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Date: 07/31/99 Newsletter No. 12
**********************************************
Concept: This newsletter is about presenting information on a
wide range of aviation subjects of interest to pilots and/or
aircraft owners. The author has been a pilot for thirty years
with a wide range of flying experience. The author has also
sold General Aviation aircraft for over twenty three years.
Roger W. Carpenter 1901157 ATP, CFI/II (not current),AGI,IGI.
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Also, I hope that readers will submit articles for publication
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Take Notice:
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***SPECIAL NOTICE***
Below is a letter from a fellow pilot that has a particular
problem. Please read it and if anyone can help Tim, as a
fellow Vietnam vet, I would be grateful. His Email address is
below.
I just know that I saw a Cessna P-210 several years ago that
was rigged for use by a man who was paralyzed from the waist
down. I'm trying to run this down. Roger
"DEAR FRIENDS:
MY NAME IS TIM LEROY. I AM A MARYLAND RESIDENT AND HAVE BEEN
FLYING SINGLE ENGINE AIRCRAFT FOR "OFF & ON" SEVERAL YEARS. LAST
YEAR I LOST MY LEFT LEG ABOVE THE KNEE. IT WAS A RESULT OF WOUNDS
SUSTAINED WHILE DOING MY TOUR IN VIETNAM. "IT-DON'T-MEAN-A-THING"
WITH THE LEG WENT MY CHANCE TO BE FREE. THE FREEDOM ONLY FLIGHT
CAN GIVE. ALL PILOTS KNOW THAT THE LEFT RUDDER IS NEEDED MAINLY
IN TAKEOFF'S AND LANDING. I'M NOT WRITING THIS OUT OF PITY FOR
MYSELF OR FOR ANYONE ELSE. I KNOW THAT I'LL NEVER PASS A FLIGHT
PHYSICAL, I GUESS I'M GROUNDED. MAYBE THERE'S SOMEONE OUT THERE
WHO MIGHT HAVE AN IDEA FOR ME TO TRY. THEY HAVE TRIED TO FIT ME
WITH A PROSTATIC LIMB BUT THERE'S NOT ENOUGH OF MY LEG LEFT TO
MAKE IT WORK. ANYWAY I'LL JUST KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS. THANKS,
TIM LEROY.
IF MAYBE SOMEONE HAS A SUGGESTION PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME
AT TLEROY8837@AOL.COM"
Feature Article:
Some observations on the John Kennedy Jr. tragedy.
The way it "appears", Mr. Kennedy lost control of his Saratoga
and either spun in or entered into a "dead man's spiral" from
which he didn't recover. It will probably be a while before the
final report will determine the exact cause. However,I think it
would be ok to share a few thoughts on the presumed problem.
Many years ago I was flying a BE-18 mail run out of Chicago. The
route was Midway airport, direct Kalamazoo, MI, direct Detroit.
The return trip was Detroit direct Chicago O'Hara. The going
and coming took me right over Lake Michigan. I found out about
Black Holes before the astronomers. One literally can lose sight
of the horizon and attitude control VFR is hard. Up is black and
down is black. Mighty confusing. Even over land, on very dark
nights over uninhabited terrain, straight and level flight by
outside references can be tricky. I have heard of sleepy mail
pilots confusing the stars for ground lights and vice versa.
Definitely not a place for a low time private pilot to be doing
on-the-job training without experienced guidance.
Below are some things I learned that might be food for thought
for others. These suggestions, of course, are not gospel but
just some things for you to consider.
1. Timing as to when to get on the gauges.
At night and in marginal weather the sooner you get on the
instruments, the better. I found that controlling the aircraft
by instruments right after takeoff, even in severe clear
conditions, is much better than waiting to get into IMC
conditions. Control attitude by the gauges, not by visual
reference. Of course you continue to scan outside for traffic
and obstacles but you're "psychologically" in the cockpit.
The rational for this is to AVOID A SUDDEN SURPRISE
that Kennedy might have received when he turned out to sea
and lost his visual references.
Another time that a pilot could possibly get into trouble with
attitude control VFR is flying between cloud layers. This doesn't
happen often VFR but it is certainly very possible. The problem
is that the layers are not always parallel with each other. They
can dove-tail together and become solid. This can happen
gradually and can put a VFR pilot into a precarious situation
before he realizes it. Also watch out for a rising cloud layer
forcing you to an altitude where IFR flight is mandatory. Flying
at night VFR between cloud layers is Russian roulette with all
the chambers loaded.
Break for a story.
***Ever heard the one about a young 2nd Lt. flying with an old
WWII colonel in a C-47 (DC-3) between layers? The colonel thought
everything was fine and told the young second Louie to take over
while he went to the can with a newspaper. A flight of F-84s
coming the other way saw the DC-3 before the young pilot saw
them. The flight leader said to the flight "ok, everyone over
on your back". They went by the cargo plane inverted. You can
guess what the 2nd Louie did.***
Back to business.
Along these same lines, always know where you are with respect
to navigation aides. Even when flying VFR, carry an enroute IFR
chart and keep track of your route of flight. It is much
easier to tell ATC where you by referencing a VOR and DME info.,
for example, than guessing you're 25 miles from some land point.
Also, knowing where you are with respect to VORs, intersections
and the like will help you to anticipate traffic. If you're
puttering along near the outer marker of the active runway at
Chicago, O'Hara, expect a lot of traffic and some very irate
controllers. The new GPS nav radios will certainly help with
keeping track of exactly where you are, in the air or on the
ground, if it should come to that.
Another thing to keep in mind when flying VFR at night is to
turn down the lights in the aircraft. Particularly in a
situation Kennedy faced, VFR on a dark night over water. You
need all the night vision you can get. Scanning outside from
a bright light environment inside the cockpit makes it much
harder to see in the dark. Some aircraft have a red overhead
light to illuminate instruments as opposed to bright post
lights. They help in the VFR situation to keep night vision.
Also, in a haze situation, your strobe lights can cause a
problem with your night vision. The flashing high intensity
lights can cause major vision problems. In a cloud, turn the
strobes off. Use your judgment about just haze.
Whatever the reason, it is obvious Kennedy probably got into
an unusual attitude situation because he was not ready for a
sudden loss of visual reference. With the decent speed reported
over 5000' per minute, it was in all likely hood a deep spiral
rather than a spin. In either case, more back pressure would be
the instinctive reaction to a VFR pilot. This would be the worst
thing to do but habit and panic are incredibly powerful. Two
screaming and panicked passengers would not help to collect one's
composure either. Also, a high performance heavy single is not
going to recover like a J-3 cub.
Some points about recovery.
a. Getting the wings level with the aircraft right side up
is paramount. Releasing back pressure is a necessity.
Remember "when in doubt, lower your snout". This means to
reduce your angle of attack by releasing back pressure. In
my opinion, anytime you're confused about the attitude of
your aircraft, REDUCE BACK PRESSURE! Back pressure keeps a
wing stalled in a spin and it tightens the turn in a deep
spiral. I know that many Flight Instructors teach stall
recovery by having the student put the nose on the horizon
and adding power. They teach that minimum loss of altitude
is most important. Usually works fine in a Cessna 172 in VFR
conditions where you can see the horizon. However, I feel
that this is the wrong habit formation. Never forget, UNDER
PRESSURE WE REVERT BACK TO HABIT! This technique in a high
wing loaded aircraft like heavy singles and twins might
result in a secondary stall that can be vicious and even
more difficult to recover from. Loss of altitude and correct
heading are of secondary importance to getting the airplane
flying under control. Reduce back pressure! (Note: there are
aircraft, like an Aerostar, that have such high wing loading
that a strong push forward on the wheel may be needed to
break a stall).
We got off the subject a little. It appears Mr. Kennedy was
not in a stall/spin situation but a spiral, basically a dive
in a tightening turn. How could one tell. In a spiral the
airspeed is increasing very rapidly and your turn coordinator
needle is pegged to one side and the "aircraft line" in the
attitude
indicator is way below that "artificial horizon",
meaning you're in a nose low attitude. The "artificial
horizon" line is not only above your "aircraft line" but
turned away from it. Also, because of the high speed, there
may be a lot of wind noise. In a situation like probably
Kennedy was in, trying to recover by outside reference was
probably not in the cards. This means getting the job done
using the instruments.
b. Recovering on instruments requires releasing back
pressure and at the same time turning towards the "artificial
horizon". The object is to get the two lines parallel.
Increasing the back pressure while trying to turn back into
the horizon line would probably result in an accelerated
stall. Big trouble. In real life, releasing back pressure in
a deep spiral might be the last thing your instincts tell you
to do but in this situation your body sensations will kill
you. Also, if the airspeed is very high, come back on the
power.
c. Now with the "artificial horizon" and "aircraft
line"
parallel we're in a straight dive. With the power back, start
a gentle back pressure on the wheel. It will take a lot of
strength to pull the nose up just a little but be gentle.
The aircraft may be near it's structural limits and it is
highly desirable to keep the wings on. (Be ready for some
serious positive "Gs"). The object here is to get the two
lines
in the attitude indicator together. As the nose comes up and
the two attitude lines come together, you will probably need
to add forward pressure to keep from zooming up into a nose
high attitude. As things stabilize, don't forget to bring the
power back up to maintain the straight and level attitude.
DON'T FORGET THE POWER!! On the gauges, with an excited,
inexperienced pilot, it would be very easy to fly the plane
into a stall with the power back. Not good.
d. Now with plane back straight and level; back under control
we need to return to the business of correct heading and
altitude. A good autopilot in this situation is a Godsend.
The pilot will need help to unwind and settle down.
Summary points:
1. It goes without saying that practice recovering from unusual
attitudes is called for. Get under the hood with a Flight
Instructor. Put your head down and then recover with outside
references and on the gauges after the FI has set the attitudes.
It is also good training to keep your head down and try to
identify the attitude without looking. Good way to impress on
you what bad information your body gives you in this situation.
Note: It really helps to have a good ground session with
training aids prior to flight. A good flight simulator is great.
2. I would like to think that anyone learning to fly near a
large body of water would be introduced to night VFR flight
over water as part of the Private Pilot course. Teaching about
the local environment just makes sense.
3. Anyone that thinks that a pilot with an instrument rating
would never get into the situation Kennedy probably got into
is dead wrong. Most people that get an instrument rating very
seldom use it and therefore don't keep their proficiency up. In
fact, many people that have earned an instrument rating are
scared to death of ever using it. What a shame. Instrument
flying is not that hard. It's just a matter of confidence. The
more you do it, the easier it becomes. With the increasing use
of GPS, the days of zig zaging from VOR to VOR are over. Do it!
4. Many years ago I talked to a pilot that swears to have gotten
into a similar situation that Kennedy probably found himself in.
This was near Montrose, CO and this Private Pilot was scud
running in a Cessna 320 at night coming back from Vegas and got
into IMC conditions. He described how his airspeed was very high
and attitude was nose low and in a steep bank. He claims the
following saved his life. He reached over and hit the altitude
hold on his autopilot and let go of the wheel. Makes sense to
me but I don't make any recommendation about this technique
because the variables are large. However, without doubt a 1995
Saratoga would have had a quality altitude hold autopilot. You
be the judge.
In the final analysis, John Kennedy was, without doubt, a fine
human being. However, it appears he was behind the airplane and
behind the situation and the ultimate price was paid. The laws
of nature play no favorites.
Other Information:
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In addition, I often recommend, what I feel to be the best book
ever written about flying an airplane, "Stick and Rudder" by
Wolfgang Langewiesche. I sincerely believe that every pilot
should read this "bible" at least twice. It WILL make you a
better pilot because it discusses flying an airplane from the
WYSIWYG perceptions a pilot receives. If you would like to order
it on-line or any of a million other books from Amazon click on
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