Stick to the Plan

Train like you fly. Fly like you train. That's a phrase I've always liked. When I was in training, it motivated me. It helped me understand that all the hours and effort I was putting into my flight training were for a good cause, and that the things I was learning might someday save my life.

One day, that was confirmed. The work I had done throughout my training career did save me. I was single pilot, IFR in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) when my airplane suffered an alternator failure. Instrument pilots know the complete loss of electrical power (after alternator failure and battery depletion) is a serious emergency when flying in IMC. The airplane I was flying was an older Piper Cherokee with passive warning annunciator lights. A faint amber glow of the letters "ALT" on the panel is all the warning of an alternator malfunction the pilot gets, so you'd better pay attention. Alternator malfunctions must be detected early because once the alternator stops producing electrical power, your minutes of battery power start ticking down immediately. And you'd better not count on more than thirty minutes of juice; that's not a lot of time to get to an instrument approach and land, so every minute is precious.

My flight instructor had taught me to always keep a proactive instrument scan of the entire panel, not just the flight instruments but the engine gauges, ammeter, and annunciator panel as well. When failures or abnormal indications are detected early, they're usually easier to deal with. Had I not been maintaining an aggressive instrument scan, I may not have detected the alternator failure until the battery was depleted, or nearly so. That would have left me with no way to navigate, communicate, or find my way to an approach procedure and get down out of the clouds. Pilots greatly depend on electrical power while trudging through the murky gray.

My early detection of the "ALT" annunciator light enabled me to divert to a nearby instrument approach (which was shot to minimums) and land safely without incident. Most pilots are familiar with the "accident chain" theory, meaning almost all aviation accidents are the result of a chain of factors which link up to create an accident. My accident chain had started that day, but I broke the chain by flying like I trained, detecting the alternator failure early, staying calm and completing the appropriate checklist, and diverting to a nearby airport. The chain was broken before it ever got close to an accident. By staying calm and putting to use the skills I had learned in my training, I avoided what could've become a serious emergency.

Human factors research has indicated that pilots do a better job of dealing with inflight problems when they use the skills they learned during training. In other words, pilots manage emergencies better when they stick to their plan. As I've mentioned in previous posts, improvising is a bad idea in an airplane. When actors improvise during a take and their choices bomb, the director yells "Cut" and the actors try it again differently from the top. Pilots don't get a second take, and instead of a director yelling "Cut" after a bad choice pilots end up dead. Don't improvise. Stick to the plan. Improvisation is experimental... It may or may not work. That's certainly not something you'd want to engage in when your very life is depending on the outcome of the experiment. Remember: Train like you fly. Fly like you train.

Some pilots have a tendency to throw all the skills they acquired during emergency training to the wind when things get nasty. Ironically, that's when they need those skills the very most. Accident studies have shown that last second changes usually create problems, such as a last second decision to go around after touching down three quarters of the way down a runway with high trees off the departure end. What would've been a survivable runway overrun turns into a fatal inflight collision with trees.

Remember, pilots do best when we stick to our plans. You worked hard during your training to acquire life-saving skills, so use them when you need them! There's no better time to put to use your emergency procedures training than during an emergency.

Good News

Runway incursions are down this year. Great job to everyone who has contributed to the effort to reduce runway incursions. Keep it up! It seems that the FAA's runway safety initiative is helping, and pilots at all levels across the country have received free training resources and education on preventing runway incursions. Runway safety continues to be a hot spot and focus area for the FAA, and there is still room for improvement.

Approximately sixty percent of 2009's runway incursions have been caused by pilot deviations (PD). Of those pilot deviations, a staggering eighty three percent involved general aviation (GA) airplanes. That means five out of six runway incursions are caused by GA pilots. Ouch! We can do better than that! Let's brush up on a few runway safety recommendations.

• Eliminate "heads-down" time during surface operations. Keep your head up and eyes out during taxi. Never complete checklists or other pre-departure (or pre-shutdown) tasks while the aircraft is moving. Here are a few do's and don'ts for taxiing. Do: Keep your eyes and attention outside the aircraft, periodically cross-check your heading indicator to verify you're taxiing in the correct direction and that you are where you think you are. Don't: Program a GPS or configure avionics, run checklists, copy a pre-departure IFR clearance, study an aeronautical chart.
• Always refer to a current airport diagram while taxiing. Study the airport diagram during your preflight planning, and highlight your anticipated taxi route. Pay special attention to any designated airport "hot spots" depicted on airport diagrams, and obtain NOTAMs before departure to check for taxiway closures. Any closures should be marked on your airport diagram.
• Always write down taxi instructions, especially if they are complex or if the airport is unfamiliar. As is clearly stated on every airport diagram, read back all runway holding instructions. I'd take that a step further and advise a read back of all taxi instructions, including runway holding instructions. If you think you may've heard your taxi instructions incorrectly, or if you don't understand the instructions, ask ATC.
• Always use sterile cockpit procedures during surface operations. Only pertinent information should be discussed. This will help eliminate cockpit distractions and keep you from inadvertently wandering onto an active runway!
• Make sure you have a thorough understanding of all airport signage and surface markings. Carry a "cheat sheet" airport sign and marking legend if you must.
• Use external aircraft lights to signal your intentions to other pilots, whether day or night. Remember these guidelines: beacon on anytime the engine is running, strobes on anytime you're occupying an active runway (crossing, holding, taking off or landing), landing lights and all other external lights on when initiating takeoff roll or landing.
• Always look both ways before entering any runway. ATC makes mistakes too! I take this a step further and look both ways before entering a taxiway intersection as well. I announce, "Clear left, clear right." This helps increase my situational awareness and keeps me engaged and vigilant.
• If you're even slightly uncertain of your position on the airport, STOP. Ask ATC for assistance. If you find yourself on a runway, clear the runway immediately, stop, and ask ATC for assistance. Don't hesitate to request progressive taxi instructions if necessary.

Something the airlines have been doing for a few years now (some longer) since the Comair crash in Lexington is performing a mandatory cross-check of the heading indicator prior to initiating the takeoff roll to verify the aircraft is lined up on the correct runway. I've adopted this procedure and recommend it to all pilots. After I line up and immediately before I apply takeoff power I verify proper heading and say, "Runway XX confirmed." This is an excellent way of verifying you've got the correct runway ahead of you and that ATC has cleared it of traffic and it is of sufficient length as planned. Do the same thing when approaching a runway on final. Verify your heading matches the intended runway and say, "Runway XX confirmed."

Following these recommendations will ensure you don't become a statistic! Again, great job, everyone, on the runway safety improvement. We've still got more work to do, so let's keep it up and remember... Stay alert, stay alive.

"We Have Clearance, Clarence."

"I guess he's just headin' in," said the tower controller. I visited my home base airport's control tower a couple weeks ago. The tower controller, or local controller in ATC terms, and I watched as a Cessna 172 landed, exited the runway, and taxied to his parking location without saying a word. The controller, not wanting to fill out a bunch of paperwork near the end of his shift, quickly keyed up and issued the aircraft taxi clearance. The pilot acknowledged, his voice sounding a bit caught off guard by the taxi clearance, perhaps because he didn't understand that he had unwittingly just committed a violation.

This happens all the time. Go park yourself near the sidelines at a busy GA airport with a control tower and count how many airplanes taxi off the runway after landing and continue to their parking location without clearance. Controllers get used to this, and in the interest of maintaining a healthy blood pressure level, they usually don't chastise the unknowing pilots and simply issue a taxi clearance. Sometimes they ignore the violation altogether. But taxiing from a runway to a parking location requires clearance from ATC, just like taxiing from a parking location to a runway for takeoff. Certainly, most pilots wouldn't start-up and taxi out to a departure runway for takeoff without contacting ground control for taxi clearance. Why, then, do they taxi along the same active taxiways in the opposite direction without clearance after landing?

When a controller clears you to land, the runway is yours. Not the entire airport movement area (including the taxiways you plan to use to transition from the landing runway to parking). A taxi clearance must be received after landing, even if the taxi is short and simple. That same taxi required a clearance before takeoff, and it requires a clearance after landing. Other aircraft may be moving about the surface communicating with ground control. Taxiing off the runway after landing and continuing straight onto another taxiway may put you head-to-head with another aircraft. That can create a headache because aircraft can't go backwards, and on narrow taxiways there may be insufficient room to accommodate a 180 degree turn. A shutdown and tow may be required to remedy the situation.

Remember, you must be cleared to taxi before you move anywhere on a designated movement area. That's true whether you're taxiing out for takeoff, taxiing from point to point on the airport surface, or taxiing to parking after landing. Sometimes taxi clearances are extremely short. "Skyhawk 123, taxi to parking." That's a taxi clearance. Three words. The term "taxi to" means you choose your taxi route. You can use any taxiways or inactive runways you desire, just not an active runway. The FAA has recently mandated the issuance of explicit taxi instructions at many airports, meaning controllers are no longer permitted to use "taxi to" clearances. An explicit taxi instruction contains a specific taxi route, but it can still be short. At my home base, I often get the taxi clearance, "Taxi to parking via Alpha." That's still short but explicit because it contains a specific taxi route. No matter what the case, you've got to have a clearance in one form another before taxiing after landing.

The proper procedure is to land and exit the runway as soon as practicable. Always exit onto a taxiway, never an intersecting runway unless specifically instructed by ATC. Pull your entire aircraft clear of the hold short lines and stop, then await further instructions from ATC. Never change to the ground frequency unless instructed by the tower. That's another common mistake I've seen. Some pilots switch from tower to ground automatically after exiting the runway. Don't do that. Stay on tower, give the controller a second to issue you further instructions, and if he doesn't, query him. At that point he'll either issue you a taxi clearance or hand you off to the ground controller. The ground controller will then issue a taxi clearance. If the tower controller issues the taxi clearance, stay on his frequency for the entire taxi unless he specifically instructs you to contact ground. When requesting taxi-in clearance, use the same format you'd use if calling for a taxi clearance for takeoff. It should sound like this, "Denver Ground, Skyhawk 123, clear of 35 Left at Mike 6, taxi to GA parking."

Taxiing off a landing runway and onto an active taxiway is taxiing without clearance. It's a violation and can get you into trouble. So, remember, pull across the hold lines, stop, and await further instructions.

Airplane Pain

Body pain is important to humans. It keeps us from damaging our bodies. When injury begins, pain calls out to us, "Stop!" Pain is a powerful and wonderful communication tool that keeps our bodies preserved and safe from continued injury. Airplanes feel pain too. The problem is, they can't tell us what hurts and when.

Wouldn't it be great if airplanes could talk? "A little more right rudder, please. There, that feels better." Airplanes do sometimes communicate, but in much more subtle ways. As pilots, our primary means of understanding and working harmoniously with our ship is through knowledge. Knowledge of what hurts airplanes, what keeps them safe, what stresses them, and how best to handle them. It's a synthetic thinking game, kind of like aliens from a different galaxy reading a manual about how to decode human body language. "I wonder why the corners of their mouths point up when they're happy," they might say. I've often wondered what an airframe feels during a steep turn. All the rivets, the wing spars, the skin creating different artificial sensations. The problem is, we can't feel those sensations, yet we're very much a part of the airplane and are totally reliant on its structure to remain intact and healthy during flight.

So, we learn in ground school about load factor and aerodynamics, much like aliens would study human anatomy and physiology to better understand our inner workings. But until the day when it's possible to hook electrodes onto our arms and legs that zap sensory information into our bodies in accord with airplane loads and stresses during flight, the best we can do is put knowledge in our brains about what it must feel like for the airplane.

Sometimes we misunderstand or forget. This is what brought down AAL 587, an A300 that crashed during climbout from JFK in 2001. The airplane encountered wake turbulence from a 747 a few miles ahead and the pilot made over-enthusiastic control inputs that ripped the vertical stabilizer off. If only the airplane could've shouted out to the pilot, "Ouch! That hurts! Less rudder!" Since we can't feel the airplane's pain, it's impossible for us to tell when the beating is becoming too severe until it's too late and structural failure occurs. For this reason, we must be extra vigilant and cognizant of our flying technique. Stick and rudder skills are still important, even in this age of automation. Pilots can still break airplanes. A thorough understanding of aerodynamic principles is imperative because we can't be guided by the airplane's sense perceptions, although the airplane is feeling every input continuously.

Be kind to your airplane. Fly it gently, gracefully, and with care and expertise. It will appreciate it, even if it can't tell you with words.