OUR BIGGEST PILOT GIFT GUIDE EVER C A N G O O D J U D G M E N T B E TA U G H T ? / G A R M I N T X I T O U C H S C R E E N S
D E C E M B E R 2 0 17 VOL 144, ISSUE 12 F LY I N G M A G . C O M
+ O ut of Fuel . .. Why d o pi l ots keep run ni ng th ei r ta nks d ry ?
T H O R O U G H L Y
M O D E R N M O O N E Y W E
F LY
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U LT R A
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Contents DECEMBER 2017 VOLUME 144 ISSUE 12
40 W E F LY : M O O N E Y M 2 0 U O VAT I O N U LT R A
THE LATEST AND GREATEST IN A LONG LINE OF IMPECCABLE PISTON SINGLES. By Pia Bergqvist
52 THE GIFT GUIDE Don’t sweat the small stuff. We’ve scouted the best gifts for your favorite pilot this holiday season. By Stephen Pope
ON THE COVER For our Mooney M20U Ovation Ultra cover stor y, we photographed the piston single on a flight to Kerr ville, Texas. P h o to Ph t o b y J o n Wh i tt l e
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Contents DECEMBER 2017 VOLUME 144 ISSUE 12
12 ON COURSE Why is fuel exhaustion such a problem? By Stephen Pope
30 EVERYTHING EXPL AINED Piston engine combustion By Richie Lengel
Sky Next 17 GEAR A look at Alphachocks, the company trying to reinvent the aircraft chock 18 TRENDING News and notes from the editor’s desk
T&T TRAINING
& TECHNIQUE
25 CHART WISE North winds and Teterboro’s ILS Runway 6 By Rob Mark and Jason Blair
32 PILOT’S DISCRETION Exceptional judgment or exceptional skill? By Bret Koebbe
34 AFTERMATH Clouds aren’t always harmless, but they can bite By Peter Garrison
60 UNUSUAL ATTITUDES Minimize pains when buying planes By Martha Lunken
62 GEAR UP Last-minute purchasing hiccups By Dick Karl
64 JUMPSEAT Groundhog Day By Les Abend
72 TECHNICALITIES An eclipse worth seeing By Peter Garrison
26 IL AFFT Not-so-great expectations: A hot takeoff and poor fuel planning By Bruce Falstein
36 TAKING WING Surviving inexperience while gaining experience By Sam Weigel
22 HOW IT WORKS
74 SIGN OFF
Vortex generators
Burning Man, in the Black Rock Desert, is an annual gathering like no other.
By Rob Mark
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Flying (0015-4806) (USPS 504-930), December 2017, volume 144, issue 12. Flying is published monthly by Bonnier Corporation, 460 N. Orlando Avenue, Suite 200, Winter Park, FL 32789. Periodicals postage paid at Winter Park, FL, and additional mailing offices. Authorized periodicals postage by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, Canada, and for payment in cash. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Flying, P.O. Box 6364, Harlan, IA 51593-1864; flyingmag.com/cs; 515-237-3697 or 800-678-0797. If the postal service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year.
ILLUSTRATION BY TIM BARKER, PHOTOS BY ALAMY (TOP), JESSICA AMBATS (BOTTOM)
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E d i to r - i n - C h i e f S te p h e n Po p e EXECUTIVE EDITOR Pia Bergqvist SENIOR EDITOR Rob Mark MANAGING EDITOR Jake Lamb CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jerry Pomales COPY EDITOR Dave Carriere WEB EDITOR Ashley Burns STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jon Whittle CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Sam Weigel
Martha Lunken
Dick Karl
Les Abend
Peter Garrison
John King
Martha King
John Zimmerman
Bret Koebbe
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ON COURSE Edi tor ’s Le tt e r
WHY DO PILOTS KEEP COMING TO GRIEF AFTER RUNNING THE TANKS DRY?
Fuel exhaustion ought to be one of the most preventable types of accidents in all of general aviation, and yet, with alarming regularity, we continue to hear stories about pilots running out of gas. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, which issued a safety alert on the topic over the summer, GA pilots crashed due to fuel exhaustion or starvation about once a week on average between 2010 and 2015. That’s a startling statistic. How in the world, you might ask, would a sane pilot ever take off with less fuel than required to reach the destination? As any pilot who has stretched fuel reserves beyond his or her personal minimums understands, of course, a case of range anxiety or worse rarely results from a conscious decision to depart with too little fuel. Instead, it’s usually the last link in a chain of events that might include, say, an unanticipated change in destination or stronger than forecast headwinds. But not always. Early in my flying career I heard about a pilot who decided he would fly to my home airport to top up because we had cheaper gas. He ended up crashing in a wooded area about midway into the flight after running out of gas. The incredible part of the story is that the airport from which he departed was only 3 miles away. Many of us have probably experienced a flight or two that flirted with legal fuel minimums. Firsthand experience gets you thinking less abstractly about a topic. I had my epiphany 1 2 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
F LY ING MA G.C O M
many years ago after an airplane I was supposed to rent was mistakenly double-booked. It turned out another airplane was available, but by the time everything was sorted my window for making the flight was quickly narrowing. Off I launched, without taking the time to top the tanks — right into the teeth of much stronger than anticipated headwinds. I correctly reasoned that I could always land for fuel at any of a half-dozen airports along my route of flight, but as the miles ticked by I told myself, “I think I can make it.” What I meant, of course, is that I thought I could make it with the legal VFR fuel reserve of 30 minutes. In a Cessna 172, though, that’s only two or three gallons per tank. What if I reached the destination and the runway was closed for an emergency? Could I make it back to one of the airports I had passed over? At least I’d have a tailwind. On a recent flight in the Cirrus from Ohio to New Jersey, during which I battled headwinds the entire way, ATC assigned a hold because of “VIP movement” and left me there for 40 minutes before clearing me for the RNAV approach to Essex County Airport. President Donald Trump had landed at nearby Morristown Airport and the airspace was still shut down. Was I worried? Not at all. Because of the conservative approach to flight planning I’ve adopted (not to mention the SR22’s good-size tanks and low fuel burn) I landed with plenty of fuel. “I think I can make it” should never be a part of any pilot’s vocabulary.
Stephen Pope Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO BY JIM KOEPNICK
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FLYING
DECEMBER 2017
MARTHA, MARTHA, M A R T H A , S AY I T AIN’T SO!
INBOX
I so enjoy Martha Lunken’s irreverent stories of past flying escapades. I can relate to many, and they consistently bring a smile to my face. But I was disappointed in your critique, Martha, of the FAASTeam [“Is the FAA Pulling a Fast One?” October]. Not so much for what you said, but what you left out. You used about two-thirds of your article to chastise the FAA bureaucrats and their cost. I am not competent to comment on that, but I am sympathetic to the notion that we have a very expensive government. But I wish you had focused on the zero-cost aspect of the program. I am an unpaid volunteer FAASTeam lead rep.
P E T E R M C E V OY
W H AT C O M E S N E X T As a retired physician and pilot, I read with empathy Dick Karl’s lamentations after selling his Cheyenne [“She’s Gone,” October]. I am about to sell my Piper Navajo, having owned it for 27 years. Buying a TBM will allow me to fly faster and higher. I know what he means when he says it is a defining airplane of an aviation career. I know we will both survive, mixing regret with the excitement for whatever comes next.
E X PA N D I N G HORIZONS I enjoyed your great Aviation Career issue [September]. I would suggest there are even more interesting and fun ways to build hours than instructing. I started my career flying on floats in northern Canada. While I had hoped for immediate multiengine experience, this was idyllic, low-level flying in a J-3 Cub, dropping into small lakes to deliver food to hunters or miners, or picking up bags of rice at First Nation rice camps. This particular J-3 had no electrics, so no radio, and I had to swing the prop by hand to start the engine. Some of the most fun I had flying any aircraft. Next, I flew in Kenya to build
time, which impressed the airline I would later work for. I went on to have a very enjoyable career, flying the DC-9, Boeing 767 and Airbus family of aircraft. My advice to aspiring professional pilots is don’t be afraid of looking for unusual jobs too. Retired Capt. Ray Heimbecker
MARTHA, I AGREE! I was one of those who used the FAA Wings program years ago, but today I get more from commercial vendors such as PilotWorkshops or Boldmethod, and there are others. I’ve tried to complete some of these FAA programs today, but I keep coming back to the commercially created products that are well-done, easier to navigate and sometimes entertaining. Good article. Let’s hope the FAA is listening. Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John Parish 1 4 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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I host a monthly Wings/IMC Club gathering that is fairly well-attended by, as you would say, the “usual suspects.” I like to compare us “little” GA folks with “big” GA fl flight ight departments and the airlines. They have mandatory recurrent training, licensed dispatchers and signifi significant cant redundancy, and this results in a fatal-accident rate that is much, much better than “little” GA. I like to teach that in lieu of what they have, we have the Wings program for recurrent training, things like the PAVE checklist as our “dispatcher,” and the fl flexibility exibility of time rather than lots of redundancy. But we need to be reminded of these things frequently. And for “little” GA, it is all voluntary; there is no one there to police our personal actions — and that is a good thing. The Wings program and the faasafety.gov website are not the whole story, but they are a significant structural component of the GA safety effort. Bill Castlen Dothan, Alabama
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY DICK KARL, MARTHA LUNKEN, ALAMY
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FLYING
DECEMBER 2017
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FL YINGM FLY INGMA AG.C G.CO OM M | 17
TRENDING
GLOBAL 7000 D E B U T S AT N B A A IN VEGAS The National Business Aviation Association’s annual Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas was devoid of any major announcements, but Bombardier Business Aircraft made a big introduction, bringing its Global 7000 for the first time to a public event. The airplane on display was the fourth flight-test vehicle, referred to by the company as FTV4. 1 8 | D EC E M B ER 2 01 7
The airplane took its first flight only a couple of weeks before the event, and it’s the first test-bed with a complete interior. Bombardier has tested the interior configuration on a pneumatic test rig that simulates the motions and loads of flight. Interiors are produced by cabinetmakers, woodworkers, upholsterers and other specialized personnel at Bombardier’s Centre of Excellence in Montreal.
F LY ING MA G.C O M
AV I AT I O N N E W S A N D N O T E S
Flight-testing was conducted in Wichita, Kansas, and is progressing well. “Having now flown nearly 900 hours, the aircraft continue to perform extremely well and to exhibit a high level of reliability,” says François Caza, vice president of product development and chief engineer of product development engineering. “Areas of the flight envelope and the performance of the systems, including at extreme temperatures, have been tested. The results show a maturity that is in full support of the planned certification activities.” FTV4 is not the last flight-test vehicle for the Global 7000. Bombardier is finishing up FTV5, which the company refers to as “the Masterpiece.” It will
be tested at Bombardier’s facility in Toronto. Certification and entry into service is expected next year. With a top speed of Mach 0.92, the Global 7000 is an ultra-long-range business jet capable of flying up to 7,400 nm at Mach 0.85. Customers can choose from a wide variety of floor plans and configurations for the four distinct cabin areas, seating up to 19 passengers. There is also a separate crew suite. A fly-by-wire sidestick is used to control the airplane while not on autopilot. The Bombardier Vision flight deck in the Global 7000 is based on Rockwell Collins’ Pro Line Fusion touchscreen avionics suite, with a head-up display, synthetic vision system and enhanced vision system.
PHOTO COURTESY BOMBARDIER BUSINESS AIRCRAFT
Sky Next
Sky Next
TRENDING
AV I AT I O N N E W S A N D N O T E S
GARMIN LAUNCHES T X I D I S P L AY S Garmin’s dominance in the light-airplane market is continuing with more product introductions. The latest is a series of panel-mounted touchscreen flight displays: the G500 TXi, G600 TXi and G700 TXi. The three systems are designed for different weight classes of aircraft certified under Part 23 and Part 25, and are available through a comprehensive approved-model list that includes 26 cockpit configurations in more than 600 aircraft models. Operators can choose to install anywhere from one to four displays. The TXi systems offer three sizes: two 7-inch display options and one 10.6inch screen, which can be mounted in either portrait 2 0 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
or landscape orientation. Each display can function as a PFD, MFD or integrated engine-information system. Like the recently introduced Garmin G1000 NXi, the TXi systems offer the ability to overlay a wide selection of flight information, including weather, traffic, terrain and airspace data, onto the HSI on the primary flight display. The displays are designed to work with Garmin’s navigators, such as the GTN 650/750 touchscreens. Pricing for the TXi systems starts at $11,995 for the G500 7-inch display, which is designed for aircraft with a gross weight below 6,000 pounds. The G500 TXi and G600 TXi are expected to be available by the end of the year.
F LY ING MA G.C O M
Now that Tamarack Aerospace has achieved supplemental type certification from the FAA, European Aviation Safety Agency and National Civil Aviation of Brazil for its Atlas active-winglet system for the Cessna Citation CJ, CJ1, CJ1+ and M2, the list of airframes on the slate to get the performance-enhancing installation is growing quickly. The STC for the CJ2, CJ2+, CJ3 and CJ3+ is nearly complete, and the process has begun for the Excel, XLS and XLS+, for which Tamarack CEO Nick Guida expects as much as “a 16 percent or greater range increase.” The active winglets allow for wing extensions without additional structural support as they alleviate loads in flight. Major benefits of the active winglets include increased stability, fuel economy and hot and high performance, and the ability to climb quicker to the flight levels. Guida says the system is scalable and he is exploring adding them to commercial aircraft models where performance improvements could result in massive savings for the airlines.
PHOTO COURTESY GARMIN (TOP LEFT), TAMARACK AEROSPACE (BOTTOM RIGHT)
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HOW IT WORKS
VORTEX G E N E R AT O R S By Rob Mark
BEFORE
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F LY ING MA G.C O M
AV I AT I O N T E C H N O L O G Y M A D E S I M P L E
By attaching tiny pieces of specially cut aluminum to an airfoil in a particular order, an aircraft owner can dramatically improve that aircraft’s low-speed handling qualities, including stall behavior, and at a relatively inexpensive price. If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not, as anyone who has installed a vortex-generator kit on their aircraft will readily attest. AFTER
Vortex generators alter the flow of relative wind across the surface of an airfoil. A kit consisting of dozens of bits of extruded aluminum, each approximately 2 to 3 inches in length and half an inch tall on a small single-engine aircraft, are attached at an angle to each other along the width of a wing, and sometimes to the vertical stabilizer and beneath the horizontal stabilizer. Each individual piece of aluminum creates a vortex-generator blade and is placed at roughly a 30-degree angle left and right to that same relative wind. The result is the vortex generators form prominent V shapes when viewed from the front of the wing. When the air hits the sides of the vortex blades, it hops over to fill the low-pressure area being created on the backside, generating tiny tornado-like vortices in the process. The magic of the vortex generator is that spinning air stays attached to the top of the wing at lower speeds and higher angles of attack, postponing separation, or what we know as a stall. The spinning air at slow speeds now acts very much like it does when the wing is moving faster through the air, improving control response and reducing stall speeds. That translates into shorter takeoff and landing distances. The result of adding vortex generators to a conventional twin-engine airplane can also be
ILLUSTRATION BY TIM BARKER
Sky Next
impressive, especially as the airplane approaches its velocity minimum control, or Vmc, speed. The effect can be very pronounced when the aircraft is flying at a slow airspeed close to the ground. Vmc represents the lowest calibrated airspeed at which the pilot can expect to maintain directional control after the failure of one engine. The aircraft’s Vmc speed is calculated in the worst possible scenario too, with one failed engine still windmilling, the landing gear down and full power being demanded from the good engine. If the aircraft should slow below Vmc, there is usually not sufficient rudder to maintain directional control and the aircraft will begin to roll. Inducing a rolling motion on a stalled wing could lead to a spin. On a twin, the vortex generators are also added to the vertical stabilizer ahead of the rudder, in addition to the standard set on the wing. Vortex generators improve rudder effectiveness in line with the vertical stabilizer, the same way they improve wing controllability, normally allowing the aircraft to stall straight ahead before it ever begins to roll. Vortex-generator installation involves gluing dozens of aluminum pieces, each weighing just fractions of an ounce, to various surfaces on the wing or vertical stabilizer, a process that can be completed in a single day. A pilot can help with the work too, as long as they’re under the watchful eye of a certified mechanic. A vortexgenerator kit for a Cessna 172 costs about $1,450 and delivers an 8 percent reduction in stall speed. DEC EMBER 201 7
FL YINGM AG.C OM | 2 3
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FLYING
DECEMBER 2017
TRAINING
& TECHNIQUE CHART WISE BY ROB MARK & JASON BLAIR
Navigating to PATRN during a missed approach can be confusing if the pilot is not prepared because the intersection can be identified by any of four different VORs.
On a missed approach, the aircraft should climb to 1,000 feet msl before turning left to intercept the 335 radial of the KTEB VOR, and then to PATRN (unless otherwise vectored by ATC).
Solberg VOR (SBJ) is a common feeder route to this approach when it’s tied to the JAIKE THREE (RNAV) arrival. The pilot is expected to remain at 2,100 feet msl until crossing SBJ VOR and then descend to 2,000 feet msl until reaching VINGS intersection.
Aircraft on the approach must descend to 1,500 feet msl before reaching DANDY and then descend no lower than 1,300 feet msl until the LOM, where glideslope interception should occur.
When circling to land, note 2 indicates maneuvering northwest of the airport is not authorized. Circling to Runways 1, 24 or 19 would be east of the Runway 6 final approach course.
The pilot is required to cross DANDY intersection at the mandatory 1,500 feet msl altitude. A pilot crossing VINGS should plan that they will not remain at 2,000 feet msl until glideslope interception.
FOR THE INTERACTIVE VERSION OF CHART WISE, VISIT FLYINGMAG .COM/CHARTWISE
NORTH WINDS C A N Q U I C K LY T U R N T E T E R B O R O ’ S I L S R U N WAY 6 INTO A CHALLENGING CIRCLING APPROACH
Teterboro is one of the busiest business aviation airports in the United States, handling 178,000 takeoffs and landings annually, many on IFR flight plans. Most runways offer a straight-in approach, except Runway 1. KTEB’s proximity to nearby Newark Liberty means the best approach available to Runway 1 is the ILS Runway 6, circle to land Runway 1. Circling approaches can be challenging, as a Learjet 35A crew tragically learned in May. They failed to begin the circling maneuver early enough, and the aircraft crashed near the approach end of Runway 1. Obstacles, such as a tower nearly 700 feet high sitting just east of the final approach fix, where jet aircraft often begin the circling maneuver, add to the pressure of this approach at KTEB. DEC EMBER 2017
FL YINGM AG.CO M | 2 5
T&T TRAINING
& TECHNIQUE
I.L.A.F.F.T. “I LEARNED ABOUT FLYING FROM THAT”
NO. 922
N O T - S O - G R E AT E X P E C TAT I O N S A HOT TAKE OFF AND POOR FUEL PLANNING BY BRUCE FALSTEIN
The “ranch” is actually a complex of steak restaurants, a hotel, gas station and other amenities designed as a destination rest stop for drivers on Interstate 5, the busy asphalt ribbon stretching from Mexico to Canada. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, the hot, dry air can be pungent with the heady aroma of the ranch’s vast feedlot, where thousands of head of beef cattle await their certain doom and whence its dizzying array of thick, fresh USDA steaks derives. For aviators, Harris Ranch is home to a 2,800-foot lighted runway and plenty of free tiedowns, making it a popular destination for the $100 hamburger, or in this case, the $150 rib-eye. On this particular July day, the temperature hovered around 108 degrees, with a hot westerly breeze blowing more or less down Runway 32. With no 2 6 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY ROSS (BARRYROSSART .COM)
About halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in California’s vast Central Valley, lies Harris Ranch, an unlikely and welcoming island on an otherwise uninterrupted sea of drab and dusty farmland.
DEC EMBER 2017
FL YINGM AG.CO M | 2 7
T&T TRAINING
I . L . A . F. F . T. Not-So-Great Expectations
& TECHNIQUE
Instinctively, I dropped the nose, quieting the stall warning but now aligning us with the broadside of an 18-wheeler on the I-5 overpass. Maybe it was the heat distorting the image, but that tractor-trailer looked 30 feet tall. weather-reporting facility available, I anticipated that the high density altitude, combined with a relatively short runway, might challenge the 180 hp Skyhawk with three well-fed adults aboard. So I made the decision not to add fuel, precisely calculating our fuel burn back to Santa Rosa, about 182 nm northwest. More on that in a moment. The pilot’s operating handbook indicated that, even at a temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, there would be enough pavement to allow 550 pounds of passengers and 24 gallons of fuel to lift off and gain sufficient altitude before reaching the elevated freeway overpass a couple hundred yards past the departure end of Runway 32. What the POH failed to mention was the different pitch “picture” required to climb out on such a hot day. As we accelerated to rotation speed, my eyes were glued to the diminishing amount of pavement ahead of us. I pulled the yoke back and felt the lumbering plane lift off, just as the runway disappeared and was replaced by the sizzling desertlike sand and sagebrush that dominate the surrounding landscape. Relieved to be aloft, I 2 8 | D EC E M B ER 2 01 7
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was jolted by the sudden whine of the stall horn. A quick glance at our airspeed showed us flirting with 50 — a good 10 knots slower than the rotation speed I’d observed just seconds before. Instinctively, I dropped the nose, quieting the stall warning but now aligning us with the broadside of an 18-wheeler on the I-5 overpass. Maybe it was the heat distorting the image, but that tractor-trailer looked 30 feet tall. With a visual picture much closer to cruise than normal takeoff attitude, we managed to clear the semi with room to spare and were on our way. Our direct route to Santa Rosa would take us through San Francisco’s Class B airspace. In the dozens of trips I’ve made over the city, I’ve never been denied the Bravo transition, and had no reason to suspect anything different this time. Which is why I planned a flight with just 24 gallons of fuel on board — light enough to take off with just enough for the two-hour flight, a moderate headwind and a double-than-legal one-hour reserve. When the NorCal approach controller failed to utter the magic words “cleared into Bravo” and
handed us off, we were already under the Class B shelf. When the next controller abruptly advised us to remain outside Bravo, my fuel calculations predicated on direct routing were suddenly invalid. We turned northward, dropped down to 4,500 feet to remain below the approaching layer of the upside-down wedding cake and added a good 10 minutes to our route as we flew just outside the Class B perimeter. Now my eyes were glued to the untrustworthy fuel gauges, both dancing around the five-gallon mark. By the time the second low-fuel warning light illuminated, Santa Rosa was in sight. Out of curiosity I dipped the tanks after our normal landing and was heartened to find about seven gallons — within the 30-minute daytime VFR requirement but less than my one-hour personal minimum. I learned two valuable lessons on this flight. First, confirming takeoff performance in the POH with the amount of available runway is necessary but not sufficient. Other variables, such as exceedingly hot weather, require changes to what we usually expect — in this case, pitch attitude on climb-out. My second lesson that day also concerned expectations, this time about routing and the need to add an extra margin of fuel for when things don’t go exactly as planned. Harris Ranch may be a delicious lunchtime destination (especially with the 10 percent discount they offer to those arriving by air), but when things don’t go quite as expected, the aftertaste can be unpleasant.
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W W W. D AV I D C L A R K . C O M
T&T
EVERYTHING EXPLAINED
AVIATION I N P L A I N E N G L I S H
TRAINING
& TECHNIQUE
PISTON ENGINE COMBUSTION A L L A B O U T D E T O N AT I O N , PRE-IGNITION AND BACKFIRING By Richie Lengel
RELEVANT DISCUSSION: FAA-H-8083-25, 8083-30, 808331, 8083-32, AC 33.28-2, AC 33.28-3, AC 33.47-1, AC 65-12, AC 91-33, FAA-P-8740-35
NORMAL COMBUSTION: Occurs when the fuel/air mixture ignites in the cylinder and burns progressively at a fairly uniform rate across the combustion chamber. When ignition is properly timed, maximum pressure is built up just after the piston has passed top dead center at the end of the compression stroke. The flame fronts start at each spark plug and burn in more or less wavelike forms. The velocity of the flame travel is influenced by the type of fuel, the ratio of the 3 0 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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NOR M A L C O M B U ST I O N
fuel/air mixture and the pressure and temperature of the fuel mixture. DETONATION: There is a limit to the amount of compression and the degree of temperature rise that can be tolerated within an engine cylinder and still permit normal combustion. All fuels have critical limits of temperature and compression. Beyond this limit, they ignite spontaneously and burn with explosive violence. If the total compression exceeds the critical point, detonation occurs. The explosive burning during detonation results in an extremely rapid pressure rise. This rapid pressure rise and the high instantaneous temperature, combined with the high turbulence generated, cause a scrubbing action on the cylinder and piston. This can burn a hole completely through the piston. The detonation characteristic of the mixture can be controlled by varying the fuel-to-air ratio. At high power output, combustion pressures and temperatures are higher than they are at low or medium power. Therefore, at
P R E M AT U R E EX P LO SI O N
high power settings, the fuel-to-air ratio is made richer than is needed for good combustion at medium or low power output. This is done because, in general, a rich mixture does not detonate as readily as a lean mixture. Unless detonation is heavy, there is no flight-deck evidence of its presence. Light to medium detonation does not cause noticeable roughness, temperature increase or loss of power. As a result, it can be present during takeoff and high-power climb without being known to the flight crew. PRE-IGNITION: As the name implies, it means combustion takes place within the cylinder before the timed spark jumps across the spark-plug terminals. This condition can often be traced to excessive carbon or other deposits that cause local hot spots. Detonation often leads to pre-ignition. However, pre-ignition may also be caused by high-power operation with excessively lean mixtures. Pre-ignition is usually indicated in the cockpit by engine roughness, backfiring and a sudden
ILLUSTRATION BY TIM BARKER
Not so many years ago, before computers got involved, automobile engines ran using all sorts of ancient technology that made them prone to detonation and/or pre-ignition when the timing and fuel mixture got out of whack. These symptoms, usually called “engine knock,” were quite common and relatively easy to detect at automobile speeds, but not so easy to detect at airplane speeds and noise levels. Of course, the majority of the general aviation fleet still relies on some of that same ancient technology and even throws in some parts from a farm tractor (magnetos). Here’s a primer on how these conditions relate to aircraft engines.
increase in cylinder-head temperature. Any area within the combustion chamber that becomes incandescent serves as an igniter in advance of normal timed ignition and causes combustion earlier than desired. Pre-ignition may be caused by an area roughened and heated by detonation erosion. A cracked valve or piston, or a broken spark-plug insulator, may furnish a hot point that serves as a glow plug. The hot spot can be caused by deposits on the chamber surfaces resulting from the use of leaded fuels. Normal carbon deposits can also cause pre-ignition. Pre-ignition is caused by a hot spot in the combustion chamber, not by incorrect ignition timing. The hot spot may be due to either an overheated cylinder or a defect within the cylinder. The most obvious method of correcting pre-ignition is to reduce the cylinder temperature. The immediate step is to retard the throttle. This
reduces the amount of fuel charge and the amount of heat generated, after which the mixture should be enriched to lower the combustion temperature. If the engine is at high power when pre-ignition occurs, retarding the throttle for a few seconds may provide enough cooling to chip off some of the lead or other deposits within the combustion chamber. These chipped-off particles pass out through the exhaust. BACKFIRING: When a fuel/air mixture does not contain enough fuel to consume all the oxygen, it is called a lean mixture. Conversely, a charge that contains more fuel than required is called a rich mixture. An extremely lean mixture either does not burn at all or burns so slowly that combustion is not complete at the end of the exhaust stroke. The flame lingers in the cylinder and then ignites the contents in the intake manifold or the induction
system when the intake valve opens. This causes an explosion known as backfiring, which can damage the carburetor and other parts of the induction system. Incorrect ignition timing, or faulty ignition wires, can cause the cylinder to fire at the wrong time, allowing the cylinder to fire when the intake valve is open, which can cause backfiring. Backfiring rarely involves the whole engine. Therefore, it is seldom the fault of the carburetor. In practically all cases, backfiring is limited to one or two cylinders. Usually, it is the result of a faulty valve clearance setting, defective fuel-injector nozzles or other conditions that cause these cylinders to operate leaner than the engine as a whole. In some instances, an engine backfires in the idle range but operates satisfactorily at medium and high power settings. The most likely cause in this case is an excessively lean idle mixture.
FAA regulations could change at any time. Please refer to current FARs to ensure you are legal.
Our approach to a unique way of life. Ocean Reef is more than a club, it’s family; a family that holds tradition, privacy and belonging at its core. Ocean Reef Club is home to countless amenities including a private airport with a 4,400 ft. runway, 175 slip marina, two 18-hole golf courses, tennis facilities, K-8 school and state-of-the-art medical center to name a few. Most importantly, Ocean Reef is about its Members and their core belief in family and tradition. There are only two ways to experience Ocean Reef Club – as a guest of a member or through the pages of Living magazine. Go to OceanReefClubMagazine.com to request your free copy.
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FLYING O p i n i o n
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TA K E Y O U R PICK WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT? EXCEPTIONAL JUDGMENT OR EXCEPTIONAL SKILL? By Bret Koebbe
Imagine I asked you the following question during your next flight review: If you had the choice, would you rather fly directly through a line of embedded thunderstorms along your planned route of flight or use datalink radar imagery on your iPad to deviate around the weather system? You’d probably take a curious look at me, think it was some kind of trick question and, of course, choose the option to go around the weather. Flying through the storms would add unnecessary risk, and it would take refined flying skills along with a lot of luck to keep the airplane upright and intact on the other side. Put another way, would you rather choose to exercise sound aviation judgment or rely on heroic flying skills to get from point A to point B in this scenario? This is a bit exaggerated, but it’s a great example of how our approach to flying has evolved over the past 50 years thanks to ever-evolving technology that provides a better understanding and awareness of the environment around us. In previous eras, the “best” pilots were those who could will the airplane through any circumstance, planned or unplanned. Anything less was a sign of weakness. Today, better judgment wins every time. Richard Collins recently wrote about his experiences in the 1950s instructing cadets in the Air Force, where the official training manual taught the procedures for flying through a thunderstorm if there were no alternate routes available to carry out the mission for the day. The training process required pilots to develop the necessary flying skills to handle an intentional thunderstorm penetration, prevent aircraft structural failure and emerge unscathed with the blue sky up. The focus today is appropriately on prevention, and developing pilot decision-making and judgment skills to keep you out of situations 3 2 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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that require extraordinary flying skills. Take a look at the recent aviation weather accident trend and you’ll see clear signs that pilot judgment is indeed improving. The most recent AOPA Joseph T. Nall general aviation safety report shows weather-related accidents decreased substantially between 2009 and 2014, which is the most recent data set available. I think it’s safe to say that improvements in the weather tools available for preflight briefings and the availability of affordable in-flight datalink weather have had a profound impact on the safety record. Pilots of all airplane shapes and sizes finally have the tools needed to exercise proper judgment in flight with fewer unknowns. Unfortunately, technology hasn’t done as much to improve pilot judgment on other fronts. Take a look at something more routine and less exciting, but just as important: fuel planning. There have been significant advances in performance-planning websites and apps over the past 10 years, allowing pilots to quickly calculate fuel burn for a specific model of aircraft to within half a gallon for a cross-country flight. Fuel totalizer systems will
In previous eras, the “best” pilots were those who could will the airplane through any circumstance, planned or unplanned. Today, better judgment wins every time.
measure every last drop that flows from the tanks to the engine, providing precise fuel-burn information in flight. Despite these advances, AOPA’s Nall report shows no significant decrease in accidents related to fuel management during the same period. It states that “nearly two-thirds resulted from flight-planning deficiencies such as inaccurate estimation of fuel requirements or failure to monitor fuel consumption in flight, leading to complete fuel exhaustion.” You could argue that technology might actually be working against pilots here in some cases, lulling us into complacency where too much trust is placed on flight-planning programs or the fuel-management system on the airplane. Both of these systems depend on the pilot entering the proper data for the flight, whether it’s the performance of the airplane in a mobile app, or how much fuel is actually on board for a fuel totalizer. After all, garbage in equals garbage out. To further highlight this importance, the National Transportation Safety Board released a safety alert in August to draw attention to the unchanged accident trend and provide practical advice for the prevention of fuel-related accidents. The alert shows that almost 48 percent of pilots involved in fuel-management accidents hold either a commercial or airline transport pilot certificate, and 50 percent
a private or sport certificate. The remaining 2 percent are student pilots. This clearly isn’t an issue limited to low pilot time. Eighty percent of the accidents occurred during day VMC, and less than 5 percent cited a malfunction of the fuel system. In other words, 95 percent were caused by the pilot in good weather. The alert has some key takeaways all pilots should consider, especially during these modern times when technology seems to solve all problems. It essentially stresses a “back to basics” approach, focusing on the pilot’s responsibilities to know and verify how much fuel is needed for a given flight, and how much fuel is in the tanks at all times. This means visually checking the fuel quantity before takeoff and using something as simple as a timer or stopwatch to track fuel burn en route. The most important take-away related to fuel planning is that you need to analyze the estimated fuel burn number output by your app or website and ask yourself, “Does that sound right for this trip?” It’s too easy to be trapped by automated performance numbers, flight after flight, without questioning their accuracy. It takes just one small typo during the data entry to select the wrong aircraft profile, route or altitude and get inaccurate results. It can be challenging to teach judgment during flight training since it is really a mindset that is developed over time with experience. This is why it’s so important that scenarios are incorporated into every ground lesson and training flight to present problem-solving opportunities for students to really make them think and develop critical decision-making skills. The move from the Practical Test Standards (PTS) to the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) took a step in the right direction in identifying Risk Management items (I refer to these as “Pilot Judgment” items instead) in addition to the Skills requirements for each task or maneuver. The reality is that in today’s training environment, we tend to spend more time focusing on the Skills because they can be measured against defined check-ride standards — altitude plus or minus 100 feet, airspeed plus or minus 10 knots and so on. This often leads to flight lessons centered on rehearsing specific tasks, such as ground reference maneuvers, at the expense of challenging pilots to think through more “what-if” scenarios. Don’t get me wrong, there is just as much of a need to develop and improve the core stickand-rudder skills today; loss-of-control accidents are still at the top of the list by a large margin. It just shouldn’t come at the expense of brushing over other training areas that aren’t as easily graded on the check ride. The payoff for developing better pilot judgment is immediate and significant, whether it’s during primary training or recurrent training, because you will ultimately feel more comfortable using technology and know to question a certain situation when something doesn’t feel right. Sure, you won’t have any epic tales of getting shot out the updraft of a thunderstorm or landing on a highway with tanks run dry, but you’ll have plenty of proud aviation moments where sound judgment led to safe and expected outcomes. DEC EMBER 2017
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T&T
AFTERMATH
Accident Analysis
TRAINING
& TECHNIQUE
PUNCHING THROUGH C L O U D S A R E M O S T LY H A R M L E S S , B U T S O M E T I M E S THEY TURN ON YOU By Pet er Garr is o n
Santa Paula Airport, in Southern California, lies between two mountain ridges oriented generally east-west. The closer of them, a couple of miles south of the runway, rises 2,000 feet above the airport elevation. On an August morning in 2015, a low stratus layer had crept up the valley from the Pacific, covering the airport. Fifteen hundred feet deep, it would thin and eventually burn off, probably by midmorning. The pilot, 82, of a Cessna P337G, a pressurized Skymaster, wanted to get to California City, in the desert north of Los Angeles, to have his annual signed off by a mechanic there. He had more than 3,000 hours, held an airframe and power plant mechanic’s license himself and had a commercial license but no instrument rating. He was in good health and did not use any medications. At 9 in the morning, the 337 took off from Runway 22. An airport employee familiar with the heights of nearby terrain said the ceiling was about 300 feet. He watched the 337 as it disappeared into the low clouds, then reappeared, made a tight left turn and proceeded northeastward along the riverbed between the runway and the foothills. The pilot had 3 4 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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not yet retracted the landing gear. The watcher thought the departure sufficiently unusual, in light of the low ceiling, that he turned on a VHF radio to listen for an ELT signal. At around 2 in the afternoon, an employee of an oil-extraction facility high on the mountain south of the airport noticed some unfamiliar debris and went to investigate it. It turned out to be the wreckage of an airplane. The 337 had struck the mountainside 1,223 feet above sea level, about 1,000 feet above the runway elevation and less than 3 miles from the airport. The debris trail was aligned generally southward. For some reason, the National Transportation Safety Board’s analysis characterizes this direction as “consistent with the pilot attempting to return to the airport.” In fact, if the pilot had intended to return to the airport, he would have turned left, not right, and would not have been at 1,223 feet msl. The NTSB’s 11-page description of the wreckage doesn’t mention whether the landing gear was up or down, but photographs suggest it was down at the time of impact. The NTSB attributed the accident to “the non-instrument-rated pilot’s
The 337 had struck the mountainside 1,223 feet above sea level, about 1,000 feet above the runway elevation and less than 3 miles from the airport. decision to conduct a visual flight in instrument meteorological conditions.” I suspect that this analysis, while not false, omits some nuances. For one thing, this was a highly experienced pilot who most likely knew how to handle an airplane in IMC. Lack of an instrument rating does not necessarily imply lack of instrument-flying ability. Climbing through a stratus layer is the most elementary of IFR operations. His wife and son both “thought that it would have been likely that the pilot would have tried to get above the fog layer to continue the flight to
By now it was night, dark and moonless. The pilot began his descent. His exchanges with the controller sounded carefree and routine. But he never reached Wayne. California City.” In other words, he had probably done it before. If this were the case, why did he make the fatal turn to the south, which is the one direction that a pilot leaving Santa Paula would absolutely not go? I can’t know, obviously. But it does strike me that a P337 with one aboard ought to be able to punch through a 1,500-foot stratus deck in little more than one minute. The NTSB said the condition of the wreckage suggested that the airplane had been flying “pattern speed” at impact. In that case, it took about two minutes to travel from the witness’s last sighting on the downwind leg to the crash location, climbing at only 500 fpm. I have had, and I suppose many other pilots have had, the experience of forgetting to retract the landing gear and then being puzzled by the poor climb rate. You naturally associate climb rate with power, and so you spend some time thinking something is wrong with an engine or with the power settings before
you finally discover that it’s the gear that’s holding you back. Perhaps that happened, and in the distraction of figuring out what was wrong the pilot lost awareness of his heading. But it’s equally possible that he saw a bright spot in the clouds — a “sucker hole” — and turned toward it. Stratus decks are often thin where they touch mountains. It’s hard to believe, however, that anything would induce a pilot familiar with the area to turn toward the mountains south of the airport. They are an intimidating presence, even in clear weather. If the temptation to punch out through a thin cloud layer without official sanction is too powerful for some pilots to resist, descending through a “hole” in an overcast — sometimes little more than a thin spot — runs a close second. Holes in the clouds, and the false hope they bring, might have played a part in a different accident. This one took place in mountain-free Nebraska on a winter Sunday in 2016. The 115-hour, non-instrument-rated pilot of a Cessna 172 needed to get from Columbia, Missouri, to Sioux City, Iowa, to be at work the next day. There were IFR conditions along the route with cloud tops at 4,500 feet, and he chose to fly above the overcast. Sioux City was IFR when he approached, and he decided to divert to Wayne, Nebraska, a little to the southwest, where the reported conditions were VFR with scattered clouds at 200 feet. By now it was night, dark and moonless. The pilot began his descent. He was on flight following; his exchanges with the controller
sounded carefree and routine. But he never reached Wayne. He flew, under control, into the ground, 8 miles from the airport. A flight instructor who happened to be nearby at the time of the crash wrote to the NTSB investigator, “The weather was very strange at that time. I remember because in my 16 years of flying, I’ve never encountered weather like this: There were literally clouds on the ground. It was 15 degrees [Fahrenheit], and these clouds on the surface were puffy white cumulus-type clouds in my headlights. It wasn’t like walls of fog that you sometimes see. Visibility went from 6 sm to less than ¼ in seconds. Ceilings were also very low … and there was freezing fog as well.” Neither the pilot nor the controller could anticipate that reported VFR weather would collapse into freakish IMC. But on the other hand, to descend in moonless darkness over unlighted terrain without having the destination in sight requires some daring and a firm faith in one’s own skills and good luck. With relatively little flying experience, the pilot possibly did not even realize the pitfalls — illusions, disorientation, vertigo — of night VFR flying over unpopulated terrain. Did he know how low he was? The descent was really an IFR operation, and neither training nor experience had prepared him for it. A century ago, it was the rashness of flying that drew people to it. Passions have cooled since then, and for the most part airplanes have become time-saving conveniences or ostentatious accessories. The reliability of pilots, however, has not kept pace. Airplanes can still revive the old bravado in us, not always with happy effect.
This article is based on the NTSB's report of these accidents and is intended to bring the issues raised to our readers’ attention. It is not intended to judge nor to reach any definitive conclusions about the ability or capacity of any person, living or dead, or any aircraft or accessory.
DEC EMBER 2017
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TAKING WING
FLYING O p i n i o n
YOUNG AND DUMB ON SURVIVING INEXPERIENCE WHILE GAINING EXPERIENCE By Sa m Weigel
I left SoCal when I started working for the airlines 14 years ago, but flying back here still feels like a homecoming. The descent into LAX takes me right over all the airports and landmarks I knew then, and a flood of memories accompanies each one. Back then, flying a Boeing 767 from New York to Los Angeles seemed like a pleasant but impossibly distant dream; now it’s a perfectly routine workday, and I don’t feel too many years removed from that young flight instructor dreaming of flying the big jets. Ah, but a look in the mirror tells the truth. I’m not truly young anymore; I am in fact rapidly sliding into the dreaded “middle age.” I have aches and scars and a waistline that lately refuses to keep the secret of my fondness for craft beer and lack of enthusiasm for gyms. With approaching decrepitude comes the temptation to cast a retrospectively rosy hue upon the misadventures of my youth, remembering the “good old days” to the exclusion of the not so good. Gazing 3 6 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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over the vast expanse of Southern California, it is all too easy to declare my years here some of the best of my life. But then I look at specific places, and recall certain events, and I remember things that weren’t at all pleasant. I remember being tired and frustrated and scared in airplanes. I remember doing boneheaded, unprofessional things. I remember being ashamed of the inexperience and stupidity that led me to make those choices. We’re passing over the San Bernardino Mountains that form the eastern rim of the LA basin, and looking down I can see the crenulated shore of Big Bear Lake tucked into a high valley at nearly 7,000 feet above sea level, flanked by peaks nearly 11,000 feet high. In the summer of 2001, I taught at a flight school whose aircraft check-out process included three landings at Big Bear City (L35). Mind you, before this, I had never landed at any airport over 1,500 feet elevation, but after a cursory checkout of my own I was unleashed upon
PHOTO BY ALAMY
I grew up and learned to fly on the snow-swept plains of Minnesota, but I really grew up in the crowded, smoggy skies over Southern California. It’s where I spent a couple of lean years flight instructing and freight dogging, making lifelong friends while scrambling to make ends meet on some vanishingly small paychecks.
unsuspecting renters with an admonition to take only 180 hp Piper Archers to Big Bear, not 160 hp Warriors. Fast-forward to two weeks later: I was scheduled to do a PA-28 checkout, but the assigned Archer had been swapped to another student and my only recourse was to take a Warrior. Not wanting to inconvenience my student, I calculated the takeoff performance for Big Bear City. It wasn’t that warm of a day, and by interpolating off the edge of the performance charts I concluded we would use no more than 3,000 feet of runway and have a solid 300 fpm climb rate. No problem, right? You can guess what happened next. The landing at Big Bear was fine, but the takeoff was interminably long and then the aircraft refused to climb out of ground effect. By the time I realized
No good career advice matters unless you remain alive and accident- and violation-free.
it, there wasn’t enough runway left to set back down. So we flew off the end of the runway at 10 feet, across a marshy slough and toward a causeway flanked by power lines. I briefly considered flying under them, but we built up just enough airspeed to mush over the lines before settling back down over the water. We flew like that for the full 8-mile length of Big Bear Lake before clearing the dam at the western end and diving into the canyon back down to San Bernardino. Those performance charts didn’t account for the fact that this Warrior sported one of the world’s most tired O-320s, with thousands of hours since its last overhaul. My mistake was cutting it too finely, where a more experienced pilot would have left himself more margin for error. What made this particularly inexcusable is that it DEC EMBER 2017
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TAKING WING
FLYING O p i n i o n
Yo u n g a n d D u m b
wasn’t my first close call with marginal takeoff performance. Three years earlier, as a new 17-year-old private pilot, I had loaded three of my high-school buddies into a Cessna 172 and attempted to fly off a rain-softened 2,600-foot grass strip bordered by tall pines. I got it off the ground, but then mushed along and unconsciously drifted toward the tree-fringed edge of the runway, having failed to account for the extra P-factor. The eerie wail of the reed vane stall warning snapped me out of my stupor, and I corrected toward centerline, ever so gingerly, as trees whipped past my left wingtip. Twenty years later, it still gives me cold sweats and puts a gnawing dead feeling in the pit of my stomach to recall waiting for the slapslap-slap of branches that never came. I’ve only felt that mortal in an airplane one other time, and just ahead and to our left is where it happened. Lake Matthews was and is one of the Inland Empire’s more popular practice areas, and in the summer of 2001, there was still quite a lot of training activity in the LA basin. On the day in question, a commercial student and I were over the lake in a Piper Arrow, practicing steep turns at 2,500 feet. We were about halfway through a left turn when a Cherokee flashed across the windscreen, wing-up in its own steep turn, no more than 50 feet ahead. There was a heavy jolt as we flew through his wake. For a moment I thought our wingtip had caught his tail. My student slowly leveled out; neither one of us said a word. My hands started shaking, and I noticed that his were too. “Wanna head back?” I finally ventured. He nodded and turned for home. I tried to figure out where the phantom airplane had come from. We had done clearing turns, but I obviously hadn’t been diligent enough in looking for traffic. I’d always had a fair amount of faith in the big-sky theory, but from that moment, I realized it really didn’t apply in Southern California. A few months 3 8 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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Twenty years later, it still gives me cold sweats and puts a gnawing dead feeling in the pit of my stomach to recall waiting for the slap-slap-slap of branches that never came. later, two training aircraft collided over the Long Beach Harbor practice area, with four lives lost. Descending in the big iron through 6,000 feet on the ILS to 24R, I see Long Beach to our south, and beyond it Catalina Island. I think of all the times I flew out there across 26 miles of perpetually cold (and sharky!) water in ratty training aircraft of variable airworthiness without so much as a life raft, EPIRB or survival kit. Hell, in those years I didn’t think twice about flying single-engine airplanes over rugged mountains at night, or in hard IFR without an autopilot or a secondary vacuum source. I look to the north, and in the distance I can make out the escarpment of the High Sierra. Five days a week for one memorable winter, I flew freight up there via the Owens Valley, slogging through severe turbulence on a fairly regular basis (“Life and Death in the Owens Valley,” September 2013). Much closer, I spy Burbank Airport in the San Fernando Valley. That’s where I momentarily fell asleep one night at 3 a.m., dead tired after a long day of freight dogging — and when I woke with a start, on short final for Runway 8, I had no recollection of the previous half-hour.
Like most 20-year-olds, I didn’t dwell too much on risk in those days. When I did think about it, I accepted increased risk as part of being young, broke and building a new career. If age and experience have made me more risk-averse, improved circumstances have also made it more convenient for me to avoid it. Most of us were lucky enough to emerge from our young and dumb years with life, limb and license intact — but not all. Mike Ahn, my co-worker at three jobs, died covering my route in the Owens Valley — not in a snowstorm or hellish turbulence, but lulled to sleep on a sunny day. My first flight instructor, Slade Shipshock, fatally crashed in Watertown, South Dakota, on a frigid December night when he failed to deice on a quick cargo stop. Another former instructor lost his job and certificates (but thankfully not his life) when he aileron-rolled a nonaerobatic training aircraft in an apparent fit of boredom. Over the years, as my network has grown, I’ve heard of too many similar tragedies from industry friends, several of whom lost young pilots they were mentoring. With the arrival of the pilot shortage, there’s a major influx of young people getting into aviation, and a sudden torrent of career guidance. Much of it is good advice, but here’s the stark truth: None of it matters unless you remain alive and accident- and violation-free. Accidents happen to pilots of every age and experience level, but the triple-whammy of being young, inexperienced and a little desperate makes you more vulnerable than you think. If you understand that, take your mortality to heart, and get used to thinking about risk and ways to mitigate it early on, you stand a much better chance of making it through your “young and dumb” years. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying a long and successful career, looking back on this time with a lot of good memories, and hopefully not too many regrets.
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A NEW BREED OF MOONEY PISTON SINGLES IS EMERGING OUT OF THE STORIED MANUFACTURER’S KERRVILLE, TEXAS, FACTORY. Named the Ultra models, Mooney’s modernized Acclaim and Ovation are now FAA-certified and rolling out of the factory at an increasing rate. As a Mooney pilot and owner, I was excited to evaluate the M20U Ovation Ultra in conjunction with Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association’s annual Homecoming Convention, which was held in late September at the Inn of the Hills in Kerrville. My Mooney gal-pal Jolie Lucas and I piled into my 1974 M20C at my home base in Camarillo, California, and headed east along Interstate 10 to meet up with Richard Simile, a Mooney sales representative from Delta Aviation, at his home base in Chandler, Arizona. After a quick lunch, we transferred our luggage from my airplane to the stellar new Ovation Ultra — N197CV. The Ovation, like many Mooney models before it, has its roots in the M20, a four-seat airplane that was first developed in the early 1950s with wooden empennage and wings. After suffering from wood rot in moist climates, the design was metalized in 1961 with the introduction of the M20B. Though the metal design is a few knots slower, the M20 series has come to be 4 2 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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well-regarded for exceptional speed and efficiency. Today, the Ovation’s turbocharged sibling, the M20V Acclaim Ultra, is the fastest singleengine piston airplane in production, capable of cruising at 242 ktas in the flight levels. Of course, it is easiest for me to compare this new airplane to my airplane, which Mooney introduced in 1962. The C model originally had the Johnson bar landing gear retraction system — a simple manual system that many Mooney owners still prefer. But the Johnson bar was replaced with electric gear before my airplane rolled out of the factory, and there has been a continuous evolution through the decades. While the heritage is still evident, there are many letters between C and U, and the changes and upgrades are evident throughout. Similarities and differences became immediately apparent when we began to transfer our bags. The general shape of the airplane, the straight tail and the landing gear, with gear shock disks on the main and nose gear legs, are basically identical to my airplane. The luggage door is still in the same location and about the same size as mine. It would be nice to have a larger opening to load gear through. But this isn’t possible because of the airplane’s steel safety cage, which is made of high-grade chromoly steel similar to that used to manufacture rifles. Personally, I prefer safety to convenience. While my M20C has an all-aluminum shell, the Ovation Ultra has a hybrid composite and metal airframe. Both airplanes have four seats, but the Ovation is 3 feet 6 inches longer, providing more rear-seat legroom and space for luggage. The engine cowl and cabin section of the fuselage are composite, and so are the winglets and fairings, allowing for optimized aerodynamic shaping with the light yet strong material. The remainder of the airframe, including the wings, is made of steel and aluminum. Like its predecessors, the Ovation
While the heritage is evident in the shape of the airframes, there are many differences between the M20C and M20U.
retains pushrods for controls, making the airplane ultra responsive. There are air vents in the ceiling, just like on the M20C, but the Ovation’s are much more modern and effective. N197CV didn’t have air conditioning, but I didn’t miss it. The temps were typical Arizona hot in Chandler — about 90 degrees — but with both doors cracked there was plenty of air on the ground, and once in the air the seven air vents and two exhaust vents kept us comfortable. Other than the $28,900 additional cost, a good reason not to add the AC option is to retain more useful load. Another commonality between the Ovation Ultra and my 42-year-old beast is the location of the manual trim wheel between the seats. Of course, the new model has electric trim as well, activated through a switch on the yoke, but having the manual trim capability
eliminates any issues associated with runaway trim. Rudder trim is also available with a switch on the panel, a luxury I don’t have in the C model. Switches are designed to use the pilot’s tactile senses to minimize confusion. The rudder switch is a knob with a vertical handle, and the flap switch, which is located right of the rudder trim, is shaped just like a flap. Most electrical switches are oversize rocker switches, which I really liked. The Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite can be controlled with an alphanumeric keypad located within easy reach of the right hand, so there is no need to reach up to the MFD to enter a flight plan, change frequencies or make other modifications. One of the things I dislike most about my airplane is the fuel selector. It is a small lever located under my right foot, making it nearly impossible
to reach. Mooney has clearly listened to customer feedback, and now the fuel selector is right behind the center section of the instrument panel, within easy reach from both the pilot and copilot seat. The Ovation’s fuel selector also has a much larger and more ergonomic handle. In addition to digital fuel gauges on the MFD, there are analog gauges on top of each wing. Loaded with full fuel, N197CV weighs in at 2,907 pounds, leaving only 473 pounds to play with. With Richard, Jolie, me and several bags, we had to leave a few gallons of fuel behind to stay below gross weight. However, with a capacity of 100 gallons of fuel we could have flown for several hours even if we had to drop to half tanks. On our return trip from Kerrville, we simulated a fullfuel scenario, which would have allowed the airplane to fly nonstop all the way to
Camarillo at max cruise power, burning about 17 gph. The enormous fuel capacity gives great flexibility if you want to get somewhere without landing. You just can’t do it with a full load of passengers and bags, a common quandary in most light GA airplanes. The addition of a door on the pilot’s side comes as a welcome change to Mooney enthusiasts. Getting in without having to squeeze through to the left seat from the right side is fantastic. Both doors are a full 4 inches wider than the original single door, making for easy ingress and egress to the front seats. However, the backrests on the pilot and copilot seats don’t fold forward easily or far enough to allow the passengers to gracefully climb into the rear seats. The seats are handmade by artisans in the Kerrville factory, and the cabin DEC EMBER 2017
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1. With the new composite center section, Mooney added a pilot's door for the Ovation and Acclaim Ultra models.
2. Garmin's G1000 NXi features crystal-clear resolution and rapid processor speeds, and a slew of new features.
3. While the G1000 has shown great reliability, a Mid-Continent MD-302 digital standby instrument serves as a backup.
4. The control yoke is wrapped in supple leather for added comfort, with beautiful stitch work to match the interior.
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5. Vernier-style throttle, propeller and mixture controls allow for small, precise power and fuelmixture adjustments.
6. The G1000 NXi can be manipulated through an alphanumeric keypad mounted below the instrument panel.
7. A moving map, with airspace, weather, traffic and more, can be overlaid on the HSI on the primary flight display.
comfort is out of this world. The luxurious leather seats have multiple adjustment capabilities to provide the optimal position in terms of height and reach for the rudders and yoke. Even after our longest leg, which nibbled on four hours, I had no pressure points and no pain while sitting or exiting the airplane. Upon folding myself out of my C model after a long flight I have to perform several stretches to feel remotely normal. Our ultimate destination was Kerrville,
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but we decided to have some fun along the way. Richard suggested a stop at the White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The area has a rich and varied military and space aviation history, and the Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport (KALM) sits under a vast network of restricted areas. The only way to get to Alamogordo as a civilian pilot is through a couple of narrow corridors. In addition to the diversion for the restricted areas, the afternoon flight through Arizona and New Mexico forced us to fly around some pretty nasty storm cells. Garmin’s G1000 NXi made the diversions a piece of cake. The new system features a markedly improved processor and screen resolution. Like the earlier G1000 versions, the Nexrad weather data on the MFD made it easy to modify the flight plan early in the flight to avoid the worst areas. In addition to the animated radar imagery, we used the SCIT (Storm Cell Identification and Tracking) icons — tiny yellow boxes with arrows indicating the direction of the most intense storm cells and their speed of travel — to guide us to the safest route. DEC EMBER 2017
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Other handy weather data that helped us avoid the worst of the weather included top-of-cloud information. These weather features are available through a SiriusXM subscription (free for the first year), as is satellite radio, which we also enjoyed along the way. Two Bose A20 headsets are included with the purchase of an Ovation Ultra, and they provide terrific sound quality and noise cancellation. Another beautiful new feature incorporated in the NXi system is the ability to display the flight plan and moving map right on the HSI on the PFD. This feature made the transition through the narrow corridor in 4 6 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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Alamogordo a whole lot easier to navigate. The corridor is only about 2 miles wide, so my focus was to keep the wingtips of the imaginary airplane on the screen from touching the blue lines that outlined the restricted areas. After three hours flying from Camarillo to Chandler, another twoplus hours to Alamogordo, and losing one hour due to the time change between California and New Mexico, we arrived at KALM only about one hour before sunset. The local FBO, Exile Aviation, was closed already, but Richard had called ahead and the owner had been kind enough to leave his truck for us to use. There was barely enough
time to take a drive out to the stunning white-sand dunes west of town. The serenity and beauty of the area took my breath away, and the experience highlighted the ability of a fast airplane to take you to a completely different environment in a very short amount of time. The following day presented perfect conditions for showing off the terrific capabilities of the Ovation Ultra. There were multiple cloud layers between New Mexico and Texas, so in addition to diverting back through the restricted airspace corridor, we modified our direct flight plan around the heaviest areas of precipitation in Texas. After flying under VFR through the
1. Major investments have been made in recent years to modernize the workspace at the factory in Kerrville.
2. The straight tail continues the legacy of the Mooney product line and makes the airplanes easy to identify.
corridor, we stayed low under broken to overcast skies until our IFR clearance was issued. I was hand-flying the airplane and expected to push the little AP switch on the terrific GFC 700 autopilot panel to reduce my workload as soon as I climbed into the clouds. However, the airplane felt so comfortable and stable that I pressed on without the help of the autopilot. With the pink boxes on the Garmin PFD to help keep me on the perfect path vertically and horizontally at all times, hand-flying accurately in IMC was easy. I never activated the autopilot during the entire 3½-hour flight from Alamogordo to Kerrville. I even managed
3. Strong steel tubing forms a safety cage around the cabin to protect the pilot and passengers.
to make myself a snack, with crackers, meat and cheese that Jolie had brought, while controlling the airplane. The experience really showed the stability of the Ovation’s extended fuselage. There is no way I would attempt a 3½-hour flight in mostly IMC in my airplane. With temperatures above 50 degrees during our flight at 9,000 feet, there was no concern for the wings to ice up. However, the TKS weepingwing option, which adds $64,990 to the final price tag, is well worth it if you plan to take your Ovation into the clouds. The system keeps the windshield, elevator, propeller, and leading edges of the wings and horizontal and
vertical stabilizers clear of ice. Both the Ovation and Acclaim Ultra are flightinto-known-icing certified. The arrival into Kerrville Municipal Airport (KERV) provided the ultimate demonstration of the Ovation’s capabilities. The clouds were thick over most of Texas, with layers that extended from just a few hundred feet agl to above 20,000 feet msl. With the MAPA convention beginning that day, there was another airplane coming in, and ATC issued us a hold at OBUCO — the initial approach fix for the RNAV Runway 12 approach into Kerrville. Using a tiny button on the left side of the yoke, I popped the speedbrakes to help slow DEC EMBER 2017
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The Mooney M20U Ovation Ultra is defined by the pilot's side door and Garmin's latest G1000 NXi avionics suite. Oversize rocker switches integrate nicely into the high-tech panel. The engine cowl, midsection of the fuselage, fairings and wingtips are made of composite. The remainder of the airframe is constructed out of metal. Mooney has retained the shock disc landing gear and speedbrakes pilots have come to love.
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MOONEY M20U O VAT I O N U L T R A PRICE AS EQUIPPED: $689,000 ENGINE: CONTINENTAL IO-550-G (310 HP) PROPELLER: THREE-BLADE HARTZELL SEATS: FOUR LENGTH: 26 FEET 8 INCHES HEIGHT: 8 FEET 4 INCHES WINGSPAN: 36 FEET 6 INCHES WING AREA: 174.78 SQUARE FEET WING LOADING: 19.26 POUNDS/ SQUARE FOOT POWER LOADING: 12.03 LB./HP MAX TAKEOFF WEIGHT: 3,368 POUNDS MAX ZERO-FUEL WEIGHT: 2,817 POUNDS EMPTY WEIGHT: 2,400 POUNDS USEFUL LOAD: 980 POUNDS MAX USABLE FUEL: 100 GAL./POUNDS MAX OPERATING ALTITUDE 20,000 FEET MAX RATE OF CLIMB: 1,300 FPM NEVER-EXCEED SPEED (VNE): 195 KIAS MAX STRUCTURAL CRUISE (VNO): 195 KIAS MAX RANGE: 1,450 NM (45 MIN. RESERVE) STALL SPEED, FLAPS UP: 67 KIAS STALL SPEED, FULL FLAPS: 59 KCAS TAKEOFF DISTANCE: 1,500 FEET TAKEOFF OVER 50 FEET: 2,300 FEET LANDING DISTANCE: 1,950 FEET LANDING OVER 50 FEET: 2,700 FEET
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the airplane down. The NXi produced the procedure turn at OBUCO right on the MFD and on the miniature HSI that I had already fallen in love with. If you’ve never flown a hold on a glass panel, you have to give it a try. There is no guesswork and no calculations required. For someone who learned to fly on instruments with round gauges, it feels like cheating. Flying an approach is just as easy, and there are multiple ways to ensure you are on track, such as the magenta highway-in-the-sky boxes, the glidepath icon next to the altimeter, a horizontal track indicator below the attitude indicator and the moving map inside the HSI — all on the PFD in front of the pilot’s face. The MFD displays all the legs of the approach along with own-ship position on top of a moving map. I split that screen with the flight-plan page, which provides the step-down altitudes for each fix so that I could verify them even though I was tracking the glidepath indicator on the PFD. The RNAV Runway 12 is an LPV approach, which provides precise horizontal and vertical guidance down to an altitude of 250 feet above the ground, which was a good thing since the clouds formed a lid at about 600 feet. With the synthetic vision on the PFD, I saw the airport and surrounding terrain while still in the soup. The first thing I saw when we popped out of the clouds was the Mooney factory. With gear down and full flaps, I gradually added trim all the way to the nose-up stop and guided the Ovation to a sweet landing. We were home. The Ovation Ultra has a 310 hp Continental IO-550-G engine. However, the engine I flew to Kerrville had 280 horses. While at the factory, the engine was converted, so there’s no need to talk about the speed on the way to Kerrville, which was still impressive to me. While the engine conversion was happening, we checked out the MAPA convention and enjoyed a special event honoring Mike Miles, who retired
after more than 41 years at Mooney primarily as a test pilot. Mike conducted more than 1,300 first test flights and is one of many employees who have a Mooney tenure that spans decades. We also had a chance to tour the factory with Mooney’s vice president of production operations, Robert Dutton. It had been nearly two years since I last toured the factory, and the recent upgrades were impressive. The older equipment had been painted, and there were many new machines on the factory floors, which extend over several hangars — one of which brought forth my airplane in 1974. Though that Quonset hut has been covered, the original structure is still there. There are traces of Mooney’s vast history, including a continuous wing-shaped line where drippings from the glue that fused wood pieces in the original wing structures cut through the concrete. Major investments have been made in the factory since the Chinese Meijing Group purchased Mooney in 2013, including $500,000 just in lighting upgrades. Hundreds of thousands
Mooney's modernized factory in Kerrville, Texas, spans several hangars. The original Quonset hut where production started in the 1950s, after Mooney moved from Wichita, Kansas, is still there, though it has been covered for protection.
have been invested in CNC machines to ensure accuracy and predictability in the parts. This, along with the fresh paint and new roofs, hides the fact that this is a production facility that has been in existence for more than six decades. With a focus on quality and safety, the factory is gearing up for a production rate of one airplane every two weeks. The airplanes are moved through eight assembly-line positions. Most parts and production is done inhouse. Currently, work for the Ultra models’ exterior paint and composite fuselage shell is outsourced. Robert said the company plans to bring this work in-house with investments and upgrades to the existing carbon and glass composite capabilities. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and the three of us once again strapped ourselves into the airbag seat belts in the Ovation, this time behind 30 additional horses. Despite our heavy load, we were off the ground before the 1,000-foot markers on Runway 12. The runway has a 687-foot-long displaced threshold, so the ground roll was no more than about 1,500 feet.
With fewer airspace and weather issues to worry about as we headed west, we only made a couple of slight diversions around heavier bands of precipitation. At a power setting of 22.6 mp and 2,600 rpm, our TAS was about 190 knots at 8,000 feet, burning 17 gph. We remained at 8,000 feet during most of the flight to avoid hypoxia — the Ovation does not have a built-in oxygen system. But without the ability to climb to thinner air, as the turbocharged Acclaim can, the Ovation tops out at 197 ktas. Our flight time from KERV to KCHD was about three hours and 45 minutes for the approximately 700 nm leg. By comparison, the flight Jolie and I flew from KCHD to KCMA, a distance of 370 nm, was nearly three hours — about three-quarters of the time to travel a little more than half the distance. However, we had a slight headwind on our way to Camarillo, whereas the winds were in our favor from Texas to Arizona. While the weather was the typical Arizona severe clear, we decided to try another approach, this time with the autopilot. Coming in from the east,
there was no logical approach into Chandler. Richard suggested an approach into Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (KIWA). I loaded the RNAV Y Runway 30C into the G1000 NXi and, while managing power and rudder trim, I let the autopilot fly the entire approach, terminating above the decision altitude by adding power and pushing the go-around button above the throttle, which puts the flight director in a 6-degree climb attitude and sequences the avionics to the missed approach. We didn’t fly the missed approach procedure, but instead turned the Ovation straight toward Runway 22R at Chandler. While I love my airplane, it was a tad depressing going from the brand-new Ovation back to what is essentially its grandfather. The speed, the comfort, the avionics and the ease of flying add up to an exceptional package. No matter how much time I spent in the left seat of the Ovation, I felt I could have spent more. At a base price of $689,000, the Ovation Ultra is nearly 10 times the value of my Mooney. Is it 10 times better? Unquestionably, yes!
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L I G H T S P E E D Z U L U 3 The Zulu 3 active noise-reduction headset from Lightspeed is hard to beat, with exceptional sound quality and extra features, such as Bluetooth, cellphone interface and auto-shutoff, plus supreme comfort, all for a price of some lesser headsets. The durability of the Zulu 3 sets its apart as well. It features a stainless-steel headband and Kevlar cable that can withstand years of abuse. $850 at sportys.com
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F O R E F L I G H T S C O U T ForeFlight’s Scout is a compact, easy-to-use ADS-B receiver that transmits traffic traffic information and subscription-free weather to the ForeFlight Mobile app. The more we fly fly with it, the more we like it, especially for the weather tools, such as icing and turbulence forecasts, that work so well in the app. To keep it simple there’s no battery, so throw a portable battery pack in the stocking as well. $199 at amazon.com
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A personal locator beacon can be inexpensive insurance that could save your life if you unexpectedly find yourself far from help. The ResQLink+ buoyant PLB from ACR Artex features a 406 MHz transmitter that can be picked up by satellite within seconds, an integrated GPS receiver to pinpoint your location for rescue personnel and an LED strobe light. $269 at aircraftspruce.com
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As the number of accessories pilots bring into the cockpit grows, the need for ever more innovative mounting solutions does too. The MyGoFlight Sport mount is infinitely flexible, allowing you to position your iPad, GPS navigator or other portable device exactly where you want it. The high-strength suction cup can be mounted to almost any smooth, flat surface. $119 at mgfproducts.com
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Flight Outfitters has introduced a seriously cool survival knife for pilots that could come in handy in a forced landing away from civilization. It features a two-in-one blade with saw, seat-belt cutter, glass-breaker tool and superbright LED flashlight just above the blade. The durable rubber handle is comfortable, and the belt clip means you can always keep it close by. $29.95 at pilotshop.com
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Five-hundred specialedition Breitling Navitimer watches that circumnavigated the globe aboard the watchmaker's 77-year-old DC-3 are now available for purchase. Each features a Breitling DC-3 World Tour engraving on the back and comes with a special logbook commemorating the record flight by the oldest airplane to fly around the world. $8,750 at breitling.com
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W A T C H There's never been a more capable pilot's watch than Garmin's latest D2 Charlie. Featuring a full-color dynamic moving map, built-in GPS, Nexrad weather display, airport directory and automatic flight logging, there's almost nothing it can't do. You can even use the direct-to and nearest buttons to build flight plans and transfer them to the Garmin Pilot app. $799 at garmin.com
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For pilots who are also aviation educators, STEMPilot produces a line of flight simulators designed to introduce K-12 STEM students to the wonders of flight. The Pilot Pro line of simulators includes panoramic displays, realistic controls and lightning-fast PCs running the sim software. Individual lessons are designed for students with no prior aviation experience. $10,995 at stempilot.com
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W R I G H T B R O T H E R S B I C Y C L E Before the Wright Brothers mastered powered flight, they built the Van Cleve bicycle at their modest shop in Dayton, Ohio. More than 100 years later, the model is being offered once again, albeit greatly modernized. Sourced using all-American parts and assembled in the same Dayton city block as the original, it features front and rear disc brakes, a Shimano Alfine internal-gear hub and a belt drive in place of a traditional chain. Proceeds help support the Wright Brothers Family Foundation and preserve Hawthorn Hill, the Wright family home. $4,745 at thewrightbrothersstore.com
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UNUSUAL ATTITUDES
FLYING O p i n i o n
MINIMIZING T H E PA I N W H E N Maybe it’s because I’ve screwed up more than most (living) pilots, but I often get calls from angry, confused or worried aviators: “Fiddling with my iPad and taxied across a hold-short line”; “Didn’t check notams and flew through a TFR”; “Assumed the other guy was PIC”; “Forgot about my flight-review (annual, physical, etc.) date”; “Blew my altitude by 500 feet”; “Lost it and groundlooped in a crosswind”; “‘Somebody’ forgot to secure my oil cap (fuel cap, dzus fastener, baggage door, etc.)”; “Thought the line guy topped it off.” ... The best advice is usually, “Keep your lips zipped and file a NASA aviation safety reporting system report.” But complaints or pleas for advice from guys who buy an airplane that turns out to be less than the cream puff advertised? Well, those are tough. Unfortunately, unhappy or downright outraged airplane buyers are a common phenomenon, so I think it’s worth discussing. I’ve been there, and understand the desire to throttle the seller or mechanic who sold you an airplane with known maintenance issues that weren’t divulged. Last week’s call was from the seller — a pilot and mechanic (A&P with inspection authorization) I’ve known for a long time. Nearly a year 6 0 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
BUYING A PLANE By Martha Lunken
ago, he sold an airplane he’d owned and maintained to an out-of-town buyer. He read me a recent letter from a lawyer representing the buyer, alleging he was less than honest about the annual he performed and about the condition of the airplane. It seems the buyer had a nosewheel failure in this single-engine retractable and claims there are other paperwork and maintenance issues the seller didn’t repair or disclose. My mechanic friend was worried about what might happen to him if the FAA got involved. In my experience, it probably won’t. If an IA returns an airplane to service and his logbook entry indicates he used the manufacturer’s checklist (if there is one) and checked for and complied with all applicable
ADs, who’s to say what was done by somebody else after it left his shop? Understand that while I may know the law, I know woefully little about maintenance. As for airplane innards, I have a rather vague idea of what goes on under the hood — whoops, cowling — especially on flat reciprocating engine airplanes (slightly more about big round ones, which I love). And I probably shouldn’t admit that my mantra is, “If I can’t fix it from the cockpit in flight, I don’t need to know about it.” Maintenance savvy or not, buying a used airplane, especially one that’s older and not locally based, is pretty much a crapshoot. There are any number of articles in aviation publications and online about how to minimize the
I can tell you from experience — having “lost my heart” to a number of airplanes — that you’re very likely to get burned.
F LY ING MA G.C O M
risks, but here’s the thing: If your heart’s set on a particular kind of flying machine and you find one that sounds good 600 miles away, you’re probably going to launch and fly it home or pay the seller to deliver it. And I can tell you from experience, having “lost my heart” to a number of airplanes, that you’re very likely to get burned. Cool-headed, cautious and rich guys pay a trusted mechanic for a thorough pre-buy check of the airplane and its records after first running a title search. But add up travel expenses and a day or more of a mechanic’s time and you’re looking at a pretty good chunk of change. Plus, you have to be willing to “cut bait” if the airplane is less than advertised, and that’s hard to do. The truth is that few older flying machines — Tri-Pacers, 172s and 182s, Arrows, Cubs, Barons, Ercoupes or Cessna 310s — have been consistently and properly maintained with good records. Too often we get suckered in by a seller’s (or broker’s) description: “Hate to sell — owned her for 30 years, but my (health, divorce, unhappy wife, age, kids’ college expenses, etc.) are forcing me into it. Less than 200 hours on an overhauled engine, and I throw in a fresh annual with the
sale. No damage history, and complete records all the way back to 1995; prior to that, the logbooks and paperwork are missing. Always hangared, good paint. Old radios, but I’ll throw in my Garmin 496. Only 2,500 hours total time since it came out of the factory in 1956.” What could be wrong with that? Well, a lot. … First, there are annuals and “annuals.” How often have you seen some guy and his friend pulling the inspection plates and cowling on an airplane, doing 99 percent of the work and then paying a (too often) shade-tree IA to sign off ? And the FAA’s annual inspection requirements, even when the annual is done by an A&P mechanic and signed off by an IA, are pretty basic. AD compliance is mandatory, but the manufacturer’s required maintenance tasks for components such as the engine, prop, carburetor, magnetos, etc. — even those labeled “compulsory” or “mandatory” — aren’t required for older Part 91 airplanes. A biggie is comparing the manufacturer’s equipment list to items actually installed in this airplane. Are those flap gap seals, single-piece windshield, ski tube, drooped wingtips and extended-range tanks legal and supported by logbook entries and the paperwork to back them up? If the original Superhomer and Mark 12 long ago gave way to Aspen and Garmin glass panels and an autopilot, look for supporting paperwork and corrected weight-andbalance data. Same thing if it was painted or the original
interior was replaced. “Less than 200 hours on an overhauled engine.” Hmm. Who did the overhaul? Was it properly broken in? How long ago, and how much time is on the airplane since it was installed? I met a guy with a 172 this weekend at a fly-in in New York and, when he took off from the 2,500-foot smooth, dry grass strip, I nearly had heart failure. Turns out he bought it from somebody I know locally, who flew it for less than 20 hours since the engine was installed five years ago. It’s a pretty safe bet that any “unpickled” engine that sits idle for five years very likely has corrosion issues. And the “fresh annual” thrown in with the sale had been performed and signed off by a local mechanic whom I wouldn’t let change the spark plugs on my lawn mower. The buyer’s understandably unhappy because he has an obvious engine problem; I fervently hope (and suggested) that he sticks to long, hard surface runways and not farm strips until it’s figured out. “No damage history” and “complete records” kind of go together. You’re taking somebody’s word here because, especially at airports in the boonies, a damaged
airplane is usually dragged posthaste into a hangar and repaired. How well I know. … I bought a Cub from a broker in Gatlinburg, Tennessee; my mechanic wasn’t available to come along, and I foolishly said I knew enough about Cubs to decide if it was OK. I did kind of wonder why it had a new engine and prop, and why one wing was a different shade of yellow than the other, but the logbooks showed no damage history. Had I known its history when it lived in Griffin, Georgia, I would have backed off. An unsavory character was checking out the (then) owner and they “lost it” on a landing. In the ensuing groundloop, the left wing was badly damaged; the impact was hard enough that the prop ended up on the porch of an office next to the runway. With no insurance, they stuffed it in a hangar before anybody (they thought) found out, overhauled the 85 hp engine, bought a propeller and replaced the wing with a “used” one from some salvage outfit. Friends at the airport later told me that, after it was back together, the owner bought insurance and then tried to collect on a “subsequent” accident. It
I did kind of wonder why it had a new engine and prop, and why one wing was a different shade of yellow than the other. ...
didn’t work; the insurance company investigated and denied the bogus claim. When I bought it, I should have been smart enough to smell something fishy with the “new” wing and the recently replaced engine and prop — but it was pretty and flew beautifully. I loved it and joyfully brought it home. It was late when I (yeah, illegally) landed it blind, from the front seat, with a big guy in back, well after dark on a short, doglegged, unlit uphill grass runway and stuck that left wing in some bushes. I’m pretty sure my angel had a hand in this stupidity because my mechanic (maybe feeling guilty for trusting this twit of a girl to make the right decision) removed the wing. Two of the three hinge brackets (invisible to me because they’re rear of the aft spar) were rusted through, and the third was barely attached with corroded metal. We nearly had no aileron, and the wing was, essentially, trash. Finally, “2,500 hours total time” on the airplane you’re looking at — one that’s over 60 years old — might sound good, but it probably isn’t. That averages out to slightly over 40 hours a year, with probably many years when it wasn’t flown at all — an invitation to corrosion and deterioration. You’ll need to set aside a wheelbarrow full of cash to keep it flying. But hey, if your heart’s still in it, I say buy it. Just be prepared for the expense, an unhappy wife, threats of divorce and your kids having to earn their own college tuition (maybe not a bad idea).
DEC EMBER 2017
FL YINGM AG.CO M | 6 1
FLYING O p i n i o n
SO NEAR, Y E T S O FA R LAST-MINUTE HICCUPS WHILE BUYING THE AIRPLANE OF YOUR DREAMS
Selling the Cheyenne took seven months, and although the hunt to replace her only took two, they were two to remember.
By Dick Karl
She’s sitting there, right outside those double glass doors, resplendent in the Midwest afternoon sunlight. I am imprisoned with three others in a conference room just a few feet from the ramp. If I lean back I can see her, all detailed, shiny and standing remarkably tall. 6 2 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
F LY ING MA G.C O M
No Ferrari ever looked better on the delivery floor, and this is no automobile. This is the distillation of 50 years of yearning, months of planning and a lifetime of work and saving. This is to be my first jet and very probably last airplane. It’s a Premier 1. So near, yet so far. There is a lot to do before those doors swoosh open and I climb aboard and fly off into the sunset. The process has been long and more complicated than I had anticipated. Selling our Cheyenne took seven months, and looking for a new (to me) airplane took another two. I had thought that waving some money around would make the purchase quick, but it didn’t. Now I’m in this room. Who are my minders in this conference room at the Textron Maintenance Center in Wichita, Kansas? I know that two of these men are helping me by being careful and complete. This is just like knowing the doctor is “helping” you when she lays a sharp knife against your skin. This is best for me, you think, but it is painful. One is Mike Shafer, a broker at Mercury Aircraft Sales. A former NFL player and now friend of mine, he has
PHOTO COURTESY DICK KARL
GEAR UP
been with me every step of the way. He’s dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s even as I have squirmed and pleaded for relief. He’s held my hand, told me to be patient and schooled me in the intricacies of engine and avionics programs and how to accept an airplane after you’ve agreed on the price. Mike found Brad Guyton, president of BAG Aviation, who is an FAA A&P, with inspection authorization and an air safety and airworthiness representative. Brad worked as a director of maintenance at Hawker Beechcraft and Raytheon, and now has his own pre-buy consulting business. I have concluded I will never buy anything again, not even a toothbrush, without getting Brad to sign off on the purchase. Brad knows which service bulletins matter. He’s intimately familiar with the type of airplane sitting out there in the sun, and he’s also very closely aware of this particular airplane. He has spent days here in Wichita, examining every maintenance-log entry for this airplane. He knows why the leading edge was replaced on the left wing and what caused the fuel leak. Brad, too, cautions a careful approach to this purchase. He can see in my attitude that I am like the last guy in the bar at closing time. I just want to get in and go. He appeals to my sense of parsimony. He emphasizes how expensive it would be if we missed something. The other gentleman at his laptop is Jim Mitchell, a salesman for Elliot Jets. Jim is 59 and has sold airplanes his entire career. He has sat through countless meetings like this, though I doubt he has ever had such a skittish customer. My wife, Cathy, has already sent the money for purchase to the escrow agent. She’s home on the phone. We wait for the airplane to be released from maintenance. I should think that the airplane is already released; it is sitting right there — I can see it. But it isn’t released until the paperwork is done. Once it is, a maintenance flight must be flown because the leading edge
was replaced. Some stall profiles must be flown. Nobody but Textron people are allowed on the flight. It slowly dawns on me that this process will drag out until tomorrow. Next morning we meet again. The maintenance flight has gone well. Now for the delivery. We review the Williams engine contract. These airplanes have uncertain value if they haven’t been maintained on approved engine programs. In this case, I’m buying an airplane on TAP Elite. TAP stands for Total Assurance Program. The contract calls for a hefty hourly payment to Williams to be rendered at the end of every month. Jim tells me that I am basically buying two engines and their insurance program. The fact that the engines are attached to a fuselage with seats in it is a bonus, but not where the value lies. I am gradually given to discover how important these programs are to protecting our investment in the airplane. The contract calls for 150 flight hours a year. If you fly less than that, you still pay the hourly rate times 150 hours. The money is not refundable and doesn’t add to the resale value of the airplane. I quickly calculate that if we fly 100 hours a year, we will have to pay about $15,000 for nothing. I call Cathy. She’s outraged. I am unsure what to do. I feel that I am being taken advantage of. Mike saw a pricing sheet yesterday indicating that we only had to fly 125 hours a year. That I might be able to do. But 150? Doubtful. This is my third trip to Wichita. I have already begun the type-rating process and have paid $15,000 for in-airplane training. I have completed two days of ground school. I have already bought a Jeppesen chart subscription. I have contracted with a professional test pilot to fly the acceptance flight. I am flummoxed. About myself I know this: I never make a good decision with a gun to my head. I also know there is no emergency here. Better to forfeit the $25,000 I’ve got invested in this process than to purchase an airplane I
Mike saw a pricing sheet yesterday indicating that all we needed to fly was 125 hours a year. That I might be able to do. But 150? Doubtful. . can’t afford. The economics of this were right at our limits as it was. We don’t own a company that owns an airplane. There are no tax advantages for us. I pace outside. Every time I reverse course, there she is. It is still sunny. Everybody is patient. Brad seems to sense that I am out of my depth and in unfamiliar waters. He comes to my aid. “If you aren’t comfortable …” he says. Jim, who has flown in commercially from Minneapolis for this closing, now has no idea as to when he’ll get home and whether the sale will go through. But, he’s a pro. He takes Mike, my broker, aside and says, “I’d send your client home — he’s not ready.” Jim discusses the possibility of dry leasing the airplane. I call friends of mine asking about their engine programs (“Yeah, they got you. What can you do?”) and a trusted aviation accountant consultant about dry leasing (“Possible — we see some of it.”). An hour later, after I’ve apologized to everybody, from the test pilot to the three gentlemen to the line guys, I give in. Let’s do this. The money is transferred. I sit right seat in the acceptance flight while Brad sits in the back, testing every cabin light and sound system. “How do you feel?” Mike asks me. He wants me to be ecstatic, and I want to feel that way too. But all I feel is exhausted, apprehensive and embarrassed. Should I really be doing this? A moment later, it comes to me: Hell yes. This is my shot — be grateful for it. DEC EMBER 2017
FL YINGM AG.CO M | 6 3
JUMPSEAT
FLYING O p i n i o n
G R O U N D H O G D AY INTERMISSION A BREAK IN THE NORMAL TRIP ROUTINE
The 1993 movie Groundhog Day is an American classic. The film has become synonymous with routine and repetition. Recalling the final scene, Bill Murray wakes up to the radio alarm clock when the last digit clicks to 6:00, just as it had done hundreds of times before. The same Sonny & Cher lyrics of “I Got You Babe” blare from the speaker. Instead of Murray mashing the off button, Andie MacDowell reaches across him and silences the alarm clock. Murray’s today had finally become tomorrow. Time had moved forward. The routine had been broken. Because of the movie, characterizing an event as Groundhog Day suggests that circumstances are exactly the same as they were during a prior time period. After months of flying the same two-day London trip on the 777 from JFK, my Groundhog Day finally became tomorrow. Granted, my Groundhog Day is self-induced. This particular trip is highly desirable because it leaves midmorning on the first day and returns the following evening without body-clock disruption. I have absolutely no complaints. That being said, I know the dining menu at the hotel better than the contents of my own refrigerator. The scratches on the bureau in my room have been etched in my memory like a fine mosaic. And I know that a good kick to the mini refrigerator in just the right spot ceases its annoying rattle. Operationally, for the most part, the departure procedures, the arrival procedures, the North Atlantic track procedures, the frequencies and the assigned gates rarely deviate from the routine. Even the controllers sound the same. So what changed on this particular trip? First, my friend Jay Rud was meeting me at the Heathrow Airport layover hotel. Jay is a former chief pilot at our Chicago crew base and is now a 787 check airman. He would be requalifying a captain for North Atlantic procedures. Interestingly enough, the captain who needed the 6 4 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
F LY ING MA G.C O M
qualification was highly experienced in both the 787 and 777, but had spent the past several years as a technical pilot involved with flight tests, maintenance ferry flights and new aircraft deliveries, among other duties. But the assignment falls under Part 91 flight rules, which translates into the need to requalify under air carrier, Part 121 rules when returning to a regular line-pilot schedule. Who would’ve thought? Our scheduled arrival into Heathrow is approximately 30 minutes prior to the Chicago arrival. So, after hearing Jay on the radio as we tracked eastbound across the North Atlantic, I impressed upon my copilot, who was flying the leg, that it was imperative that he remain ahead of “that little plastic twin.” My copilot accomplished the task without difficulty. Having already changed into civilian attire, I met Jay and his crew in the lobby as they checked into the hotel, admonishing my friend for his tardiness. And for good measure, I added the fact that it required the skill of only two of us to complete the mission from New York, as opposed to the three pilots necessary on his trip. I received no rebuttal. (Actually, the scheduled flight time between Chicago and London
PHOTO BY ALAMY
By Les Abend
exceeds eight hours, legally requiring a relief copilot.) After giving Jay the opportunity to change out of his stripes, we reassembled at the designated unofficial Chicago-base crew dining table. The fact that I would dare to integrate with another domicile was cause for my New York crew to make disparaging remarks regarding loyalty. During dinner, I had to suffer the disapproving glares of our JFK flight attendants. Tough crowd. The following morning, Jay and I reconvened for breakfast. Normally, because of convenience, a nice discount and the fact that there are very limited restaurant choices near the airport, I eat at the hotel. But on this occasion, we decided to dine at the neighborhood pub located just around the corner. Good food. Pleasant atmosphere. The venue also provided us the opportunity to discuss the logistical loose ends of our upcoming trip to New Zealand. The trip was to be a celebration of our mutual wedding anniversaries. The visit to the North Island was a self-guided driving tour, while the visit to the South Island would be via an airplane tour company called Flyinn. It operates two Cessna 172s from a working sheep farm. We would be flying
supervised day trips to various destinations. More on this subject in a subsequent Jumpseat column. For our trip home, the copilot and I arrived early to our airline’s Heathrow Operations. The WSI weather picture indicated numerous areas of moderate turbulence in the midlatitude tracks across the North Atlantic. To avoid the turbulence, dispatch had planned a very northern route, which would take our flight across northern England and into northern Scotland, and then across the ocean to the southern tip of Iceland, near Keflavik. From Keflavik, the route had us continuing on a westerly heading to cross the very southern tip of Greenland. Unfortunately, the route added 35 minutes to our scheduled flight time. But an uncomfortable ride is not an enjoyable experience for passengers, nor is it pleasant for flight attendants. Although our 777-300 can carry 775,000 pounds of airplane using 115,000 pounds of thrust per engine, the wing doesn’t support it as well as its shorter and less powerful 777-200 brother. That fact translates into having to start out most London trips in the low 30s flight levels, which doesn’t get us above most forecast jet-streamtype turbulence. As my copilot marked the latitude/longitude points of our atypical route on the plotting chart, Jay strolled into ops with the newly qualified captain. Remarking about our scenic route to New York, I queried Jay as to whether his plastic 787 would be capable of handling the turbulence. His response was simple. Their flight was capable of FL 420. End of discussion. In addition, the 787’s fuel burn would be nearly half of ours even with the extra distance to Chicago, an average of about 8,500 pounds per hour versus 4,700 pounds per hour. With salutations to Jay, my copilot and I departed. Although we were afforded the opportunity to catch glimpses of the Scottish Highlands, Iceland disappointed us with its typical white blanket of stratus cloud cover. However, Greenland surprised us with a great view of its forbidding terrain. Even at the end of August, the mountains were capped with a layer of virgin snow. Icebergs were in abundance. Cool stuff. Although we arrived tardy to our gate at JFK, I was grateful for the atypical experience. Not everybody can say they have seen England, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland all in one day from the vantage point of a 777 cockpit. Groundhog Day had disappeared. Today had become tomorrow — well, at least until my next trip. DEC EMBER 2017
FL YINGM AG.CO M | 6 5
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PETER AND NICK’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE WORTH SEEING, AND WORTH GOING TO SEE By Peter Garrison
A phalanx of restricted and Military Operating Areas confronts pilots heading north out of Los Angeles. Between sprawling Edwards Air Force Base and the Naval Air Weapons Station situated at water-free China Lake, a pilot studying the chart for the first time must think the way impassable. The alternatives are inconvenient doglegs: either fly up the San Joaquin Valley and cross the Sierra Nevada at Fresno or Lake Tahoe, or fly east almost to Las Vegas before turning northward toward central Nevada and Idaho. But wait. The powers that partition airspace did provide itinerant VFR pilots with a consolation prize. It is called the Trona Gap, after the dusty mining town of Trona, vaguely familiar to motorists on their way to the pans and dunes of Death Valley. That the Trona Gap was a grudging afterthought I infer from the fact that it is L-shaped, just 4 miles wide at its southern end and, furthermore, it straddles the south and north halves of the CG-18 world aeronautical chart, as if in order to make navigating it as inconvenient as possible. Fortunately, I have recently made a poor man’s glass cockpit out of a friend’s discarded iPad, ForeFlight and a Stratus portable unit. Running the Trona Gap 7 2 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
F LY ING MA G.C O M
is now a simple matter of guiding my blue avatar (which I wish looked more like my airplane) through the narrow L and into the magenta-rimmed and fighter-swarming lands beyond. It’s August 20, 2017, and my son Nick and I are going to see the eclipse. Our plan is to overnight at Winnemucca, Nevada, a busy watering hole along Interstate 80, and leave in time to reach Weiser (rhymes with geezer), Idaho, a little before the total eclipse. Having wriggled through the Trona Gap, we bounce along — summer afternoons in the desert get a bit rough — almost due northward and reach Winnemucca a little after 6. The FBO is closed, but we catch a ride into town with a couple of fire spotters who have come to the end of their shift. At a restaurant called the Pig, Nick tucks away a full order of ribs as I look on, aghast. The manager says they did a land-office business the last couple of days — people heading north
by car to that much-hyped ribbon of noonday darkness. We’re at the airport at 7 the next morning. Several other airplanes, including a Berkut — a retractable-gear re-imagining of the Rutan Long-EZ — and a pressurized Skymaster in Coast Guard colors, are preparing to take off on the same errand as we. At 9 — 10 in Idaho — we’re in the air. In the cool of morning, it’s calm and smooth. We look up at the sun from time to time through makeshift glasses made from old floppy disks, which turn it the color of a ripe persimmon. The moon is sliding in front of it, right on schedule. A remarkable coincidence when you think of how many other places the moon could be. The radio chatter from Weiser has been busy, sometimes with a strain of anxiety as two jump planes, intending to discharge their skydivers in darkness at different altitudes but at more or less the same time, attempt a hasty coordination while other pilots announce their positions and altitudes at random. Center reports numerous targets between 7,000 and 13,000 feet, and in the next breath cancels flight following for everyone. Taking our cue from the latter number, we climb to 14,000. Of the two hours between the moon’s first nibble of one edge of the sun and the moment called “last contact” when it finally excretes the other, only the 10 minutes before and after totality are particularly notable. Then the dimming of the daylight becomes obvious. The light is bewitched. The instrument panel has a peculiar pebbly look, and the paper on my kneeboard appears to be wrinkled, as though it had gotten wet and then been allowed to dry. Over Weiser we turn west, facing
the approaching umbra, an immaterial juggernaut hastening along at 2,500 miles an hour. In the distance ahead, a mass of obscurity, diffuse and ominous, races toward us, devouring mountain and valley. Then, we are in night. If you expected total darkness, you would be disappointed. But I saw a total eclipse in 1991 from the tip of Baja California (Flying, February 1992), and I know that the night of the eclipse is not a normal kind of night. All around, beneath a dome grading from sapphire to obsidian, the horizon is light, as it is when the sun sets below the edge of a dense overcast. To the south is a tawny band whose upper edge is as distinct as if it had been drawn with a ruler. It is smoke from wildfires in Oregon, which have been burning for weeks. Overhead, near the zenith, a softly glowing ring encircles the invisible moon, and one or two stars or planets can be seen. I switch on the nav and panel lights,
and we turn eastward to prolong totality a few seconds by traveling with it. The period of totality will be short — a little more than two minutes — unlike the one in 1991, which was uncommonly long. It lasted almost seven minutes, during which I and my friend who had traveled with me in an Aviat Husky lay on our backs, alone on a dry lake bed, hooting and hollering our delight. There is just a moment — I happen to be looking up when it comes — when a bright jewel bursts from the moon’s trailing edge: the “diamond ring.” Then dusky twilight rapidly reappears, and Nick and I watch the relentless shadow flee from us across the land, like a receding storm. I feel a little forsaken as it hurries away. We have cared so much for it, and it has cared for us not at all. It is said, with justice, that the difference between 100 percent eclipsed and 99 percent is night and day. Once the brief minutes of totality end, therefore, we have no more reason
to be here than anywhere else. We turn south. The wildfire smoke, which before had appeared as a distinct brown band, now, either because ground heating has churned it up or simply because we are seeing it illuminated in a different way, forms a dense, foglike haze in which conditions are barely VFR. Despite a careful lookout for the presumably plentiful traffic, we see not a single other airplane. Indeed, we have not seen one since taking off. We stop at Winnemucca again for fuel and a bite to eat from the FBO’s well-stocked larder, and then head south. We’re through the Trona Gap and heading toward Mojave when Joshua Approach, which is providing flight following, gives me a curious traffic advisory. “F-18 at 6 o’clock, maneuvering.” Should I take evasive action? Or should I assume that collisions with maneuvering fighters are as rare as solar eclipses?
DEC EMBER 2017
FL YINGM AG.CO M | 7 3
Sign Off
Airport transportation is a little different at Burning Man, an annual arts and culture event in the remote Nevada desert. Black Rock City Municipal Airport (88NV) is a pilot’s gateway to the event, where bicycles are the standard mode of transport for “burners” of all ages. Like the event itself, the airport, which is FAA registered, is temporary. More than 500 volunteers assist with building, operating and packing up the facility each year. It takes three weeks to build the airport and two weeks to tear it back down after the weeklong festival. In 2017, the airport had two 6,500-by-75-foot runways with approximately 150 airplanes on the ramp, many with tape on gaps to keep the blowing desert sand out.
7 4 | DE C EM B E R 2 0 1 7
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