April 21, 2008
AOPA Town Meeting Tuesday April 22, 2008
FYI, I plan on attending the AOPA Town Meeting with President Phil Boyer in Arlington Heights, IL on Tuesday, April 22, 2008. If any of youse guys are going to be there, send me an e-mail or let me know via twitter, username: Oblivion.
The Chicago Aviation Meetup Group is trying to meet and greet at the event, though I haven't seen specific plans yet. If you're local and haven't joined, look into it.
Hope to see you tomorrow!
October 04, 2007
Night Flight Debrief
The other night, I went for my first night flight in a while. The flight was uneventful in the good way, but while Monday Morning Quarterbacking it since then, I've come up with a few decisions that might not have been the wisest. They strike me as the kind of things that taken one at a time are/were no big deal, but easily could have become links in an 'accident chain.' If you're not familiar, the "accident chain" is a concept that is oft-used in hangar-talk discussions regarding aviation accidents/incidents. The theory is that a crash is seldom/never an isolated event - there is a traceable chain of events that directly leads to the smoking hole in the ground. If the pilot(s) can break a link anywhere in that chain, the results are much less grim, so it goes.
Lets take a look at a chain of events that lead to a perfectly safe and happy flight and question what may have gone wrong and what may have gone right. This is a long narrative, so I'll bold the main points.
First off, the initial leg of the flight was 54.6nm from Westosha Airport in Wilmot, WI (5K6) to West Bend Municipal Airport in, you guessed it, West Bend, WI (KETB). I departed about 6:45 P.M. I didn't much 'plan' the trip, since it's a trip I'd made 3 previous times (albeit during the day). I mean I got my weather briefing, checked for NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen about airport/runway/airspace closures, unlit towers, radio frequency changes, navaids out of service, etc.), ran a weight and balance check, estimated my fuel needs (I had a good margin of safety there) and had my current charts and A/FD with me. But up until half hour before I launched I wasn't sure of my destination since my passenger wasn't sure if he could join me. So I wasn't as fully immersed in the route as I have been in the past nor as I would be if en route to a new airport. I did not, as is my usual practice, list out the frequencies I'd need in the order I'd need them - not only for my destination airport, but for airports/facilities along the way. I relied on the chart (which I had at least marked up with a route line and circles around the freqs), a bit on memory, and the fact that, technically speaking, I didn't NEED to talk to anyone on the flight.
So here's Potential Accident Link #1. I put myself in a situation that, by itself was 'not a big deal,' but overall set me up to be behind the airplane, as they say, if something 'eventful' had happened. I HAD all of the information, but my cockpit was not organized for optimum efficiency.
I picked out KETB in the darkness with the help of the ADF, VOR, and GPS (yeah, I was being a bit sarcastic when I dialed them all in :) ), announced my entry on the 45 to Runway 24, made a standard pattern and landed with no worries. The winds were calm, so I moved over to Runway 31 to take advantage of more length and better lighting (I had considered making a straight-in approach to 31 on my initial landing but opted for the standard pattern and the comfort it provides) and did 2 more take-offs and full-stop landings. I made my first base turn WAY too soon and ended up about 500' high when I crossed the fence, so I opted to go around on that one. I adjusted from there and the landings were pretty smooth.
I taxied over to the ramp and after some chit-chat and briefing, I took off with Drew for his first night flight in a light airplane. We checked out the usual sights up in that area. First we headed east to the lake and Port Washington (Lake Michigan looks like a black hole sucking in all light from the air at night) and checked out the view of Milwaukee. I thought about requesting flight following and doing a tour down the lakefront, but I got a little distracted by noticing the air was getting a little hazy down low by the lake. I called up the ATIS for KMKE, KENW, and KUGN and they were all still reporting clear skies, but the temps were starting to creep a little closer to the dew point which was generally 9 degrees C. What had been a 10 point spread earlier was down to about 5 degrees. Clouds and fog can form when the temperature and dew point converge. I figured I'd still be good to make my return trip, but I didn't want to linger too much longer. From the lake, we headed back west towards Hartford, WI. We were trying to figure out what a string of bright lights was illuminating and settled on the idea that it was a driving range. From there I winged us north over the DnD Farm and with an amazing bit of luck circled the farm just as Dawn and her sisters were getting home from Wal-Mart. Drew saw them pull into the driveway and later they reported seeing us overhead.
This whole time a bit of doubt of maintaining VFR on my return trip was growing in the back of my mind, though the weather briefings I had gotten called for VFR all night. As subtle as it was, I know this introduced a bit of urgency to getting home - a mild case of 'Get-There-Itis' which I'll revisit later. Again, taken by itself, perhaps this was just healthy caution/suspicion but that gentle nagging at the back of the head may distract ma pilot from the primary task of flying the plane. Let's call this Potential Accident Link #2.
I made an uneventful pattern entry and landed back at KETB, dropped Drew off, and waved good bye.
Photo by Drew Domkus - Used under CC - Some rights reserved
I got a bit frazzled by a sudden rush of helicopter training traffic as I set to depart, but I waited my turn and launched without issue. My route home had a bit of a kink in it. As I departed 5K6 earlier, I was informed that our tank was our of fuel at the airport and asked if I could stop off at Burlington, WI (KBUU) to top off on my way back. KBUU is 11.5 nm North-North-West of 5K6 so this diversion was really minor. I'd landed at KBUU once before and had flown over it a few times, so armed with my A/FD I felt confident in going in there at night. I dialed it in on the GPS and VOR (to keep the practice sharp), climbed to 4500, and headed for KBUU. I dialed in KMKE Approach to keep my ears out for other traffic that might be crossing my path. About 5 times I considered requesting Flight Following and as many times I decided I "didn't need it."
No beating around the bush here, that was Potential Accident Link #3. Flight Following is a service offered to VFR pilots (workload permitting and clearly not an issue on this dead-quiet night - I only heard one IFR flight the whole time) to help us keep from running into other airplanes. It's not a guarantee of flight safety, but nothing is. Why I didn't opt to use this service, I still don't know. I'm confident in my radio work and my ability to hold an altitude. I had the frequency dialed in. There was NO GOOD REASON not to use radar separation, especially at night. I just plain bone-headed this one and the only thing I can chalk it up to is poor decision-making brought on by fatigue (perhaps exacerbated by slight hypoxia). At that point I had over 2 flight hours under my belt - that after a full day at work and a motorcycle ride from work to the airport.
So without the extra set of eyes Flight Following would have provided, I ambled towards KBUU. At one point, I heard the controller call me out to a Columbia aircraft which passed ahead of me a few miles, but other than that, no one was around - lucky for me. As I approached KBUU, I dialed in the AWOS at the field to check conditions. The temperature and dew point were both being reported as 10 C. In the back of my head, my worries of fog grumbled a little. The winds were still reported as calm, so to be a good airport neighbor, I landed on Runway 11 - the runway which did not take me over town. It also, conveniently, meant I didn't need to back-taxi to get to the fuel pump. I took some time figuring out the self-service pump, grounding the plane, filling it up, etc. As I was up on the wing strut filling the tanks, I noticed that quite a bit of dew had settled on my wings.
Here is Potential Accident Link #4. Getting fogged out of 5K6, or any other airport in the area was becoming a very real possibility. Visibility was still quite good, but there was no guarantee of that lasting. Even if the fog never came, my sense that I had to "get back home," was growing. That's never good. Since the refueling stop was really a matter of courtesy and club policy, and NOT a matter of safety (I had plenty of gas to get home), it may have been wiser to skip it entirely.
At that point I fully realized I was feeling rushed to get back home (Get-There-Itis in full swing) and I mentally and perhaps verbally told myself to slow down. Seeing the moisture on the wing reminded me that similar moisture could very well condense inside my fuel tanks. After I filled up, I took a moment to collect my thoughts for the last little hop home, let the tanks settle, and sump them to check for any water in the gas - always a good practice after a fill-up, but especially on such a damp night. Taking that breather may have actually broken the chain that I had been building. But I wasn't home yet.
I announced my intentions on the radio and taxied out to hold short of Runway 29 - again to avoid overflying town - and did a full run-up check. Just as I was about to call my departure, another aircraft, a King Air, came on the frequency and announced an 11-Mile final for Runway 11. I immediately noted that was the opposing direction I intended to take off. I immediately spotted the oncoming landing lights and announced that I would hold short of 29 for the landing traffic. Now an 11-mile final, even for a King Air, is a long way out. As I sat there waiting, I went back and forth about 10 times on whether I should have just taken off, or maybe taxied down to the other end of the field and taken off on 11. The GOOD thing is that as I was debating my decision to hold, I had resolved that I would continue to hold - even if it had been a silly, overly cautious decision in the first place. I'm still not certain if my initial decision to wait was the best decision, but I am happy with myself for having stuck with it once made. If this was an error in judgment, it was clearly an error on the side of caution - a Potential Accident Link avoided. Another positive of that part of my adventure was that I realized my long idle-time may have lead to some spark plug fouling or perhaps even carburetor ice. So as the King Air finally touched down and rolled out, I did another full run up which, incidentally, was a bit rough at first but did smooth out.
The hop home was not the end of my story either (though it does end soon, I promise). In the 10 or so miles from KBUU to 5K6 - even with the GPS pointing the way - I got turned around in the dark. I generally have a good sense of direction and know the area well, but fatigue combined with night time visual cues and perhaps some winds aloft conspired to make me think that I was heading southeast when, in fact, I was flying due south. I kept looking for the airport where I expected it to be and couldn't pick it out from the other lights. The runway lights worked when I left, so I assumed my microphone clicks had reactivated them. I thought I was chasing the GPS needle to the left with left turns, but despite my apparent corrections, the indicator kept drifting off course. About 7 miles from home, I finally cross-checked the compass and directional gyro and found I had only corrected to a 150 heading when I was convinced I was flying due east at 90 degrees. The disorientation was brief, but profound. Once I got realigned, the sight picture snapped into place and I entered the pattern and landed without incident (I did have to slip down to the runway a bit, but it's always wiser to be too high than too low at 5K6).
3.0 on the Hobbs. 2.8 at night with 6 full-stop night landings.
The fog I kept fearing never did roll in. But when I got to my bike, it looked like someone had soaked it with a hose.
I still had a damp, cool (51F the bank said) motorcycle ride home. I slept well that night, let me tell you. I think I rolled into the garage at 11:30 p.m.
One final point I'd like to address is the fact that in addition to shunning Flight Following, I never filed a VFR flight plan on this flight. For some reason, I often go back and forth on the practicality of doing that around here. On the one hand, the population is so dense that if I were forced to the ground sooner than anticipated, SOMEONE would see it. Then again, that's not as likely at night. Like Flight Following, there is no good reason not to use the service (especially while it's still free to use). I think I just get lulled into a false sense of security since the flight was relatively short over a known route. I know I've told myself before that I WILL file more flight plans, but yet again I have not seen that through. While that's not directly a link in the potential accident chain, the planning/thought required could help avoid adding a link along the way (see Potential Accident Link #1).
I hope to post some audio from this flight (I haven't checked the recording quality yet), including the "eureka" moment when I realized I was turned around. That should be amusing if not interesting. At the very least, Drew said he's going to make an episode of Dawn and Drew TV out of the footage and photos he shot.
If you have any thoughts on what I should have done differently, I'm open to hearing them. Have I learned what I should from this experience or is there something you see that I've missed? Am I being too hard on myself? Comments are still disabled on this site, but if you e-mail me at oblivion at ratula dot net, or call (206) FEW-EBLO/339-3256, I'll be sure to include them in a future post (unless you don't want me to).
All's well that ends well, especially if you learn from the experience.
August 14, 2007
Berk Snow - Model Human?
Want to be humbled by how one person can touch many lives for the better? Google "Berk Snow." For good measure, add "Burningman." Really too bad about that box canyon :(
July 28, 2007
RIP Jim Leroy and Gerard Beck
I recently posted about a photo I took in '05 of airshow performer Jim Leroy and his plane "Bulldog." According to Aero News Jim died en route to the hospital after a crash during the Dayton Airshow. The report that he hit flat at the bottom of a loop doesn't entirely surprise me - Jim's shows kept you biting your nails wondering if he'd pull up in time. An excellent showman gone west.
In other sad news, a landing accident at EAA Airventure Oshkosh 2007 claimed the life of P-51A pilot Gerard Beck. A P-51D flown by Casey Odegaard was also involved but Odegaard exited his aircraft without major injury. Again, Aero News has more details.
Finally, I'm still looking for details on this landing mishap at Oshkosh on Wednesday, July 25.
We didn't witness the accident but heard that the plane had cartwheeled on landing. i'd like to know if the pilot was OK if anyone has any information.
Aside from all of that - Oshkosh was fun (though I got deathly ill). Photos and video forthcoming (I think I botched any and all audio recordings).
May 24, 2007
Bulldog and Cloud Dancer
I was just flipping through some of my photos on Flickr and spotted this one. It's really pretty damned cool. This was taken during the Saturday airshow at EAA's Airventure Oshkosh, 2005.
Bulldog is a highly modified Pitts S2S flown by owner Jim LeRoy and is shown here doing a ribbon cutting about 20' off the runway.
Cloud Dancer is a P-51D Mustang owned by Jimmy Leeward. I don't know for certain if that is Mr Leeward looking on from the wing.