The Love Of Flying Requires Paying Attention To Detail....

Well guess what, it’s tax season, the dead line approaching in just two weeks. And you know what? I almost have it all done. At any rate it has stolen some of my attention from flight anomalies to getting the paperwork and money to the tax folks. It would be harder to write this blog from prison than from home.                      

So, back to my love of aviation. There still are a lot of landing gear accidents( LDGA). Everyday someone manages to damage a nose wheel  or forget to lower the gear. If you read the FAA accident reports, it is euphemistically called “gear collapsed”.  How hard is it to move that gear handle to the down position? Not hard at all, but it has to be in the pre landing protocol. Mooney pilots seem to like to forget to push the handle into the down position. Not sure why as I haven’t flown one for a long time. The nose wheel thing still seems to be due to a bad landing attitude (too much pitch down). Maybe some more practice emphasizing the flare would help.

The way to combat the (LDGA) is to plan ahead and follow the checklist meticulously. Use some pneumonic  A cute one is GUMPS. This stands for gas, undercarriage, mixture, pumps, switches.

You get the idea. Anything that works for you-the PILOT. But you must use it religiously. I remember always verifying the gear being down by saying “three in the green” on base, final and just before touching down.

 One last area I want to briefly discuss is the instrument  approach . Reading over the stats of when accidents occur, the approach phase stands out. In the approach phase I include everything between en route and landing. The five phases of flight are: take off, initial climb, en route, approach and landing. My goal is to alert the budding IFR pilot and remind those farther along about hazards to avoid, as well as to offer some advice how to stay ahead of the game.

I was going to take us on a simulated IFR flight into a major airport such as Chicago Midway. But as I find myself short of time, I will only touch on the important points , and plan to go into more detail at a later time. In a nutshell, it is necessary to really study the approach plate in great detail. Entry points, course headings and altitudes in particular are very key. One can’t just rely on the digital tools to do it all for the pilot. You must be prepared for all the eventualities such as holding, go arounds and missed approaches. Alternate airports also have to be chosen in advance. This latter point was discussed in an earlier Blog.

That’s it for now. The IRS is calling

Fly well and stay safe.