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.") It's part of what makes aviation so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.

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, and as representatives of the flying community. 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.

It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow them to soar magnificently through it.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips. Remember... when it comes to being good pilots, we're all in this together.

Aero-Tips 03.08.06

A pilot died recently attempting takeoff. The irony is that he had successfully landed off-airport after losing power. After repairs were complete, he tried to take off from the emergency landing site... only to impact trees on departure.

Another pilot did a masterful job of gliding onto a busy boulevard without damage or injury, after exhausting his fuel supply. After fueling up, with the road seemingly cleared by police and firefighters (and with news cameras rolling), he tried to take off—when his wingtip snagged a truck’s mirror, which pulled the plane into a loss of control that left it totaled in the trees alongside the boulevard.

After the Fall

If decisions or bad fortune puts you in a scenario where you put the airplane down off-airport, it’s generally not a good idea to try to fly the plane back out. In fact, most aviation insurance policies include a provision that pays to disassemble an airplane as necessary to truck it to the nearest suitable airport, then reassemble it following an off-airport landing. Given the history of crashes after off-airport landings, it’s in the insurance company’s best interest to pay to move it to an airport. Most certainly it’s in your best interest.

Aero-tip of the day: Check your policy or ask your agent/broker about coverage for such events, and even if you don’t have insurance coverage to pay for it strongly consider trucking your airplane to an airport if you ever end a trip flyable, but short of a runway.

FMI: Aero-Tips