Earlier this week a pilot died in a crash of a Cessna 172. This is a real tragedy and one that I think could have been avoided...we'll know more about how it could have been avoided following the FAA/NTSB investigation.
The unusual thing about this crash was that the Channel 6 news helicopter was nearby when the plane reported his mayday and was able to film the crash. I watched the video over and over to see why he crashed into a telephone pole. The idiot reporters tried to sound like they knew what they were talking about and it was clear that none of them were pilots. They made statements like "he was trying to land on the golf course fairway - that's a great place to land and something that pilots always look for in an emergency".
The video clearly shows that he was not lined up on the fairway. Although there was a golf course nearby, it appears that the pilot was attempting to land on the road in front of the golf course clubhouse. As the plane flew lower and lower, the video seems to indicate that he was lined up on the road, not over the golf course. Contrary to their written copy on the Channel 6 website, he did not crash on the golf course. The road looks like it is only two lanes wide with maybe a turn lane in the middle. There are trees on either side of the road.
The video starts with the plane about 50' AGL in a slight nose down attitude, flaps partially extended. The plane looks like it swerves to avoid trees as it comes down. There is traffic on the road moving in the same direction as the plane. You can see flaps extended, but only about one notch, certainly not full flaps. The plane banks slightly left, then quickly to the right. An SUV appears in site as the plane passes it in a hard right bank. The right wing contacts the ground, then the nose strikes a concrete power pole. The SUV then passes the plane narrowly missing it...looks like he keeps going down the road.
Perhaps the pilot was swerving to avoid the SUV. Perhaps he stalled the plane during the maneuver causing the right wing to lose lift. Who can say?
One of the pilots died in surgery following the crash.
Why didn't the pilot try to land on the golf course? Why did he swerve? What caused the engine to quit? (The video is not clear enough to determine if the propeller was windmilling or stationary.) Maybe he was lined up on the fairway, but didn't get down soon enough and then banked left to line up on the road. He crashed to the left of a putting green in front of what appears to be the clubhouse.
The link to the video is http://mfile.akamai.com/12909/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2005/0111/4072855.200k.asx
Perhaps greater emphasis should be placed on performing short field, dead stick landings in our flight training. I think I'll do one on Saturday.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Night flight is allright!
January 4th marks the second anniversary of my first solo flight! The end of January marks the expiration of my aviation medical. For non-pilots, once you reach age 40, you must get your medical renewed every two years. Fortunately, Dr. Gaines Martin takes appointments at the airport and will meet pilots every other Wednesday evening.
I met the good doctor at the airport and he checked me out. It was pretty simple. He listened to my heart and lungs, took my blood pressure which was higher than I like, but not too bad. He then checked my eye tracking, looked into my retinas and checked my throat. This was followed by a peek into the eyeball machine. Read the smallest line, etc. In addition, he had some lights that lit to test peripheral vision. Finally, the ultimate - pee in the cup. The only thing the urine test was for was to test for protein and/or sugar. Either are indicative of malfunctioning organs.
I passed.
Since I was going to be at the airport and because I have not flown at night since July, I reserved a plane so I could make the required three landings to a full stop. This will allow me to take passengers at night for the next 90 days.
I took my time preflighting the plane and found that I would be the first pilot to rent the plane following its 100 hour inspection. Because of this, I paid particular attention to the proper functioning of the aircraft controls. From time to time, the mechanics can reverse the controls and that could be bad.
I noted that there were only about 14 gallons of fuel in the right tank and 18 gallons in the left tank...enough for about 3 hours of flight. More than I would need.
The engine started after seven or eight blades and idled nicely. The COMs and NAVs appeared to be working nicely and the VSI was spot on zero. That's a nice change since the last time I flew N512MA.
After getting the ATIS I called ground and was cleared to 14. 14 was the farthest runway from my position, but that was the active due to the prevailing winds. I taxied slowly to the run-up area, but before I reached halfway, the controller told me the wind was now 140 at 4 and runway 23 was available if I wanted it. I eagerly accepted and was cleared to 23 at foxtrot. In the runup area, I went through the checks using my bluegreen flashlight against the worn out checklist. I then continued to the foxtrot intersection and called the tower. "2 Mike-Alpha, cleared for takeoff left turn on course approved." I responded, "Cleared for take off, 2 Mike-Alpha", and slowly turned onto the runway.
I climbed to 2900' and turned left to intercept the 164 radial off the CRG VOR. That should take me straight to Saint Augustine where I hoped to get two of my three landings for the night.
I tuned the ATIS at SGJ and heard winds 150 at 6 - this favored runway 13, so I pulled the approach plate for the VOR 13 approach. Tuning the SGJ VOR and adjusting the OBS to intercept the 308 radial, I adjusted my course to 180 for about a 30 degree intercept. Judging by my groundtrack, it seemed that the winds at my altitude were much stronger than on the ground and a heading of 170 seemed to give me a 180 track.
As I neared SGJ, I heard another aircraft announce he was on final for 31. Knowing that he would have a tailwind and conditions favored 13, I suspected he was practicing the only ILS approach in the neighborhood. (This morning, a Beach KingAir went long on runway 32 at Craig and wiped out the ILS.)
A minute or so later, he announced he was making a low approach and my suspicions were confirmed.
At about 10 DME, I intercepted the 308 radial and made my turn inbound. I announced my postion and intentions on the CTAF - since the tower at SGJ closed about 5 minutes before my departure from CRG (9:05 PM).
When I was at 3 DME, I announced my position, "St Augustine traffic, Warrior 2Mike Alpha, 3 mile final for 13, this will be a stop-and-go, St Augustine".
A minute later, I heard that same other aircraft announce that they were on a 5 mile final to runway 31. Lovely. Freakin' lovely. This meant that they were on a head-on collision course for the same runway that I intended to land and stop on. I hoped he was making a low approach, but I had to plan accordingly. As soon as I heard him, I announced that I was on short final for 13 - placing emphasis on the "one-three" and then said I would clear the runway as quickly as I could. Pain in the ass...jerk never even acknowledged me.
I landed and hit the brakes hoping there would be time for a takeoff before the other plane was in range. No such luck. I could see his landing lights as I rolled down the runway. I then hear him make his call on final. A dozen things ran through my mind. I was on the runway...it was mine, dammit! He knew I was there! The winds favored landing in my direction! But, then I remembered that an aircraft on final has right-of-way over other aircraft. I then thought, safety dictates that I get the hell off the runway.
I saw the next taxiway and immediately turned left onto the alpha taxiway. I could at least taxi back. So it would take a few minutes extra...big deal.
The sunofabitch never landed. He never made another radio call. Didn't announce a low approach. Didn't say he was departing to the North. Didn't thank me for clearing out. Bastard didn't do anything except fly home to his momma. He sounded like he was one of those 12-year-olds from ATP.
I wasted all that time for nothing. Nothing but safety, that is.
I taxied back, took off, remained in the pattern for one more landing - this time I made a regular stop-and-go and then departed the pattern to the North.
I leveled off at 2,400' and tuned the CRG VOR to make a beeline to the airport. Just a few other aircraft out there now.
As I got closer, I tuned the ATIS - still the same ROMEO message.
I then tuned the tower and heard a plane being cleared for an instrument departure on 14 "Cleared for takeoff, maintain runway heading to 5,000" I was lined up on the 140 radial, so I knew he'd be coming straight for me, so angling off to the left a bit would not be a bad idea.
I tuned the OBS to the 180 radial and turned left to intercept it. This would put me well out of the way of the departing aircraft and would put me on a familiar approach course. I still was having trouble picking out the airport lights from the morass of twinkles below. At least I knew the VOR would point me in the right direction. I also had my GPS, but with no lights other than my flashlight around my neck and dim panel lights (the overhead was out), using the handheld GPS was more trouble than it was worth.
I contacted the tower and was instructed to enter the right downwind for 14, report midfield which I acknowledged. I could see the departing aircraft ahead and to my right, slightly lower than my altitude. The tower called and asked me to say my altitude. I responded, "descending through two-thousand one hundred". He was probably verifying whether I posed any hazard to the other plane. No other message, so I guessed there was no problem.
As I got closer, the tower called up and said that the wind was now 140 at 4 and runway 5 was available. Since this put me much closer to CRG and required much less maneuvering, I quickly accepted his offer. "Enter right base for 5, report 2 miles."
I was still having trouble spoting the airport lights amongst all the background clutter, but I knew where it should be. I could occasionally spot the airport beacon and knew the runway was off to the right of the beacon. I also knew that the end of runway 5 pointed right at the intersection of St. Johns Bluff Road and Atlantic Boulevard - both of which were easily identified on the ground.
When the DME said 3 miles, I told the tower "2 Mike Alpha, two miles" (the VOR is on the far end of the nearly 1 mile long runway.)
There it was! Just before it was time to turn, I spotted the runway and made the right turn to 050. Lined up and stabilized, I pulled the flaps progressively to full and touched down softly on runway.
While still rolling, the tower advised me to turn on Bravo-4 and taxi to parking. I thanked the controller and proceded to the parking area.
I was so busy navigating, I didn't have much time to enjoy the lights on the ground, nevertheless, this was a particularly enjoyable flight due to the night flight challenge, not to mention the encounter with the plane at SGJ.
It seemed like it took longer, but I only accumulated 0.9 hours time - all at night with 3 night landings to a full stop.
I met the good doctor at the airport and he checked me out. It was pretty simple. He listened to my heart and lungs, took my blood pressure which was higher than I like, but not too bad. He then checked my eye tracking, looked into my retinas and checked my throat. This was followed by a peek into the eyeball machine. Read the smallest line, etc. In addition, he had some lights that lit to test peripheral vision. Finally, the ultimate - pee in the cup. The only thing the urine test was for was to test for protein and/or sugar. Either are indicative of malfunctioning organs.
I passed.
Since I was going to be at the airport and because I have not flown at night since July, I reserved a plane so I could make the required three landings to a full stop. This will allow me to take passengers at night for the next 90 days.
I took my time preflighting the plane and found that I would be the first pilot to rent the plane following its 100 hour inspection. Because of this, I paid particular attention to the proper functioning of the aircraft controls. From time to time, the mechanics can reverse the controls and that could be bad.
I noted that there were only about 14 gallons of fuel in the right tank and 18 gallons in the left tank...enough for about 3 hours of flight. More than I would need.
The engine started after seven or eight blades and idled nicely. The COMs and NAVs appeared to be working nicely and the VSI was spot on zero. That's a nice change since the last time I flew N512MA.
After getting the ATIS I called ground and was cleared to 14. 14 was the farthest runway from my position, but that was the active due to the prevailing winds. I taxied slowly to the run-up area, but before I reached halfway, the controller told me the wind was now 140 at 4 and runway 23 was available if I wanted it. I eagerly accepted and was cleared to 23 at foxtrot. In the runup area, I went through the checks using my bluegreen flashlight against the worn out checklist. I then continued to the foxtrot intersection and called the tower. "2 Mike-Alpha, cleared for takeoff left turn on course approved." I responded, "Cleared for take off, 2 Mike-Alpha", and slowly turned onto the runway.
I climbed to 2900' and turned left to intercept the 164 radial off the CRG VOR. That should take me straight to Saint Augustine where I hoped to get two of my three landings for the night.
I tuned the ATIS at SGJ and heard winds 150 at 6 - this favored runway 13, so I pulled the approach plate for the VOR 13 approach. Tuning the SGJ VOR and adjusting the OBS to intercept the 308 radial, I adjusted my course to 180 for about a 30 degree intercept. Judging by my groundtrack, it seemed that the winds at my altitude were much stronger than on the ground and a heading of 170 seemed to give me a 180 track.
As I neared SGJ, I heard another aircraft announce he was on final for 31. Knowing that he would have a tailwind and conditions favored 13, I suspected he was practicing the only ILS approach in the neighborhood. (This morning, a Beach KingAir went long on runway 32 at Craig and wiped out the ILS.)
A minute or so later, he announced he was making a low approach and my suspicions were confirmed.
At about 10 DME, I intercepted the 308 radial and made my turn inbound. I announced my postion and intentions on the CTAF - since the tower at SGJ closed about 5 minutes before my departure from CRG (9:05 PM).
When I was at 3 DME, I announced my position, "St Augustine traffic, Warrior 2Mike Alpha, 3 mile final for 13, this will be a stop-and-go, St Augustine".
A minute later, I heard that same other aircraft announce that they were on a 5 mile final to runway 31. Lovely. Freakin' lovely. This meant that they were on a head-on collision course for the same runway that I intended to land and stop on. I hoped he was making a low approach, but I had to plan accordingly. As soon as I heard him, I announced that I was on short final for 13 - placing emphasis on the "one-three" and then said I would clear the runway as quickly as I could. Pain in the ass...jerk never even acknowledged me.
I landed and hit the brakes hoping there would be time for a takeoff before the other plane was in range. No such luck. I could see his landing lights as I rolled down the runway. I then hear him make his call on final. A dozen things ran through my mind. I was on the runway...it was mine, dammit! He knew I was there! The winds favored landing in my direction! But, then I remembered that an aircraft on final has right-of-way over other aircraft. I then thought, safety dictates that I get the hell off the runway.
I saw the next taxiway and immediately turned left onto the alpha taxiway. I could at least taxi back. So it would take a few minutes extra...big deal.
The sunofabitch never landed. He never made another radio call. Didn't announce a low approach. Didn't say he was departing to the North. Didn't thank me for clearing out. Bastard didn't do anything except fly home to his momma. He sounded like he was one of those 12-year-olds from ATP.
I wasted all that time for nothing. Nothing but safety, that is.
I taxied back, took off, remained in the pattern for one more landing - this time I made a regular stop-and-go and then departed the pattern to the North.
I leveled off at 2,400' and tuned the CRG VOR to make a beeline to the airport. Just a few other aircraft out there now.
As I got closer, I tuned the ATIS - still the same ROMEO message.
I then tuned the tower and heard a plane being cleared for an instrument departure on 14 "Cleared for takeoff, maintain runway heading to 5,000" I was lined up on the 140 radial, so I knew he'd be coming straight for me, so angling off to the left a bit would not be a bad idea.
I tuned the OBS to the 180 radial and turned left to intercept it. This would put me well out of the way of the departing aircraft and would put me on a familiar approach course. I still was having trouble picking out the airport lights from the morass of twinkles below. At least I knew the VOR would point me in the right direction. I also had my GPS, but with no lights other than my flashlight around my neck and dim panel lights (the overhead was out), using the handheld GPS was more trouble than it was worth.
I contacted the tower and was instructed to enter the right downwind for 14, report midfield which I acknowledged. I could see the departing aircraft ahead and to my right, slightly lower than my altitude. The tower called and asked me to say my altitude. I responded, "descending through two-thousand one hundred". He was probably verifying whether I posed any hazard to the other plane. No other message, so I guessed there was no problem.
As I got closer, the tower called up and said that the wind was now 140 at 4 and runway 5 was available. Since this put me much closer to CRG and required much less maneuvering, I quickly accepted his offer. "Enter right base for 5, report 2 miles."
I was still having trouble spoting the airport lights amongst all the background clutter, but I knew where it should be. I could occasionally spot the airport beacon and knew the runway was off to the right of the beacon. I also knew that the end of runway 5 pointed right at the intersection of St. Johns Bluff Road and Atlantic Boulevard - both of which were easily identified on the ground.
When the DME said 3 miles, I told the tower "2 Mike Alpha, two miles" (the VOR is on the far end of the nearly 1 mile long runway.)
There it was! Just before it was time to turn, I spotted the runway and made the right turn to 050. Lined up and stabilized, I pulled the flaps progressively to full and touched down softly on runway.
While still rolling, the tower advised me to turn on Bravo-4 and taxi to parking. I thanked the controller and proceded to the parking area.
I was so busy navigating, I didn't have much time to enjoy the lights on the ground, nevertheless, this was a particularly enjoyable flight due to the night flight challenge, not to mention the encounter with the plane at SGJ.
It seemed like it took longer, but I only accumulated 0.9 hours time - all at night with 3 night landings to a full stop.
Instrument Lessons 14 & 15
This is a fairly straightforward lesson. Lesson 14 was completed in the sim and consisted of an introduction to holding patterns. Lesson 15 continued this and introduced non-standard patterns in the aircraft.
I preflighted the aircraft, found no problems, and then Justin joined me in the cockpit. He said he had filed an instrument flight plan, so we would be under ATC for the duration of the flight...or so we thought.
I called clearance delivery on the radio and announced that N84577 was ready to copy. No response. We waited and waited. So I called back - "Standby". We waited, with the engine running, for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Justin got fed up and switched to the ground control frequency. "Craig ground, Warrior 84577 is ready to taxi. We can get the info in the run-up area." The controller responded, "taxi to 23 at foxtrot."
At least we were moving. The controller sounded like a new guy and he was making everyone wait a much longer time than usual. After we completed the run-up, we were informed that the controller could not find our flight plan. Yeah, right. Justin thought he might have filed it under our usual tail number, N512MA. So there went another 5 minutes waiting. Still no plan. Now there were two other planes waiting to depart on 23 and three planes in the pattern for that runway. Rather than wait, we called the tower and asked to be switched to 32 at Echo. That got us moving immediately, however we had about a 12 knot crosswind directly across the runway from the left. Fun, fun, fun! I like a challenge and started the roll with full aileron deflection into the wind. After rotation, the plane took forever to climb. We were only getting about 300 fpm rate of climb, but the engine we giving full power. So much of our energy was being spent to maintain the runway centerline, we didn't have much left to climb. Nevertheless, we made our altitude and turned southbound.
The lack of an instrument flight plan was no big deal...all we were going to do was hold over the CRG VOR. As long as we are above 2600' MSL, we will be clear of the Class D airspace. We departed to the south and then Justin gave me his tired foggles to block my view. He then vectored me around in various directions and then told me to hold on the 180 radial south of the CRG VOR. This required that I turn the OBS to find our radial. From our position to the SSE of the VOR, a standard entry was planned. We then made 4 or 5 circuits before we finally gauged the wind - which was pretty stiff from 220. Then as I completed an outbound leg, he instructed me to hold on the 90 radial east of the CRG VOR - non standard pattern. From my position midway through the turn, I was right on the boundary between a teardrop and a parallel entry. Since the teardrop requires fewer turns, I opted for that one. As I crossed the VOR, I turned to 120 for 1 minute, then a left turn to 270 and back to the VOR. It didn't take very long to adjust for the wind and eventually things lined up nicely.
He then vectored me to the South and we descended. We lined up on the localizer for 32 and called the tower. We were cleared for an entry to the left downwind to 23, so once I reached the dh, Justin advised me to go visual and I saw that I was pretty well lined up on 32 in spite of the severe cross winds. I made the right turn to the downwind for 23 and spotted traffic crossing the fence and another plane turning final. I was cleared to land following the traffic.
I responded "Warrior 577, cleared to land, traffic in site." The tower responded, "there are two planes ahead of you. You are following the plane on about a 1 1/2 mile final." I advised the tower, "Both aircraft are in site, 577".
Then, stabilized for the approach, I maintained 1900 rpm to keep enough forward speed to compensate for the headwind as I turned final. Approaching the threshold, I announced that I was pulling power as the runway was in glide range. I then made a very nice touchdown.
Another great day of flying! 1.3 hours Total 1.1 under the hood.
I preflighted the aircraft, found no problems, and then Justin joined me in the cockpit. He said he had filed an instrument flight plan, so we would be under ATC for the duration of the flight...or so we thought.
I called clearance delivery on the radio and announced that N84577 was ready to copy. No response. We waited and waited. So I called back - "Standby". We waited, with the engine running, for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Justin got fed up and switched to the ground control frequency. "Craig ground, Warrior 84577 is ready to taxi. We can get the info in the run-up area." The controller responded, "taxi to 23 at foxtrot."
At least we were moving. The controller sounded like a new guy and he was making everyone wait a much longer time than usual. After we completed the run-up, we were informed that the controller could not find our flight plan. Yeah, right. Justin thought he might have filed it under our usual tail number, N512MA. So there went another 5 minutes waiting. Still no plan. Now there were two other planes waiting to depart on 23 and three planes in the pattern for that runway. Rather than wait, we called the tower and asked to be switched to 32 at Echo. That got us moving immediately, however we had about a 12 knot crosswind directly across the runway from the left. Fun, fun, fun! I like a challenge and started the roll with full aileron deflection into the wind. After rotation, the plane took forever to climb. We were only getting about 300 fpm rate of climb, but the engine we giving full power. So much of our energy was being spent to maintain the runway centerline, we didn't have much left to climb. Nevertheless, we made our altitude and turned southbound.
The lack of an instrument flight plan was no big deal...all we were going to do was hold over the CRG VOR. As long as we are above 2600' MSL, we will be clear of the Class D airspace. We departed to the south and then Justin gave me his tired foggles to block my view. He then vectored me around in various directions and then told me to hold on the 180 radial south of the CRG VOR. This required that I turn the OBS to find our radial. From our position to the SSE of the VOR, a standard entry was planned. We then made 4 or 5 circuits before we finally gauged the wind - which was pretty stiff from 220. Then as I completed an outbound leg, he instructed me to hold on the 90 radial east of the CRG VOR - non standard pattern. From my position midway through the turn, I was right on the boundary between a teardrop and a parallel entry. Since the teardrop requires fewer turns, I opted for that one. As I crossed the VOR, I turned to 120 for 1 minute, then a left turn to 270 and back to the VOR. It didn't take very long to adjust for the wind and eventually things lined up nicely.
He then vectored me to the South and we descended. We lined up on the localizer for 32 and called the tower. We were cleared for an entry to the left downwind to 23, so once I reached the dh, Justin advised me to go visual and I saw that I was pretty well lined up on 32 in spite of the severe cross winds. I made the right turn to the downwind for 23 and spotted traffic crossing the fence and another plane turning final. I was cleared to land following the traffic.
I responded "Warrior 577, cleared to land, traffic in site." The tower responded, "there are two planes ahead of you. You are following the plane on about a 1 1/2 mile final." I advised the tower, "Both aircraft are in site, 577".
Then, stabilized for the approach, I maintained 1900 rpm to keep enough forward speed to compensate for the headwind as I turned final. Approaching the threshold, I announced that I was pulling power as the runway was in glide range. I then made a very nice touchdown.
Another great day of flying! 1.3 hours Total 1.1 under the hood.
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