FLYING LESSONS for December 14, 2017

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1 FLYING LESSONS for December 14, 2017 FLYING LESSONS uses recent mishap reports to consider what might have contributed to accidents, so you can make better decisions if you face similar circumstances. In almost all cases design characteristics of a specific airplane have little direct bearing on the possible causes of aircraft accidents but knowing how your airplane s systems respond can make the difference as a scenario unfolds. So apply these FLYING LESSONS to the specific airplane you fly. Verify all technical information before applying it to your aircraft or operation, with manufacturers data and recommendations taking precedence. You are pilot in command, and are ultimately responsible for the decisions you make. FLYING LESSONS is an independent product of MASTERY FLIGHT TRAINING, INC. This week s LESSONS: Pursue Mastery of Flight the aircraft, a private chartered plane, took off from the St. Croix airport and soon after started experiencing engine problems, with flames coming from one of its two engines. The pilot circled back and attempted to land at the airport, but the plane crashed in a field area near the runway, leaving all occupants, including the pilot, dead. Pop quiz: You note smoke entering the cabin from the front of your single-engine airplane, or see flames streaming back from a nacelle in a twin. What do you do? If you hesitate to answer, then you re a normal human being. If this happens to you, you will be startled. Next, you ll try to dismiss what you see you ll be in denial. Then, only then, will you decide you need to act. So I ll ask you again: In the airplane you most recently flew, you see smoke entering the cabin, or flames blowing from around and behind an engine. Now that you ve overcome the startle response and denial, what do you do? It s easy to say you ll perform the Engine Fire in Flight checklist. That is indeed the correct thing to do. It s harder to prove you are actually ready to do so under the extreme stress of an engine fire in flight. It s something you need to understand and practice to be ready to execute. We ll look at some sample Engine Fire in Flight checklists shortly. But before we do, think about your priorities when faced with an engine fire in flight: 1. Fly the airplane through the entire event. 2. Stop or limit the fire, by eliminating or isolating those things most likely to burn. 3. Prevent or minimize smoke in the cockpit, to preserve visibility and avoid pilot incapacitation. 4. Get the airplane on the ground as soon as possible. Every Engine Fire in Flight checklist addresses these priorities in its type-specific way. For example, the carbureted Cessna 172, with my notes in red: 1. Mixture IDLE CUTOFF This stops fuel from getting beyond the carburetor in the engine compartment, to limit what will burn. 2. Fuel Selector Valve OFF This stops fuel from getting forward of the firewall, further inhibiting the fire Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

2 3. Master Switch OFF Some fires may be sparked by electricity, or an electrical fire might be mistaken to be an engine fire. This helps limit these possibilities. 4. Cabin Heat and Air OFF (except overhead vents) It may not seem obvious, but this is to close off airflow and therefore smoke from the engine area into the cabin, either through the heating system or through the earlier Cessna s openable air inlet on the side of the fuselage. The overheat vents remain open to provide fresh air into the cabin that should be above and out of the smoke stream. 5. Airspeed 100 KIAS (if fire is not extinguished, increase glide speed to find an airspeed which will provide an incombustible mixture) In the old vernacular, this blows out the fire 6. Forced Landing EXECUTE (as described in Emergency Landing Without Power) Self-explanatory. In the Beechcraft A36 (because I have the procedure memorized): 1. Firewall Air Control PULL TO CLOSE This closes the heater/ventilation passage from the engine area into the cabin. The next three steps are the same as above: 2. Mixture IDLE CUTOFF 3. Fuel Selector Valve OFF 4. Battery, Alternator and Magneto/Start Switches OFF 5. Do not attempt to restart engine. I guess it does not go without saying if the engine catches fire and the fire goes out, don t risk restarting the fire. Just get it on the ground! And at the higher end of the owner-flown, piston market, the Beech 58P Pressurized Baron: Shut down the affected engine according to the following procedure and land immediately. Follow the applicable single-engine procedures. Most of this procedure is the same as the Cessna 172: 1. Fuel selector OFF 2. Mixture Control IDLE CUTOFF 3. Propeller FEATHER Reducing drag for maximum available performance on one (the other) engine. 4. Cabin Pressure Air Shutoff Control PULL This controls air flow from the engine Upper Deck (turbocharger-boosted) air, which is the source of pressurization. 5. Fuel Boost Pump OFF 6. Magneto/Start Switch OFF 7. Alternator Switch OFF 8. Oxygen AS REQUIRED Don a supplemental oxygen mask or cannula if available, to compensate for smoke in the cabin air. 9. Air Conditioning/Pressurization Air Cool Switch OFF This shuts off another source of engine air into the cabin. Some checklists wisely suggest a decision point after accomplishing the cockpit steps, along these lines: Emergency Descent, if required, or Landing Without Power checklist as required. If the fire does not go out, you need to get on the ground right now. Except perhaps an oxygen problem experienced above about 20,000 feet, where Time of Useful Consciousness is quite short, an engine fire that will not go out is probably the primary reason you may have to execute an emergency descent from any altitude, in a single-engine aircraft or a twin. These are more emergency procedures you need to commit to memory, and practice. You already have one of the best cockpit procedures trainers around: the aircraft itself. Sit in your aircraft, strap in with your equipment in place (handhelds clipped in, kneeboard clipped on, ipad on your laps, etc.) so mimic the mobility and range of motion issues you face in normal flight, then complete the member steps of the Engine Fire in Flight checklist for the aircraft type Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

3 Without starting the engine(s) or touching a retractable landing gear switch, go through the physical process of actually moving controls and switches to develop muscle memory and experiment with any contortions necessary to accomplish checklist steps while buckled in with all the flight gear you d normally have in the way. After your practice is complete, use the Shutdown checklist to ensure everything is reset and ready for the next flight. In routine cruise flight, occasionally quiz yourself on the Engine Fire in Flight procedure without actually shutting anything off, of course. There s little that scares pilots more than the thought of a fire in flight. This primal fear is reflected throughout aviation s history going back to First World War pilots widely reported preference of jumping from burning airplanes without parachutes rather than going down in flames. There is a specific procedure, however, that stops or limits the fire, prevents or minimizes smoke contamination in the cockpit, and prompts you to transition to Emergency Descent, Best Glide or Single-Engine Operation, as required, to get your passengers and you on the ground. Remember those goals and it will be easy to memorize the type-specific procedure that gives the best chance of survival, for each aircraft type you fly. Once you have the fire under control, if that s possible, you must then deal with the situation you ve placed yourself in: an engine-out glide in a single-engine airplane, or a one-engine approach and landing in a now-crippled twin. Engine-out scenarios are one of the other scariest, but that is only what happens after you ve finished the checklist steps for an engine fire. An engine fire in flight is a rare occurrence. It is one of the scariest, most distracting, and potentially lethal things that can happen in an aircraft. This is one procedure, unlikely though it may be, that you need to know and have practiced enough that, once you detect the need to act, you know exactly what to do without having to think about it. Comments? Questions? Let us learn from you, at mastery.flight.training@cox.net My notes and comments on Chapter 4 of the classic Stick and Rudder are now posted on the Mastery Flight Training home page along with links to those from Chapters 1 through 3. See See Debrief: Readers write about recent FLYING LESSONS: Reader Henry Fiorentini writes about last week s LESSON Personal Checklists Done Right : Hopefully [this is] a reminder more than a plug : [the] ForeFlight [Mobile app] now includes a checklist as part of [its] standard product. It used to be a stand-alone app. Personally, I like the look of the $9 app better, so I still use it. It has boilerplate items for most aircraft and you can add/delete from there. And yes, GPS, not VLOC is one of mine, too! See Thank you, Henry Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

4 Frequent Debriefer John Scherer adds: Hi Tom, I really liked the checklist article in your Mastery Flight Training [last] week. I grew up in a very structured checklist environment, especially in the C-5 Galaxy. While it wasn t a do list, we followed the checklist closely, the same way every time. We had very strict standardization. Thank you very much, John. An anonymous reader permits me to print his personalized Approach checklist (right). Last week I had suggested this may be one of the most important, yet very few aircraft handbooks contain an Approach check. This is one solution that readers may adapt to their specific equipment and needs. And reader Justin Graff raises what (unfortunately) may be a valid concern: Completely agree with your impressions regarding checklists. In our liability-averse society I am worried that companies like ForeFlight and Garmin will remove their checklist function because of the FAA s warning, or make the manufacturer s checklist mandatory and only let the user add to the mandatory checklist. At a minimum we will probably have a new disclaimer on opening a checklist app. I think writing a checklist for one s specific airplane and equipment is a great learning exercise, especially for the buttonology as you mentioned. I did that myself when ForeFlight came out with their app called Checklist Pro long ago. As you mentioned, some of those checklists are so long that I don t use them, but I will review them if the weather is bad and I need to do an approach while preparing for the approach, but may not have time to check them off individually as I am doing a complex approach. I do think it is much easier to get an emergency checklist in view with the apps than using the POH. IFR Magazine reviewed a checklist app that will actually read off the checklist into one s headset via bluetooth and respond to verbal commands. I found this review on the Aviation Consumer website. Perhaps it is the one you recall. You re correct, one interpretation of SAFO might be to discourage third parties from creating customized or customizable checklists. At face value, however, the FAA s advisory simply expresses concern that customized checklists might leave out critical, type-specific information. The SAFO uses a specific example of a commercially produced checklist that left out information about backup landing gear extension that omitted certain important steps. Perhaps with the right disclaimers, electronic checklists like those you mention will still be available specifically so aircraft owners and operators can adjust them to be relevant which in turn should encourage better checklist use. Thanks, Justin. See: Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Let us know, at mastery.flight.training@cox.net 2017 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 4

5 Thank you so much for FLYING LESSONS! I have learned so much from your writing (and the insightful reader comments) each week! Robert McCafferty Please help cover the costs of providing FLYING LESSONS through the secure PayPal donations button at See Or send a check to Mastery Flight Training, Inc. to 247 Tiffany Street, Rose Hill, Kansas USA Thank you, generous supporters. See If you re flying to visit family this week for Hanukah, planning a Christmas trip, or for any other reason traveling by personal air, give yourself plenty of time to travel, and give your family, friends and coworkers a realistic expectation that you ll do your best but sometimes plans change, especially when weather threatens. Have a happy holiday season! Share safer skies. Forward FLYING LESSONS to a friend Pursue Mastery of Flight. Thomas P. Turner, M.S. Aviation Safety Flight Instructor Hall of Fame 2015 Inductee 2010 National FAA Safety Team Representative of the Year 2008 FAA Central Region CFI of the Year Three-time Master CFI FLYING LESSONS is 2017 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. For more information see or contact mastery.flight.training@cox.net Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 5