Instrument Flight
Safety Versus Convenience Plus Complacency!
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DRAWING SCALE IN FEET
0
100
200
300
EXIST. NDB
EXIST.
40:1
FUT.
TERPS
40:1
DEPART
URE
TERPS
NT
EME
SURFAC
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LINE
EAS
PIPE
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EXI
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AIR
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PIPE
EXIST. & FUT. 25' BRL
FUTURE AIRPORT PROPERTY FUT. MN/DOT CLEAR ZONE 500' X 1,000' X 800'
FUT. 35' WIDE PARALLEL TAXIWAY
X 700'
131'
500' X 1,000'
EXIST. & FUT. 500' OFA
CENTRAL PORTION OF RPZ
FUT. TAXIWAY OFA
79'
FUT. TSA FUT. FAA RPZ
Building a Better World for All of Us
TO BE REMOVED WHEN RWY IS EXTENDED
300' EXIST. PAPI
FUT. PAPI
200'
ROAD HAS BEEN CLOSED
14
EXIST. EASEMENT
W
hen we think about flying, whether IFR or VFR, we must always consider the part “human factors” play in Michael Kaufman every flight. In the Bonanza/Baron training program (BPT, Inc.) which I manage, we offer a course on “human factors.” It was developed by one of our instructors, Dr. Greg Ricca, who is a neurosurgeon. Since my previous column was published in Midwest Flyer Magazine (June/July 2019), there was a fatal accident involving a Beech Duke that hit me especially hard, as I knew the pilot. You may have seen the footage of the accident on the Internet, which was taken with the airport surveillance camera. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft rolled and crashed. So, how did a pilot with above average skills allow such an accident to occur? I have looked back at some of my own experiences over the years and saw myself in similar situations. In the early 1970s, I was flying a Twin Comanche out of a 2200 ft. airstrip on a regular basis. The Twin Comanche had a rather high VMC (minimum control speed), and you would never reach VMC when the aircraft was on rotation. Therefore, you need to be ready to jerk both throttles back at the first sign of an engine failure, but complacency eventually takes over, as you do not think this will ever happen to you! That may have been the scenario in the Duke accident as the pilot was flying out of an airport way too short to allow the aircraft to reach VMC before rotation. The pilot regularly flew out of this short runway because it was close to his office, and he commuted home via airplane on a regular basis. It was
convenient, but it compromised safety, and like me years ago, complacency set in. We can apply these same rules to flying into challenging IFR weather, as I recall a trip some 15 or more years ago returning from El Salvador in my Bonanza. After a long day of flying, we were all too anxious to get home and the weather had been rather good most of the way. I was headed to my home airport, TriCounty Regional near Lone Rock, Wis. (KLNR), and this was before the days of in-cockpit weather. The only approach at the time was a VOR-A approach. As we approached Rockford, Illinois (KRFD), I called Flight Service for a weather update
FUTURE AIRPORT PROPERTY
by Michael J. (Mick) Kaufman
FUTURE RUNWAY 3,500' x 75' FUT. RUNWAY 14 STA. 98+04 ELEV. = 1287.00'
CSAH NO. 2 ELEV. = 1291.5' + 15' = 1306.5' 97.4' CLEAR EXIST. 20:1 43.9' CLEAR EXIST. 40:1 87.9' CLEAR FUT. 20:1 39.2' CLEAR FUT. 40:1
FUT. 150' RSA
EXISTING RUNWAY 3,304' x 75'
196' RWY EXT.
FUT. 250' OFZ
EXIST. 150' RSA EXIST. 250' OFZ EXISTING RUNWAY 14 STA. 100+00 ELEV. = 1286.80'
Engineers | Architects | Planners | Scientists
ROAD HAS BEEN CLOSED
EXIST. & FUT. 500' OFA EXISTING AIRPORT PROPERTY
EXIST.
CLEAR
MN/DOT
ZONE 500'
X 1,000'
X 800'
EXIST. & FUT. 25' BRL EXIST. FAA RPZ 500' X 1,000' X 700'
FUT. 8' FENCE
E
TURE
FUT.
40:1
40:1
SURFAC
DEPAR
E
TURE
EXIST.
SURFAC
DEPAR
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 MIDWEST FLYER MAGAZINE 9