plan, prejudicing a safe
conclusion of the flight.
Landouts
 From an instructing standpoint, teaching landouts is a
requirement of the Practical Test Standards
(Emergency Operations Area, Off-airport Landing
Task) and is one of the requirements for initial student
solo (FAR§61.87(i)(19).
Landouts
 The common feature in dealing successfully with
landouts is the requirement to plan ahead.
 The more time and height available, the more effective
the planning is likely to be.
 Aiming/reference point technique for decision making
allows an early decision whether the glider is likely to
make it to its intended destination.
 If that appears unlikely, the pilot should focus primarily
on planning for the landout.
 Detailed landout procedures can be found on the SSF
webpage (www.soaringsafety.org) - On-Line Learning
button - see the Master Instructor Cross-Country
Program, details are set out in Section 2 of the CrossCountry Handbook.
Ridge Flights
 Ridge flights typically run into CFIT issues from failure
to maintain safe margins  - distance.
 - airspeed.
 - failure to avoid turbulence, especially lee turbulence.
 Additionally, it is essential to  - turn in the correct direction.
 - pass on the correct side.
 Lastly, the possibility of changing conditions requires
always knowing where escape routes are, and using
them while time still remains.
Avoiding Distractions
 Distractions cause pilots to focus on non-essential
issues to the detriment of safely flying the glider.
 Distraction is a common problem – have you ever
missed an item on a checklist?
 Why was that?
 The primary solution is to have an understanding or
awareness of the problem – pay better attention and
focus on what is important/essential and apply
personal discipline to avoid interruption.
Avoiding Distractions
 In situations of imminent danger, the primary remedy
is usually to ‘fly the glider’ – it may even be helpful for
the pilot to repeat to him/herself ‘fly the glider’.
 Doing so may avoid potentially dangerous actions like
grabbing for an open canopy during the early stages of
the tow, to the detriment of properly controlling the
glider.
Avoiding Distractions
 Lastly, where time is a premium, with risk of pilot
overload, it may be useful to first deal with the problem
by rote, or as a drill.
 An example would be a low level rope break –
 Fly the glider (regain/maintain a safe airspeed).
 Pull the release (get rid of hazardous rope)
 Check height and position (with insufficient
information, the pilot can’t make rational decisions
about what to do next).
 Decide safe course of action.
Complacency & CFIT
 Complacency is often found in highexperience pilots and instructors who have
had many prior successful flights without
serious trouble.
 Complacency erodes situational awareness.
 Complacency delays problem recognition.
Replacing Complacency With
Situational Awareness
 Train your students to continually assess:
– how the flight is going
– what they want to have happen in the future
– what they should do to make the desired future
become reality
 Train your students to extend their time
horizon, as follows:
Extending The Time Horizon:
Questions To Ask:
 Where do you want to be two minutes from
now?
 What are you doing to get yourself there?
 Where do you want to be five minutes from
now?
 What are you doing to get yourself there?
 And so on!
CFIT & The Traffic Pattern
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Look at the statistics again Year
’05
Total (100%)
33
Takeoff/tow
3/9%
Free-Flight
5/15%
Ground/Unknown
5/15%
’06
35
7/20%
5/14%
0/0%
‘07
44
8/18%
5/11%
2/5%
 Landing/Go around 20/61% 23/66% 29/66%
 The focus needs to be on CFIT in the pattern!
CFIT in the Traffic Pattern
 Takeoffs, landings and low altitude maneuvering are a
FIRC core topic.
 Recalling the accident statistics, in 2005, only 9% of
total were in the takeoff/tow phase; 61% were in the
landing phase.
 Relative emphasis needs to be on landing, but
continued issues on self-launch sailplanes –
 - adequate monitoring of takeoff power
 - identification of potential obstructions
 - low climb rate/angle in some makes/models
 - field length and density altitude issues are priorities.
CFIT in Pattern
 Turning to reducing the 60+% landing accident
statistic  How do you teach your student to make it to
the runway and not be a land-short statistic?
 Turn left at the red barn?
 Check the altimeter to ensure there is enough
height?
 Make him learn TLAR [That Looks About Right]
CFIT in Pattern
 How does TLAR work – on what principle is it
based?
 How is it applied?
 Choosing an angle which is safe means the
glider has sufficient energy to safely complete
the pattern, absent catastrophic sink.
CFIT in Pattern
 Do you find it easy to judge a straight line
distance – say 1,000 feet?
 Do you find it easy to judge an angle – say 30
degrees?
 Can you easily perceive when an angle
changes?
 Can the ability to see instantly an angle which
is changing help us as pilots?
CFIT in Pattern
 The dip angle is the Angle between (1) an imaginary
line drawn from the pilot’s eye to a chosen point on the
surface and (2) an imaginary horizontal line drawn
from the same chosen point on the surface to the point
on the surface which is directly below the glider.
 The prime example for flying the pattern is the dip
Angle to the aiming, or Reference, point on the ground
– for example, the numbers at the end of the runway –
where the pilot will look on final approach.
CFIT in Pattern
 Let’s look and see how the Angle changes as the glider
flies downwind, parallel to the runway, assuming still
air – no lift or sink.
 If the glider maintained height on downwind, the Angle
would increase as the glider gets closer to the
Reference Point.
 But the glider is descending, and the descent cancels
out the increase.
 So, as the glider flies downwind parallel to the runway,
the ANGLE REMAINS CONSTANT.
CFIT in Pattern
 How can this information be applied to avoid CFIT in
the pattern – failing to make it to the Reference Point
and landing/crashing short?
 As the glider is flying back toward the field, pick a safe
Angle.
 The Angle will be less steep in a higher performance
glider e.g. a Grob G 103, than it would be in a lower
performance glider like a 2-33.
 The Angle should be steeper if the wind is stronger.
CFIT in Pattern
 To conform with other traffic and give
predictability, the Angle can be picked up at
the Initial Point.
 BUT THIS IS NOT ESSENTIAL – the Safe
Relationship implied by selecting and
maintaining a safe Angle can begin anywhere.
CFIT in Pattern
 From the Initial Point, fly downwind at best speed-tofly, parallel with the runway. If there is no lift or sink,
the Angle will stay constant.
 If the Angle starts to change, make a corrective
heading change.
 if the Angle starts to get flatter (sink), turn in slightly
towards the runway until the Angle gets back to a safe
value, then fly parallel again.
 If the Angle starts to get steeper (lift), turn slightly
out/away from the runway until the Angle gets back to
the correct value, then fly parallel again.
 BE FLEXIBLE – be prepared to change heading to keep
the angle constant.
CFIT in Pattern
 When the glider continues straight downwind
and passes abeam the Reference Point, what
happens?
 1. The instructor gets the “leans”.
 Why? Because the Angle is getting rapidly
flatter, and the instructor feels increasingly
uncomfortable as a result.
 2. In most 2-place gliders, the wing nearer the
field obscures the view of the Reference Point.
CFIT in Pattern
 How do we avoid the “leans” and losing sight
of the Reference point?
 Once the glider has passed abeam the
Reference Point, turn gently towards the
extended center line of the chosen runway,
continuing to maintain the Angle.
CFIT in Pattern
 As the glider continues to turn and reaches the
base leg (90 degrees to the line of final
approach), the Angle will start to increase.
 The sight of the Angle starting to increase is
the signal that, absent encountering
catastrophic sink, the glider really has
sufficient energy to make it to the field and
make good the Reference Point.
CFIT in Pattern
 Some comments –
 When abeam the Reference point going
downwind, make a final check (LAST) –
 LOOKOUT – no conflicting traffic
 ANGLE – remains safe
 SPEED – increase to minimum safe approach
speed required on final for the prevailing
conditions (should have been calculated as
part of the pre-landing checks).
 TRIM – for that speed.
CFIT in Pattern
 If the wind is strong, consider turning in a little
more rapidly – the Safe Landing Cone will be
more steeply inclined to the the horizontal – so
the glider will be closer in to the field when the
middle of the Cone is reached.
CFIT in Pattern
 If the wind is light, turn in a little more slowly
because the Safe Landing Cone will be flatter
to the ground.
CFIT in Pattern
 Is this too complicated for a student to learn easily?
 NO! Practical experience has shown that identifying
and maintaining the Angle is a simple skill.
 Before introducing the Angle in flight, explain in the
classroom and ensure the student understands the
concept.
 In flight, cover the altimeter. Do this from the start of
training – use the law of primacy to help!
 When you are ready to introduce the pattern, have the
student watch only the Angle while you fly the glider –
this lets the student acquire the correct sight picture
more rapidly.
CFIT in Pattern
 At the Initial Point, as the downwind leg is
reached, explain the Angle is now safe, and if
maintained, the glider will have sufficient
energy to safely complete the flight.
 Fly downwind at best speed-to-fly, then
demonstrate how the Angle changes – the zigzag downwind leg.
CFIT in Pattern
 Turn slightly towards the runway until the
Angle is clearly steeper.
 Ask the student what is happening to the
Angle.
 When the correct answer is received [it’s
getting steeper], turn out/away from the
runway until the Angle is flatter than
necessary, then repeat the question.
 After the correct answer is received, turn in
slightly, and ask the student to say when the
original safe Angle has been resumed.
CFIT in Pattern
 Once the glider has passed abeam the Reference
Point, turn gently towards the extended center line of
the chosen runway, continuing to maintain the Angle –
ask the student if the Angle has changed to emphasize
the fact that it hasn’t.
 Doing the complete exercise a few times will result in
the student maintaining the Angle as if second nature.
 As time passes, check the student retains the correct
sight picture for the safe Angle.
 As a separate stage, the student can be introduced to
the base to final turn, and interception of the Safe
Landing Cone and proper approach control.
CFIT in Pattern
 Notice how the Angle methodology does not
depend on use of the altimeter, and does not
require accurate information on the glider’s
height above the surface.
 This means exactly the same methodology can
be used for off-field landing, where accurate
height information is (also) unavailable.
CFIT in Pattern
 Lastly – what word has not been mentioned at any time
during this session?
 AIRBRAKES!
 Opening the airbrakes before the Safe Landing Cone
has been entered merely dissipates potential energy
which might still be needed to avoid CFIT and make
good the field. It also guarantees that the time to
landing will be shorter giving, less time to respond to
any adverse conditions encountered.
 Particular local conditions may predicate a different
pattern requiring early airbrake use.
 END