AOPA ASI Blog: Leading Edge

“To those whom much is given, much is expected.”

So said President John F. Kennedy. As pilots we have been given much—the ability to move more freely than most in a country that still allows it (mostly). We get to see and do things that most of our citizens can only dream of. And if we are to continue, the story must be told more widely to bring new people into this wonderful world of GA and to appreciate it even if they don’t fly. This isn’t easy, and there are barriers—some of the largest being the economic ones. But opportunity resides in crisis, and we’re pleased to be taking steps to help those truly deserving.

If you are a GA charitable organization, a student pilot in need of a scholarship, a teen interested in aviation, or a military member interested in joining AOPA, read on for some big news.

The AOPA Foundation is giving money away! 

Perhaps it’s better put that we’re investing in the future. (I sometimes get carried away!) Thanks to the generosity of pilots like you, the AOPA Foundation is able to provide some much needed financial support in two key areas: growing the pilot population, and improving the image of general aviation. There are many groups doing great work such as disaster relief, transportation by volunteer pilots, medical flights, and so much more. This week the Foundation launched the Giving Back program to provide just a little extra lift to those who will help carry the message of the benefits of flight. We’re giving back to those who give back to the GA community. “No one has ever become poor by giving.” So said Anne Frank.

Here’s an overview:

Nonprofit organizations doing charitable work through GA can apply for grants to support their mission. Grant applications are being accepted now through July 1. Ten grants of up to $10,000 each will be awarded at the AOPA Aviation Summit in Fort Worth, Texas, in October.

Ten flight training scholarships will be awarded to deserving student pilots. Not only will that add pilots to our ranks, but scholarship winners are natural ambassadors for GA, helping to improve our image as perceived by the general public. Do you remember when you first became a pilot? It was ALL you talked about—at least I did.

Lastly, we will provide 2,500 free AOPA memberships to teens through the AOPA AV8RS program and to active military members in order to introduce these segments of the population to the world of general aviation.

“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” So said President Abraham Lincoln. In the pilot community these days there’s no shortage of critical opinion. Some pilots even have more than one! Add some weight to it by making a contribution; click here to make a donation directly to the Foundation’s Giving Back project. It will be invested wisely, and it’s tax deductible!

And I’ll be waiting to hear from you.

Safe Flights.

Helicopters—we’ve all heard the pejorative descriptions: Thousands of parts flying in loose formation. It’s good that it’s leaking—we still have hydraulic fluid. Flying helicopters is like juggling three $150 champagne bottles…it’s not a case of if you drop them, but rather how many, etc.

But they’ve always fascinated me for a variety of reasons—not the least of which is the tremendous jobs they do in tough situations—things a fixed-wing aircraft simply can’t. What might be a difficult and tremendously useful situation? How about landing on oil platforms, which is how much of the world’s petroleum workers get to their job so we can get to ours.

So it was of some interest when Sikorsky Aircraft announced that it had recently certified a new system that claims to reduce pilot workload by 60 percent in the critical approach phase to a platform. This technological feat was done in conjunction with PHI, which is one of the largest civilian helicopter operations.

According to the Sikorsky press release, “Rig Approach will be available as an option on the S-92 helicopters, providing a fully coupled and automated approach capability with a higher safety margin than currently is available with any other offshore approach procedure. The feature can be retrofitted to aircraft already operating.”

To the staid universe of fixed-wing operations this seems like old news—an autopilot function that guides one to touch down better than a human. But the complexity of helicopters hasn’t allowed this to be done before. It also tells me that the microprocessor firepower of today’s avionics is allowing us to do unimaginable things with hardware that once required a highly skilled and trained human.

The airlines have long been advocates of autopilots, and while we’ve discussed the occasional miscue, they do provide a consistency of operation that humans can’t. Automation, however, cannot always manage the outlier events that can have catastrophic consequences. This leads to an interesting discussion on how much the human should be “in the loop” of operating the machines. After all, we are generally lousy monitors for long periods of time—it’s the attention span thing. But we can be highly effective for limited periods to manage those unusual events provided the critical-event skills have not atrophied. If we get too mentally disengaged however, it’s hard to get back in the game—and therein lay the difficulty.

As super-automated flight control equipment becomes more commonplace, it falls on us to define the hows and wherefores to maintain those old skills while developing new ones.

What will they think of next? Glad you asked!  Just announced—the Terrafugia TF-X is a tilt rotor car that will automatically takeoff and land in your driveway! But you only need your checkbook now to invest for venture capital purposes—the real deal is projected to take 8-10 years to arrive at a driveway near you.

Congratulations to Sikorsky, PHI, and the FAA on an end of the beginning of a new era. But it is only the beginning.

We live by acronyms in aviation and even more so in the Twitter/text/smartphone world, thus the cryptic title regarding the loss of a Cessna 210 while landing at the Williamsburg, Va., airport (KJGG). The airport itself has a very good safety record with just two accidents dating back to 1983 not counting this one.

The runway is 3,200 feet long and generally unobstructed. The 4,300 hour pilot, an Air Force general who was accomplished in heavy military aircraft, was flying his personal Cessna 210 that he had presumably owned since 1994 accompanied by his wife and their black Lab. As the flight approached the airport, the KJGG METAR reported 192055Z AUTO 18014G28KT 10SM CLR 28/19 A2975. VFR conditions with some fairly gusty winds.

All commentary is speculative since the accident just happened. The right-hand traffic pattern specified for Runway 13, which the pilot was flying, had a significant tailwind on base leg. Could that have created the illusion of a high airspeed when in fact it’s the groundspeed that was high? From the NTSB’s preliminary report:

“According to witnesses, the airplane passed beyond the extended runway centerline when the pilot reported on the common traffic advisory frequency that he was turning from the airport pattern base leg to final approach for runway 13. The pilot executed a steep right turn towards the runway, and the airplane pitched down and descended at a steep angle behind a tree line.” 

There were no survivors and the engine appeared to be developing power.

Texting shorthand doesn’t begin to convey the tragedy in this accident.

Acronym translation: Monday Morning Quarterbacking on Base-To-Final Loss of Control. The handheld GPS may provide some additional insight, but the illusion of speed from a strong tailwind has caused many a pilot to tip it up on a wing so as to not overshoot the runway. High groundspeed will result in a wider turn radius as we all remember from turns around a point. Natural reaction is to steepen the bank to hit the centerline.

There’s a natural tendency to pull back to offset the rapid settling that the aircraft will develop. G-loads and AOA increase quickly and before one can say, “Oh, shucks!” the lift is gone and controlled flight is but a memory with no chance of recovery.

A strong tailwind on base is not something we see that often, and if it isn’t top of mind, the accident chain can be really short. Perhaps we shouldn’t be congratulating ourselves that we’re all much too smart to ever make such a mistake.

Remember, a tailwind BTF turn is a BFD (Big Fat Deal…or something like that) and gravity can bite hard and fast.