Max talks in detail about Night Flying, the horrendous accident rate for night flight, night illusions that can lead to accidents, and how to stay safe flying at night. Garmin introduces the GDL 52, an ADS-B plus SiriusXM weather receiver.
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Max flew a Cirrus SR22 from San Jose, CA to Miami. He describes the flight and a close up view of the NASA SuperGuppy. An eyewitness to the Roy Holladay accident describes the crash. A listener asks about when to fly a procedure turn at a hold depicted at the IF or intermediate fix.
43 Loss of Control Accidents: Dealing with Distractions, ADS-B Out configurations to see traffic + General Aviation News
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According to the NTSB, Loss of Control Accidents are the most common accident type, and distractions are a major cause. In this episode, Max talks about how to deal with distractions in the cockpit. A listener ask how to configure ADS-B Out so relevant traffic is broadcast back to a portable ADS-B receiver.
In this episode, Max reviews results of the latest listener survey on portable ADS-B receivers and revisits their limitations, namely that while they appear to show all traffic, they do not! Listeners share what they like best and least about these receivers. And Max shares the preliminary NTSB report on the Icon A5 crash that killed MLB pitcher Roy Halladay.
Click here for the listener survey. Tell us what aviation headset you use most or plan to buy, and what you like and dislike about it.
In this episode, Max reviews articles and eyewitness accounts of the Icon A5 crash that killed Roy Halladay. He then goes through the Icon A5 POH, listing its features and limitations and explains what instrument he would have included in the cockpit if he were designing the aircraft. He then discusses Icon’s Low Altitude Flying Guidelines, which Icon Aircraft released a few weeks before the accident. Finally he talks about the need to examine Icon’s marketing and training to see if there are any possible improvements that can be made.
Max talks about three recent accidents where aircraft got in trouble while flying too close to the ground. One was Cessna 172 flying low over the Mississippi river, and another was a Cirrus SR22 that hit power lines while flying an approach at night to the Lancaster, TX airport. In that incident, the passenger pulled the parachute when the plane hit the first set of line, and the parachute snagged a second set of power lines, holding the aircraft three feet above the ground.
He also talks about Night Flying Safety and in detail about black hole approaches, how they create an illusion which causes pilots to fly a curved path into the ground, and the importance of using a visual or electronic glide slope when flying over dark areas on approach to land at night.
Listener Jeff from Massachusetts recommended this episode of the Omega Tau podcast on radar, transponders, and ADS-B.
Jason explains that there is a shortage of designated pilot examiners who give checkrides, which is affecting people’s ability to schedule a checkride. He also said that if someone feels that an examiner is not conducting checkrides in accordance with the ACS, they can send comments to this FAA Email address for DPE/Practical Test Concerns.
Then he talks about the important qualification process, which occurs at the beginning of a checkride. If a student doesn’t have all the documents, correct endorsements, or hasn’t met all of the experience requirements, he or she will be going home before the checkride even starts. He explains the most common oversights he sees during the qualification process, and encourages flight instructors to have a second CFI review a pilot’s logbook and endorsements, to ensure that the pilot is qualified for the checkride, and won’t be sent home early.
38 General Aviation Risk Management, instrument rating, Red Bull, drone midair, Pilot in Command Responsibility, and more + GA News
The goal of risk management is to proactively identify safety-related hazards and mitigate the associated risks. Max talks about four fundamental principles of risk management, and then talks about how the word “probably” should be a trigger word that gets you to consider other options when you’re flying.
He also talks about Pilot in Command and what it means. He suggests pilots think of it as a verb, meaning the pilot takes action when needed to prevent an incident or accident, and takes responsibility for whatever occurs.
Listeners have questions on starting instrument training, how the difference between magnetic north and true north comes into play when flying a VOR approach with a GPS receiver, and how to safely fuel an aircraft when it’s raining.
There are many ways for a pilot to flight plan a trip. Traditionally, it was done with a paper map, pencil, and a plotter. But now there are many new flight planning tools available on the Internet and as smartphone apps for iPhone and Android phones.
We first talk about which percentage of listeners use each tool, then describe the most popular tools, and finally describe how user use multiple tools. Some of the tools described include:
To reduce iPad discharge in flight, Greg Brown recommended turning the brightness down and this USB charger.
Last week we talked about briefing the approach and said one of the first things you should do is check to see whether GPS is in the title of the approach. For example, you might look to see whether the title is just VOR 21 approach or if it’s VOR 21 OR GPS. If it’s the latter, it’s obvious you can use GPS in lieu of a VOR signal for the entire approach. But what’s less clear is when you can use GPS for a portion of the approach if it says just VOR 21 and doesn’t have GPS in the title of the approach.
Although GPS receivers have been around for over 20 years, pilots are still unclear as to when they can use GPS on non-GPS approaches such as ILS and VOR approaches. As Max explains, the rules are different for VOR and ILS approaches. The regulatory basis can be found in FAA Advisory Circular AC 90-108, dated March 3, 2011, and in the AIM, the Aeronautical Information Manual, in section 1-2-3, sub-paragraphs c4 and c-5, updated May 26, 2016.
These tell us that for a VOR or NDB approach, you can now use GPS for the entire approach, even if GPS is not listed in the title of the approach. So in our example, if the title of the approach is VOR 21, and GPS is not in the title, you can still now use GPS for the entire approach, but with one caveat. The VOR or NDB signal MUST be in service, and you MUST monitor that signal for the final approach course.
But for an ILS or Localizer approach, as soon as you turn onto a localizer or ILS, you need to display course guidance from the Nav radio. On the Garmin 430/530, that means as soon as you turn onto the localizer, you must push the CDI button so VLOC is displayed. You can, if you wish, monitor RNAV (GPS) data as you fly along a localizer, but GPS cannot be used for primary guidance at any time while on a localizer.