FLYING LESSONS for July 21, 2016

Transcription

1 FLYING LESSONS for July 21, 2016 FLYING LESSONS uses the past week s 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 make and model airplane have little direct bearing on the possible causes of aircraft accidents, so apply these FLYING LESSONS to any 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 Several weeks ago a portion of our LESSONS focused on the tragic, fatal crash of a Cirrus SR20 at Houston Hobby Airport. Much of the industry s discussion of that event focused, I believe rightly, on the pilot s choice of such a busy airport given her current level of experience, and the ongoing issue of stick-and-rudder airmanship and airspeed/angle of attack control in a Technically Advanced Aircraft/Scenario-Based Training world. See I touched on one element of this crash in my write-up, however, that was widely reported in the general media but I ve not seen addressed elsewhere in aviation circles: according to reports, the pilot, her husband and his brother were flying to visit the brothers father, a patient at a major cancer hospital in Houston. Might the stress of a close relative with a life-threatening condition have been a factor in the deadly crash? See Personal stress is one of those things we re supposed to account for when making go/no-go decisions. But when we re highly stressed when it s time to make that self-evaluation our decision-making ability is significantly impaired. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, adverse stress generates cognitive symptoms including forgetfulness, preoccupation, and difficulty concentrating; indecisiveness; and work mistakes. Stress can create physical symptoms that make it difficult to turn decisions into finemotor-skills action (such as flying and landing an airplane). See: Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

2 Different life events can have different impacts on a person s stress level. The most famous scale of relative life stressors is the Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory. The inventory is simplicity itself: from a weighted list, add up the point value for each item you have experienced in the past year. If your total is 150 points or less you have a relatively low amount of life change and a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown. 150 to 300 points implies about a 50% chance of a major health breakdown in the next two years. If your total is 300 points or more the odds [are] about 80% you ll have health issues as a result of the accumulated stress. See The Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory isn t universally accepted in psychological circles. Some of the inventory s stressors are major events, others not so much. May are things we d generally consider to be positive experiences, not stressors that make us less healthy. Even if it is valid, the inventory is a measure of cumulative but chronic stress applied over time. It does not address rapid-onset, acute stress that (among other things) might make you want to load up the airplane and fly to family or friends now. It really doesn t give you anything to go on for that middle-of-the-night phone call about a family member, or an early morning rush to the emergency room with your spouse or child. Recently a very close family member of mine suffered a life-threatening medical event. It came on very suddenly, while we were hundreds of miles from home. It resulted in 20 days of hospitalization and multiple surgeries that create significant, permanent lifestyle changes for the person involved (and us around her as well). Although we had driven to where this condition began, I had multiple offers of the use of an airplane should I need to make a quick trip home during the hospitalization, and for transportation home after her release. I m here to tell you I was very tempted to accept one of these offers. But I also knew that cognitively I was in no shape to command an airplane even though I wanted to at one point. Further, after about two days I was so fatigued I could not safely fly even though I wanted to. Why didn t I accept one of these generous offers? Because I ve read way too many reports of fatal airplane crashes that occurred when a pilot was rushing to his or her family s side during a crisis, or to attend a wedding or funeral. Recall how very often pilot distraction is cited as a factor in aircraft crashes. There s not much more mentally distracting that worry about the ones you love. No matter who you are, or how experienced a pilot you are, there are times when you do not need to be acting as Pilot-in-Command of an aircraft. The Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory 2016 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

3 might not apply to sudden, acute stress accumulation, but its list does suggest some relative level or potential impairment from various life events. You might not be able to make a good decision about the impact of acute stress on your ability to fly air airplane at the very time you need to make such a decision. To protect you and your passengers from turning one emergency into a second tragedy, decide now that if you have a family illness or death in the family, or any similar sort of major life event that demands you to travel immediately, that you ll choose some other way besides personal aviation to make the trip. If you have no other choice, hire an instructor to fly you. You re probably a lot less mentally engaged to fly than you think you are. Mental stress is real. You do not have immunity; certificates, ratings and flying experience do not inoculate you against the effects of acute personal stress. To all readers, financial supporters, the roughly two dozen new subscribers in the past month who have seen no new editions since they enrolled, and especially my corporate sponsor Pilot Workshops LLC, I apologize for failing to publish FLYING LESSONS for the three weeks prior to this week s report. I have been consumed by a very serious family medical issue and have simply not had time nor energy to give proper attention to researching, writing and publishing the weekly reports. I hope to be back now, even with Oshkosh upon us and much yet to go in my family s medical journey. Regardless, continue to seek mastery of your aircraft, its environment, and yourself in the awesome role and opportunity of Pilot-in-Command. Thank you for your patience. Comments? Questions? Let us learn from you, at mastery.flight.training@cox.net See EAA Founder s Innovation Prize From The 2016 EAA Founder s Innovation Prize is a contest to solve the problem of fatal loss of control accidents in amateur-built aircraft through innovation. The contest is intentionally open-ended, with the only stated goal to reduce fatalities from this type of accident in amateur-built aircraft dramatically over the next decade - 25% in the next five years, 50% in the next ten. Goals and Criteria Loss of control (LOC) in flight is the leading cause of fatal accidents in general aviation, particularly in amateur-built aircraft. Fatal LOC events include base-to-final stalls, departure stalls, loss of control while maneuvering, spatial disorientation, and more. The 2016 contest seeks ways to solve this problem. The solution could be technical in nature or otherwise. The judging criteria include: Cost to implement Ease of Installation Wide Applicability to the GA Fleet (with a focus on amateur-built aircraft) Effectiveness in mitigating the problem 2016 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

4 Prizes The winning individual or team will receive a prize of $25,000, with $10,000 awarded for second place, and $5,000 for third. The five finalists will also be featured in EAA media leading up to the final award. After more than 140 EAA members answered the call of the inaugural Founder s Innovation Prize for innovative solutions to loss-of-control in-flight, EAA s esteemed panel of judges have chosen the five finalists to be considered for the $25,000 grand prize. The final five contestants are as follows: Henry Burrow, EAA #83804 Clover, South Carolina Digital Copilot Ihab Awad, EAA # San Jose, California Airball Andrew Skow, EAA # Tehachapi, California Energy State Awareness Display Chris Moody, EAA # Lusby, Maryland Virtual Reality In-Aircraft Platform Grant Sprunger, EAA # Boulder, Colorado Precise Pilot The five finalists will face former space shuttle commander Charlie Precourt, aerobatic champion Michael Goulian, famed flight training expert Rod Machado, renowned civilian test pilot Dave Morss, and Van s Aircraft founder and chief designer Dick Van VanGrunsven at AirVenture. They will have to convince the judges that their idea has the effectiveness, ease of installation or implementation, low cost, and wide applicability necessary to help solve fatal loss-of-control accidents. Second and third place will also receive cash prizes of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively. The Final Five showdown, presented by Airbus Group, is at [EAA AirVenture s] Theater in the Woods on Tuesday, July 26 at 8 p.m. Come see who will be chosen as the first winner of EAA s Founder s Innovation Prize! Congratulations and good luck to the five finalists, who have proposed technologies that, if installed in an airplane, the finalists hope will reduce the rate of fatal LOC crashes across the entire general aviation fleet. On behalf of Mastery Flight Training, Inc. I too submitted a proposal to the EAA s innovation challenge. As you might suspect, I did not suggest that a voluntarily installed technology alone would have a measurable effect on the rate of fatal LOC crashes. History demonstrates that reductions in accident rates only coincide with aeronautical technological improvement when pilots are well-trained and proficient in those technologies use. Accident rates often increase when pilots are not well-trained on using new technologies, when they become dependent upon and complacent with them, falsely believing the technology replaces the need for basic airmanship skills. The record shows that new technologies indeed can enhance safety when added to good airmanship and time-proven flying abilities. The rules of the EAA Founder s Innovation Prize state that all abstracts and submissions become the property of EAA. I interpret that to mean I cannot post my specific entry for you to read. I will say that my idea: is radically innovative from an airplane association standpoint; would have nearly immediate and widespread applicability to all U.S.-certificated general aviation pilots, in type certificated as well as Experimental/Amateur Built types; requires no installation effort or expense to airplane owners; and requires no additional cost to pilots Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 4

5 This is not sour grapes. I had no expectation that my idea would win the Founder s Prize; perhaps it is too innovative for the audience to which it was addressed. I submitted it only to go on the record as saying a voluntarily installed technology, no matter how good, is only effective for those who install it, and then only if those pilots regularly practice its use in simulated LOC scenarios. My proposal to EAA addresses ideas I ve advocated several times before in testimony during NTSB and FAA forums. I m pretty certain I ve covered it in past FLYING LESSONS as well. So as my time permits I ll develop that old testimony into a more formal white paper on what I feel it would take to make a significant, fleet-wide reduction in LOC crashes, in case you want to know more. Until then, keep practicing the basics you once demonstrated to mastery in order to earn your first non-student pilot certificate. Retaining those basic skills using whatever angle of attack and rudder coordination technologies are in the airplane you re flying at the time is central to avoiding fatal Loss of Control crashes. NOTE: Stall/spin master and FLYING LESSONS reader Rich Stowell, whom I was honored to sit beside when testifying at the NTSB s Loss of Control Forum last October, has written on Facebook that he submitted EAA a version of his Learn to Turn initiative that he introduced during that NTSB forum asserting also that technology alone will not solve the LOC problem. See: Congratulations again to the EAA Founder's Innovation Prize finalists. I look forward to seeing how your ideas change the LOC world. What do you think? Let us learn from you, at mastery.flight.training@cox.net Some day, I may thwart death because of this advice. You have potentially saved my life! - Mike Radomsky, founder and Past President of the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association Please help me cover the costs of providing FLYING LESSONS through the secure PayPal donations button at Thank you, generous supporters. See You at Oshkosh! Because of my family commitments I turned down my usual Saturday seminar slot in the FAA Learning Center seminar series. But now it looks like I will indeed be at Oshkosh all week. How about a semi-impromptu FLYING LESSONS gathering and seminar on Saturday, July 30 th at 11 am in the American Bonanza Society tent, across the street from Theater in the Woods? I ve been asked to fill the 11 am slot and my ABS co-workers would love us to fill up the tent, ABS members and others. I ll give a talk and answer questions, you ll meet other FLYING LESSONS readers from around the country and around the globe, and if you own or are thinking about owning, flying, maintaining and/or instructing in Beech piston airplanes, you ll learn what ABS has to offer in the way of technical support, education and training programs, and social networking opportunities. 11 am Saturday of AirVenture, in the ABS tent across from Theater in the Woods. I ll see you there! Share the skies with master aviators. Forward FLYING LESSONS to a friend Pursue Mastery of Flight. Thomas P. Turner, M.S. Aviation Safety, Three-time Master CFI Flight Instructor Hall of Fame 2010 National FAA Safety Team Representative of the Year 2008 FAA Central Region CFI of the Year 2016 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 5

6 FLYING LESSONS is 2016 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. For more information see or contact 2016 Mastery Flight Training, Inc. All rights reserved. 6