May Safety Update: Managing Our Flight Path and Distractions May 17, 2024 Approximately, a year and a half ago the FAA issued Advisory Circular (AC) 120-123. It is regarding Flight Path Management (FPM) and it is addressed to Part 121/135 operations and Part 142 Training Centers. I am including a PDF link below, in case you are interested in all 46 pages of it! https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_120-123.pdf Well, you say, what does that have to do with o… Safety Officers Read More »
January Safety Update – NASA ASRS Program – Aviation Safety Reporting System January 19, 2024 In this edition’s safety report I would like to discuss the NASA ASRS Program – Aviation Safety Reporting System. There is an abundance of information online regarding this program, yet I wanted to touch upon some of the highlights. Most airlines have an in-house safety reporting process. Most often, the in-house reporting program also simultaneously files a NASA ASRS report. I worked very closely w… Safety Officers Read More »
September Safety Update – Threat and Error Management Debriefs October 11, 2023 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 the… Safety Officers Read More »
July Safety Update July 25, 2023 Passengers. ATC. Weather. Evil instructors. That little needle that’s pointing somewhere it shouldn’t. Stuff that demands your attention when you’d rather just be pre-flying, flying, or post-flying. We pilots are just humans (Except George. You know who you are), and we’re subject to distractions that interrupt our regular flows, checklists, and processes. Angel Flight pilots in particular are carrying pas… Safety Officers Read More »
April 2023 Safety Report April 12, 2023 Pleasant greetings to all. I feel immensely privileged to be able to address you all and it is a position that I will never take lightly. The process of Threat and Error Management is one of my favorite subjects in Aviation Safety. It is applicable to absolutely every kind of flying and it is indeed filled with jargon and terminology, that while necessary, it may overwhelm the reader and take away from its goal: ens… Safety Officers Read More »
Meet AFW’s New Safety Officers April 12, 2023 Meet Alexios: 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.… Jessica Hayes Read More »
What Can We Learn from Accidents? December 2, 2022 I was about to send out a Safety Newsletter on a different topic, when a recent event changed my mind. 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 a… Rich Pickett Read More »
Are You Landing for Safety or Comfort? August 7, 2022 As pilots we all strive for passenger accolades after a smooth-as-glass landing, but is it the best landing? 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… Rich Pickett Read More »
What is Hard IFR? February 20, 2022 Winter is almost over (but not quite) and the weather is changing. Spring is a time of quickly developing weather systems and unpredictable weather. Not that long ago I sat in my house in the Cascade foothills at 1,800 MSL and watched the effects of the portion of the “bomb cyclone” that passed through our region. We didn’t get it as bad as other places like Northern California but I was looking at hig… Kaitlyn McQuown Read More »
AFW Safety: Flying at Night – Laser Dangers November 18, 2021 The team at Angel Flight West hope you are enjoying the fall season! 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 lig… Rich Pickett Read More »
What Angel Flight West Passengers Don’t Say September 29, 2021 Understanding Our Passengers 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… wagadmin Read More »
Collision Avoidance – “Trust, but Verify” September 29, 2021 Stay Alert, and Don’t Get Complacent Relying on Controllers 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… wagadmin Read More »
Mountain Flying September 29, 2021 Are you a mountain pilot? You probably are even if you aren’t aware of it. In most of Angel Flight West’s territory we encounter many, or even all, of the characteristics of mountain flying even though we may not be flying in the classical “back country.” AFW Pilots routinely fly over some of the most inhospitable terrain in the United States. On practically every flight, particularly during the summer, you can exp… wagadmin Read More »
Palo Alto Airport (KPAO) of Santa Clara County, CA September 29, 2021 Located close to Stanford Hospital and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, Palo Alto Airport (KPAO) is an often used Angel Flight West mission destination. 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. PA… wagadmin Read More »
Declaring an Emergency September 29, 2021 Gather a room full of pilots and ask them the following questions: How many of you have had an emergency while in flight? How many of you have declared an emergency? 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. Onc… wagadmin Read More »
