Get-Home-itis HOBBS 2394.0 hrs

 

Last week I sent out an email to about a dozen of my building/flying RV friends asking for their assistance with mounting my wings permanently. I finally felt like I was ready to tackle this task and was quite excited about the prospect of it. I mean, after hanging the engine and doing my canopy, this had to rank right up there with a pretty big milestone on the project. I received a great response--I've got great friends, as almost all of them were eager to lend a hand and help out.

 

I knew when I set the ball in motion with the email invite, I was going to be scrambling to get ready for this. This was by design, I wanted to add this aggressive deadline to help motivate and push me to get a lot done this week. Alas, here we are...almost halfway through the week, and I have accomplished quite a bit so far. But...try as I might, I am just not there yet and probably wont be by Saturday morning. There are still crucial things I wanted to get done.

 

So far, this seems like a pretty standard story that most builders have probably gone through...right? Well, I tend to always be looking for lessons in life...nuggets of wisdom that I can extract from situations that come up. A good pilot is always learning. This, on the surface, may not look like one but don't give up on it so fast. Dig a little deeper and there are countless lessons to be learned. The beauty of this, is they directly relate to how I fly and the decisions I make.

 

I am, by nature, strong willed and sometimes referred to as "bull headed" by those who know and love me. When I set my mind on something I have a tendency to put my blinders on, acquire radar lock on the target and get tunnel vision. This allows me to ignore the chatter of everyone around me saying it can't, or shouldn't, be done. Now, before you make any snap judgments, this isn't always a negative trait to have, in fact it has been the backbone of many of my life's greatest accomplishments. I don't intend to eliminate this trait, because I am rather fond of it, but I also know it needs to be kept in check.

 

I have learned, through self awareness and life experience to not only be aware of this trait, but also know when it is about to get me into trouble. I make a conscious effort these days to step back and separate myself from the emotion of a decision and make an objective choice on how to proceed.

 

That's what I did today when I called off the wing mounting, postponing it until later. Two people (Sean and Jim) whom I both respect questioned me this week, "are you sure you are ready to mount the wings?". I already had my nagging doubts, but felt pressure to stay the course. My friends had already made plans to come help me, surely I couldn't let them down?

 

When the first person asked, I brushed it aside and said, "sure, I will be ready"...but I knew in the back of my mind I was lying to myself. Remember, I was still locked on target...my tunnel vision was fully intact thank you very much, this was just chatter. When the second person asked, that's when it struck me. Not immediately, mind you. Initially, I was ready to also brush aside this questioning just like the first...and then it finally dawned on me, they are both right, snap out of it! Like a pit bull, I had to unclench my jaw and relax to get the blood flowing to the brain again.

 

My hangar mate, Bill, put it very eloquently in his email response to me when I called it off, "As men, we are all condemned to a bit of tunnel vision and only the wise amongst us can take a step back and reevaluate a plan we have already set in motion." That sums it up perfectly, although not sure I am all that wise...I'm wondering if he pilfered this quote from someone famous?? Just kidding Bill! ;)

 

How does this relate to decision making with our flying you ask? Can you see any parallels in my story to get-home-itis? If you've gone through pilot training, you should be familiar with this term. To refresh your memory, it is a psychological phenomenon described like this;

 

"Press-on-itis (or get-home-itis) is really the result of a decision-making error that involves continuing toward the destination (objective) despite a lack of readiness of the airplane or crew and the availability of reasonable lower-risk alternatives. Press-on-itis often occurs when there is an unsuitable environment such as bad weather at the destination. The pilot may continue on despite warnings from ATC or other crew members." [1]

 

Based on this definition, lets look at the scorecard:  I had my mind locked on achieving the objective, there were reasonable lower-risk alternatives available, add in some internal and external pressure, lack of readiness and ignoring warnings from 'crew members' for good measure. Its a classic example of how our thinking can become clouded and dangerous. Beware of this when you make decisions with your aircraft or in life, its all too easy to get into this mindset and not even realize it, ignoring the 'chatter' telling you to turn around.

 

Of course, my particular decision wasn't life threatening, launching into adverse weather in your aircraft is. Thankfully I was aware of my thought pattern and terminated my course of action after listening to my 'crew' (CRM)...I broke the string of bad decisions. This is good practice for when decisions will take on added importance. Decision making, like any skill, can and should be practiced to become good at it.

RV-7A In-Flight Breakup HOBBS 676.5 hrs

For anyone that doesn't frequent the VAF site, I wanted to post this Canadian crash investigation report about an RV-7A in-flight breakup. I knew about this accident when it happened and the buzz was that the tail had seperated during a normal straight and level flight attitude. Of course, to hear such a thing gives every pilot some concern if you are building/flying.

The reason for the post is simple, if you are building, or have a flying RV, this report has some great information that every builder/owner should read. It was marvelously done by the Canadian version of our NTSB here in the United States. I wish the NTSB would be as in depth with their crash investigations, if they were, we might be safer pilots. Too many times you can't glean any useful information from an NTSB report...and it usually generically states, "pilot error". This report, on the other hand, is very detailed and well written, and although I think we can agree in the end it was pilot error, it gives you useful details as to why/how.

Before I go any further, let me say my heart goes out to the deceased pilot's family and friends. I hope this post doesn't come across as disrespectful to the pilot or them, that is not my intention. I believe we all have a duty as good, safe pilots to examine crash investigations and learn from them. None of us are perfect pilots, we all make mistakes, we can only try to minimize them as much as humanly possible.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from the findings. As for me, these are my takeaways. Dont take this as a sermon of me telling you how to fly your airplane, I dont believe in that approach, this are just my views/comments as a way to hopefully make myself safer in the air and a better pilot.

1. The airframe design is sound, I firmly believe a design flaw did not contribute to this accident.

2. Adding weight to control surfaces should be carefully considered. I have done this sparingly on my plane, and although I believe they are safe, please be careful when doing your own. It does affect flutter characteristics, in fact it is directly proportional (ie, as weight increases, the possibility of catrastrophic failure due to flutter also increases).

3. With our advanced avionics (EFIS systems) and video camera's on board our planes these days, we are essentially able to provide 'black box' sort of information for post-crash analysis as this investigation clearly shows. This, in my opinion, can and will be very useful in the future to help us learn from others mistakes and ultimately fly safer. I advise everyone to program their EFIS to actually 'record' data during flight...sometimes, as with Dynon, its not the default setting...you manually have to set it up through the menu.

4. Don't exceed the airframe specifications, simple as that. Although, I'm sure this pilot didn't intend to. Flying at 34 knots above Vne is never a good idea, every plane has a point where it WILL break. As one poster stated on VAF, "you do that, and you're a test pilot", plain and simple.

5. A seemingly simple 'game' of "follow the leader" or pursuit formation flight can have disastrous consequences when done by a low time pilot also trying to video the lead plane. Both of these, in fact, seem like harmless fun all by themselves...but can lead to trouble if not given the respect they deserve. Think about how distracted you could become in that scenario, and before you know it, you are in deep trouble with no escape route...as quick as that. I would expect this would be an information overload situation for a low time pilot, get some real experience before doing this, and hopefully don't do it at low level.

6. Get some training if you want to wring out your RV with advanced flight techniques. Although these maneuvers by themselves dont appear to be advanced, the way they were conducted was. This guy had just a little more than 3 hrs aerobatic training and under 300 hrs total time. Just because your RV is aerobatic and you are legal to perform them, that doesn't mean you can handle every flight phase, or possibly get yourself into some real trouble. Learn how to do it properly and gradually build up your skills and activities. I dont advocate not doing it, because I plan to, just prepare yourself accordingly.

7. Lastly, and most importantly, this accident was preventable and didn't need to happen. If me posting this saves one pilot, it was well worth it to me. Fly safe guys and gals, and have fun while doing it!

Midfield Entry HOBBS 658.0 hrs

http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/sa08.pdf

I wanted to take a minute to discuss operations at nontowered airports. Over the weekend, as you know, I was part of a flight of 5 aircraft that flew to Greeley (GXY) for breakfast. Scott and I, along with Gary were a flight of two. Rudy and Chuck were also a flight of two, and I believe Jerry was flying as a single bringing up the rear.

Greeley airport has a restaraunt right on the field and is very popular with the local pilots for breakfast. I had heard that is was one of the ten busiest GA airports for weekend breakfast traffic...not sure if thats true, but it does get busy. Since saturday had great weather and everyone had spring fever it was particularily busy even for them....the busiest I have seen it in my two dozen times flying there. Greeley, mind you, is also nontowered.

Here's the scene. As we approached, Scott made his call, as all pilots should at about ten miles out. "RV flight of two going to be entering midfield left downwind." There wasnt much chatter on the radio when we made that call so pattern congestion wasnt a major concern at this point. We were the first of our group of five so we were leading the pack. As we got close to the airfield and had a visual, we started hearing more traffic calls. It was getting busy.

We crossed over the runway at midfield and made our call announcing our position. Right after that, we hear of a Cirrus executing a go-around and also someone else makes a radio call and says they are also at midfield for left downwind. That always gets your attention, so Scott and I have our heads on a swivel looking for that traffic that is supposedly occupying the same airspace as us?

After a few tense seconds...I spot a yellow Cub, right off our left nose not more than what looks like about 500 ft away...BELOW us...we couldnt see him because they were below traffic pattern altitude and right in our blind spot! Very dangerous and is exactly why its so important to be disciplined with your TPA. Low and behold, things were getting intense as another Cub appears flying in trail behind the first. I couldnt help but think of the line in Top Gun, "there were bogeys like fireflies all over the sky." :)

Now that we have the traffic in sight, Scott makes a call to say we are going go go wide to give the slow flying Cubs some spacing for landing. The Cirrus calls immediately after us that "he has the RV flight of two (us) in sight and will slip in behind them in the pattern." So, some semblance of organization is taking shape although we now have approx 7 planes in the pattern at the same time.

Well, then the organization dissapears quickly as the Cirrus--with no radio call announcing his 'new' intentions--cuts inside our flight of two and turns base and proceeds to climb right up the backs of the two Cubs that are now on short final. Now it starts to get testy as the Cirrus comes on the radio talking about an RV cutting him off in the pattern (might've been referring to Chuck and Rudy's flight of two behind us? Since it was behind us I cant comment on what happened there?... Chuck said he didnt think he cut him off). So Gary responds with, "thanks for cuttting US off!" Apparently according to the Cirrus pilot if someone cuts you off, its somehow ok to cut someone else off? Not sure about the logic there but thats a good attitude to have when people's lives are on the line?

Anyhow, to wrap this up, a Bonanza landed...followed by the two Cubs, then Scott and I, then Gary...and then the last three of our group came in behind us. It was the most congested pattern flying this young pilot had ever experienced.

We had breakfast and talked about the events quite a bit. We all felt like we had excercised good airmanship and had done the right things. After we got back to home base...as I said, we hung out at the airport for several hours. The guy that had been flying the Bonanza and landed ahead of us stopped by to talk to us and deliver a serious message to us. He apparently knows most of the guys in our group at least in a casual sense...this was the first time I had met him. He is a retired air traffic controller as well so you figure he knows what he is talking about?

Basically, he says that what we did, executing a midfield entry into the pattern was 'illegal'. We, as a group, were kind of like...really? We didnt think that was accurate but no one had a FAR/AIM laying around to prove him wrong. So we listened to his message and didnt say much.

Well, later several of us did check and it turns out he was wrong...a midfield entry is a perfectly "legal' alternative way to enter the pattern at a nontowered airport. You can read all the details in this AC. In fact, all traffic pattern entries shown in the AC are "advisory in nature, not regulatory"...so nothing illegal occurred.

But then the question then becomes...ok, so it wasnt illegal, but was it safe? Thats the bottom line...losing your life, even if you're not breaking the rules is not the outcome we desire. ;) Thats a good question. Should we have done a midfield entry with that much traffic present? I'm not sure?...but as pilots, you should be thinking about it yourselves and developing your own strategy to such an event if it occurs. Read the Advisory Circular...educuate yourself and fly safe. And if you are going to lecture your fellow pilots about right and wrong, make sure you have your facts straight.



http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/sa08.pdf



RIP Pete Vinton... HOBBS 640.0 hrs

Today I got the sad news my friend, Pete Vinton, died yesterday while presumably at the controls during a Carbon Cub demo flight. I cant say I knew Pete well, but I knew him well enough to call him a friend, and it goes without saying that today I have a heavy heart.

Its kind of eerie the timing of this unfortunate accident, Pete just called me out of the blue about a week and a half ago, wanting to catch up since we hadn't talked in awhile. He was bragging (more like rubbing it in!) about all the flying he was going to be doing in the next week...flying for United on a trip to the far east and then ferrying a Cub from Yakima. We both laughed and joked..."life really sucks huh?!!" In the roughly 3 yrs I have known Pete he had never called, on a whim, just to say hello--that was a nice gesture. I will always be glad he did, so we could have one last conversation about what we were both passionate about...flying airplanes.


Photo of Pete with Jessica Ambats, (photo courtesy of Jessica Ambats) 

When I met Pete, we both hit it off instantly. He was a good ol' boy...a redneck if you will, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. With my rodeo background and also growing up a redneck, we had an easy repore between us that's hard to explain. He did have a large University of Nebraska flag in one of the hangars, and since they were our hated rivals at the University of Colorado, I wasn't too fond of that...but we got past that with some good natured back and forth ribbing while tossing back a couple of cold beers. :)

Pete had an impressive aviation resume, he was a 10 yr Navy pilot flying off carriers during the first Gulf War. He was currently still flying triple-7's for United and was a check pilot for them as well if I remember right? He was also a regional sales rep and factory demo pilot for CubCrafter's in Yakima, WA. So he had plenty of hours in the Cub as well. To say he was a well qualified and experienced pilot would be an understatement, so this news certainly is a shock.

In the 777 simulator with Jessica Ambats, (photo courtesy of Jessica Ambats)

To borrow a quote from Top Gun, "if you fly airplanes (jets) long enough, something like this will happen. When the first one dies, you die too." Well, this is the first time a friend of mine has died as a result of aviation and I'll admit it hit me rather hard. Unfortunately, I'll be lucky if its my last. Most old pilots have more than one tragic story to recount of aviators "gone west" much too soon.

When I first started flying, I was cocky enough to think I will never die in an airplane because I will be too good of a pilot. I will put in the extra hard work to hone my stick and rudder skills and make good decisions to ensure nothing bad could ever happen to me in an airplane. I've changed that tune as my flying career has matured. I now know good pilots die, this isn't the first time I have seen it happen from afar...experienced and qualified pilots die. Make no mistake about it, its not always the idiot that 'augers in' as some pilots like to believe. I would be crazy--in absolute denial to think, as would any pilot, that it couldn't possibly happen to me. I have come to terms with the fact I may someday die in an airplane.

Mind you, I certainly dont want to perish at the controls of an airplane, and have no death wish. I still plan to do everything in my power to make sure (and I have specific plans regarding this topic of discussion that I will discuss in later posts) that doesn't happen...but I know, even with that, it still could. I always have to be vigilant. I hope to never lose my "healthy fear" of flying to ensure it keeps me on my toes, complacency has no place in the cockpit.

To the non-pilot, the first question when hearing something like that is..."then why in the world would you continue to do it if it could kill you? Why are you willing to put your life on the line just to fly?" Thats not a simple answer and each pilot might answer it slightly different, but the common theme would be a passion for flight. Pete certainly had this passion, as do I and almost every pilot I know.

I don't consider flying, in of itself, dangerous. Its just very unforgiving of the wrong mistake at the wrong time and I'm ok with that. I like to be held to that high standard when I fly. Second, I would rather live passionately for 43 yrs than in absence of it for 86. Safe and comfortable, on my soft couch, is not for me and it wasnt for Pete. The pure joy and passion I get out of flying is worth the risk to me, and maybe the inherent risk involved is exactly why I feel so alive when I fly?

Pete, and pilots like him, have seen and experienced things in an airplane that most people could only dream about. I will miss him, but I certainly dont pity him, he lived a great aviation life and it goes without saying he died doing something he truly loved. There are worse things.

Bottom line, as one of my flight instructors cautioned me when I was learning to fly. Flying is a lot of fun and as pilots we certainly love to experience the joy of flight. But never forget, fun or not, and certainly never lose sight of the fact its serious business...treat it as such. Fly safe my friends....

One of my favorite quotes...in honor of Pete and the life he lived...a fitting tribute,

      "The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." ~Jack London

The only picture I could find of Pete in my archives. This was at the Rocky Mountain Airpark open house last year. Pete was on the radio directing the air traffic. It was a great day of aviation!

Copyright Jessica Ambats

A final toast to my friend, thanks for the conversation....I shall miss it.

Sully! HOBBS 298.5 hrs

Photo courtesy of Bryan Raley

I had meant to take some time to post this after Oshkosh, but it kept slipping my mind. So here it is, a little late, but still effective. My first evening after I arrived at Osh this year was the Young Eagles banquet. If you follow my blog, you will know that I am a big fan of the program. But the main event to this evening was our friend and fellow EAA chapter 301 member, Rudy Kniese (pictured in the center), was honored as YE event coordinator of the year! Very cool and a nice accomplishment for Rudy...you can read here Young Eagle Day what I think of Rudy's YE operations.

The surprise of the night was our VIP seating (up close and personal) at the YE banquet (which was free) and the very nice setup that EAA had for us. Full buffet style dinner (that was tasty), with an open bar and bottles of complimentary wine at our tables!! Sheesh, I wasnt expecting that, but sure wasnt complaining! It was a packed house, not an empty chair in the place...approx. 900-1000 people all seated in the Eagle hangar at the museum. What a great setting, I very much enjoyed this evening.

This brings me to the title of my post...'Sully' or Capt. Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger You may remember him as the Captain of the ill-fated Hudson ditching flight. Sully, along with Jeff Skiles, his first officer on the flight are now chairmen of the Young Eagles, taking over the reins from Harrison Ford.

It was funny I kept joking to our group, that as the evening progressed, Mr. Skiles was doing ALL of the talking and I kept thinking. Hmm, maybe Mr. Sullenberger is not much of a public speaker and that is why he is being so quiet?

He finally ended the night by taking the podium and speaking. And boy, was I dead wrong, he was a very eloquent, powerful speaker. He gave about a ten minute speech...not long but very direct with a great message.

He spoke about "doing the hard work" in training. That when the time came to ditch, it was so successful because he and his crew had done the hard work leading up to that moment and that made all the difference. It reminded me of my days playing sports, working your tail off at practice so that when the lights go on you are prepared for the pressure of the moment. All great players know this and I can guarantee what you see on game day is the result of doing the hard work when no one is watching.

Well, the lights went on and everyone was watching when they lost their engines because of a bird strike over the Hudson...and they did what they were expected to do. Some call them heroes, I'm not one in that camp nor does Mr. Sullenberger himself believe they are heroes. I think hero worship in today's day and age is quite overblown and media driven. I believe they did their job flawlessly under difficult circumstances and should be applauded for that, but it is what every pilot is trained to do from day one. The question is, can you perform flawlessly when the lights are on?? When you are staring possible death in the face, can you keep your cool and fly the airplane? No pilot can be sure until he is tested in that fashion, but we can all strive to be that professional in our flying.

In summary, one last thing I wanted to add. They replayed the cockpit conversation just before impact. Two things struck me when listening to it...#1, there was absolutely no panic in anyone's voice. And #2, Mr. Sullenberger practiced CRM (Crew Resource Management) right until the end when the last transmission you hear is when he turns to Mr. Skiles and asks one last time, "Any ideas?" and he gets the reply, "unfortunately not". Always use your 'crew' in an emergency...even if they are a non-pilot, you might be surprised how they can help if called upon.

Skids, Slips & Moose Stalls HOBBS 228.5 hrs

Over the holiday weekend, I spent July 4th hiking near Grand Lake. There is a great trail not far from town that has to be the best place in Colorado to see Moose in the wild. About ten years ago they reintroduced Moose to CO and they have done quite well in this area. Its almost a guarantee that I will see Moose on this particular hike every time I go. It is indeed a wonderful thing to have this in your backyard. I ended up seeing 9 Deer, 4 Moose within ten feet of me and a Grouse along with spectacular scenery. 

Sure enough, being a pilot, where does my mind wander while hiking the beautiful Rocky Mountains?? Flying, of course! :) I started thinking about skids, slips and moose stalls. I personally believe every pilot should spend time really understanding the aerodynamics of the skid and slip and why the skid can be deadly, while the slip is a great old school skill that every pilot should have in his toolbag. You probably, like I did, are wondering what the heck a moose stall is?

Well, over the winter I attended an FAA safety team seminar called 'Survival Flying' and also purchased the book. It was a fascinating seminar about Bush flying conducted by the pilot/CFI/author Jay Baldwin , the 'piper poet' as he's called because of his affinity for poetry. The premise of the book and the seminar is a "threat based program derived from the special challenges of flying the Alaska bush and departs radically from the manuever based instruction endorsed by the FAA." Although it is based on bush flying, it has lessons for all pilots to be safer in the air and I would highly recommend it.

During this seminar I first learned the term 'Moose stall'. This is Jay's description from the book: "...a funny thing happens when you are turning very steeply over a moose. First, the inside wing of your Cub starts getting in your line of view. A simple solution is to roll toward the outside of the turn and step on a little bottom rudder."

What you are unknowingly setting up is a cross-controlled skid that is essentially the same as the killer base-to-final skidding turn. What happens next is the inside wing stalls, the outside wing doesnt, maintains lift and consequently snaps the aircraft over on its back rather quickly. You are too low to recover and the end game is usually fatal. Pay attention when circling low and slow over any object, moose or otherwise. Watch the ball, keep it centered and never step bottom rudder unless you have altitude to play with. And if  you must keep your eyes outside, learn to know the feel of a skidding turn in the seat of your pants.

A young buck in velvet...

This Grouse seemed a little pissed off at me for some reason. I think she may have been protecting her young somewhere nearby. I did my best not to agitate her, but that didnt seem to stop her from squawking at me! Must be a female thing? ;)

Look at the color of that Rocky Mt water!! Gotta love it...