Well, you say, what does that have to do with our general aviation flying? We might all be tempted to skip this article and go on with our day… Not so fast! Could this apply to us as well? As a concept, I would emphatically say, YES! I believe that if the FAA had to raise the warning flag to professional crews and pilots, it might be worthy of our attention as well. Here are some basic definitions from the AC:

“2.1 General. For the purpose of this AC, the meaning of FPM is the planning, execution, and assurance of the guidance and control of aircraft trajectory and energy, in flight or on the ground. “Flightpath” means trajectory (lateral, longitudinal, and vertical) and energy state of the aircraft. “Flightpath” includes “ground path” if the aircraft is in motion on the ground.

2.1.1 Ensuring that the aircraft is on a safe and correct flightpath is the highest priority of all pilots on the flightcrew. Ensuring the airplane is on the correct flightpath includes the actions necessary to check/verify that the flightpath is correct and to intervene as necessary if it is not correct.

2.1.2 Each pilot is responsible for: • Being fully aware of the current and desired flightpath of the aircraft, and • Being fully capable of manually flying the aircraft to achieve the desired flightpath.”

I think we can all agree that Loss of Control (LOC) has been, and remains as one of the leading causes of General Aviation incidents/accidents. But what could be a leading root cause of Loss of Control and therefore the loss of Flight Path Management? Distractions! There will always be distractions, however, what is most important is how we handle those distractions. Bruce wrote an article in July of 2023 regarding distractions. https://angelflightwest.org/news/july-safety-update/

However, I would like to address this subject under the “umbrella” of Threat and Error Management (TEM) as well. https://angelflightwest.org/news/april-2023-safety-report/

Distractions as Threats. In aviation we have a multitude of Threats that we face daily that are actually beyond our control, such as, ATC, weather, complex airspace, complex clearances, complex obstacle departures and complex approaches, to name a few. To illustrate, let’s draw a circle shape and list those Threats in there. In the center of the circle we have the one and only thing that we actually can control, OURSELVES! In the space between ourselves and the outer circle with all the exterior Threats, that we cannot control, we actually have a zone of INFLUENCE. The things that we can do to influence the Threats=Distractions that we have no control over. By controlling ourselves, we can influence the factors that we cannot control. So, when does a distraction (Threat) become an Error? When we are indeed distracted by a distraction. Now we need to find a way to repair that Error so that we can return to Safe Operations.

Methods for influencing exterior Threats = Distractions:

Knowledge. How well do we know our airplane, or VFR/IFR procedures? Do we study regularly? If we are faced with a distraction of a complex re-route clearance for example, involving new airways etc, the best way to mitigate this distraction/Threat from becoming an Error is to know our navigation system well and to feel comfortable with its operation. That requires preparation, study and practice. If we feel that we are weak in certain areas, we should commit to addressing them.

Skill-set. As you all know, knowledge alone does not make us perform good short field landings, or good ILS approaches, etc. Skill-sets require practice and training. How often do we get training to humble ourselves and to re-learn or practice certain skills? How often do we chair-fly maneuvers to effectively “trick” our brains with visualization in order to improve our skill-set? Again, only we know our weak areas, so it is incumbent among all of us to practice and train those skills and also receive instruction so that we can potentially discover areas that we didn’t even realize that we are weak on.

Limit multitasking. Multitasking….we all do it. But in actuality that is not what we are doing. Instead, we are simply dividing our attention between multiple tasks. We can’t do multiple things at the same time. What we do is multiple things, not as effectively. For example, I frequently eat when I watch TV. Therefore, I don’t eat as well, nor watch TV with attentiveness. Is that the end of the world? Of course not. But what about if we are single pilot and we are doing a checklist, or programing our navigation system while we are taxiing? We are not taxiing with attentiveness, nor are we performing the other task with full attention. We must resist this temptation, take the time to be single minded and one-pointed in our tasks and we will be far more equipped to influence the inevitable distractions/Threats.

Physiology. When we are distracted, our body typically responds in the same fashion as when we are startled. For example, loss of focus, tunnel vision, potential flight response, etc. One technique that I use quite frequently when I am flying and I have found very effective is Tactical Breathing and vision control. 4 second inhalation, hold breath for 4 seconds and exhale for at least 4 seconds. It reengages your parasympathetic nervous system and ultimately your focus and attention. Then a slow, methodical movement of our head, looking right, center and left. This opens our focus and mitigates tunnel vision. This all sounds simple, yet it is extremely effective. Both the military and the airlines teach these simple methods to their pilots. Give them a try!

Flying is fun, we are all passionate about it and the volunteer work that you all do for Angel Flight West is priceless. But, when we show up to go fly, are we ready for our worst day?

Remember, we will not “rise to the occasion”. Instead, we will “fail” to the level of our knowledge and training.

Thank you kindly for your attention and wishing you all a safe and good summer.

In safety,

Alexi Stavropoulos
AFW Safety Officer
AlexiosS@angelflightwest.org

The post May Safety Update: Managing Our Flight Path and Distractions first appeared on Angel Flight West.

Here are some highlights that I have experienced while working with our airline’s program:

*   There is no necessity for culpability in order to file an ASRS report. In other words, you don’t have to have done something wrong in order to file a report. Any safety issue or concern warrants a report filing.

*   There is no limit to how many reports you can file in your aviation career. To exaggerate you can conceivably file one on every flight you fly. There is a limit to certificate action protection timelines and I will discuss this further under the immunity concept.

*   The FAA considers the filing of an ASRS report to be indicative of a constructive attitude towards safety. What I refer to as a safety disposition. Because the reporting is voluntary, NASA serves as an independent honest-broker with the FAA; separate from a certificate holder, regulator or employer. As such, it remains confidential (to encourage further reporting) and non-punitive assuming certain parameters are met, which I will discuss later.

*   In your report narrative, make sure that you provide sufficient information. Don’t be cryptic. The chronological, sequential and honest description of your event/issue/safety concern is what qualifies you as an aviator with a safety disposition. Elaborate on the who, where, when, what and why.

There is an 8 minute video that highlights the main concepts. We all have 8 minutes. Please watch it. It can be found on this site, along with a summary of the program:

https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/overview/summary.html

Let’s briefly discuss the immunity concept, which in my opinion is the epicenter of what makes this program so robust and the envy of aviation safety programs worldwide.

Paragraph 9. c. FAA Advisory Circular No. 00-46F

c. Waiver of Imposition of Sanction. The FAA considers the filing of a report with NASA concerning an incident or occurrence involving a violation of 49 U.S.C. subtitle VII or the 14 CFR to be indicative of a constructive attitude. Such an attitude will tend to prevent future violations.

Accordingly, although a finding of violation may be made, neither a civil penalty nor certificate suspension will be imposed if:

1.  The violation was inadvertent and not deliberate;

2.  The violation did not involve a criminal offense, accident, or action under 49 U.S.C. § 44709, which discloses a lack of qualification or competency, which is wholly excluded from this policy;

3.  The person has not been found in any prior FAA enforcement action to have committed a violation of 49 U.S.C. subtitle VII, or any regulation promulgated there for a period of 5 years prior to the date of occurrence; and

4.  The person proves that, within 10 days after the violation, or date when the person became aware or should have been aware of the violation, he or she completed and delivered or mailed a written report of the incident or occurrence to NASA.

In a past report we discussed the Threat and Error Management model (TEM). The ASRS reporting system can serve as a vehicle in the reporting of threats and errors.

What I have told thousands of crews and pilots. If you feel that you should be filing a report, then you should file one. Air Traffic Controllers have their own in-house program as well, as do most labor departments in professional aviation organizations.

This link is what you need in order to file an ASRS report : https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/report/electronic.html

As mentioned in points 1 and 2, the ASRS report does not serve as a “get-out-of-jail card” for willful violations, criminal acts or disclosures of lack of competency or qualification.

Also, the question of the timeliness of a report filing allows some room for discretion. For example, if you were unaware of a deviation and a federal entity informs you of the deviation three weeks after the event, then the 10 day clock starts ticking after the moment you were notified of the event. Therefore your report will still be timely even though it is way past 10 days from the actual day of the deviation. You should address that fact in the narrative of the report.

I am certainly not an attorney, nor is this legal advice. Simply a summary of the excellent safety program that both NASA and the FAA have created, through the ASRS reporting system.

I hope you found this report helpful. Wishing you all the very best for the new year and thank you for all that you do for Angel Flight West.

In safety,

Alexi Stavropoulos
AFW Safety Officer
AlexiosS@angelflightwest.org
707-953-8947

The post January Safety Update – NASA ASRS Program – Aviation Safety Reporting System first appeared on Angel Flight West.

Pleasant greetings and I hope that this report finds you all safe and well.

During my initial introduction, I communicated to you that we all share one common goal: to function in our flying within Safe Operations. That statement serves as a prologue to our safety articles. Thereafter, in our first report (April 2023) we took a deep and detailed dive in the Threat and Error Management model as part of our main theme. As promised during that article, a future report would discuss the process of a thorough debrief, as an epilogue to the entire matter.  I also recall that I promised that that article would be far more brief, and I will keep that promise!

During Threat and Error Management (TEM), the complete return to safe operations does not fully occur, unless it’s encapsulated by a debrief. At some commercial organizations a debrief is mandatory and a graded subject during evaluations.  Obviously in General Aviation we are not bound by such structure and SOPs.  I will simply state, however, that choosing to not self debrief is an opportunity lost. As stated before, a thorough debrief of our performance will enable a true understanding of the root causes of error and mismanaged threats; providing opportunity to improve.

A debrief can also discover and highlight Normalization of Deviation occurrences, as well as Intentional, or Unintentional non Compliance to FARs, procedures, etc.  Let’s review the above mentioned subjects from the April article:

Intentional Non-Compliance (INC) Impact on TEM Performance

Intentional non-compliance is the willful decision to operate outside established standard operating procedures and/or governing regulations. Acts of INC are related to subsequent pilot errors and mismanaged threats relative to safe operations. According to Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) industry data, intentionally non-compliant flight crews and pilots are far more likely to commit errors. LOSA refers to errors caused by INC as “intentional non-compliance errors.” When INC becomes habitual in the absence of consequences, Normalization of Deviation is established as an alternative to compliance. This creates opportunity for exponentially more errors, and a growing systemic threat to safe operations. The best defense against intentional non-compliance is holding one’s self and each other accountable to the established standard operating policies and procedures. Food for thought: how many of us conduct checklists, or navigation programming while taxiing? Or skip the run-up on the last flight home with no passengers? Are we engaging in INC and therefore normalizing it?  Take a hard look at your practices and make the decision to err on the side of safety.

So, how should we debrief? I will share a process which I find effective, expeditious and simple.  If we have a long flight we can conduct the first portion (preflight to cruise phases) during cruise, when our workload is low and perform the debrief of the remaining phases of flight after the conclusion of the flight.  Or we can conduct all of it at the end of the flight. The debrief should always include our performance in managing threats and/or errors. The debriefing should include what went well during the flight and why, as well as what could have gone better and why:

1. What went well? WHY?

As pilots we are usually rather good, sometimes too good in self critiquing, on occasion to a fault.  Make it a point to always start your debrief with the positive aspects of the flight.  That way we can self encourage our behavior, highlight all positive aspects, so as to reinforce repeat performance in the future. It is even more critical however, to focus on the WHY. Was it checklist discipline, threat preparation, error repair, workload management? Be relentless in finding the WHY.

2. What could have gone better? WHY?

Apply the same principles as above and continue to be relentless, especially in the WHY? Same questions apply: checklist discipline, threat preparation, error repair, workload management, communication, aircraft/engine/automation management, just to name a few. Remember, errors are not necessarily a failure, but really an opportunity to improve.

3. What will I do next time?

Common sense applies here.  What will I do next time to continue doing the things that I did well and what skills will I apply to prevent the reoccurrence of errors that I made and outcomes that were not desirable.

I have used this process for a very long time and it has been instrumental in helping me highlight what I do well, but far more importantly in bringing my errors to light and reducing the likelihood of reoccurrence. Specifically, one issue that I was able to highlight during my debriefs, while conducting Angel Flights, was the subject of passenger distractions. I have had folks innocently trying to have a conversation with me during the takeoff roll! My debriefing highlighted that threat and it has led me to conduct a more thorough and articulate passenger pre-departure briefing regarding sterile cockpit procedures. 

I have said and will continue to always say: I have yet to fly the perfect flight and intellectually I know that I never will.  This process however, moves me closer to that goal and I’ll take that elusive “victory” any day. If you are not already doing so, seriously consider adding this process to your flying and make it your standard operating procedure. 

I would still very much like to hear from you all, regarding Threats you face and how you use a debrief to mitigate them and potential Errors.

Thank you for your time,

In safety,

Alexi Stavropoulos

The post September Safety Update – Threat and Error Management Debriefs first appeared on Angel Flight West.

We all have distraction mitigation techniques, usually initiated after we scare ourselves silly (or worse). But what can we do to ensure we ALWAYS, well OK, almost always, prevent distractions from causing bad things to happen?  

The first step is to recognize that you’re being distracted. Red flag! Beep, beep, beep! Then you need to decide what has the highest priority – the distraction or aviating. Sometimes you can postpone diverting your attention to the distraction, and sometimes you can’t. For the former, figure out a way to appropriately delay while you focus on aviating. “Stand by”, finger up, or just temporarily ignore said distraction (or tell ATC, “unable”). But what if you must immediately address this thing?  How do you make certain that you get back to aviating before it’s too late? 

Scenario: You’re an Angel Flight Command Pilot on a mission with a young patient and her mother on their first Angel Flight. You’re flying your beautiful Bonanza A36. It’s been kind of a turbulent flight, and mom mentions that her daughter is feeling nauseous. Fortunately, you’re just a few minutes from your destination airport, and it’s VFR. To help out, you ask ATC for priority, and they clear you direct to the airport visual approach. OK, good.  But now your passenger is getting worse, so you add a little power to expedite your arrival. The destination FBO is near the end of the long runway so you know you can bleed off some speed when you’re on short final. At 5 miles out, the young patient begins vomiting – but at least you prepared for that eventuality by giving mom a Sic-Sac before departure. You add another 10 knots for the approach. Crossing the threshold, you pull the power to bleed off extra energy. Hmmm, it’s taking longer to slow down than you expected, but you finally get to a reasonable touchdown speed with enough runway remaining. Should be a nice, smooth landing, which should calm the passengers. You hear a tone over the sound of the young girl retching – is that the… 

Then you hear awful metallic noises as the prop and then fuselage contact the runway. As your treasured chariot finishes sliding down the runway, leaving a layer of aluminum instead rubber, the longest four-letter word in the English language emanates from your mouth, I mean, mind. The cabin becomes eerily quiet, except for the gear warning horn blaring. Then you realize that it would be best to exit the plane and help the now terrified passengers out of the back. It’s harder than you expect because the plane is sitting so low. The tower closes the airport since your wounded plane is stuck on the only runway. Fortunately, you’re able to get mom and patient out safely, but now you have the complication of getting them to the FBO to meet the Earth Angel, as well as dealing with the emergency crews and authorities. You realize this may be their last Angel Flight, as well as your last mission for a long time. 

What the @%$&# happened?? You know what happened – you forgot to put the gear down! An immediate distraction (ill patient) caused you to address the situation right away. You concentrated on getting to the airport as quickly as possible. But you did not establish a point at which you can “close” the distraction by returning to normal aircraft configuration and approach speed. Sure, your passenger is ill and wants to be on the ground NOW, but it’s imperative that you slow down and run through your landing checklist when you get close to the airport. 

So, what can we do to prevent distractions from embarrassing or killing us (or anything in between)? Here are some ideas. 

1. Put up a flag. Do something simple to remind yourself that you are addressing a distraction, such as turning your kneeboard over, putting a pen on the glareshield, or making a note. In the above scenario, you could have put a note on the panel or your kneeboard: “3”, meaning you’ll start your slowing to normal approach speed and configuration 3 miles out.  

2. Decide when to close. Determine a time, location, or other threshold at which point you will focus only on aviating per your original plan, or a new plan if required. Remember to go through any checklists as appropriate. As mentioned in idea #1, deciding to reconfigure at 3 miles out defines your “closure” point for your distraction. 

3. Decide what you’ll do after. Plan to go back to the beginning of a checklist to avoid skipping critical steps or return to aviating and checklisting per your plan. But if the distraction is due to an anomaly (aircraft, weather, passenger, or pilot issue), then you may need a new plan. Give yourself time to devise the new plan, even if that means diverting from your planned route (“Hey ATC, I need a hold from present position or a delay vector for 3 minutes.”). In the above scenario, as you decided to expedite your arrival, you also needed the conscious decision that you would return to normal operations when closer to the airport. 

4. Check yourself later. After you’re on the ground and safe, evaluate how you responded to the distraction and think of what you’d do next time you have a similar scenario. In this scenario, you could think about whether expediting your arrival was even necessary, or if 3 miles out was an appropriate point for slowing to approach speed and reconfiguring for landing. We’ll talk about this concept for every flight in a later article. 

Well, that’s it. I hope that you (and I) consider these ideas so we can keep distractions from impacting our safe flying.  You and your passengers deserve it!  

Any comments or questions, please contact me at: BruceP@angelflightwest.org. 

The post July Safety Update first appeared on Angel Flight West.

Threat and Error Management (TEM) refers to the process of managing operational threats and human errors. Threat management reduces the potential for pilot error, while error management mitigates the negative consequences of errors. These combined techniques are known as Threat and Error Management, or TEM. TEM promotes vigilance versus complacency by implementing an active, continuous process of identifying and preparing for threats and identifying and repairing errors at the earliest opportunity. Failing to effectively manage either threats or errors will negatively influence a pilot’s  ability to maintain a safe operation.

You may ask, how do all these fancy words and concepts apply to my single-pilot GA flying? Bear with me and I’ll show you.

So, what are we trying to accomplish when we fly?  We want to maintain Safe Operations. Yet we inevitably encounter Threats. We must prepare for those Threats, in order to return to Safe Operations. If we don’t, we will likely make Errors.  We must repair those Errors in order to return to Safe Operations. If we do not, we will likely end up in an Undesired Aircraft State (UAS).  We must recover from the UAS in order to return to Safe Operations.  If we do not, we may end up in an Incident/Accident. We use our SRM/TEM skills to prepare for threats, repair our errors and/or recover from UAS, in order to always return to Safe Operations.  We need to be deliberate and purposeful with this process.

Before we get into the details of Threats, Errors and UAS, what do we consider a UAS?  Are we thinking we are upside down with imminent ground contact, or parts are flying off of our aircraft? No, it certainly doesn’t have to be that dramatic! Allow me to elaborate.  Let’s say we are about to depart from our local airport.  The weather is not VFR, but it’s not “nasty” either.  We have filed IFR, because we have some broken cloud cover.  The temperature is slightly below 10 degrees C.  There is a Threat: the weather.  We depart, but we make an Error: we forget to turn on our pitot heat. We now enter the clouds and our pitot heat is still off, with a relatively low temperature.  We are now in a UAS! An Undesired Aircraft State. We have a Threat (the weather) that we may or may have not prepared for, which lead us to an Error (we did not turn on the pitot heat) that we did not repair, which ultimately lead us to a UAS.  We now must recover (turn on the pitot heat and other anti-ice equipment we may have) in order to return to Safe Operations. If we do not recover, we may have an Incident/Accident due to potential erroneous airspeed indications and/or structural icing.  

We have multiple tools that allow us to deal with Threats.  At my airline, we are required to brief all Threats prior to departure and prior to arrival.  It’s called the Threat Forward briefing concept and I carry it over to my GA flying.  

We break the Threats into three categories:

Personal Threats: personal stressors, currency/proficiency, distractions, fatigue, etc.

Environmental Threats: weather, terrain, operational pressure, passengers, airport operations, complicated clearance, etc.

Technical Threats: aircraft systems, performance, maintenance issues, etc.

The FAA has issued a safety briefing regarding SRM that I will hyperlink here. 

https://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2015/media/se_topic_15_03.pdf

They refer to the five Ps and other methods to highlight Threats and how to mitigate them.  You choose what method works best for you, as long as you seriously consider adding this process to your daily pre-departure and pre-arrival briefings.

In another safety report we will discuss how to effectively and simply debrief ourselves after each flight, in order to best apply Threat and Error Management into our future flights.

Now let’s take a deeper dive into TEM.

THREATS

Operational threats and human errors are inevitable within the aviation environment. Many years ago, I had the privilege of participating in our airline’s first Line Operational Safety Audit (LOSA).  I was a “fly on the wall” in our flight decks, observing crews and my purpose was to observe Threats and Errors and document them while imposing no threat to the crew and maintaining complete anonymity.  Each flight took me about 4 hours of thoroughly documenting the Threats and Errors, after the fact.  It was an eye opening experience as to how complex flying can be. The data shows that on average, pilots encounter three operational threats per flight. Threats are operational events or concerns that:

1. Occur outside the influence of the pilot

2. Increase operational complexity

3. Require pilot attention to maintain safety margins

Threats can be either anticipated or unanticipated. For example, anticipated threats could include terrain, adverse weather, maintenance items, or airport conditions. Examples of unanticipated threats are system malfunctions, medical emergencies, or an unpredicted wind-shear encounter.

THREAT MANAGEMENT

Effective threat management reduces the potential for pilot error. The first step in effective threat management is to identify threats, both anticipated and unanticipated. The earlier a threat is identified, the more quickly and effectively it can be managed, minimizing the impact on safe operations.

Effective threat management strategies include proper preparation by:

1. Adhering to standard operating procedures and regulations.

2. Applying applicable SRM/TEM skills.

3. Persistently briefing applicable threat(s) to safe operations.

Stated simply: Identify And Prepare.

Errors may occur when a threat is not identified, or identified but not effectively managed.

ERRORS

An error is an unintentional deviation from desired performance. Errors are things we do incorrectly, or things we neglect to do. These are referred to as acts of commission or omission, respectively. While error is inevitable in human activity, the numbers and severity of these can be mitigated through training, vigilance, communication and monitoring strategies, and SRM/TEM skills. In short, while error may be inevitable, many controls are available to reduce them. Still, pilot error is an ever-present threat each individual pilot poses to safe operations.

Error Management

Effective error management utilizes tools and techniques to proactively mitigate and/or eliminate the negative consequences of errors. Proper threat management prevents many errors from taking place. However, errors also occur in the absence of threats. Therefore, good error management begins with error identification.The earlier an error is identified, the sooner it can be repaired and alleviate potential for an Undesired Aircraft State (UAS). The complete return to safe operations does not end there. A thorough debrief of our performance will enable a true understanding of the root causes of error and mismanaged threats; providing opportunity to improve. As mentioned earlier, we will discuss that in a future report.

The strategies for error management are the implementation of applicable SRM/TEM skills. These may include:

1. Monitor/Cross-Check by maintaining awareness of the aircraft status and the pilot’s actions

2. Workload management by ensuring tasks are properly prioritized and managed

3. Automation management by ensuring proper automation levels, settings and configurations are selected.

Stated simply: Identify And Repair.

An Undesired Aircraft State (UAS) may occur if an error is not identified, or not properly repaired.

Intentional Non-Compliance (INC) Impact on TEM Performance

Intentional non-compliance is a decision to operate outside established standard operating procedures and/or governing regulations. Acts of INC are related to subsequent pilot errors and mismanaged threats relative to safe operations. According to Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) industry data, intentionally non-compliant flight crews and pilots are far more likely to commit errors. LOSA refers to errors caused by INC as “intentional non-compliance errors.” When INC becomes habitual in the absence of consequences, Normalization of Deviation is established as an alternative to compliance. This creates opportunity for exponential errors, and a growing systemic threat to safe operations. The best defense against intentional non-compliance is holding one’s self and each other accountable to the established standard operating policies and procedures. Food for thought: how many of us conduct checklists, or navigation programming while taxiing? Or skip the run-up on the last flight home with no passengers? Are we engaging in INC and therefore normalizing it?  Take a hard look at your practices and make the decision to err on the side of safety.

UNDESIRED AIRCRAFT STATE (UAS)

Undesired Aircraft State is a position, attitude, condition, or configuration of an aircraft that reduces safety margins. It is a safety-compromising state that results from ineffective error management. Identifying an UAS is the first step to returning the flight to safe operations. The earlier an UAS is identified the earlier recovery can occur. Pilots must take immediate action that may include a combination of SRM/TEM and technical skills. These may include:

1. Monitor/Cross-check to actively verify aircraft position and configuration

2. Automation management to ensure proper automation levels, settings and configuration are selected

3. Technical skills (stick and rudder) to fly the aircraft

Stated simply: Identify And Recover.

An aircraft operating in an undesired state and not promptly recovered may lead to an incident or accident.

SRM/TEM SKILLS

A safe operation is maintained by combining technical skills with managing threats and errors through the effective implementation of SRM and TEM skills. These observable and assessable human behaviors include both SRM and TEM skills that when combined enhance flight safety by giving pilots tools to manage operational threats and human errors. Effective application of SRM/TEM skills creates a path away from an incident/accident and will turn a divergent trend back toward safe operations.

I realize that this was an abundance of information.  I promise that the next report will not be anywhere near as lengthy! However, it will hopefully give us all something to seriously consider.  I have yet to fly the “perfect flight”, without errors. However, my goal is to strive for it, always. And I know that you feel the same way.

Let’s therefore take this opportunity to observe the types of Threats that we encounter during our flights and specifically with AFW.  For me personally, a Threat that I did not envision prior to starting AFW flights was passenger “interference”.  Despite what I thought were solid passenger briefings, I would still have passengers innocently trying to “chat me up” during the take off roll! 

What Threats do you encounter in your flights?

I will be absent most of the month of April.  However, Bruce and I would appreciate it if you could email us (email address provided below and please copy us both in your replies) a brief paragraph with the most common Threats that you encounter.  While we might not respond to all the emails, after a certain timeframe, we will collect and categorize those Threats and publish them anonymously, for all of us to see. I suspect that we will find lots of common elements.

Thank you for your time.

In safety,
Alexi Stavropoulos

The post April 2023 Safety Report first appeared on Angel Flight West.

My name is Alexi Stavropoulos and I am deeply honored to be serving as AFW’s Safety Officer along with Bruce Poulton. I am grateful to own a Cirrus SR22T.  Without a doubt, my favorite flying activity in my Cirrus is to fly for AFW when my work schedule and weather permits. Both have been a challenge as of late. Otherwise, I love staying in the pattern, humbling myself! And of course, flying with my family.

Bruce and I have big shoes to fill in this role. Rich Pickett has served this role honorably and with great commitment. He has graciously offered to remain as an advisor, as his schedule permits.  I fully intend to capitalize on his offer and tap into his knowledge for advice and counsel. Thank you Rich!

I have worked for United Airlines for almost 31 years.  I am currently a B777 Captain and Line Check Airman/Evaluator. For the last 20 plus years, I have been serving and continue to do so, as the SFO ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association) Safety Committee Chairman. I have also served in the past as an Incident Responder and Mishap Investigation Committee Chairman for the entire United Airlines pilot group through the Central Air Safety Committee for ALPA. I have also served as the Domicile Safety Officer for the SFO Chief Pilot’s Office.  I started in GA, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where I also graduated with an emphasis in Aviation Safety and Accident Investigation. 

There is an abundance of extremely valuable experience among many of AFW’s pilots.  This safety structure belongs to all of us, and we all have valuable input to offer.  I am looking forward to acting as a liaison to the wonderful staff of AFW to the absolute best of my ability.  We all share one common goal: to function in our flying within Safe Operations. And this will be the theme of our first communication.  I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible, learning from you and helping in any way that I can.

Meet Bruce: 

I’m honored and humbled to be selected for this volunteer position.  

I’ve been a general aviation pilot for almost 45 years, and I’ve been lucky enough to be a part owner of a Beechcraft Bonanza A36. Prior to owning the A36, I was a partner in a 1954 E35 Bonanza for 28 years. I love flying Angel Flight missions and getting to assist some amazing people.  

Although I’ve wanted to be a professional pilot since forever, I instead had a career at Lockheed Martin Space as a Satellite Engineering Manager. My career allowed me to stay involved in GA and enjoy the benefits of owning an aircraft.  I regularly participate in formation flying with the NorCal Beech Boys, Bonanzas to Oshkosh, and the Memorial Squadron, and I’m an FFI certified Formation Flight Lead. I love to coach other pilots on how to safely fly formation. 

I retired from LM a couple years ago, and I somehow got to fly FedEx Cessna Caravans for a few months. Then the most amazing thing happened – I was hired on with a small jet charter company in Hayward, CA to fly the Citation XLS+. I finally met my goal of being a professional pilot! 

Although I lack Alexi’s formal safety credentials, I have always been focused on safety. The formation community has excellent protocols and procedures for training and practice, and I’ve been lucky enough to participate in forming some of those procedures and training new and advanced formation pilots. Although it may seem that Angel Flight missions and formation flying have little in common, I believe that they share many safety and risk management principles.

I see this as a learning opportunity for me to work with the AFW volunteer pilots and understand their safety concerns. I look forward to working with Alexi to serve the AFW pilot community.

We look forward to welcoming and supporting Alexios and Bruce in their new roles as AFW Safety Officers. 

The post Meet AFW’s New Safety Officers first appeared on Angel Flight West.

On a recent Saturday I had just returned from practicing a number of stalls in our Cessna T206, which I always enjoy doing. I was on the ramp at the Crownair FBO at MYF (Montgomery) talking with the line staff there. Looking north towards the runways, we noticed a Cirrus SR20 flying westbound over Runway 28R. It initially appeared to be a go-around, but then I noticed a significant, and frequent, pitch oscillation. I hoped that they would climb and get stabilized. As we tracked the flight west, I noticed they were near the departure end of the runway, then the plane pitched up more dramatically and start a rapid descent to the ground. As the descent started, I knew they would crash and I was ready to move to help. Within a split second the plane impacted, then slid along the ground.

I asked one of the line staff for a hand-held radio and told them we were going out there. They retrieved one, and we got into their line vehicles. As I approaching Taxiway Hotel, I was able to contact Ground Control in-between the obvious announcements of airport closure, aircraft responding, etc. The controllers were awesome. I identified myself, requested clearance to drive to the plane, and they cleared us to the crash site.

Fuel was spilling from the right wing which was split open. I walked around the front, hoping that since we were on dirt the risk of fire was less. Fuel was leaking from the left wing, and the pilot, sole occupant, was unconscious in his seat and bleeding. I confirmed with the tower we needed an ambulance and they replied that one was on the way. I worked to stop the bleeding, stabilize him as best I could to prevent further injuries, and comfort him. While waiting for the EMTs, all I thought was I hoped he would be okay and just minutes before he was enjoying flight. The fire department with EMTs arrived and took over my position with the pilot. I spent the next three hours at the site, teaching the fire fighters how to safely secure the plane with the BRS, and documenting the site with the FAA.

Immediately afterwards, actually before I left the site, I was wondering how could we as an aviation community learn from this event. There were two major areas:

First Responders. With the exception of on-airport fire stations (at Part 139 airports), the first responders may not be trained in aircraft accidents. The fire fighters who arrived were professionals and wanted to learn more. I crawled under the wreckage and explained which battery cables to cut (turning off the master – only turns off power to some buses), and how to safely drain fuel. I called friends at Cirrus who put me in contact with their accident team, and I accessed the ELT to turn it off and briefed the fire fighters on the Ballistic Recovery System (BRS – CAPS).

Each aircraft is different, as we know – from rotorcraft to jets. I started a dialog with the fire department at the site, and have now volunteered to teach their colleagues more about aircraft so they can plan for an incident response. This is something that can be, and should be accomplished, in all aviation communities. Pilots can definitely assist in this process, and some companies such as Cirrus Aircraft have excellent information (https://firstresponder.cirrusaircraft.com/). The FAA also has a considerable amount of information available for first responders at https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/gen_av/first_responders.

The question is do fire departments know about these tools? And if they do, how to they use them in an aircraft incident. I’m sure some of you are already involved in such programs and if I’m successful in helping our fire department, I hope to share the information with others. Ask your airport manager how they inform first responders, and perhaps how you can help.

I also published a short YouTube video on my response at: https://tinyurl.com/SR20Incident

Advanced Aircraft Training

The NTSB will conduct their investigation, and I don’t want to speculate on the exact cause – neither I or anyone else at this time has all the information. The pilot did an exemplary job on his earlier landing patterns on that day, and I hope they find a definitive cause(s) for the incident on the last one. He did report issues with his pitch trim to the tower, however, accidents are complex events and other factors may have been involved. The SR20 has an impressive data collection capability. I confirmed the presence of some of the components, and it should be invaluable in the investigation.

The accident also encouraged me to write about aircraft with advanced systems, and training. This is not isolated to the latest Cirrus, Piper, Diamond, or Cessna – but ‘legacy’ planes as well. With the advent of amazing technology that can be installed in our planes, fifty-year-old planes can be turned into state-of-the-art flying carpets.

Some aircraft companies, a great example is Cirrus, offer a thorough training program on their aircraft, even subsidizing training on used aircraft. No other manufacturer, to my knowledge, offers such a broad
program. Upgraded legacy aircraft don’t have that option, and the number of avionics variations is almost as many as the tickets in a Powerball Lottery!

I’ve taught a number of pilots with upgraded avionics who do not have a thorough understanding of the advanced avionics in the planes they are flying. It is extremely important for owners, and possibly even more critical for aircraft renters, to fully understand the systems they are using. Pilots need to be proficient not only in the use of these new navigation systems, but also emergency procedures when they fail. In the turbine realm we memorize, and train, for a wide variety of abnormal/emergency events, something I feel is inadequate with lighter aircraft. Pilots need to expand their response knowledge to include more system abnormalities.

On your next flight review, or even earlier, make sure you ask your instructor to work with you on systems emergencies, especially as it relates to flight controls. Whether it is pitch trim (stuck, runaway), flap failures, GPS outages, etc. Place Red or Yellow caps on critical circuit breakers, and memorize critical responses. My frequent training was instrumental in two pitch trim anomalies, that could have resulted in a bad outcome if I had not followed procedures – quickly.

I’m also in the process of finalizing another video on aircraft trim systems and safety procedures for my Personal Wings channel.

As always, our thanks for providing the flights for thousands of missions we collectively complete each year. If you have questions the Wing and Safety Leaders, and myself, are available to help and assist the AFW staff.

The post What Can We Learn from Accidents? first appeared on Angel Flight West.

I love to do pattern work, even after decades of flying, and working for a smooth landing.  While it can be rewarding and offers great training, it does come with some safety issues.   While Aircraft Flight Manuals (AFM/POH) for light aircraft don’t make specific mention of a firm landing without much float, generally all turbine Operating and Flight Manuals have a specific reference.  This reference is not always easy to find, but it is there.  The manufacturers’ note that their landing performance data does NOT include much float. In fact, they encourage a landing for safety – not comfort.   

Jim Dell, former AFW Safety Officer and frequent Command Pilot, recently sent me information on this topic and I thought it would be perfect subject for our AFW team.  I have written before on one of my favorite safety topics – Stabilized Approaches – and this is a fitting follow-up topic.

Let’s say you arrive a bit fast at 50 feet AGL and you have your friends in the plane with you. After some turbulence during your flight, you want to give them a smooth-as-silk landing.  As you approach a few feet above the runway, you utilize ground effect to make that landing so smooth they won’t know when you exactly reconnected with Mother Earth.   As you glide in ground effect, you see the runway passing beneath you while the runway markers on the sides indicate decreasing runway ahead of you.   You might even remember the old pilot saying, “The two most worthless items for a pilot are fuel on the ground, and runway behind you.”  You might also note the slight tailwind you have or the downward sloping runway ahead.  Suddenly, you are nearing the end of the runway. 

You contact the runway and work to slow down the plane while applying more brakes than usual. When you first apply the small brakes we have on planes, it takes some time for the plane to slow down from touch down speed to a full stop.  For reference, in the Beechcraft Premier I, it takes 80% of your landing distance to slowdown to 50% of you landing speed.  This is probably a good reference for other aircraft as well.

Analysis of recorded data on some aircraft indicates that pilots are striving for comfort at the expense of using the available runway for landing – “the runway behind you”.  In some cases, pilots aren’t touching down until between 2,000 – 3,000 feet down the runway.  That may be fine with extremely long runways, but isn’t good practice and could lead to miscalculations on shorter runways.

Aircraft landing performance is determined by being at Vref (1.2-1.3 times stall speed in landing configuration) at 50 feet AGL, power to idle and continuing at 3 degrees until touchdown, brake application after nosewheel contact (tricycle gear) and application of other life dump devices (spoilers, lift dump, thrust reversers).  While there are differences between various aircraft, this is the gist on how landing performance is determined.

I do love to have a glass-smooth landing; however, I strive to make precision touchdowns to Commercial/ATP pilot standards the vast majority of the time.  I’m always ready for a brake failure, perhaps since I’ve had them, and never speed up to the end of the runway or turn fast unto a taxiway.   I prefer safe landings over comfort landings.   Boeing and Embraer also produced a nice video on the topic: No Landing is Routine – Brake for Safety, Not for Comfort!

Article by Rich Pickett, AFW Safety Officer

The post Are You Landing for Safety or Comfort? first appeared on Angel Flight West.

So, what is hard IFR? If you go to the FARs you won’t find the definition or even the term itself. But, all of us who sometimes fly IFR use the term. When I was talking with a consultant recently on the purchase of a new flight management system (FMS) he asked me, “how much of your flying is hard IFR?” What does that mean? It seems that we’re left with something similar to Justice Potter Stewart’s comment on the definition of pornography:  “I can’t define it but I sure know it when I see it.”

The Aviation Safety article arrived at a sensible solution. The definition of hard IFR is fluid and depends on the combination of weather, equipment, and pilot proficiency that applies to the individual flight. What’s “hard” in one circumstance might be pretty easy for another pilot depending on those factors. It’s up to each of us as PICs to do a realistic self-examination before each IFR flight. Some thoughts:

WEATHER is the most objective of the considerations. We have available to us hard numbers on existing conditions and reasonable predictions on what the future holds. We can apply this information to the other two factors in analyzing the flight and making go/no-go decisions. Some conditions like icing and thunderstorms can make the decision pretty easy.

EQUIPMENT Automation has probably done more than anything else to make hard IFR easier. If you are in my generation (old) you probably got your instrument ticket in a single-engine airplane with one or two navcoms, a single glide slope, and, hopefully, a DME. Autopilots were rare on training aircraft. Today it’s common to have GPS navigation with a visual depiction of your aircraft on a moving map and an approach plate. Autopilots (AP) have become much more common and, with GPS steering (GPSS), a flight plan can be loaded into your GPS navigator and the AP will fly the entire flight plan including departure, approach, and missed approach. But, the generic caveat applies – you need to be able to hand fly the airplane without all the gadgets, at least to and down the nearest ILS. I typically will use the AP and FMS to fly actual approaches,  especially into unfamiliar airports, and hand fly most practice approaches. 

And, let’s not forget the advantages of today’s portable GPSs and EFB apps – Foreflight, Garmin Pilot, and some others. You can have the latest display and processing technology for a small fraction of the cost of installed certified equipment. You just have to ensure that your installed equipment is adequate to the task and is used as the primary means of navigation with your portable as ancillary information and backup. I have synthetic vision (SV) on my Foreflight program and it is quite comforting to see a runway coming toward me on final when my actual vision is entirely obscured by weather. Just a portable tablet with a good program can greatly increase the threshold for hard IFR.

PROFICIENCY  Flying on instruments is a perishable skill. We all know that and the FAA knows that and has established minimum currency requirements. We also know that being “legal” does not necessarily mean being proficient and safe. Regular practice and training are important. I think everyone should do an IPC at least annually and preferably more often. I always tell my instructor (a retired senior airline captain) to run me through the wringer and let me know if he sees anything in my performance that is dangerous or an obvious “senior moment.” (I ain’t getting any younger. So far so good). Our proficiency goal should always be to meet or exceed our highest certificate’s check ride standards.

Thanks for all you do and thanks for your commitment to Angel Flight West.

Paul Henderson  —  ASO, Oregon Wing, AFW

The post What is Hard IFR? first appeared on Angel Flight West.

Recently I did a mission from San Diego to Imperial in the Eclipse. It was a beautiful IFR departure through low level clouds out of Montgomery (MYF) then quickly over the clouds, watching the bright moon which my passengers and I enjoyed. Twenty minutes later I was landing on Runway 32 at Imperial (IPL). The airport can blend in with the surrounding lights, however I like to follow the VOR approach, which provides improved situational awareness especially at night, even under clear skies.

The ramp was populated with a few Ospreys who stop for fuel during night operations. After deplaning my passengers, I was quickly airborne, flying to the IPL VOR to stay clear of other airspace. After connecting with LA Center, I was turning right direct to BARET intersection and was climbing through about 7,500 MSL. Wham – I was illuminated by a very bright continuous green laser on my left.

What surprised me was not only the intensity of the light, but also the apparent width – it looked like a broad source rather than a pinpoint. It may have been caused by the light scattering when it hit my cockpit window. Without staring at the light to prevent visual impairment, I tried to pinpoint its location, just like spotting fires, and notified ATC. It appeared to be originating from Mexicali, 4nm south of my location at the time. A few seconds later, I was illuminated again, this time from a different location to the west of the first one. I turned off all of my external lights to reduce my visibility to them and the lasers stopped.

In talking with ATC, they can’t do anything outside of their airspace, however the PIREP helps other pilots. I suspect they were actually targeting CBP aircraft that were below me and I was caught at the same time. Of course, ATC wouldn’t comment on the presence of CBP aircraft near me.

I’ve seen ground lasers before and typically they are a single pinpoint of light. These were quite different. One of the hardest actions to do is NOT look at the lights. Green lasers are known to reduce not only short-term visual acuity during flight, but some pilots have had reduced vision for several days afterwards. While I didn’t feel any significant visual impairment, it did have the same impact of having a very bright flashlight shine in your eyes at night. I didn’t expect it to be so powerful well above the ground.

I made sure that I could view all of my instruments and ATC asked if I had any injuries. I’ve heard of law enforcement helicopters being targeted in some areas and since they operate at much lower altitudes, the potential impact can be significant.

If you are targeted by a laser, don’t risk your vision by looking directly at the light. If you can give approximate location information to ATC – great! But don’t do it at the risk of your safety, however notify ATC in any case and file an FAA report as well.

FAA Reporting Guidance: https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/safety/report/laserinfo/

The post AFW Safety: Flying at Night – Laser Dangers first appeared on Angel Flight West.

Upon finding a pilot for an Angel Flight West (AFW) mission, the AFW staff frequently calls the passenger only to hear. “I never heard from a pilot, so I scraped together money from friends and family to buy a commercial ticket,” or “I started driving yesterday,” or even, “I canceled my appointments.” This type of response is really frustrating, both for staff and pilots. We work hard to fill these flights and pilots work hard to free up their schedule and time for AFW missions.  So why does this so frequently happen? What can we do about this to help our pilots?

AFW instructs and informs new passengers at least three times as to how our process works and what to expect. The first is through their social worker or medical provider. The second is through a volunteer phone call that goes through an extensive script. The third is direct contact from the staff as their mission approaches.  Obviously, if they call us to check-in as instructed, or if a pilot calls them upon signing up for a mission these are additional points of contact.

Yet with all of these points of contact, the passenger and often their family member companions are still in a daze. They have been diagnosed with a rare illness or have been fighting a disease and the results have overwhelmed them. They are trying to balance their work and home life with new rounds of medical treatment in a foreign area and they can simply become dazed.  They often have what I call “selective hearing” or they hear what they want to hear. For better success and less frustration as a pilot, I will detail some practical ways to help the patient and the AFW coordination staff in this process.

1.  Frequent and clear communication is important.  Pilots often assume that the patient is well versed in how AFW works, which is often not the case.  As soon as you sign up for a mission, call the passenger; no matter how far away the flight is.  Then call again a few times, time permitting, before the flight.  Include in your conversation weather considerations, timing, and what to expect.

2.  On your initial call, verify all of the information on the mission form is correct.  In particular, verify the scheduled dates and times for the flight.  Ensure that the planned arrival time allows enough time to reach their appointment/meeting, verify the passenger’s contact information (especially mobile or last-minute contact, whether the passenger knows the planned airport and meeting point, etc..  Provide your contact information and encourage them to contact you should anything change.  Also, be sure they have ground transportation and lodging arrangements are taken care of ahead of time and have them contact the AFW coordination team if anything changes.

3. Pilots sometimes like to wait until closer to the date of the flight to sign up for missions because they want to make sure weather is acceptable.  Some pilots say they do this because they don’t want the passenger to have “false hope” that their flight will be covered, or that someone with de-icing equipment will sign up.  I would encourage the opposite. Sign up when you have a date available regardless of weather. We just don’t have that many planes available for last-minute bad weather trips.  Also, the passenger would rather know a pilot has signed up for the mission and then have a later conversation with the pilot if weather forecasts or some other factor indicate the flight might not happen.

4.  The passengers we are dealing with are frequently in dire situations socioeconomically, physically, and mentally. They can flake out. They can have bad contact numbers.  They can say one thing and mean another.  A lot of this can’t be avoided. However, your AFW mission coordination team is here to help! Call us. You are not bugging us. It is our job and pleasure to serve you!  We can chase down numbers, track information, translate Spanish, and give you some more information.  On the same note, we want to hear of questionable behavior by passengers. Whether they show up very late, are disruptive, not responsive, or possibly undeserving, we want to know so we can act accordingly. We have checks and balances in place during the intake process but we can certainly miss a few folks or run into someone taking advantage of our services.

I hope this helps give a little more insight into the passengers we serve and reduces the frustration of canceled flights.  We all want to serve as many passengers as we can, as efficiently as we can.  We thank you for all of your service and help on your end. We will continue to work with you to make the best use of your invaluable piloting resources.

The post What Angel Flight West Passengers Don’t Say first appeared on Angel Flight West.

During my 44 years and 6,000 + hours as a pilot, there have been several near-miss experiences. The really close ones stick in my mind, much as any near-death experience would. Typically the close encounters occur while VFR in VMC. But occasionally we encounter a too-close call while IFR in IMC, just as one happened to me yesterday.

I was on my way from SMO to RDD in my Turbo Cirrus. Since headwinds were strong I stayed low at 6,000′. I was IFR, and because the Lemoore MOA was active, rather than direct to RDD I was cleared on V23 to Clovis VOR, and then direct to RBL. As I approached the Fresno area, clouds enveloped my Cirrus and it was solid IMC. Out of nowhere and without explanation, the controller told me to turn to a heading of 360. I complied. Then I picked up a target on my traffic display. It was at my altitude, within 5 miles, and just about 11 o’clock moving towards me. When the traffic was within a mile and still at my altitude, the controller advised me of a King Air at 11 o’clock. I responded that I was IMC. The King Air pilot then came on stating he had traffic on his TCAS at 12 o’clock. The controller told the King Air to turn right 20 degrees. As you are aware because I am writing this article, we both survived an all too close encounter of the worst kind. According to my traffic display, we were within ½ mile of each other converging at a rapid pace. Neither explanation nor apology came from the controllers. Although I was unnerved, I did not file a report with the FAA, but did file a NASA ASRS form for their database on near misses.

The point here is that controllers are human, and make mistakes. We cannot place 100% reliance in them. The message I come away with from experience as a pilot, and attorney who has been engaged in litigation involving air traffic controller negligence, is that flying is a shared responsibility. While the PIC has final authority for the safety of flight, controllers also have mandatory duties and obligations which come into play, particularly in the IFR environment. But we must remain cognizant that controllers may have heavy workloads, maybe in a training phase, maybe fatigued, or just may not be paying attention. In VMC, even when on an IFR flight plan or getting VFR advisories, we pilots have the responsibility to keep our eyes outside, and inside on the TCAS or TCAD, assuming we are lucky enough to have such valuable equipment. Without such devices, see and avoid is worthless while in the clouds. Trust is required. But best to follow the advice of our former Governor/President: “Trust, but verify!”

So, a few simple safety tips to keep in mind:

• Always keep a vigilant lookout for other traffic.
• When flying with passengers, let them know that it is okay to advise you of any aircraft they think are too close.
• Never fly into IMC while VFR without a clearance.
• When IMC, if a controller calls out traffic, let the controller know you are IMC, inquire where the traffic is, and ask what can be done to keep a safe distance away from a potential mid-air collision.

The post Collision Avoidance – “Trust, but Verify” first appeared on Angel Flight West.

However, should any or all of them increase in intensity at a moment when the aircraft doesn’t have sufficient energy, the situation could change quickly. Be constantly prepared to recognize and cope instantly.  Even better, always plan and fly with sufficient safety margins so that these issues become inconveniences, rather than emergencies.

In attempting high density altitude takeoffs, either calculate density altitude or use the ASOS/AWOS announcements of the density altitude.  If there isn’t local weather, use your aircraft’s OAT gauge and E6B, aviation calculator, or density altitude chart to determine the current Density Altitude.

Especially when operating at near gross weight or at unusually high density altitudes compute your takeoff roll, and rate of climb, versus what is required for departure and obstacle clearance, and remember, that your POH performance data is based on a new aircraft, flown by a razor sharp test pilot, and then, probably, massaged by the marketing folks.  As a rule of thumb, if 71 percent of the takeoff speed is obtained halfway down the runway, you will be able to take off in the runway remaining.  If not, you should immediately abort.  If at any point during the take-off the acceleration doesn’t feel right, immediately abort.

For a sense of what effect density altitude can have on aircraft performance, a rule of thumb for calculating a take-off distance is to add 10% of the sea level pressure altitude take-off distance for each 1000 feet of density altitude up to 8,000 feet density altitude and above that add 15%.

If the situation warrants, consider accelerating while in ground effect because you can better see where you are going and the aircraft accelerates better.  Be sure to practice first at high density altitudes and without obstructions until you know what your aircraft will do.

Remember, a naturally aspirated engine starts losing power at any density altitude above sea level and may not be able to even make 75% power at 7000 feet pressure altitude.  Refer to your aircraft’s POH regarding any leaning or engine operating procedures and expected performance for high density altitude take-offs and other operations.  If your POH doesn’t cover leaning for take-off, the following method is recommended by Sparky Imeson, well known mountain flying instructor.  At full power (preferably during take-off roll if the runway is long enough), lean the mixture until the engine runs slightly rough and then enrichen until the engine runs smooth again.

If you’re taking-off or landing at an airport with a density altitude significantly higher than you’re used to, be aware of the visual impression that the aircraft seems to be going faster than the airspeed indicator shows.  That is a dangerous truth because it is a natural inclination to fly at a speed that visually matches what you are used to.  Use the airspeed indicator as to your primary reference and always fly the landing approach at the indicated airspeed for a normal sea-level approach accounting for winds and gusts.

If the forecast is for turbulence, anything greater than light can be a problem, especially in the mountains.   Also, remember that what is comfortable for you may be very uncomfortable for your passengers.  Severe turbulence is an absolute no, no.  Avoid it as if your life depends upon it — it might!

Get winds aloft forecasts before your flight and verify them during the flight.  Some areas even have AWOS/ASOS transmitters located in the mountains to provide weather reports selected mountain passes.  You can find the frequencies on Sectional and WAC charts.  If the winds are significantly higher than forecast, be wary of the entire forecast and if they exceed 20 knots consider different routing or even canceling the flight.  Also, consider alternatives if the winds at your destination are greater than 20 knots.

Be aware of and avoid mountain waves on the downwind side of mountains, along with the associated downdrafts and updrafts and turbulence that, with strong winds, can be devastating as much as 50-100 miles downwind from a mountain range.  Flying over mountainous areas, always maintain 2000 feet or greater terrain clearance.  Cross ridge lines at a forty-five-degree angle, so that you can easily turn toward lower terrain.  Don’t fly beyond the point of no return so that if power is lost or reduced you can still turn around.  Know the airspeed and configuration for minimum radius turns and practice them until you are competent.

With GPS pilots are inclined to take a shorter, direct, routing.  In the mountains consider following airways or even roads, because they usually traverse more hospitable and lower terrain as well as routing near airports.  Check your potential routings on a sectional and, if available, an IFR enroute chart where you can use the Minimum Enroute Altitudes to help determine the best routing.  Roads are a potential emergency landing strip – but watch out for traffic, trees, and utility poles and wires, and NEVER fly under the orange, red, or yellow balls that mark power lines – there are frequently wires below them.  Don’t thermal shock or detune the engine with power off descents or rapid throttle movements due to the possibility of the engine not responding correctly when you really need it.

Prepare and carry an emergency survival kit.  It should include enough water for at least 2-3 days for each passenger.  Have it within reach at all times.  If it is in the baggage compartment it may not be accessible in an emergency.  Ensure everyone dresses for the environment you are flying over.  Proper footgear is a must.  Most mountain flying courses recommend you stay with the aircraft because it’s easier to see the plane than someone walking in the woods.  Consider carrying a 406 PLB (personal locator beacon) with GPS locator and 100M accuracy if your aircraft is not so equipped.  This could reduce your mountain adventure from days to hours.  More on PLB devices in a later article.

Don’t become complacent, fly by rote, or ignore the warning signs of weather, terrain or wind.  Because of the convective activity, icing in mountainous terrain is usually more dangerous than in the flatlands and in the afternoon cumulus clouds often build higher than most general aviation aircraft can fly.

The foregoing is, primarily, taken from Sparky Imeson’s “Mountain Flying Bible”, and his “Ten Commandments”, along with some of my own experience.  Sparky lived, breathed and taught mountain flying for many years.  I attended his seminars, and knew him well.  Unfortunately, he was killed in a crash in the Montana mountains last year, after surviving a previous accident and survival situation in which he was not the pilot in command.  Mother Nature can reach up and bite the best of us, So be prepared; do the proper risk assessments for every flight, and always leave plenty of margin for error.  You never know when you will need it.

The post Mountain Flying first appeared on Angel Flight West.

Only a short distance from the San Francisco bay, this sea-level airport’s tower is in operation from 0700 to 2100 local.  There are nine other airports within 20 NM, including Moffett Federal Airfield, just four nm SE, and San Carlos (SQL) seven miles NW.  PAO is located under San Francisco International’s Class B airspace and there is Class C airspace around both Oakland International and San Jose International.  San Jose’s Class C begins at 1500 feet, less than a mile to the SE.  In addition, SFO’s approach path is just a short distance to the NE.  Pilots, especially VFR pilots, should have a current San Francisco Terminal Chart and have spent some time reviewing the recommended arrival routing (more on this later).

PAO’s 70-foot wide runway is relatively short at 2443 feet.  Runway 31 is the favored runway, but overruns on either landing or take-offs from runway 31 are dangerous because only 80 feet from the departure end is an 8-foot dike.  In addition, there are wetlands near the approach end of 31 that can cause significant sink on short final, so keep your guard up.  I used to be based at PAO and it wasn’t unusual to see the windsocks at opposite ends of the runway indicating opposing winds as the western winds swirl around the trees by the golf course to the west of the airport.  The normal traffic pattern is at 800 feet on the Eastern side, but if you are cleared to enter on the Western side, the pattern altitude is 1000 feet.

As you can see from the picture, PAO’s airport layout is unusual.  You’ll typically want to pick up or drop off passengers at the Terminal building and transit parking area on the SE end of the field (bottom left of the picture).  Navigating there can be interesting, so the easiest method might be to ask for progressive taxi instructions if you’re unfamiliar.

The terminal is minimalist, but there are restrooms and a public phone is available outside the terminal building to call a ride, cab, or the FSS.  There is no flight planning computer available in the lobby but there are at the local FBOs.  There isn’t a rental car agency on the airport, but there are rental car offices not too far away and there is contact information in the lobby.  If you or your passengers need a rental car, it is best to be scheduled ahead of time.

Both Chevron (122.85) and Exxon (122.95) offer fueling from their respective trucks from 7 AM to dark.  Chevron (Rossi Aircraft) has provided discounts for Angel Flight missions for many years and will provide fuel service after hours for a fee.  Exxon (Palo Alto Fuel Service) also provides a discount on their truck.  There is 100LL fuel available 24 hours at the self-service Exxon fuel pumps that are $.25-.30 cheaper than the truck fuel.  Compare prices as the AFW truck discount may still be less expensive than the self-service.

There is a small sandwich shop/cafe called Abundant Air Cafe in a building at the south end of the field.  There are also aviation supplies in a nearby building located beside the Palo Alto Flying Club.  If you need maintenance or oxygen, they are available on the airport as well.  Rossi Aircraft is located reasonably close to transit parking.

With the recommended arrival and departure procedures as well as Noise Abatement issues, and with the variety of Class B, C, and D airspace, not to mention airline arrival for SFO, OAK, and SJC, the smart pilot will spend some time reviewing the procedures and local charts before trying to operate into or out of PAO.  Finally, with all of the potential GA traffic, we recommend using Flight Following as well.

If you need to pick up an IFR clearance when the tower is closed, check out http://www.dr-amy.com/rich/flying/kpao.html for detailed information.

The following URLs provide additional information:

For Noise Abatement procedures:

http://www.countyairports.org/docs/PilotInsert-PAO.pdf

For a very useful website containing a plethora of information on IFR or VFR operations, VFR, Noise Abatement procedures, a detailed map of the airport, and so forth, I strongly recommend:

http://www.dr-amy.com/rich/flying/kpao.html

This is the AirNav page for PAO:

http://www.airnav.com/airport/KPAO

This is the Stanford Flying Club’s website and it has a useful airport diagram:

http://www.flystanford.com/kpao.htm

More useful information about local operations:

http://www.countyairports.org/docs/PilotInsert-PAO.pdf

The post Palo Alto Airport (KPAO) of Santa Clara County, CA first appeared on Angel Flight West.

1. How many of you have had an emergency while in flight?
2. How many of you have declared an emergency?
3. How many of you have had to complete any post-emergency “paperwork?”

The answers are usually:  A few, a few less, and zero.

That’s right, most people who declare an emergency never face the dreaded “paperwork” that everyone fears.

Take me, for example.  Once I was firmly IMC when the engine started running rough.  The EGT/CHT instrument indicated that I’d completely lost power in one cylinder.  Without hesitation, I turned directly toward the nearest airport while holding the current altitude to give me the greatest possible range should the engine stop.  I did what diagnostics I could, declared an emergency, telling ATC where I was going, what I was doing, and prayed.  ATC confirmed my execution by clearing me direct to the airport I was already flying toward and asked for the number of souls and fuel onboard and the nature of the emergency.

The ceiling at the airport was about 1500 feet AGL, so I arrived overhead at my cruise altitude and circled down until I was below the overcast.  I flew a close in abbreviated pattern and made an uneventful landing.  On final, I noticed flashing lights scattered around the ramp area.  After landing I taxied by two fire trucks and three police cars that were standing by in case the situation warranted.  I confirmed with ATC that I was safely on the ground, and that was it!

Since there was no damage to the aircraft I didn’t file an NTSB report and I never heard from the FAA.  But the truth is that I’d have been happy to fill out whatever reports the FAA, NTSB, or whoever wanted me to because I completed the flight safely.  If you are interested, NTSB Part 830 provides the reasons and timing for when you must file a report.

You probably remember from your flight training that there are two phrases you can use to command attention depending upon the severity of the situation.  “Mayday, mayday, mayday” implies a serious and life-threatening emergency.  “Pan, pan, pan” communicates that you have an urgent situation.  Personal opinion, if there is any doubt, “Mayday” is the right answer, or simply state “I am declaring an emergency.”

Remember the old saw, “If you have an emergency, you should:  ‘Aviate, Navigate, and Communicate.”  The new take on that would add: “Manage,” as in manage the problem to a safe conclusion.

Once you have declared an emergency, you have the right to do anything necessary to achieve a safe resolution.  But first, FLY THE AIRPLANE and navigate toward a safe haven.  Communication can wait until you are ready.  If you need assistance, ATC is standing by to provide whatever you need.  If you need a frequency, airport weather, approach information — it doesn’t matter — ATC will help you in any way they can.  If you have passengers you can also use them in whatever way makes sense.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that, in an emergency, the pilot should stay focused on doing whatever it takes to get the airplane safely on the ground.  So, while in the midst of a situation, keep your focus, use the resources available, and declare an emergency if that will help.

The post Declaring an Emergency first appeared on Angel Flight West.