tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26430633440148810572024-02-22T04:00:57.812-05:00Operation Safe FlightA pilot's pointers to keep you flying safely.Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-7691358234269722132017-05-30T13:59:00.000-04:002017-05-30T13:59:03.571-04:00Some Tips On Landings And Take-Offs
Landings are something we do often. If you have taken off, you are going to have to land somewhere. The question is how to do it in the safest and most efficient manner. A lot depends on what you are flying, how much experience you have and of course, the weather. Landing a J-3 Cub is a lot different than a high speed Walter F Erston, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10815808615616927807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-45690230791203851642017-04-30T20:25:00.000-04:002017-04-30T20:25:10.862-04:00A Turbulent Flight I hope Never To RepeatIt's late in the month and I hate not to have written a blog. Reflecting on some of my past "challenging" flights brings back a flight from Albermarle, NC back to Rock Hill, SC. about a 60 mile flight. For a short while in 2000, I commuted to work at the hospital in Stanley County and back each evening to Charlotte and my hangar in Rock Hill SC. Normally, it should take about 25 minutes or so in Walter F Erston, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10815808615616927807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-23739275032979135802017-03-30T15:24:00.000-04:002017-03-30T15:26:26.917-04:00 Oh No! I Forgot To Put The Gear Down
If you haven't yet had a "gear up" you are lucky, or maybe just well trained and careful. Although I have never had a gear up landing, I almost did. Years back when I was doing some instrument flight training with an instructor in the right seat, I was on short final ready to touch down. The instructor said "have you forgotten something?" I had not put the gear down. That was aWalter F Erston, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10815808615616927807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-70874381687983661662017-02-28T19:52:00.000-05:002017-02-28T19:58:01.247-05:00One Pilot's Path
I'm smiling as I look back at my first log book. The first entry is on November 4, 1961. Yes, I know that's going back some 56 years, that puts me at 21 year old. I was taking my first flight lesson in a military Pa-18 at Felker Army Air Base located at Fort Eustis,Va. just west of Newport News. Back then I did a total of only 15 hours of flight time. I just didn't feel Walter F Erston, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10815808615616927807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-44678878009285479472016-12-31T12:00:00.000-05:002017-01-05T09:52:28.454-05:00How To Fly And Survive
Over the
past five to six years, I have been writing about some of my flight experiences
of the past 40 or so years. I have used
this blog as the recording medium. The goal of this writing is to share these
flight experiences in an effort to help fellow pilots avoid senseless and possibly
fatal flight accidents.
Let me offer
an example of how not to do it. Going
back to 1967 Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-81839317739505388252015-12-29T20:46:00.003-05:002015-12-30T10:53:01.066-05:00Another Holiday Has Successfully Come And Gone....
Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-25096936882463145002015-11-25T20:13:00.002-05:002015-11-25T20:13:54.788-05:00Sometimes I read Things In The Newspaper That Really Scare Me....
Reading an
article in the local Charlotte paper on doing away with required flight physicals
taught me a lesson. Don’t believe everything you read, and do check the facts
whenever possible. The Charlotte article stated that Senator Inhofe’s PBR2 would
essentially do away with a required medical exam for Class 3 (private) pilots. Instead pilots would just
write a note in their log everyWalter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-16410688843360957822015-10-27T11:53:00.000-04:002015-11-01T21:50:58.646-05:00 With Winter On The Horizon, It's Time To Start Thinking Of Things Like Ice, Snow And Sleet......
With winter on the horizon,
its time to start thinking of things like ice, snow and sleet. Three things that
can cause real danger to the casual pilot, and are best avoided. I had flown in
to Monroe airport (EQY), just east of Charlotte, to be together with my wife
for a weekend. As there was no hangar space available, I had to park the plane, a Cessna 340, next to a hangar outside in the Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-44412311044526239872015-09-19T18:39:00.002-04:002015-09-21T12:03:32.018-04:00Same Old, Same Old..............It seems
that I have written about the type accidents that are occurring over and over
again. Things like forgetting to lower the gear, or crashing alongside or off
the runway in the weeds because of inattention. No one wants to read about them
again. And, I don’t feel like dealing with them now either. So I am just going to
relate some flight adventures of my own. Yes, maybe I will repeat myselfWalter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-12175611666916208182015-08-26T10:31:00.000-04:002015-08-26T10:31:14.428-04:00Planes Colliding End Up Badly.........
A phrase you
must have heard a thousand times: “there is nothing new under the sun” applies
to bad landings and resultant sequelae. In the latest FAA accident happenings 5
out of 5 accidents involve landings and the day before 7 out of 17. Typical
errors such as: hard landing, busted left main wheel, struck prop etc. As I
have dealt with these before, I don’t want to belabor it now. But If I hadWalter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-35954693382217467622015-07-19T15:42:00.000-04:002015-07-19T15:42:33.482-04:00Lately It Seems That Nose Wheels Are Being Busted......
Lately
it seems that nose wheels are being busted as if they were meant to be
destroyed. In a recent FAA accident report, there were no less than “six nose
wheels destroyed on landing” reported on a single weekend. Wow that takes some
doing. The thing that really got my attention was this occurred in six
different models, including a small twin. What I would like to know is: how
does one Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-53838357025654785092015-06-20T14:30:00.001-04:002015-06-20T16:11:07.340-04:00Recent Private Plane Accidents Are Rather.........
Piper PA-28 -140 1966 Cherokee
Recent private plane
accidents are rather “ho hum”. Yes, more of the same and boring. For example
let me list some of the recent accidents. There were five “went off” the runway
landings. Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-81606673903408990442015-05-27T21:17:00.003-04:002015-11-07T15:42:36.633-05:00After Having Work Done On Your Plane Have The Mechanic Fly On The First Flight.... It's time to write another blog. What to choose as a topic?When talking with my wife this morning, this topic came up. What about some maintenance horror stories. Yes, I've had a few, as most pilots that fly a lot probably have too.
Early in my flying career, with a fresh pilots license, this happened. I was renting a Cherokee 140 for a short local hop out of Syracuse. Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-10933460448987422632015-04-25T11:04:00.000-04:002015-05-28T15:28:36.659-04:00A Ride I Would Never Forget...........
Thinking over what to
write my next blog doesn’t immediately yield a topic. After all, there are only
so many subjects to consider. So I have decided just to relate one or the
other of my “flying adventures”.
One that comes to mind
goes back to my time as a second lieutenant in the Army Transportation Corps. Always
gung-ho to hop aboard any flying machine that would take Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-66681796516673162782015-03-19T16:43:00.000-04:002015-04-27T21:09:17.365-04:00Beware When Hand Propping.................
Reading
about a “hand propping” accident involving a Pa-18, on the FAA accident site
brought back some good old memories, fortunately no bad ones. In my early
flying years, I had the opportunity to fly a Pa-18 (Piper Cub). It was bare
bones. No electrical system. That’s right, no lights or radio. Better have a
flashlight aboard and plenty of batteries. One thing I learned early in the
Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-18596192298166171442015-02-27T14:12:00.001-05:002015-04-27T21:09:56.635-04:00Don't Have A Bad Day, So Don't Land On the Nose Wheel.....
If you touch down on the nose wheel first, you have a good
chance of causing serious damage. Depending on factors such as speed and
weight, the nose gear might collapse and then who knows what. The prop will be
damaged, probably the engine and fuselage. You certainly will have a bad day.
Reading in Aviation Safety* that 40% of accidents are
landing gear related, would help explain why I Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-55366240799017913072015-01-27T20:52:00.003-05:002015-01-27T20:52:43.476-05:00Flying A J-3 Can Be Loads Of Fun, But Once In A While Things Can Go Wrong....Preparing for writing the next blog is an interesting
task (most of the time). Lately I have been made aware of so many accidents
related either to the take-off or landing phases of flight, that I started to
read about the landing and take-off processes.* This a wonderfully written
article, with many superb illustrations, both diagrammatic and photographic. Not
only are details of the various Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-84256076986265153802014-12-31T14:49:00.001-05:002014-12-31T14:49:16.921-05:00Have A Happy And Safe 2015, Fly Right......
Well it’s New Year’s Eve and all goes well, unless you
are one of those “pilots” I have been reading about on the FAA accident
reporting site. I really do wonder what makes those pilots tick that make it to
the internet site. Why don’t you read it for yourself and think about it?
Here are some examples of their doings:
&Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-29745984878414449762014-12-16T17:18:00.000-05:002014-12-16T17:18:15.334-05:00Flying An All Digital Glass Cockpit You Had Better Have Some Analog Back Up.........As it is approaching Christmas, I am going to offer a
present early, an abbreviated blog. Do I hear you cheering out there? Well,
here goes. This is aimed at you digital types, with all glass cockpits. In case
you missed it, all glass. Do you have any back-up analog instruments?
No. Well here is why you need them if you do any IFR flying in real weather conditions.
Let us suppose thatWalter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-31353768886626557382014-11-25T17:45:00.000-05:002014-11-25T17:45:21.428-05:00What Are Your Chances Of Getting Struck By Lightning?,,,,,,,,,
In chatting with my son the other day, on his return from
another across the globe business trip, he related the following. As his huge
four engine Airbus A340 was somewhere in the pre-landing phase the left
outboard engine was struck by a bolt of lightning. It was accompanied by a loud
bang and lots of smoke. The plane shook and shuddered but otherwise seemed ok.
The passengers weren’t however,Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-39149906856406964612014-10-29T16:49:00.002-04:002014-10-29T16:51:34.783-04:00Please Stay On The Runway.......
After reading over this
week’s accidents on the daily FAA accident reports, it again impresses me how
many of these involved the runway environment. By this I mean simple taxiing ,
take-off or landing.
Now I can understand
having a landing incident, as Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-55913765171348250212014-09-23T17:21:00.001-04:002015-08-01T15:57:53.777-04:00Hypoxia. A Condition To Avoid At All Costs.......
In revisiting the recent crash/disappearance of an almost
new TBM900 many questions arise.
Perhaps the most cogent, why was there no perception of hypoxia/anoxia on the part of
the pilot? After reviewing communications between the pilot and ATC, there
never was a mention of a loss of cabin pressure, which leads to hypoxia etc.
An important question to answer is: why the pilotWalter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-22595525967980330162014-08-27T20:52:00.000-04:002014-08-27T20:52:48.875-04:00Memories From The Cockpit.........
It was a long time ago when I
first started to think about flying my own airplane. Ever since I can remember
I was looking up into the sky, searching for the source of the “buzzing” sound
made by the airplanes engines. Walking with my parents or other adult, I would
pull on their arms to try and stop them so I could stop and look. Seventy odd
years later, I still have to “stop and look”.
MyWalter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-60766837621201646662014-07-30T20:46:00.000-04:002014-07-30T20:52:48.428-04:00So We Can All Learn From Our Mistakes........
It seems that all the
FAA writes about now are the mishaps pilots make on taxiing, landing and even
taking-off. My last few articles have dealt with these adnauseam, so I won’t
get into it again now except for one that stands out.This deals with a plane
that made a forced landing on Venice Beach.Two people walking on the beach were
struck by a plane that had a power failure. It was a tragic Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643063344014881057.post-35176625873552874312014-06-30T16:51:00.001-04:002014-06-30T16:51:51.566-04:00Looking Over The Latest FAA Accident List.......
Looking over
the latest (June 30 ) FAA accident list, it is hard to wonder what some pilots
are doing while at the controls. How do two pilots of different Cessna 172’s
manage to “flip over” while taxiing? Why does the gear of a taxiing Mooney suddenly
“collapse”? There are so many accidents like these that I can’t help but wonder
who is minding the shop?
These type
accidents seem to be in Walter F. Erstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06149238396454840912noreply@blogger.com0