Volume 25 Number 4

April 2009

The Magazine for the Accomplished Pilot

6 Perfect proficiency Flight

Sometimes it’s important to squeeze
every ounce from a practice session.
Let us suggest a few good moves.

9 Lightning flash in IMC

What are the odds you’ll get struck by
lightning? Don’t snicker. Zap happens.

14 A new Pop-up trick

Fool the computer and befriend the
controller all at once. Here’s how.

Credit: NASA
That’d be lightning on the right wing ... page 9 16 GPS for the heel-dragger
Still not flying GPS approaches? You’re
not alone. Here’s a quick review for the
novice and a bit of a cheat sheet.

19 Forgetting to Cancel
Ever get a call from a TRACON supe
just as you sat down to dinner? We did.
File this ... page 14 Don’t fear GPS ... page 16

also inside this issue …

2 Remarks 4 Readback 22 Chart Clinic
Dealing with bad gas Don’t go down yet Dueling courses
3 briefing 12 Killer Quiz 24 On The Air
FAA bullish on ASTM That’s just wrong What a coincidence
 Staying SHarP

Perfect Proficiency Flight differently, we need to sharpen skills

on knowing where to be at all times
on an approach, and having the scan
and stick-and-rudder skills to then
When time and gas are dear, it’s tempting to keep the plane there. ALA accidents
include causes such as over- and
let proficiency wallow. Fight it by cranking up under-runs, departing the runway
the sweat level of your next practice session. laterally (often due to a crosswind),
and—to stretch the definition a
bit—botched go-arounds or missed
by Neil Singer lot who flies a newish, high-perfor- approaches.

T
he hard truth is that most GA mance piston with an all electric- An important point to remember
pilots are not as proficient as system powering a glass cockpit. The is that this flight is not supposed to
they should be. Take regula- pilot probably has (and knows how be realistic, but rather an exercise.
tory laxness in mandated recurrent to use) a fuel totalizer, files IFR on Scenario-based training has its place,
training, as compared to that re- most cross-country trips, and flies but we can cram a bit more in by fo-
quired for professional pilots, and mostly straight-in approaches, so we cusing on skill-building exercises.
add an annual rate of flying Think of going to the gym. You
only a fraction that of those don’t spend 30 minutes on the
same pros. It’s not hard to see Airspeed control should be a high treadmill because it may save
how even a high-time GA pi- your life someday to be able
lot’s skills can atrophy badly priority. Pick a speed and stay to crank out a half-hour on
between recurrent training. level 10, but rather because
The fact that you’re reading within five knots of it. the improved cardio fitness
this magazine means you’ve that results is the end goal.
self-selected as someone not Similarly, we’re going to pile
interested in merely holding the line can cross off the first three hazards on the workload in a decidedly unre-
at the status-quo. Yet, even with good (see sidebar) as areas to focus on. alistic way to maximize the “sweat”
intentions, it’s a challenge to maxi- That leaves controlled flight factor. As marathoners say, “Train
mize finite resources and transform into terrain (CFIT), loss of control high, run low.”
a humdrum proficiency flight into (LOC), and approach and landing
something that really gets the heart accidents (ALA) as ac-
pumping and the brain straining, cident types we’d like
and grinds off real rust. to train to avoid. CFIT
and LOC can often be
Plan for the Killers traced to procedural
Setting up a generic proficiency and hand-flying rusti-
flight, let’s imagine a “typical” pi- ness, respectively. Put

Above and Left: It’s simple with GPS but

an old-school, tune-and-twist fest with
VORs. Practicing the old way once in
a while refreshes dormant situational-
awareness skills and can do wonders
for your scan.

 IFR • April 2009

 include practice to avoid your most-likely screw-ups
The perfect proficiency flight begins on the ground. Many of
the drills can’t be properly performed without a good deal
of prior thought and planning. For many of the abnormal
procedures, the tough part isn’t executing the procedures
well. The challenge is knowing all the steps and the proper
order. For many systems failures, the required actions may
be as simple as flipping a few switches and diverting. But
knowing which switches is often a struggle for the rusty
pilot. Ground prep and review can be worth more than the
in-flight simulated failure, in terms of raising proficiency.
Setting up a good proficiency flight requires some
research into two main areas. First, how do pilots like you Credit: Rudolf Schider
commonly meet with trouble? For the typical GA pilot, a few
broad areas account for the vast majority of accidents and The other main area to consider is what quirks particu-
incidents: fuel exhaustion, low-level maneuvering, VFR into lar to your aircraft require review. If you fly an aircraft with
IMC, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), loss of control (LOC), a vacuum system, for example, the ability to skillfully con-
and approach and landing accidents (ALA). Ask yourself if you duct a departure and approach with the vacuum-powered
are more or less likely to succumb to any of the above. instruments failed is a must. If you fly an all-electric aircraft,
For example, if your typical flight is one hour with full the procedure to deal with main-alternator failure should be
tanks, and you have a fuel totalizer on board, you’re not likely effortless. If your aircraft type has a history of gear-extension
to end up as a fuel-exhaustion statistic. If all your flying is to problems, then you’d better know the emergency extension
airports in Kansas served by an ILS, you can move CFIT down procedure cold.
the list a bit. As nice as it would be to cover everything, prac- Keep in mind, though, that mechanical failures account
ticality demands lasering in on the areas most likely to bite for a small minority of aircraft accidents. Don’t get too carried
you. On the accident-cause list above, the more experienced away thinking of every widget that can fail and an appropriate
a pilot is the more they tend to shift to causes at the end of 20-step work-around. Stick with things that are both likely to
the list. The last three (CFIT, LOC and ALA) are the big killers fail and will cause a significant increase in risk when they pack
of professional, turbine operations. it in. —N.S.

We’ll focus on: tricky autopilot If you haven’t performed a slow and stalling on final, or too fast,
usage (mastery of the AP will help missed approach in a while, spend and either porpoising on the runway,
reduce CFIT and LOC hazard), two a few minutes on the ground to vi- or running off the end. It’s easy for
full-procedure, non-precision IAPs sualize the exact procedure and se- pilots who don’t frequently fly with
with a procedure turn or holding quence of events. In more complex another pilot or CFI to get sloppy in
turn, one hand-flown ILS, at least airplanes, a missed can be a tricky airspeed control. For your aircraft,
one approach with the PFD failed (or series of power additions and gear there is most likely an optimal IFR
AI and HSI in a non-glass airplane), and flap retractions that must be approach speed, usually for pistons
several missed approaches, precise performed in a set
airspeed control on approaches, order. “Winging PODCAST Should you try to train realistically?
landings and crosswind landings it” on a missed
whenever possible. has been traced Log onto our sister publication, www.avweb.com and
If you fly IFR at all regularly, to more than one click the PODCAST button in the upper right of the
you’re probably somewhat profi- accident. page. There you’ll find an interview with Arlynn Mc-
cient in landing after an IAP. What On all the Mahon, 2009 Flight Instructor of the Year and
you probably don’t get to do often approaches, author of Train Like You Fly.
is a missed approach from mini- airspeed con- She talks about Sce-
mums. Due to that, every approach trol should be nario-Based training
we conduct should be to a missed, a high priority. and why she believes
executed all the way up to the ini- Many, many ac- making practice
tial hold entry. This way we can also cidents have flights more like the
practice the hardest part of holds: been caused by real world makes
getting into the thing with any trace pilots flying an better pilots.
of elegance. approach too

April 2009 • IFR 

 Left: Travel further if you must to find
approaches that challenge several skills
in quick succession..

fly the rest of the approach partial

panel. This can mean on standby in-
struments, via the composite mode
on the MFD, or by covering the AI
and/or HSI in a six-pack airplane.
Depending on your aircraft specif-
ics, this may mean handflying the
approach if the AP would be brought
offline by the instrument failure.
For the next non-precision
IAP, find an approach that can be
flown with only two NAV receiv-
ers; no DME, no GPS for distance,
no MFD or GPS moving map. This
is an excellent drill in maintaining
situational awareness. It is also a
needed refresher in setting proper
course for glass cockpit pilots who
have become so used to the HSI auto
slewing that they’ve forgotten they
can adjust course themselves.
An example is the VOR 16 to
KBVY (chart excerpt on page 6).
Identifying HIMUG requires setting
Nav 2 to the BOS VOR and identify-
ing crossing the 015 radial. In many
glass-cockpit aircraft, identifying
HIMUG will require interpreting a
bearing pointer—not always an intu-
itive task. On the missed, hands will
be flying as both the Nav 1 and Nav 2
frequencies will need to be changed
(to PSM and LWM/MHT, respective-
ly), along with a new course-setting
of 021, and all the myriad configura-
tion changes. For this approach, fly
entirely on the autopilot, unless you
have a very high level of confidence
a bit higher than the VFR final ap- one ground-based, such as a VOR in your ability to pat your head and
proach speed. approach. For the GPS approach, rub your belly at the same time. This
For most pistons, 90-100 knots we’re going to crank up the diffi- is the way many pilots had to fly ap-
will work very well and provide for culty in several ways. First, load the proaches pre-GPS, yet maintaining
good stall margin and control au- approach and activate it as if we’re situational awareness to this level is
thority, yet allow for easy decelera- receiving vector-to-final, then switch becoming a lost art.
tion to landing speed. Pick a speed to a clearance directly to an initial For the precision approach, how
and make yourself stay within five approach fix. This isn’t a particularly about a coupled IAP that will utilize
knots of it. tricky maneuver; yet when it occurs, every mode of the autopilot? Look
it’s usually a surprise and throws pi- at the ILS 18 at KLEB. If we fly the
Overload the Approaches lots off their game. transition from the LEB VOR, we
Starting with the non-precision ap- Once that’s resolved and the will need to use the NAV mode (for
proaches, let’s pick one GPS and aircraft is pointed towards the IAF, (continued on page 23)

 IFR • April 2009

moves and the local magnetic vari- the airplane, and more importantly,
ation changes. Fly 1200 miles east yourself, perform a few landings on
on a great circle route and you’ll see the runway at your home base with
your magnetic course change quite the greatest crosswind component.
a bit, even though the nose stays put Maybe for you it’s the preferred run-
and you’re centered on the route the way, and you just really focus on
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The discrepancy isn’t likely to it’s 90 degrees to the wind if you’re
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generate complaints from ATC that up to the challenge. For some extra
you’re flying off the airway when complexity, you could include some Two Ways to Contact IFR
you’re using GPS to follow one of of this practice in your approaches
those old-school, airway-centric by conducting a circle-to-land to an 1. Call (800) 786-3454
clearances. But it could have you unfavorable runway—and then fly
on a slightly different path through the appropriate missed right after 2. Mail this coupon (or a
the sky and generate some “Why’s your touch-and-go. photocopy) to:
that?” questions in the cockpit if you
IFR
notice. Use the Buddy System
It also gives you something to All of these tasks lend themselves PO Box 420235
think about when the day’s flight is well to being conducted with an Palm Coast, FL 32142‑0235
four hours in a straight line. instructor. The simple truth is it’s
difficult to self-monitor and assess change your address
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Perfect Proficiency flight think you did a great job, and not address here:
continued from page 8 realize you transposed some num-
VOR tracking), the backcourse/re- bers in your mind and happily blew Name
verse mode for the outbound leg, through a minimum altitude on an Company
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tercept for PT inbound, and finish well, there’s some value in having State & Zip
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To make things a bit more in- Remember that every pilot really
teresting, prior to the outer marker, needs their own, unique, proficiency order or extend your
simulate that the Tower advises the flight. While we’ve stated before that current subscription
aircraft ahead of you had a gear col- many pilots share the same basic Enter your name and address
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Two Years: $99
With some autopilots, this is or regaining, proficiency.
simple task; with others it’s a night- The perfect proficiency flight These rates are good in the U.S.
mare of repeated glideslope-capture starts with a pad of paper, a pen, and only. For all other countries
disabling. Lots of work, but—more some time dedicated to pondering 1 year, $69; 2 years, $138.
to the point—lots of button pushing where you’re weak and safety de-
that requires knowledge of what but- mands you really get good at. Even Give a Gift Subscription
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After all that IFR procedural Neil Singer doesn’t let anyone off easy Street
practice, let’s work in a few cross- on a proficiency flight ... especially him- City
wind landings. Within the limits of self. State & Zip
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April 2009 • IFR 23