Thinking Aloft

Amelia and the Luscombe Rudder Spring Adventure

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

I was working on my commercial rating in a rag-wing Luscombe 8A with my instructor, Amelia Reid, at Reid Hillview airport in San Jose, California. The lesson was spin entry and recovery. Amelia asked me to make a one turn spin to the left. I cleared the area with a 90 degree turn in each direction, throttled back to 1200 rpm, stalled the plane straight ahead and kicked full left rudder. The Luscombe entered a spin by rolling over the top, pointing pretty much straight down, and winding up fairly fast. When we were 3/4 of the way around the turn, I pushed full right rudder, and as the rotation stopped relaxed the back pressure on the stick and recovered from the ensuing dive. We were close to rolling out exactly on the roll-in point. So far so good.

“Okay,” says Amelia, “Let’s do a one turn spin to the right.” This I accomplished in the same fashion as before. Normally we would have gone to the next maneuver at this point but Amelia noticed that we were almost out of time and so she asked for another one-turn spin before heading back to the airport. I thought I heard her say, “spin to the left” (we had no intercom or even earplugs in those days), but she had said “to the right.” As I entered the stall and kicked full left rudder, she shouted “You’re going the wrong way!” and she kicked full right rudder.

The result was a loud “sproioioing!” The spring which connected the right rudder pedal to the floorboard broke. We recovered from the left turn spin accompanied by Amelia’s laughter. She thought it was all terribly funny, and as was her wont, turned the incident into a lesson. “Okay, it’s time to return to the field. Fly us back under the hood,” she intoned.

During the next 15 minutes flying back to Reid, I struggled to maintain heading with the twitchy Luscombe trying mightily to make left turns all the way. The rudder cables were still fine. Just the lack of tension on the rudder caused it to feel like the plane was pulling as hard as it could in one direction all the time.

It was a lesson Amelia would teach me time and time again: be inventive! If something in the airplane breaks or does not respond in an expected manner, do whatever it takes to achieve the desired outcome. Never give up!

Tags: flying stories, in flight control problems, tailwheel training, training
Posted in Adventures Aloft | 15 Comments »

Operating on the Margin

Friday, February 11th, 2011

When we fly, we operate in one of three regimes: Conservative/Safe; Unsafe; or on the Margin. The Margin is that grey area between flying in a conservative manner, and flying unsafely. We have all pushed the envelope at some point, gone flying when we knew we shouldn’t, or continued flying when we knew we should put her on the ground. It’s tempting to say to ourselves, “OK, I know the weather doesn’t really look good, but I’ll just fly a bit further and see what it looks like. I can always make a 180.” The FAA’s accident statistics are full of reports of people who ran into mountains or became disoriented soon after they decided to go have a ‘look-see’. It’s painful to read those reports!

How to teach students to use good judgment is a major challenge in flight instruction. We know that the rule of primacy says that what we teach them now will follow them through their entire flying career. So, how do we convince students to be conservative when they fly?

Perhaps the most important thing an instructor can do is to remember that your students will emulate you. You are the expert and if you do it, they are probably going to try it sometime, too. It’s so important for your students to see you operate in a conservative manner, too. We need to do our envelope pushing elsewhere – not when we are flying with students. Oh but it’s tempting sometimes. <grin>

As an instructor I am known for my little maxims. Here are a few related to the use of good judgment:

*When in doubt, DON”T!

*Make the conservative choice; you live longer that way.

*Remember that those who die in weather related accidents are generally buried on a sunny day.

*If you want to push the limits of your ability (such as handling strong crosswind landings), go and get a qualified flight instructor to join you.

The problem with operating in that grey on-the-Margin area is that many times you can get away with it. That success builds the unrealistic belief that it’s okay and that you won’t get caught down the road. Unfortunately the more a pilot operates in that grey area the more likely he is to have an accident.

The next time you consider taking flight when you are not really feeling that well, or when the weather is iffy, or when the plane seems ‘not quite right’, make the conservative choice. It’s a great way to extend your flying career!

Tags: aviation safety, judgment
Posted in Emergencies, Safety, Training Tips | 10 Comments »

Pilot Tips: Why it’s a good idea to rock the wings before flight

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Reason #1: When you first walk out to the plane for your pre-flight, take a hold of the wing tip and rock it up and down fairly vigorously. After you have completed your pre-flight, drain your fuel sumps. If there was water condensation on the walls of the tanks, it will have been washed off and, since it weighs more than fuel, and since you have given it time to separate from the fuel and make its way down to the drain, it will now show up in your fuel cup. If there is water present of course you will continue to drain the sump until no water appears. Tip: if you have never seen water in fuel, drain some gas into your drain cup, add a small amount of water, and notice the little clear white bubbles in the blue fuel at the bottom of the cup.

Reason #2: If there is any damage in the wing you will hear a rattling sound. Time to get a mechanic!

Reason #3: on some aircraft with struts there is a bushing or bearing which can wear at the wing strut mount at the wing. If there is bushing wear, you will hear a ‘chunk, chunk’ sound as you rock the wing.

Reason # 4: Herein lies a story which will follow in my next post, entitled “One accident that might have been avoided if the pilot had rocked the wings before flight.”

Tags: Preflight, Safety, Training Tips
Posted in Preflight, Tailwheel Transition, Training Tips | 8 Comments »