November GAARMS Report
Fred Gibbs
While I do NOT want to jinx our good fortune so far, it has been 95 days – 3 months – since the last fatal accident in Arizona!
I do not link that to just good luck, although there is some of that involved. I would much rather like to think it is us flying a little safer and a lot smarter. Sure, there have been a few fender-benders, a few run-off-the-runway incidents, but nothing serious, and thankfully, no fatal accidents. But don’t get complacent, don’t relax your guard, and don’t do something that you would look back later on and say “Why the #%&$@$ did I do that?”
I have just finished reading a fascinating article about the Air France B-747 that lost control and crashed mid-ocean over the south Atlantic enroute from South America to France. That is correct – lost control of a B-747 at 36,000 ft. – while on auto-pilot. There are a lot of mitigating circumstances involved, but it all started when the 3 pitot tubes iced up, actually clogged up, from ice crystals in the high cirrus clouds. When that happened, the glass-cockpit computers lost all airspeed readings, and the crew misinterpreted what was going on, tried to hand-fly the 747 at 36,000 ft. and eventually stalled the airplane. One interesting thing fascinated me, the co-pilot eventually pulled the airplane into such a steep attitude – close to 45 degrees – that the computers stopped “blowing the stall warning horn” because the computers believed the data input had to be erroneous! No one ever imagined a B747 at that angle of attack, and when the co-pilot did let the nose down, the computer started to accept the lower angle of attack feedback, and started to blow the stall warning horn. Think about that – absolutely no outside horizon since it was the middle of the night over the ocean, and having lost all confidence in the flight displays, whenever the co-pilot lowered the nose, the stall warning came on!! The pitot tubes then cleared, but by now the crew could not – would not - or did not – believe the very slow airspeed indications. How could lowering the nose to gain airspeed caused the stall horn to go off??? That goes against everything we’ve been taught! WHAT A CONUMDRUM!! And here is the rub, if they had just returned control to the autopilot, we would not be talking about this. This is a very classic case of automation beyond the understanding of, or the befuddling of, the crew, not unlike the Asiana Airlines B-777 that crashed at San Francisco. So, if you have a lot of automation onboard, you have got to really understand the workings – and gotcha’s – associated with it. Any time you find yourself saying “What is it doing now?” the best thing you can – and should – do is to disconnect the autopilot, take over command of the airplane as the pilot-flying in command, and sort things out. This means you have to stay involved in the flight. You have to know what is happening, what is supposed to happen, and make sure that it is what happens. I think that is what pilot-in-command means….
Of the 8 fatal accidents so far this year in Arizona, 5 of the pilots were Arizona-based, and only one, as far as we can ascertain, had ever attended any of our safety seminars. Getting the word out to all of our fellow pilots is essential and critical to driving down the overall accident rate, and especially the fatal accident rate. Only one of the fatal accidents was weather related; two were of unknown circumstances; two were classified as Controlled-Flight-Into-Terrain (CFIT), reasons unknown; one was a Loss-of-Control (LOC), possibly due to a mechanical failure in flight; one was an engine failure/forced landing that resulted in the death of a passenger; and one, in my opinion, was a poor decision by the pilot to deplane from his helicopter with the engine running.
There was also one out-of-state accident involving 3 Arizona-based pilots (in the same airplane) on departure out of Telluride on an IFR flight plan. They somehow slammed into the side of a mountain, a clear case of Controlled-Flight-Into-Terrain (CFIT), but no one really knows why the aircraft hit the mountain, only that it did! I am waiting for the final NTSB report to shed some light on this accident.
Here is this month’s tidbit of information to provoke some thought:
How many of you operate out of an airport with jet traffic, either the Airlines, a commuter flying CRJs or Embraers, or big corporate jets like G-IV, G-Vs, Citation 10s, etc.? Ever wonder why the tower makes you wait for 3 minutes before letting you take off? The answer is WAKE VORTICES/WAKE TURBULENCE. That is why they always (in a perfect world) tell you about that on departure or landing. There was that accident at Scottsdale a while back where a Cirrus turned onto final close behind a big corporate jet. The tower had even advised the pilot that he was potentially too close in trail and to be prepared for a possible go-around. Unfortunately, he hit the wake turbulence and was dead 12 seconds later! WAKE VORTICES/WAKE TURBULENCE can be deadly, and you need to pay attention to those warnings.
Now, having said all that, did you know that you, as pilot in command, with tacit approval from the FAA, can waive the 3 minute rule and depart right behind a non-heavy certificated jet? YUP, you sure can! But you assume the risk of encountering said WAKE VORTICES/WAKE TURBULENCE, and if you do get into them during climb-out, you too, can be dead in 12 seconds or less!! The point is, even if it’s legal to do so, it is not always prudent to do so! Can it be done safely? Sure, it is done all the time, but you have to understand the concept of it, how WAKE VORTICES/WAKE TURBULENCE is created, when it is created, how it behaves, the wind effect on it, etc. Obviously, if you operate at an airport with jet traffic, the same WAKE VORTICES/WAKE TURBULENCE rules – and danger - apply to landing behind a large aircraft, as you can see from the Scottsdale accident. So, fly smart, and give yourself adequate separation behind landing jet traffic. I strongly suggest you read the section in the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) on this subject.
And now I’ll leave you with the following thoughts –
WHAT WAS THE BEST THING BEFORE SLICED BREAD?
IF YOU TRY TO FAIL, AND SUCCEED, WHICH HAVE YOU DONE?
I WENT TO A BOOKSTORE AND ASKED THE SALESWOMAN, "WHERE'S THE SELF- HELP SECTION?" SHE SAID IF SHE TOLD ME, IT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE.
And finally,
WHAT IF THERE WERE NO HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS?
Should you desire a safety program at your local airport, simply contact APA via our website. You can connect with me through the Safety Program Director, or you can contact me, Fred Gibbs, at 410-206-3753 or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The Arizona Pilots Association provides the safety programs at no charge. We can also help you organize a program of your choice, and we can recommend programs that your pilot community might really like.
