COPA Flight 65
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Vernon Flying Club
1
MARCH 2015
2015 LEN NEUFELD AWARDS
A smiling Emily Olds and Samantha Wardrop are shown holding their awards after receiving them from
Catherine Lord, the Acting Mayor of Vernon. Vernon Flying Club President Rick Thorburn presided over the
ceremony.
The awards were raised by the members of the Vernon Flying Club in memory of Len Neufeld, a valued
member of the flying club who called “outbound” for the last time on 10 November 2008, after several months
of failing health. Len learned to fly with the Winnipeg Flying Club and after an obligatory stint of instructional
time and bush time, commenced flying with Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1969 and retired in 2000 from Air
Canada. A one-time vice-president of the Vernon Flying Club, Len was extremely supportive of the “Young
Eagle” initiative (now COPA For Kids). He was also involved with the Vernon chapter of PEPAir, which,
under the umbrella of the BC Provincial Emergency Program, assisted the Canadian Search and Rescue
Association (CASARA) by providing volunteer air assistance in searching for lost and/or missing personnel.
As noted above, Len was a valued member of the Vernon Flying Club and to honour that memory and to
recognize his contributions to the organization, friends and members of the Vernon Flying Club seeded a five
hundred dollar bursary to be given annually to a deserving pilot or engineer who is undergoing training at the
Vernon Airport To date, there have been nine recipients of the bursary; this year, there are two recipients,
Samantha Wardrop, who is partway through her training to be an Air Maintenance Engineer at the Okanagan
College here in Vernon, and Emily Olds, undergoing training to be a pilot with Full Moon Air Services. They
were presented their awards by Catherine Lord on behalf of Akbal Mund, Mayor of Vernon.
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and pictures were taken…
Emily and Samantha shown with relatives and members of
the Vernon Flying Club
(right) Acting Mayor
Catherine Lord speaking on
behalf of the city.
(far left)Kathleen Poynton, instructor
and owner of Full Moon Air
Services
(right)Dale Keegstra from the Okanagan College says a few
words
(right) Steve Swallow tightens the shoulder
straps on Emily Olds prior to a flight
around the local area.
Roman Rotach smiles for the camera prior to taking
Samantha Wardrop airborne for a comparison flight
between a Cessna 172 and a Van’s RV…
Thursday, 15 March 2007 saw the Vernon Flying Club members volunteer
their time and aircraft to bring the thrill of leaving the ground to a deserving
group of individuals associated with KATIMAVIK. Katimavik, an Inuit word
meaning “gathering place”, was founded in 1977 by The Honourable (later
Senator) Jacques Hébert to allow Canadian youth to travel the country and
get involved in community projects. At right, award-namesake Len Neufeld
poses with three of the Katimavik personnel just prior to their flight around
the local area.
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MARCH 2015
SHOUT OUT TO ALL GREEN THUMBERS
The collage below shows Alison Crerar, Stu McClean, and Carolyn Neish tidying up the shrubbery and flowers barrels.
Of special note is the last picture at bottom right: we may be losing our good friends who installed the “planter” as a
neighbourly gesture to the club. Feel free to do some weeding as the need arises; the weeds are easily removed from the
mulch.
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MARCH 2015
MIDAIR COLLISION!
Editor note: the following details an accident that could have resulted in a more serious outcome. For those of us who indulge in a bit
of formation flying, it contains an important lesson… The first item is from The Canadian Aviator and was written by Russ Niles.
Feb. 2/15-The amateur-built Christavia Mk 1, C-GREN (piloted by
Ken Beanlands), and the amateur-built CLASS BushCaddy L164, CGALV (piloted by Glenn Bishel), were on a VFR formation flight from
Carstairs. AB (CGB2) to Red Deer Lake and return. C-GREN was
the lead aircraft with C-GALV following in the 3 – 5 o’clock position
with 500 – 1000 foot lateral separation. At approximately 8 nm south
of Red Deer Lake the formation commenced a descent from 5500 to
4500 feet. C-GALV moved up to the 3 o’clock position for the flight
over the lake. While in the descent approaching 4500 feet the tail of
C-GREN was struck by the propeller of C-GALV. C-GREN departed
controlled flight and tumbled 1600 feet vertically before impacting the
ground inverted. C-GALV circled and then landed in the field beside
the wreckage of the lead aircraft. The pilot of C-GREN sustained
serious injuries, but was able to egress the wreckage after shutting
off the electrics and fuel. The pilot was airlifted via EMS Helicopter to
hospital.
The following from the pilot of the BushCaddy, Glenn Bishel
Saturday January 31, 2015
Ken (Beanlands) e-mailed to ask if anyone was interested in flying Sunday at 10:00 am. I replied that I would
plow the runway. Ken had his plane ready while I fueled up. Ken lead the way out as we had agreed to overfly
his cabin at Red Deer Lake. I took up position at his 5 o’clock and spaced at 1000 ft plus. We climbed to 5500
feet with Ken leading. I applied 10 degree flap and throttled back to 20 inch manifold pressure. He called for a
diversion around man made ground fog at Joffrey and called again to return to course. With the lake in sight at
approximately 12 miles back he called for a decent to 4500 feet. We leveled out with me at 3 o'clock and
discussed the location of his cabin. He indicated that the cabin was about 1/3 the way up from the east end of
the narrow section. I adjusted my heading about 5 degrees to the right to fly directly over the cabin.
At about 6 miles back there was a flash of blue and a hard thud. My plane bounced but was still on course. I
called twice for Ken on the radio with no response. I immediately turned right and spotted the over-turned
plane in a field. I completed the 360 degree turn and landed next to Ken. He had already exited the plane and
had it all shut down with his brief case sitting outside. I called 911 for help and then my phone went dead
before a location could be confirmed. In a few minutes a group of Hutterites were there to help and completed
the calls with their phones. Four emergency vehicles from Bashaw arrived before STARS showed up and 2
RCMP constables arrived to help.
The Hutterites were very generous and provided blankets and a shawl to keep Ken warm and even took his
gloves to warm them up in a vehicle. When Ken was taken care of we phoned my wife to pick me up as
Transport Canada said to secure the site and don't move anything. Shortly, the RCMP received a call to
advise that if my plane was deemed flyable to take it out. I didn't know the extent of damage but said I would
try. The emergency crew warned of some hard snow up ahead near an oil well site. They said they would
block the township road to give max clearance. In about 8 inches of snow I throttled up and was airborne in
600 feet. The RCMP inspector called my wife to indicate I was on the way home. I arrived without incident.
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Dave, one of the Hutterites, who had assisted called to inquire about Ken and report that when they returned to
pick up their blankets the auto wreckers were loading the plane. Feb 6, 2015 I drove to visit the Hutterites and
delivered a shawl that I bought for "Martha" since the one she had wrapped Ken with was missing. The
Hutterite who witnessed the collision described what he saw:
- 2 planes, flying side by side, one plane merged over and under the other and impacted.
- The plane tumbled end over end and crashed in the field. He estimated this took about 4 seconds.
Neither one of us anticipated this occurring, thus no evasive action was taken. Ken's wing obstructed his view
of me and with him being lower, he did not catch my attention with my peripheral vision. I was focusing in the
direction of his cabin a few miles away. As Ken's rudder slid down my wing strut his tail wheel crushed my
wheel pant and the elevator jammed into my landing gear mount. The horizontal stabilizer tore the air box and
filter off the carburetor and at the same time my propeller struck his fuselage. The fact that there is only a one
half inch strip of white paint on top of his rudder indicates that we were travelling at exactly the same speed.
With the engine running at 2400 rpm that is 40 per second. Eight scratches would indicate contact for one fifth
of a second. The side impact was hard enough for my shoulder to bend my door outward. His plane must
have dropped instantly as I felt a bump but continued on course.
From Ken Beanlands…
THE MIGHTY MISHAP
Well, it all started a week ago on February 1st. Sunday
morning turned out to be one of those wonderful, cold, crisp,
clear winter days; perfect for flying. So, despite the -12º
Ctemperature, I decided to commit aviation. Glenn Bishell
decided to join me with his BushCaddy 164 and even cleared
the runway for us. We decided that Red Deer Lake, near
Bashaw would be the destination to have a look at my cabin.
It was a beautiful morning and we quickly climbed to 5500’.
We formed up with Glenn staying about 300 meters or so
apart from me, as we had done for years. The flight was
uneventful with a temperature inversion giving us a
comfortable -3ºC at altitude. Glen and I chatted a bit on the
radio and even discussed my plans to fly the Christava to the
COPA convention in Winnipeg, then on to Halifax in late June
and early July.
As we approached the lake, I descended out of 5500'. At around 11:33 AM, according to the SPOT tracker, I
had just levelled out at 4500' (1800' AGL), about 4 miles southwest of the lake when there was a tremendous
bang and the plane started flipping in an extremely tight, outside loop. I was pushed up to the roof of the cabin
with my face planted into the skylight and my arms were stuck to the windshield. It became very loud and
bright, the result of the sunglasses and headset being ripped off. I continued like that for what seemed like an
hour, but was more likely just a few seconds. I fought to gain the controls, but that wasn't happening. Finally,
the plane stabilized out, inverted, and I finally got my hands on the controls... not that it did any good. The
plane impacted the ground a few seconds later, still inverted, with nearly no horizontal speed. I was told that
the snow directly behind the plane was undisturbed. It simply pancaked in.
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To my surprise, I was alive, and conscious. I popped
the harness, which was still intact, and fell out of the
plane onto the wing. I reached in and turned off the
fuel (whatever good that did with the plane upside
down and fuel streaming out the vents), turned off
the master (one of only 3 switches left in the panel of
15 or so), turned off the mags (the prop was no
longer attached to the plane)
I pulled my legs from the plane and noticed that the
left one was at a very odd angle... at about 30
degrees inboard of straight. There was no pain, but I
knew that would come. I pulled the phone from my
pocket to find it dead. The iPad was, surprisingly, still
mounted on the panel and still running ForeFlight! I
grabbed it thinking I could get out a text for help.
That's when I saw Glenn fly low overhead and
continue around for a landing. About the same time,
the Hutterites, whose property I had landed on,
showed up. I asked Glenn what happened, and he
said he had flown into my tail! Well, at least I didn't
screw up the building of the plane :-).
Our off-duty RCMP neighbour from the lake showed up next and started in with first aid. I found out later that
she called for STARS (Alberta's Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service) and insisted they come. Fire, rescue and
ambulances responded from Bashaw and showed up in quick succession. I was never so happy to hear a
helicopter engine as I was that day.
It was about 40 minutes between the time I crashed and when I was finally loaded on board the helicopter. All
that time, I was lying on the snow- covered wing in -20º C temps. I was shivering pretty badly when they lifted
me up, and I finally saw the plane. It was missing the tail and pretty much everything behind the cabin! I later
found out that the tail remained with the plane, but was nearly severed off. The angle I was at kept me from
seeing it. They put me into the wonderfully warm helicopter and I was flying again! The pilot promised that his
landing would be smoother than mine, although the EMTs weren't so confident. It wasn't much more than 20
minutes before we landed on the roof of the University Hospital in Edmonton.
I was scanned, X-rayed, MRI'd, poked and prodded for about seven hours, while immobilized on a backboard
with a neck brace the whole time. I think I now glow in the dark... just a little. By 9 PM I was finally moved to the
trauma ward. The staff there was incredible and I was tended on like royalty. I was a bit of a celebrity around
there. Everyone wanted to rub my head for luck! Whenever a staff member asked what happened and I tell, it
was usually met with a "Oh, you're the guy... did you buy a lotto ticket?"
Tuesday night I was transported by ambulance to the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary. This was good as I
was essentially naked in Edmonton without any glasses! All my clothes, except my boots and socks were cut
off in the field... Did I mention it was -20º C? Now there's an image! After meeting with the surgeon, they
decided to send me home to await knee surgery.
It's been quite a week, but I'm doing quite well. Two broken ribs on the right side give occasional back spasms,
but they are less and less an issue. Lots of cuts to the scalp left a horrible mess in the plane. It's amazing how
those little scalp wounds can bleed! The left leg was dislocated at the knee and tore a bunch of ligaments. This
is what gave the initial impression of a bad leg break. Although a broken femur or tibia may have been more
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immediately life threatening, the torn ligaments are going to be far trickier to mend. It’s stabilized in a splint now
and I have been walking on it with the aid of crutches.
I tore three of the four knee ligaments; one of which, the PCL, is unrepairable. It's going to be a long recovery
time and I'll likely not get full use of the knee again. I'm currently home as the surgeon wants the knee to heal
somewhat before he digs in.
I am so grateful to all the first responders and medical staff who worked together to help me in this trying time.
Everyone has been just wonderful! I was also overwhelmed
by the outpouring of support and well-wishing I’ve received
since the accident. Thanks everyone.
As for the plane, she'll never fly again. I fully believe that she
gave her life to save mine. Why the plane stopped tumbling
and stabilized before hitting the ground is a mystery. By all
accounts, I shouldn't be writing this today! I started building
her in 1989 and first flew her in 2004. It's been a part of my life
for 26 years! Fortunately, it's fully insured but I haven't yet
decided my next steps. The only thing I have decided is that
this is the parting of the ways for Chrissy and I. There is not
much left of her that's still intact, ant any possible chance of
reconstruction went away when the salvage crew cut the wing
spars for removal. Either way, the spars were broken further
outboard due to the impact.
The following https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYkIto84bc will
take you to a four minute clip of Ken Beanland’s Christavia..
TECHNOLOGY
An elderly couple had just learned how to send text messages on their mobile phones. The wife was a
romantic type and the husband was more of a no-nonsense guy. One afternoon the wife went out to meet a
friend for coffee. She decided to send her husband a romantic text message and she wrote: "If you are
sleeping, send me your dreams. If you are laughing, send me your smile. If you are eating, send me a bite. If
you are drinking, send me a sip. If you are crying, send me your tears. I love you."
The husband texted back to her: "I'm in the bathroom. Please advise."
SWISH!
A man goes to the doctor, worried about his wife’s temper.
The doctor asks, "What's the problem?
The man says, "Doctor, I don't know what to do. Every day my wife seems to lose her temper for no
reason. It scares me."
The doctor says, "I have a cure for that. When it seems that your wife is getting angry, just take a glass of
water and start swishing it in your mouth. Just swish and swish, but don't swallow it until she either leaves the
room or calms down."
Two weeks later the man comes back to the doctor, looking fresh and reborn. He says, "Doctor that was a
brilliant idea! Every time my wife started losing it, I swished with water. I swished and swished, and she
calmed right down! How does a glass of water do that?"
The doctor says, "The water itself does nothing. It's keeping your mouth shut that does the trick."
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MARCH 2015
The Art of Crashing
When considering how to crash, my first bit of advice is don't do it.
Since the reality of any flight is that things can go wrong, that isn't
particularly helpful, I know. What can go wrong? Your crankshaft can
break, your fuel lines can clog or, if you are a damn fool, you can run out
of gas. The point is, someday your engine may stop working for reasons
beyond your immediate control and your next option is an off-field
landing, or worse. If you're lucky, you will be mid-field downwind at your
home airport and it will work just like the last time you practiced engineout procedures—you do still practice those, right?
If you are less fortunate, you will have to pick a field or road that may
damage the aircraft a bit but mostly will end with a very awkward phone call. At general aviation speeds,
making contact with unobstructed terrain at a shallow angle of impact should be eminently survivable. Then
there is the outcome none of us wants to experience, where there is no clear landing site—no matter what you
do, you are going to hit something. It just isn't your day.
This is where a pilot has a few seconds to demonstrate his or her mastery of the art of crashing.
Understanding the physics of deceleration and the physiology of g-loading will help you make better choices in
the moments that count. It also may result in different priorities when it comes to safety upgrades for your
aircraft.
Kinetic Energy 101
To understand the art of crashing, we must get reacquainted with some basic physics. The first equation to
know is the formula for calculating kinetic energy: KE=MxV2/2
(Kinetic energy equals one-half the mass times the velocity squared)
What is key to understand is that the energy goes up as a square of the
velocity. That means that when the velocity doubles, the kinetic energy
quadruples, so even a small velocity increase results in a disproportionate
increase in kinetic energy. In a crash situation, this is obviously very bad.
To minimize the energy of the crash, controlling your velocity is important.
For example, a 10-knot groundspeed increase from 60 knots to 70 knots
increases the kinetic energy by one-third. That means a 10-knot headwind
will reduce the energy of the crash by one-third.
To ensure an artful crash, you should reduce your groundspeed before
impact. Things to do: Point into the wind, have all your flaps down before
you make contact, maintain the lowest controllable speed you can manage
without increasing your sink rate. This will ensure first contact is as gentle as it can be. And whatever you do,
do not stall your airplane.
Deceleration and energy
High kinetic energy levels alone do not lead to disaster—it's how that energy is dissipated that determines
the outcome. Having just explained the relationship of speed to kinetic energy, the speed of the crash isn't
what kills you, it's the stopping part, or deceleration.
Deceleration is measured in multiples of the force of gravity, or G. During high-speed crashes, it is pretty
easy to generate accelerations in the range of 25 to 50G. Unfortunately, that also is the range where severe
injury or death is likely. The art of a good crash is to reduce G loads as much as possible. You do this by
spreading the energy over as much distance as you can. Pardon the double entendre, but you want to leave a
long skid mark.
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In steep terrain, this means having the aircraft oriented to as low an impact angle as possible before making
contact. Easier said than done, but a low contact angle will help you "skip" off the surface obstacles. Also, if
you can aim for obstacles that have potential to give (tree tops, vegetation) vs. obstacles that don't give (rock
faces, structures).
How much of a difference will skidding, bouncing or dissipating energy over a distance make? A lot. An
aircraft traveling at 60 knots coming to a full stop in one foot (as when hitting a cliff face head-on), will generate
160G. It is not a survivable crash. In fact, at that G-loading, bones will break and the human body becomes a
liquid—it is not pretty.
Spreading that same energy out over 10 feet drops the deceleration to 18G, which is bad, but survivable.
Spreading the stopping distance to 30 feet takes you down to 5G, and if you can stretch the distance to 50
feet, where the deceleration is only 3G, you may have actually had worse turbulence than that.
Again, speed matters. If your initial speed was 80 knots instead of 60 knots, your 50-foot stop will be 5.5G
and your 30-foot stop is 10G. Anything you do that will gain you a bit of stopping distance will reduce the crash
loading. G-loading isn't strictly about initial speed, it also has a huge amount to do with how quickly you lose
that speed.
Note the above deceleration calculations are not off-the-shelf numbers you can count on for your particular
crash. They assume a uniform deceleration from first contact to complete stop.
Crashes are complex. When you hit something, you may come to a jolting stop until it gives and you move
on, just much more slowly due to that initial impact. If you encounter a
building, tree, large rock or some other immovable object earlier in the
crash (when your speed is high), you will experience more Gs and
decelerate more quickly than if skidding and bouncing and skidding
again and then gently kissing the boulder just before coming to a stop.
Things like bounces, cartwheels, clipping a wing or hitting a movable
object can radically change your particular crash's G experience. The
point is to dissipate energy over as much distance as you possible can.
That is much better than having a single object absorbing the full load
all at once.
G-Loading Humans
matter what, you want to hit slowly and stretch out the crash's deceleration for as long as you can. But, the
human body is not suited for uniform G loads in every direction. How many Gs can the human body take? The
answer is not simple. It depends on where and how rapidly the Gs are applied on the body, in what direction
they are applied (head-to-toe, front-to-back, side-to-side, etc.) and their duration.
We can deal best with smashing head on into walls or equally well spinning around and hitting the same
wall backwards. Either way, we can tolerate as much as 45 G of deceleration before major injury. We are much
less adapted to lateral, side-to-side motions and negative G. For side-to-side hits, we can go to 20 G before
major injuries or 20-25 G for negative G load. But the human body simply can't take downward loads, as might
be encountered when crashing with a high vertical velocity. We tend to break easily, suffering spinal
compression or worse, under downward forces at 15 G.
So 45 G forward or 15 G down—either way, you will break, The
takeaway is that I would rather hit something head on or even clip a
wing and take my chances with a 20 G lateral acceleration from
cartwheeling, over a stall and drop into a 15 G crush. The human body
is the weakest in the vertical, or Z axis, and the resulting injuries carry
the suffix –plegia.
Again, G-loads have a great deal to do with deceleration. Glancing
an object that gives a little bit for 0.1 seconds and takes your speed from
60 knots to 30 knots is much better then having that same 0.1 seconds
impact take you from 60 knots to zero. If you can, aim for softer things.
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Lethal Cockpits
The single biggest tool you have to improve your survivability in a personal aircraft is its restraint system. A
lap belt is better than being thrown out of the aircraft, but your face is still going to whiplash into the yoke,
windshield or both.
That laptop and sledge hammer you have in the backseat are now projectiles. The laptop seemed
innocuous, but at 20 G that five-pound laptop is now a 100-pound bag of cement heading for the back of your
head. (The sledge hammer? What are you doing with a sledgehammer in your back seat?)
A single-belt shoulder harness is much better, and a five-point restraint system gives you the best odds of
walking away, short of having airbags of some kind.
Are seat belts all the same? No. A rigid belt that does not stretch will let you experience full G. It may not
seem like much, but material that is slightly elastic and stretches six inches during crash-loading versus three
inches will give you twice the distance for deceleration. Not much, but what if I said I can drop a 100-pound
bag of cement on your stomach or a 200-pound bag? Math never matters until it becomes your reality, then it
makes a big difference. That extra three inches will save you a lot of pain and injury. It's physics.
Even better, airbags that spread the crash loading across a larger surface area and spread the load through
time. Again folks, it is the physics. Firing off an inflatable milliseconds into the crash can make a huge
difference. Airbags are an extravagance until you need them. The FAA/NTSB recently suggested seat restraint
airbags would result in fewer deaths and injuries in general aviation. It should be obvious why.
If you don't see why it is obvious, consider this: As vehicle speed increases from 0 to 40 mph, the rate of
injury in an accident increases by 50 percent and doubles again from 40 to 60 mph. Safety belts, when worn,
reduce the number of deaths by 45 percent, and serious injury by 50 percent. The only difference between
autos and aircraft is the Z-axis. Given the human propensity to break in downward forces, a better seat belt
and minimizing downward G would definitely change the outcomes of most crashes.
Run Away, Run Away
The last thing we really haven't covered is the energy stored in
your fuel tanks. Yup, even after your aircraft comes to a rest,
there is still a great deal of energy that might be released. Postimpact fires are a huge killers. According to a NATO study,
Injuries in Fatal Aircraft Accidents, "Fire occurs in 47 percent of
commercial aircraft accidents, 32 percent of military accidents and
26 percent of general aviation crashes." The sooner you can get
occupants away from all that fuel, the better off you and your
passengers will be. That means opening the door just before
crashing (so you are not pinned into the cockpit), turning off the
master switch to eliminate those electrons and turning off the fuel.
Those seem like trivial details on the checklist, but the risk of a post-crash fire—at 26 percent—isn't trivial. If
you can shut off a major source of spark and fuel flow, isn't it worth the two seconds of distraction to do so?
There are reasons these items are on the emergency-procedures check list.
Doing It
So, now you have arrived at the crash site. You managed to slow your airspeed to best glide (lowest sink
rate), point the airplane into the wind (slowest groundspeed), get your flaps down before contact to drop speed
but not increase sink (even less groundspeed), arrest your sink rate (no "–plegia" for me today, thank you),
control your impact angle to the shallowest (maximize distance for crash zone) and you managed to aim for the
softest objects in your trajectory—sure it's a billboard, but better than a brick wall. Before contact you switched
the master off, killed the fuel flow and cracked the door.
On impact you were able to carom off the tree, hit your left wing against the boulder and gently came to a
stop with the aid of your airbag-equipped five-point harness. "Only" 4.5 G; not bad. Nice job. You have
demonstrated the art of crashing by walking away.
This article originally appeared in the September 2013 issue of Aviation Safety magazine
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A Runway On a Rope
During WW2, lightplanes rigged with an overhead hook could "land" by snagging a sling hung from a
long cable and roll to a braked halt like the department store change baskets of long ago. To take
off, they changed slings, opened the throttle and, at flying speed, pulled a lanyard which freed the plane
from the sling.
This idea was dreamed up by Capt James H Brodie of the USAAF Transportation Corps during the dark
days of the Battle of the Atlantic. Hundreds of successful landings and takeoffs erased the circus flavor
from a project which, on paper, seemed like the doings of a pulp fiction writer.
So foreign to normal procedure was the system that Capt Brodie had difficulty obtaining test pilots for
the first rig. Transient AAF pilots temporarily stationed at New Orleans, where the rig first was
constructed, would volunteer for the assignment sight unseen. but after looking at the slender wire on
which their plane would land, most politely backed out.
Like a big clothesline, the tight, overhead cableway of the portable ground rig stretched between two
65' tubular-steel masts at each end of the wire. N-shaped bridle cables connected the masts and the main
cable, leaving both ends open to approach.
A single-wheel landing trolley designed for easy rolling gave a pendulum effect upon acceleration,
reducing inertia forces. Shackled to the trolley was the landing sling—three loops of nylon rope affording a
six-foot target to incoming planes.
Engagement of just one of the loops
was sufficient for a successful landing.
An arresting brake resisted flying
momentum on the principle of a giant
fishing reel. Brake force was applied
gradually, reaching a maximum after
the plane traveled about 50' along the
cableway, in a constant negative
acceleration
of
about
one-third
gravity. Arresting line tension was
varied to correspond to weights of
different planes.
The takeoff trolley consisted of a
wheel, a wooden friction shoe, and an
emergency release. The takeoff sling
was a four-foot length of nylon rope
with an eye and shackle at the top, a lifting ring in the middle, and a bottom stirrup. The plane's hook was
put into the stirrup, a lifting derrick carried it upward by the middle ring, and the top shackle was attached
to the trolley.
A travel release consisting of a long hold-back line and a spring-loaded trip prevented planes from
beginning a run until the engine was at full power. A pull on the lanyard attached to the trip lever
disconnected the plane from the hold-back. An emergency release functioned if the plane has not been
released from the trolley before the end of the cableway on its takeoff run. Without wind, an average
lightplane took off from the cable in 400'; with wind, it was off in 200'.
Independent of terrain, the Brodie rig provided a good landing and takeoff site in most unlikely
country—jungles, mountains, marshes, any place where construction of a landing strip was difficult or not
economical. It was perfect for forward military positions because of its camouflage value—from above 500'
it was extremely difficult to see, and even if spotted, it structurally was an elusive target.
Weighing less than 7,000 pounds, including tools and tackle, the rig was highly portable, small and
light enough to be carried in cargo planes, along with a nine-man crew, and parachuted into a location.
Where roads existed, two 2-1/2-ton trucks could haul everything. With hand tools and tackle, the rig could
be made ready for landings and takeoffs in about 12 hours. At sea, the 600' long cable was supported by
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booms, kingposts, and bracing struts, elevated and outboard parallel on the port side of the ship.
The system was applied to landing ships for lightplane support of amphibious landing operations with
outstanding success. During test maneuvers all other planes of a simulated task force were grounded by
fog, but two liaison planes attached to an LST fitted with the Brodie line were aloft regularly acting as
observers.
With $10,000 from the Transportation Corps, Brodie began his first rig at New Orleans in April 1943 to
simulate shipboard conditions. By July he was entreating wary transient army pilots to conduct tests.
Army service pilot Lt C C Wheeler made the first takeoff in late August, and the first round trip was made
on 3 Sept 1943, by Maj James D Kemp, a B-26 pilot awaiting shipment overseas.
By mid-September, the first regularly assigned Brodie system test pilot arrived—F/O Raymond
Gregory, who approached the testing with enthusiasm. With Brodie as passenger, Gregory had come in for
a landing pass and forgot about the sag in the center of the cable and kept too much altitude. The prop hit
the cable, but Gregory brought his L-5 to a safe emergency landing under the rig.
Experimentation in those days was by trial and error. Brodie's regular assignment of redesigning cargo
ships made him work out his system during off hours. Principal mechanical hurdles were development of
adequate brakes and reduction of shock getting the landing trolley accelerated. Braking was finally refined
by using an aluminum reel, two hydraulic automobile brake assemblies, and automatic brake delay screw,
a tension adjuster and a gauge for determining line tension. The delay screw permitted rotating parts to
become accelerated to airplane speed before applying drag.
Brodie designed the trolley in a half-moon, which allowed the lower half to pendulum forward before
the trolley wheel actually was set in
motion. The hook-arm swung to a
horizontal position and then telescoped
outward about two feet upon contact with
the landing sling.
Late in 1943 Brodie obtained the
cargo ship, City of Dalhart, with which to
experiment on modification of the
apparatus for actual sea landings. In
December, a series of landings and
takeoffs were successfully made with a
Stinson L-5, bringing vindication of the
months of work on what many officials
called too fantastic a project on which to
waste money.
Although its combat use was limited
to one ship, the system proved its
feasibility at Saipan and Okinawa, but only eight of 25 contracted LSTs were so equipped when the war
ended. Success was formally proclaimed in 1945 with the presentation of Legion of Merit medals to Brodie
and Gregory.
Commercially, the future of the system was as flamboyant in possibilities as was its wartime use.
Brodie claimed a rig capable of handling planes much heavier than L-5s could be built, up to 7,000-pound
airplanes. He foresaw light cargo routes utilizing his rigs to reduce the amount of fuel spent between
landings—by decreasing fuel load, payloads would increase proportionately. Grovers and ranchers would
use the system to visit obscure acreage. Private individuals in the bush would set up their own airport in
wooded or hilly back country.
Seemingly practical, and definitely proven, the idea never played out. To see the rig in action, click here.
From www.aerofiles.com
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At The Science Conference
At a recent conference of science and mathematics, a physicist, a mathematician, an engineer, and a statistician were all
staying on the same floor of their hotel. The engineer woke up in the middle of the night to find his trash can had caught
on fire. He jumped out of bed, quickly filled his ice bucket with water, extinguished the flames, and went back to sleep.
A little later, the physicist woke up and also discovered his trash can to be ablaze. He paused for a moment, booted his
laptop, and made a few quick calculations. He filled up his ice bucket with exactly 624 milliliters of water and used it to
extinguish the fire, and then went back to sleep.
Shortly after, the mathematician was awakened and his trash can was also on fire. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen
and frantically scribbled out pages and pages of equations trying to find an answer to the problem. When he found the
solution he went to bed, comfortable just knowing that the solution existed.
And the statistician? He was found running around lighting other people's trash cans on fire because he needed a bigger
sample size.
Nine Important Facts to Remember as We Grow Older:
Number 9 Death is the number 1 killer in the world.
Number 8 Life is sexually transmitted.
Number 7 Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
Number 6 Men have two emotions: hungry and horny, and they can't tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him
a sandwich.
Number 5 Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for
weeks, months, maybe years.
Number 4 Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.
Number 3 All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
Number 2 In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.
Number 1 Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers. What you do today might burn your onager tomorrow.
…and (as someone recently said to me) Don't worry about old age; it doesn't last that long.
CHEMISTRY
A man was dining alone in a fancy restaurant and there was a gorgeous redhead sitting at the next table. .He had been
checking her out since he sat down, but lacked the nerve to talk with her.
Suddenly she sneezed, and her glass eye came flying out of its socket towards the man. He reflexively reached out, grabbed it
out of the air, and handed it back.
'Oh my, I am so sorry,' the woman said, as she popped her eye back in place. 'Let me buy your dinner to make it up to you.'
They enjoyed a wonderful dinner together, and afterwards they went to the theatre followed by drinks... They talked, they
laughed, she shared her deepest dreams and he shared his. She listened to him with interest.
After paying for everything, she asked him if he would like to come to her place for a nightcap and stay for breakfast. They
had a wonderful, wonderful time.
The next morning, she cooked a gourmet breakfast with all the trimmings. The guy was amazed. Everything had been so
incredible! 'You know,' he said, 'you are the perfect woman. Are you this nice to every guy you meet?'
'No,' she replies. You just happened to catch my eye.'
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The following concerns an RV-6A forced landing.
A Forced Landing
On January 22/05 we were conducting
leaning experiments with the WMS
wideband AFR monitor and turbocharger
compressor temperature measurements
with the stainless backplate installed, on a
flight between Springbank and Vulcan at
9500 feet. As we leveled off, it was noted
that the electronic digital altimeter was
changing readings 20-40 feet randomly.
This was attributed to rising/ descending air
initially. Within 2 minutes, the fluctuations
were 100-300 feet but the air seemed smooth. About the same time, I noticed that the WMS meter was reading
completely wrong yet the engine was running perfectly. A few seconds later, the GPS went offline. It was
recycled but died again within 20 seconds so I shut it off. When I scanned the engine instruments, I noted that
the tachometer was reading incorrectly and the Navaid gyro was indicating a right turn when we were not
turning. I suspected a charging system failure immediately and checked the battery voltage in the SDS
monitor. This read 9.5 volts so I knew then that we had a charging system failure. At the time, I was not worried
about making it to an airport, assuming that the alternator had failed just in the last few minutes and believing
that I had 20-25 minutes of battery power remaining. In fact, it is likely that the alternator failed soon after
takeoff from Springbank but I did not notice signs of the failure until the battery was well over half dead.
Calgary Terminal called to clear us from his zone but his transmission broke up. We could not respond and
shut off both comms and squawked 7600 for about 30 seconds before the transponder went down. I shut off all
other non-essential electrical loads at this time. I estimated Vulcan airport at 12-15 miles away which we were
heading straight for. About 4-5 minutes later, the engine started to run rough as battery voltage was down to
6.5 volts. 2 minutes later, the engine started to cut out intermittently. By turning the low pressure fuel pump off
for 15 seconds at a time, partial power was restored for a few seconds. One minute later, the engine
essentially ceased running but the prop was still windmilling. I settled on 90 knots as a glide speed with the VSI
around 1000 fpm down. About 3 miles out, our altitude looked fine to make the runway, high if anything. 1.5
miles out and it was clear that we would not make the runway. I was worried about 2 ditches, a road and a man
made waterfowl dugout off the far end of the runway and did not want to arrive high as we had no flaps. This
turned out not to be a problem as we would be well short of the threshold. I made a shallow turn into wind to
land in a field parallel to the plowed furrows. Airspeed bled off rapidly in the turn and I had to keep pushing the
stick forward to maintain 65 knots. The deck angle was somewhat scary. Don't stall! don't stall! was going
through my mind vs. the alarming deck angle. At about 20 feet up, I initiated the flare. We touched down level
or slightly nose down as there was insufficient stick and energy to complete a proper flare. The nose gear gave
way, then the prop and there were some expensive crunching sounds. We slid to a stop on the partially snow
covered/ frozen field in about 200 feet.
The G meter read 7Gs from the vertical impact. I used my cell phone to contact Edmonton ATC and report the
forced landing. As there were no injuries, we were authorized to move the aircraft by Transport Canada. The
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local police, EMS and fire services were extremely helpful and efficient. They even arranged for a nearby
trucking firm to recover the aircraft for transport back to the airport. Joyline Transport did an excellent job
organizing a cherry picker and lowboy at both ends, arranging all permits and getting VZX back to its hangar.
Many thanks to all involved from the Vulcan area including manager Wally Walpole, Ken, the talented lowboy
driver, the field supervisor and "Woody" from Lethbridge, an interesting personality to be sure. These people
made Vulcan the nicest place to have a forced landing and the best of a not so good day.
Preliminary investigation showed that the alternator field fuse was blown for reasons undetermined at this point
although some swarf was resting on top of the fuse holder in close proximity. Whether this was the cause or
simply disloged from the impact will probably never be known. We'll be perfoming tests on the charging system
when the aircraft is repaired again. The impact sheared the nose leg retaining bolt clean off. The leg punctured
the stainless firewall and battery box and came to rest against the battery case. The nose leg was completely
"pretzelized" with the tire ending up flat under the cowling. The main gear legs were both bent back an extra
10-15 degrees and the IVO propeller shattered 2 blades on impact. Various wheel pants and fairing were also
damaged and both brake rotors were bent. No structural airframe damage was discovered and repair is under
way. Thanks to Van's for designing such a robust airframe and I'm glad I was in a metal aircraft.
Lessons Learned and Applied
Thinking in hindsight on what was not readily
apparent at the time of the emergency: The
low voltage warning light was likely ON for 1015 minutes and remained unnoticed by me
because I was busy recording AFR data. The
warning light is not a flashing type which is
much more likely to attract attention. A 95dB
warning buzzer will now be added so that a
charging system malfunction will be apparent
immediately. I strongly recommend an aural
warning vs. a light. The delay in noticing the
failure resulted in the forced landing. I
believed that I had 20-25 minutes of battery
power remaining when the failure was
detected but had more like 10 minutes at that point.
Pilots always talk of instructors throwing impossible multiple system failures and emergencies at them in
training or in the simulator. Well, this time, we had such multiple, progressive system failures and did not
recognize what was happening until the third device started giving odd readings. It is worth thinking about odd
readings rather than dismissing them. You might save valuable time.
We rely so much on GPS but the "Nearest Airport" feature does not help much without electrical power and a
dark screen. Having a map handy and marking last known position every 10 miles is not a bad idea. Glass
cockpit advocates take note on the reliance of these on electrical power. We had no time to Mayday or really
squawk a comm failure before power was lost. This could be serious in controlled airspace
We had no battery backup as this was deemed unnecessary, thinking that the alternator failure would be
immediately noticed and that I'd have 20-25 minutes of flight time to find a suitable landing spot or airport. A
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second 18 amp hour battery will be added with a separate switch, independent of the master solenoid. I was
worried that the master solenoid would trip open at the low voltage, effectively signing everything off.
Fortunately, the hold current required on these is quite low but this is an extra drain on the battery.
Most of the electrical devices were effectively offline at around
9 volts. Fortunately the SDS ECU and coil pack functioned
down to the very last along with the fuel pumps, even at 6.5
volts where the battery is virtually dead. SDS has voltage
compensation for the ignition and injector drivers which
helped in this situation. Does your ECU have this?
Should I have picked a road or smoother field immediately
rather than heading for an airport 20-25 miles away? Well, I
would have if I'd known how bad the battery state was. I
should have pushed the throttle up and climbed to get as
much altitude as possible to arrive very high OVER the airport
but again, I thought I had lots of time.
With total power loss, the aircraft does not glide as well as it does even with idle power. The 3 blade prop has
considerable drag due to its flat plate area. This is something you can't practice, but am aware of now. The
deck angle to maintain airspeed is steeper than in training. Maintain speed at all costs and have a margin of
extra speed for the flare as the elevators are less effective with no power. Train often for engine failures. It
CAN happen to you! I'm glad that I did train fairly often. There was no panic and I did most things instictively.
Wear your shoulder harness! We always do but it is surprising how many pilots are injured or killed with them
dangling by their shoulders. Have winter gear with you when you winter fly. We did, even though it was a pretty
pleasant, sunny, winter day. Remember, it CAN happen to you!
Use all resources possible. If you have another pilot with you, hand some responsibility over to them for map
reading, calling out airspeeds, altitude, reading emergency checklists, giving you flaps etc.
Damage will be repaired. Systems will be changed. Checklists will be altered and training will be intensified. I
pledge not to forget the lessons learned here and am very happy to still be here to write this.
Those interested in such things can go to http://www.sdsefi.com/rv12.htm
THE EFFECT OF ANTICIPATION ON SEXUAL ACTIVITY…
With a very seductive voice the woman asked her husband, "Have you ever seen $20 all crumpled up?"
"No," said her husband.
She gave him a sexy little smile, unbuttoned the top 3 or 4 buttons of her blouse, and slowly reached down into
the cleavage created by a soft, silky push-up bra, and pulled out a crumpled $20 bill. He took the crumpled $20
bill from her and smiled approvingly.
She then asked him, "Have you ever seen $50 all crumpled up?"
"Uh...no, I haven't," he said, with an anxious tone in his voice.
She gave him another sexy little smile, pulled up her skirt to reveal a rosette garter around her leg, and pulled
out a crumpled $50 bill. He took the crumpled $50 bill, and started breathing a little quicker with anticipation.
"Now," she said, "have you ever seen $50,000 all crumpled up?"
"No way!" he said, while obviously becoming even more aroused and excited.
"Well, go look in the garage,"
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Mistel
Mistel (German for "mistletoe"), was the larger,
unmanned component of a composite aircraft
configuration developed in Germany during the
later stages of World War II. The composite
comprised a small piloted control aircraft mounted
above a large explosives-carrying drone, the
Mistel, and as a whole was referred to as the
Huckepack ("Pick-a-back" in British English,
"piggyback" in American English), also known as
the Beethoven-Gerät ("Beethoven Device") and
Vati und Sohn ("Daddy and Son").[1]
The most successful of these used a modified Junkers Ju 88 bomber as the Mistel, with the entire nose-located
crew compartment replaced by a specially designed nose filled with a large load of explosives. The upper
component was a fighter aircraft, joined to the Mistel by struts. The combination would be flown to its target by
a pilot in the fighter; then the unmanned bomber was released to hit its target and explode, leaving the fighter
free to return to base. The first such composite aircraft flew in July 1943 and was promising enough to begin a
programme by Luftwaffe test unit KG 200, code-named "Beethoven", eventually entering operational service.
Design and development
The first such experiments in Nazi Germany
concerning composite aircraft of any type were
performed with the DFS 230 troop glider as the
"lower" component and using established, enginepowered Luftwaffe aircraft, such as the FockeWulf Fw 56 or the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, as the
upper component in an attempt to provide the troop
glider with a longer range than if it was simply
towed in the conventional manner.
Later, the technique became more refined, and the
bomber component (which was often a new aircraft
rather than surplus) was fitted with a specialised
1,800 kg (3,960 lb.) warhead. The final stage of Mistel development was of specialised purpose-built jetpowered bomber components, including ones developed from the
Messerschmitt Me 262, the Junkers Ju 287 and the entirely new
Arado Ar 234. None of these ambitious schemes had left the
drawing board before the end of the war.
WARHEAD
Model of the proposed Mistel Heinkel He 162 with an Arado E.377a glide bomb
at the Technikmuseum Speyer
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The definitive Mistel warhead was a shaped charge of nearly two tonnes in weight fitted with a copper or
aluminium liner with the weight of a blockbuster bomb. The use of a shaped charge was expected to allow
penetration of up to seven meters of reinforced concrete.
Some 250 Mistels of various combinations were built
during the war, but they met with limited success. They
were first flown in combat against the Allied invasion
fleet during the Battle of Normandy, targeting the
British-held harbour at Courseulles-sur-Mer.
While Mistel pilots claimed hits, none of these match
Allied records; they may have been made against the
hulk of the old French battleship Courbet, which had
been included as a component of the Mulberry harbour
at Arromanches and specially dressed up as a decoy by
the Allies. Serious blast and shrapnel damage from a
near-miss was suffered by HMS Nith, a River-class
frigate being used as a floating headquarters,[3] on 24 June. Nine men were killed and 26 wounded, and Nith was
towed back to England for repairs.
A second opportunity to use the Mistels, in Scapa Flow in
1944, was abandoned after the sinking of the German
battleship Tirpitz led to the departure of all of the Royal
Navy's major surface units from the target.
As part of Operation Iron Hammer in late 1943 and early
1944, Mistels were selected to carry out key raids against
Soviet
weapons-manufacturing
facilities—specifically,
electricity-generating power stations around Moscow and
Gorky. These plants were known to be poorly defended by
the Soviets and irreplaceable. However, before the plan could
be implemented, the Red Army had entered Germany, and it
was decided to use the Mistels against their bridgehead at
Küstrin instead. On 12 April 1945, Mistels attacked the
bridges being built there, but the damage caused was
negligible and delayed the Soviet forces for only a day or two. Subsequent Mistel attacks on other bridges being
thrown across the Oder were similarly ineffective.
From Wikipedia
MAN OVERBOARD
An Admiral was touring one of the ships in his fleet. After dinner, he ditched his escorts and walked along the weatherdecks. He
came upon a seaman, and decided to ask a few questions to check the level of training aboard.
"Sailor," he asked, "what would you do if someone fell over the rail?"
"Officer or enlisted?" was the instant reply.
"Um, okay, enlisted, uh, someone from your division. Yeah, one of your buds falls over the side, what would you do?"
"Call away 'Man Overboard,' toss a floatation device to him, stick by the rail and try to keep an eye on him while the ship
turns and lookouts assemble. When a phone talker arrives, give information to the bridge to aid in the recovery."
"Okay, sailor, good answer. But I have to ask, what would you do if an officer fell over the side?"
The sailor leaned close, looked left and right, and asked, "Which one?"
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From AOPA online
Flying Backward
February 11th, 2015 by Ron Rapp
“Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any
carelessness, incapacity or neglect.”
Aviation insurance pioneer A. G. Lamplugh uttered that oft-quoted phrase more than eighty years ago, and it’s as valid
today as it was back then. Like Newton’s Laws of Physics, it’s one of the basic, unchanging truths about flying: certain
things simply must be done properly if we’re to avoid disaster in the air. One of the best examples would be dealing with
a low-altitude engine failure.
Last week’s TransAsia ATR-72 accident is a potent reminder of this aphorism. While we don’t know the cause yet and
probably won’t know the whole story for a year or more, it got me thinking about how oddly things are done in aviation
sometimes. For example, airline pilots move “up” the food chain from turboprops to jets. If safety is the paramount
concern, that’s backwards. Shouldn’t the most experienced pilots should be exercising their skills on the most challenging
aircraft rather than the least?
While jets certainly have their pitfalls and perils, a low-altitude engine failure is generally more challenging in a
turboprop. The dead engine’s propeller creates tremendous drag until it’s properly secured. Many multi-engine turboprops
are equipped with mechanisms to automatically feather the offending prop, but if that system doesn’t function properly,
has been deferred, or simply doesn’t exist, the pilot is faced with six levers in close proximity, only one of which will do
the trick. It’s easy to pull the wrong one.
Worse yet, if the craft has an autofeather system, the pilot would logically expect it to function as advertised. He or she
would have to first detect the lack of feathering, then run the identify-verify-feather drill. Unlike training scenarios,
there’s a major surprise factor at play as well. In a simulator, is anyone really surprised when the engine quits? Of course
not. In the real world, pilots make thousands of flights where a power plant doesn’t fail. As much as you tell yourself with
each takeoff that “this could be the one”, empirical evidence in the form of a pilot’s own experience suggests against it.
That makes preparation for a low-altitude emergency a constant battle with oneself. Are we always honest about how
we’re doing in that fight? Probably not.
When I flew ex-military U-21A turboprops for a government contractor, we did all our training in the actual aircraft.
I’ll never forget how marginal the aircraft’s performance was, even when engine failures were handled properly and
expediently. We would fly a single-engine approach into Catalina Airport, where the missed approach procedure takes
you toward the center of the island and some fairly high terrain. On one training flight the autofeather system initially
worked as advertised, but then started to slowly unfeather.
Turboprop flying also comes with increased risk exposure due to the flight profile. A jet pilot might fly one or two legs
a day versus five, six, or seven flown by the guy in the turboprop. With more legs comes an increased statistical
opportunity for that engine to quit on takeoff. Turboprops also fly at lower altitudes where they tend to be in weather
rather than above it.
The reciprocating twin pilot has it even worse when it comes to performance. Most of them have no guarantee of any
climb performance at all on one engine, especially with the gear down, and few are equipped with automatic feathering
systems. Yet that’s where we all start out.
Contrast this with engine failure in the modern jet, where the pilot need do nothing but raise the landing gear and keep
the nose straight. In my aircraft, at least, we don’t even add power on the remaining engine. Unless the plane is literally on
fire, we just climb straight out for a minute or two, gaining altitude and doing… nothing. No checklist to run, and only
two levers in the throttle quadrant rather than six.
John Deakin described the contrast between prop and jet quite colorfully when he transitioned into the G-IV:
“If you hear a Gulfstream pilot whine about poor performance when high, hot, and heavy, please understand, he’s
whining about less than 1,000 feet per minute on one engine. I sometimes feel like slapping a chokehold on, and dragging
one of these guys out to the old C-46, loaded, on a hot day, and make him do an engine failure on takeoff, where he’d be
lucky to get 50 feet per minute.”
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There are other places where you can see this same phenomenon at work in aviation. Consider the world of flight
instruction. The least experienced CFIs typically start off by teaching primary students. Again, that’s backwards. It would
seem more logical to start instructors off with checkouts and endorsements for experienced pilots or commercial
certificate training. Putting the best, most experienced CFIs with the neophytes might help accelerate their progress and
alleviate the high student pilot drop-out rate.
The Law of Primacy — something every CFI candidate learns about — tells us that “the state of being first, often
creates a strong, almost unshakable, impression. Things learned first create a strong impression in the mind that is difficult
to erase. For the instructor, this means that what is taught must be right the first time.” Primary flight training literally sets
the foundation of an aviator’s flying life, to say nothing of the fact that teaching primary students is one of the most
difficult jobs a CFI can undertake. So why is this critical task mainly entrusted to the newest, least experienced
instructors?
The answer to these questions usually comes down to money. The almighty dollar frequently plays a powerful role in
explaining the unexplainable in aviation. While it would be unrealistic to deny the importance of financial concerns in
defying gravity, whole sections of the aviation ecosystem run backwards and one can’t help but wonder if perhaps safety
suffers because of it.
Ron Rapp is a Southern California-based charter pilot, aerobatic CFI, and aircraft owner whose 7,500+ hours have encompassed
everything from homebuilts to business jets. He’s written mile-long messages in the air as a Skytyper, crop-dusted with ex-military King
Airs, flown across oceans in a Gulfstream IV, and tumbled through the air in his Pitts S-2B.
Seen on AvWeb…
POSITION AVAILABLE
Years ago, I was a 727 first officer and was flying with
Captain Chester Hector. We were eventually going to
cross an intersection called Hector. I couldn't resist. I
got on the radio and asked:
"This is United 123. Captain Chester Hector requests
a vector direct to Hector."
Of course, the controller came right back and said:
"Roger dodger. Chester Hector is cleared direct to
Hector."
Thirty-seven years with the airline, and only once have I
ever had that coincidence. It was a memorable moment
for me at least.
At the end of August, the position of Editor of the
Vernon Flying Club Newsletter will become vacant. This
is a full time position and the person who fills it will
possess outstanding interpersonal skills, superior
linguistic capabilities, an above average key boarding
competence, a cunning ability to plagiarize (proof of
graduation from an accredited Kindergarten facility
indicating a competency in “Cut and Paste” would be of
great benefit), and access to, or outright possession of,
a smart phone. Duties will include generating copy (the
closer to the truth, the better), finding stories of
interest to the membership, noting and recording
significant events affecting the Vernon Flying Club and
its inmates, and attending the ten o’clock board
meetings at the clubhouse (sometimes referred to as
“coffee breaks”). If you think you are this person,
contact the Newsletter as shown at left. Pay will be
commensurate with experience but will be equal to, but
no less than, that received by the incumbent at present.
Benefits and hours TBA.
VERNON FLYING CLUB
PRESIDENT: Rick Thorburn
VICE PRESIDENT: Bill More
TREASURER: Steve Foord
SECRETARY: Marion Ross
DIRECTOR: Alison Crerar
PAST PRESIDENT: Bill Wilkie
Newsletter: John Swallow
e-mail: [email protected]
Newsletter address:
#76 – 6688 Tronson Road, Vernon, BC V1H 1R9
VFC Meetings are held the third Tuesday of
each month at 7:00 p.m.
Did you hear about the earthquake in Los Angeles? It
destroyed everything in the Etch-a-Sketch museum.
I never wanted to believe my Dad was stealing from his
job as a road worker for the Highways Department.
However, when I returned home, the signs were all
there.