Flight News On Reality Pilot Training & Air Charters Consultancy Eastern & Central Africa

Flight News On Reality Pilot Training & Air Charters Consultancy Eastern & Central Africa

In one of these recent columns was a discussion about the differences between stalling a lightly-loaded aircraft with a forward centre-of-gravity and one that is heavily loaded with an aft CG.

The differences can really be profound and catch off-guard a pilot who has only stalled an aircraft in the training configuration (empty rear seats and baggage compartments).

I suggested that pilots explore that end of the operating envelope to see just how differently the aircraft behaves when fully loaded. This is best done, of course, under the tutelage of an instructor.

The discussion reminded me that there is a several man oeuvres performed in lightly loaded aircraft that often mislead pilots into believing that such man oeuvres are easily performed with an adequate safety margin.

When practicing a go-around in a lightly loaded aircraft at sea level, for example, a pilot usually has little difficulty transitioning from approach to climb. He concludes that a go-around is no big deal but does not appreciate what it is like to do the same in a heavily loaded aircraft, especially at a higher density altitude.

Someday, though, he might have to execute a go-round during real-world conditions and discover the hard way how challenging the manoeeuvre can be.

It is little wonder that some fail to survive the experience.

This, I think, is where the innovative instructor can do much to better prepare his students. It is one thing to train a pilot according to practical test standards but quite another to go beyond these minima and prepare him for conditions he might encounter when on his own and carrying passengers.

Every student and especially those preparing for complex and high-performance endorsements should be given a dose of what I call reality training.

Nothing teaches like experience. Being a co-pilot on an airliner or a corporate jet provides reality training because it allows you observe how an experienced captain copes with situations to which you might have never been exposed.

This is the best reality training a pilot can obtain and is excellent preparation for becoming a pilot in command.

Some form of reality training should be offered by all instructors and demanded by all students. To obtain such experience in the real world and without proper training can prove fatal.

He was always grateful, for example, that his first Boeing 707 landing in a stiff, gusty crosswind on a wet runway was under the watchful eye of an experienced captain, and that his first heavy takeoff on a polar flight from London to Los Angeles on a warm day was similarly critiqued by another of TWA's greybeards.

There was so much that he learned simply by observation, such as how to weave through a line squall over Kansas or caress the edge of a western pacific typhoon.

He is certain that if he had been the captain during his first lightning strike he would have needed a new uniform and that his pulse rate would have climbed through the cockpit ceiling. But seeing the seasoned captain to his left taking it in stride had a calming effect. (A strike can sound like someone on the flight deck shot a.45-calibre pistol).

General aviation pilots get their experience the hard way, by doing it on their own. An innovative instructor, though, can help to prepare them for the real world with imaginative and carefully crafted lesson plans.

Takeoff and climb from a high density altitude airport, for example, can be simulated and practiced at a sea level airport on a cold day. It is simply a matter of limiting engine power available to the student.

Taking off from Cape Town in winter? No problem .Advance the throttle to no more than 22-or-so inches of manifold pressure or 300 or so rpm less than maximum-available static rpm in an aircraft with a fixed-pitch propeller .( You will need to experiment with these settings).

As you can imagine, rotation must be done carefully and with finesse. Honking back on the wheel might serve only to attract a complaint from the stall-warning horn. Climb rate during departure will be anemic and demand the patience of job.

With engine power still limited, climb to pattern altitude and prepare for an approach. As the aircraft crosses the threshold, perform a go-around using no more power than was used for takeoff.

You will soon appreciate why it is so important to retract the flaps carefully and on schedule.

Such a lesson also can benefit other pilots willing to observe from the back seat.

This is not risky as long as there is a qualified instructor in the right seat. Should safety and airspeed begin to deteriorate due to mishandling, he needs only to apply full power to restore maximum performance.

He has employed other unorthodox procedures, too. One of his favorites comes in handy when training advanced instrument students and those preparing for an Airline Transport Pilot License.

At a time when the student has only a general idea of aircraft location (such as when practicing partial panel and recovery from unusual attitudes), He advise him that he will simulate the accumulation of structural ice by reducing power: one inch every minute or so. His challenge is to determine his position (without GPS) and set up the aircraft for an instrument approach at the nearest suitable airport before running out of power and altitude. (This often necessitates delaying gear and flap extension).

Some form of reality training should be offered by all instructors and demanded by all students. To obtain such experience in the real world and without proper training can prove fata

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