Thu, Oct 19, 2006
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 10.19.06
Number five on the FAA's list of Top 10 causes of pilot-error
mishaps is failure to see and avoid objects or obstructions.
There's overlap between this and earlier discussions about
takeoff speeds, and descent below minimum safe altitudes. Before
taking off check for obstructions by:
- Looking at aeronautical charts for depicted
obstructions --
-
- Sectional charts show towers and terrain, and include a minimum
safe altitude for the area.
- Instrument approach charts do a great job of showing the
location and height of towers and terrain, to scale, within a 10-nm
circle of a point near the airport.
- Instrument approach charts also list circling minimums for
instrument runways. A circling approach altitude ensures obstacle
clearance from a point from one to two miles from the ends of the
runway, depending on the approach category.
- If you're not an instrument-rated pilot ask an instrument
instructor to explain the charts and circling altitudes as they
apply to a visual arrival and departure.
- Look out the window. More correctly, from the
ramp look in the direction you'll depart and see if there are any
obvious obstacles or safe departure routes.
- Ask the locals. Pilots from the area are
almost always very willing to suggest arrival and departure
procedures. Call before you fly in, and talk to the gang in the FBO
before you depart.
Pole position
From the NTSB:
After takeoff the aircraft failed to climb sufficiently to
clear a utility pole…off the end of the runway. The aircraft
collided with the pole and crashed in a residential street. The
pilot and three passengers were fatally injured and the aircraft
was consumed by fire.
Aero-tip of the day: Check charts, visually and
by asking locals about obstacles and departure procedures to avoid
this common cause of aircraft mishaps.
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