Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network.

Aero-Tips 06.21.06

Planning on flying a high-altitude pressurized aircraft? Then you'll need special training.

FAR 61.31g tells us to act as pilot-in-command (PIC) of a pressurized airplane that has a service ceiling or maximum operating altitude above 25,000 feet you must --

• receive and log ground and flight training from an authorized instructor and
• obtain a logbook endorsement or training record from an authorized instructor who certifies the person has satisfactorily accomplished the ground training.

Note: There are no specific FAA requirements for the "authorized instructor" to provide this training, other than being "authorized" by virtue of holding an FAA instructor certificate or otherwise being recognized by the FAA to conduct training (example: a non-CFI pilot instructor working in an FAR 142 simulator training facility).

What training must cover

Ground training must cover at least the following:

• High-altitude aerodynamics and meteorology;
• Respiration;
• Effects, symptoms, and causes of hypoxia and any other high-altitude sickness;
• Duration of consciousness without supplemental oxygen;
• Effects of prolonged usage of supplemental oxygen;
• Causes and effects of gas expansion and gas bubble formation;
• Preventive measures for eliminating gas expansion, gas bubble formation, and high-altitude sickness;
• Physical phenomena and incidents of decompression; and
• Any other physiological aspects of high-altitude flight.

Flight training must take place in a pressurized aircraft or a flight simulator or flight traiing device representative of a pressurized aircraft, and include at least:

• Normal cruise flight operations while operating above 25,000 feet MSL;
• Proper emergency procedures for simulated rapid decompression without actually depressurizing the aircraft; and
• Emergency descent procedures.

Note that the majority of training addresses keeping yourself alive in a high altitude environment, and getting down fast if something goes wrong with the pressurization.

Exceptions: if you logged PIC in a pressurized airplane (or a flight simulator/flight training device representative of a pressurized aircraft) before April 15, 1991, complete a U.S. military PIC check or pass a Part 121, 125 or 135 check pilot as PIC the so-called "high altitude endorsement" does not apply.

Weird rules

Because the requirement exists for pressurized airplanes certified to fly above 25,000 feet there are a few interesting quirks to the rule. For instance, in the Beechcraft world (where I have much of my personal experience):

• PIC of a 58P pressurized Baron does not require the endorsement because, although the P-Baron is pressurized it is certified to (not "above") 25,000 feet.
• PIC of a systemically almost identical Beech Duke does require the endorsement because it is pressurized and certified to fly higher than 25,000 feet.
• PIC of an unpressurized Beech 56TC, a Baron with Duke engines certified to 30,000 feet, does not require the endorsement by virtue of its lack of pressurization.
• PIC of a Duke that chooses to never fly higher than 10,000 feet still requires the high altitude endorsement because the pressurized airplane is certified to higher than 25,000 feet, regardless of how it will normally be flown.

Aero-tip of the day: Required or not, get thoroughly familiar with the aerodynamics, meteorology and especially the human physiology of high-altitude flight—your life may depend on it.

FMI: Aero-Tips