A Pilot’s Worst Nightmare

During lunch with a fellow GA pilot I asked about the toughest airplane problem he encountered flying his Piper Lance. “Fire in flight” was the chilling response. A wiring problem that began smoldering at altitude. He was fortunate to have enough time and a close airport to make an emergency landing, especially since he had no extinguisher on board.

I can’t think of anything worse. First you need to deal with the fire, and then the adventure of making an emergency descent and landing. When’s the last time you practiced a maximum spiraling descent? Then, after building up all that airspeed, find a landing area, probably off airport, and bleed off all that speed to make a survivable crash landing. If you were lucky, the quick descent might blow out the fire. If not, it gets you closer to terra firma before you have in flight barbeque.

This pilot (begins page 2) did everything right in an incredibly close call while flying at night:

The instrument panel lighting suddenly dimmed momentarily and then returned to normal brightness. (The passenger) smelled something burning and noticed that “it’s getting hot back here.” I could see what appeared to be a small, orange dot, centered on the lower right-rear seat cushion. As I watched, it grew rapidly as flames burned through the leather seat material…. As I continued the descent, a highway overpass loomed out of the darkness. The interstate was easy to find with all the headlights from cars and trucks, even though there were no streetlights along this stretch of road. With excess airspeed I reduced my rate of descent to pass over the bridge and then brought in full flaps as I reduced the power to idle. I touched down on the centerline of the northbound lanes.

The passengers made it. The plane- not so much. The pilot attributed his survival to having aircraft systems and emergency procedures down cold. Turns out that the rear seat springs shorted out the battery terminals when the rear seat was improperly repaired. Once again, no fire extinguisher on board.

My first personal experience was after climbing through 2,000 feet in a C182 after engine repairs. The cockpit filled with the smell of fuel vapor. I can’t say I was scared but I was focused and plenty nervous. I awaited the inevitable heat coming through the firewall and hoped to avoid any sparks from the panel that would create a small Hindenburg. It was hard not to recall an accident at my airport that roasted an award-winning E-Racer in flight. Fortunately, I was able to RTB and shut down without incident. A fire is more likely to occur under the cowl in an older plane due to age or faulty maintenance. A cherry-red turbocharger or a crack in the exhaust system can ignite the spray from a broken fuel or oil line to create an impromptu blast furnace. The second time involved toasting a bird’s nest in the engine compartment after reaching cruise altitude. You can’t easily access the engine compartment in a Skylane (unlike other planes) so while it was my responsibility, I didn’t look under the hood before launching.

The most common fire is one that erupts during engine start. A cold weather start is perfect for an engine fire, particularly if you get carried away with the primer in a plane without fuel injection.

It’s not just piston engines. There was a surprise in the L-29 jet as well. One cold morning, after climb out, it was getting cold. After turning on the heater, the cockpit immediately filled with black smoke. (Black smoke usually signals an oil fire, fuel usually burns bright orange). As soon as the pressurization and heating system deactivated the smoke cleared. We found out later there was a buildup of dust on the heat exchanger, so when the heater was activated, the bleed air from the engine caused it to burn off.

Lessons learned? Preflight carefully, memorize the in flight fire checklist; carry an extinguisher and practice like your life depends on it. Sometimes it does.

Discovering "Discovery"

Here's a behind the scenes look at one of our greatest flying achievements. (Requires PowerPoint)

Birds versus Planes

Many people love birds. Most pilots regard them as something to avoid. What seems innocuous on the ground can become a projectile hurtling through the windscreen or into your turbine. According to the Associated Press, the FAA tally for all bird strikes last year could be up to 10,000 for the first time. That’s about 27 strikes every day. There were at least 57 accidents with serious damage through July 2009 and three aircraft were destroyed by birds.

That’s a lot of bird feathers. The previous high was 7,507 strikes in 2007. The increase is in large part due to increased diligence in reporting after the famous water landing of Flight 1549 which occurred a year ago January 15th. Captain C.B. Sullenberger's decision making was as important as his stick and rudder skills. He never would have made Teterboro. During the flight reinactment (televised on TLC) by helicopter, it was easy to see that the Hudson looked like the only option at 3,000 feet. While the FAA doesn’t want to spook the flying public, it’s hard to ignore that the bird situation is getting worse. Many airports began a more aggressive campaign to keep them away since geese, particularly, are growing in number. They’re a mess on the golf course but in the pattern, the goose can really hit the (airplane) fan. To scare them, our airport began regularly firing propane cannons. An eye popping surprise in the plane since up to that point I didn’t know they existed.

Not surprisingly, this has the interest of the U.S. Air Force who created a”Feather identification program” at the Smithsonian Institution to identify species of birds that collide with aircraft by developing a new DNA database. Carla Dove (great name) heads up the program that identifies the snarge. Profiles on bird activity and regional migrating patterns are further developed with the evidence sent from every birdstrike.

Last year, I was 8 miles out for landing when I heard a Citation Jet advise he’d lost an engine. The voice had the ice-cool confidence of Captain Sullenberger. When the tower asked if he wanted to declare an emergency he simply replied “No-just sucked in a bird. Confirming runway niner". I would have been all: "Yes -clear the place, I'd like all three runways to myself".

Civilian aircraft aren’t built to handle a significant bird strike. A pelican brought down a Citation last year in Oklahoma City. Investigation reveled that the jet suffered damage to the wing that made the plane uncontrollable. A transport category aircraft should be able to sustain a 4 pound bird collision to the front and an 8 pound bird to the empennage. Peter Garrison from Flying Magazine calculated that a 20 pound bird struck at 200 knots is equivalent to a 420 pound object moving at 50 miles an hour. Light general aviation aircraft structures are simply not up to the task. Frequently, I'll hear "Caution for birds in the vicinity" on the ATIS before taxiing. I've had to climb and descend around flocks many times during migrating season.

A bird caused a lot of trouble with a BAE Hawk military jet but this more recent video of a 757 had a happier ending.



Did anyone get the license plate of that Citation X?

Doing What We Can To Help

The destruction in Haiti is unbelievable. The need is obvious given the staggering death toll and images of suffering within the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. There is virtually no infrastructure with a per capita income of around $1,000.

For the general aviation folks that stop by here, the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) suggests that: "The best thing pilots can do for now is to donate money and stay clear of the area. This will allow military aircraft and humanitarian agencies to get into the area and begin the relief effort". They are encouraging pilots to consider donating the cost of a flight to Haiti instead of travelling there to help.

You should investigate the agencies carefully if you are considering to give. A few AOPA has suggested include: Samaritan’s Purse ; Missionary Flights International ;Catholic Charities. I've chosen to send our relief contribution for Haiti to Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Please help if you are able. Every dollar counts and the GA community can make a difference.

Update: The Salvation Army is also a terrific relief organization with most all the donated funds going directly to the needy.

Update II: Here is a dramatic first person account from a Mission Aviation Fellowship family who experienced the earthquake and is doing what they can to help.

Flying the Thunderbolt

Training the Air Force Way

At the beginning of the World War II, Air Force flight training lasted nine months, with three months each of primary, basic, and advanced training. Each pilot had 65 flying hours of primary training in the PT-19 or PT-22 and 75 combined hours in basic and advanced aircraft. Basic training was in the BT-13 or BT-15 and advanced training in the AT-6. So with around 140 hours total and less then 40 in a more demanding plane, they turned many of these guys loose in a 2,500 hp monster called the “Jug”. The P-47 Thunderbolt was the biggest and heaviest (single engine) airplane in the Air Force inventory during the WWII. It was a tough warbird with a reputation for returning after battle damage and while it flew escort and interception missions, it really excelled at mud moving missions. It's size made it less maneuverable than other fighters such as the German ME-109 in dogfights.

Later, each training phase was further reduced to nine weeks and to speed the process, they produced training videos. If you’re a fan of old WWII aviation movies, you will like this pilot familiarization video for the P-47. Check out the humungo turbocharger at 10:00. It was behind the pilot with exhaust gas routed from the 18 cylinder engine up front.



If you liked that you should also check out this one on Ground Handling, Take-Off, Normal Flight and if you still have nothing else urgent ,wrap up your training with aerobatics and high altitude operations compliments of Airboyd.

Those familiar with general aviation realize that military training is much, much different. It’s a full-time job for prospective pilots. The screening process sifts with finer and finer mesh filters until they end up with the best material for aviators. The training is top-notch. A WWII pilot was combat ready with 200 hours. Today, it's still quite compressed given the complexity of the machine; weaponry and tactics.

I contacted Lt. Col. Fred Clifton about getting rated in the L-39 (military jet trainer) which is a fairly basic jet when compared to, for example, an F-16. It’s certainly far more complex than most general aviation aircraft. The FAA requires 1,000 hours w/500 hours PIC to be eligible for a type rating in that plane. The air Force handed the keys of an F-15A to Col Clifton with only 200 hours total flight time. I think we would all agree that the F-15 is considerably more airplane than anything in the civilian world. It's all in the quality of training.

Airport Security to the Rescue

Full Body Scans to Double as Annual Checkups. With any luck I can also get my second class Airman medical at the same time.

No Runway? No Problem

This resembles some of the training sorties made with one of my more free-spirited instructors. Spontaneous manuevers and unexpected landings.



The Maule: It can land just about anywhere.

Non Flying Pilot Degree

It was bound to happen. First the Air Force announces it’s first class of non flying pilots. Now North Dakota University is the first to offer the world's first bachelor's degree for pilots who will never leave the ground.

To help meet the demand for UAV operators and pilots, the University of North Dakota has set up a four-year undergraduate major and enrolled its first 12 students. There already is talk of a graduate program as well.

But it makes sense. I’ve flown a remote-controlled plane and the skills are nothing like those learned in the cockpit. Besides, it will save about $1.5B over the next six years according to the Air Force Times.

The service spends more than $2.6 million to train a fighter pilot. Training for an airlift pilot, relatively speaking, is far less — about $600,000. The audit recommends “eliminating 20 unnecessary weeks of the current undergraduate pilot training program, deleting unnecessary graduate training on other aircraft,” and adding an eight-week UAV undergraduate course and 12 weeks of UAV graduate training. The cost, the report estimates, would be a little more than $135,000 per pilot.

Yes I’ve heard the snide remarks about “Orange flight suits to hide Cheeto stains” and “Flying Barcaloungers with beverage holders”. Despite the naysayers, it's on its way with breathtaking speed.

There are still concerns about close air support with a guy dropping weapons with a soda straw view of the battlefield 7,000 miles away. Still, they have great loiter times, are less complex and not subject to G-LOC. It stretches the imagination to think of future battles relegated to UAV pilots thousands of miles from each other locked in a video game war. No need for valor. No need for courage.

The days of manned attack planes and interceptors will still be with us, at least for a while, to provide the air supremacy needed for drones to operate. No doubt someone, somewhere is working on removing pilots from that equation too.

h/t to occasional reader MBK for the update at NDU

Flying Lutheran Airlines

An uplifting experience. Listen for yourself.

Okay then, listen up: I'm only gonna say this once. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, I am frankly going to be real surprised and so vill Captain Olson because ve fly right around 2000 feet, so loss of cabin pressure would probably indicate the Second Coming or something of that nature, and I vouldn't bother with those little masks on the rubber tubes. You're gonna have bigger things to worry about than that. Just stuff those back up in their little holes. Probably the masks fell out because of turbulence vhich, to be honest with you, ve're going to have quite a bit of at 2000 feet, sort of like driving across a plowed field, but after a vile you get used to it.

Hard to argue with that.

Oh, and leave the cell at home. " If God meant you to use a cell phone, He would have put your mouth on the side of your head. "

Getting a Close Look at an F-15

Monsieur ceci est mon avion!

The French sometimes look at things differently. Mr. Courtois may own the plane but the airspace is a different matter. At least ATC thought so.

Jean-Claude Courtois took off from BKV Thursday in his newly-purchased Cessna Conquest 425 only to be escorted back down by two F-15s less than an hour later. The French-speaking pilot refused to respond to ATC… the CFI at American Aviation at Hernando County Airport (BKV) that gave Courtois a check-ride on his new Conquest suggested he get more training and improve his English skills prior to flying. When a translator explained the comments to Courtois, he reportedly became indignant and proceeded to take off without obtaining clearance.

C’est La Vie. You really do need to pay attention to the folks on the other end of the radio. Otherwise you might have company.

Happy New Year

Indications are that 2010 will be better than 2009. Hopefully, a new and improved decade too.
For your viewing enjoyment: The best of 2009 photos from Aviation Week and also the best of 2009 from EAA.
Best Wishes to all for a healthy and prosperous New Year.