Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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#1840415
Personal conviction is everything when it comes to staying out of trouble.

Once you've made a decision to not fly for whatever reason, leave it there. Asking yourself afterwards if you should have gone despite your legitimate doubts seems totally pointless.

Don't let other people or your own enthusiasm for flying undermine your personal defences.
JAFO, T6Harvard, kanga liked this
#1840423
Pilot H wrote:3) Train your muscle memory to always gently unload the stick a little when banking at low altitude and airspeed (eg base to final turn).

Eh? Thus increasing the rate of descent?
Pilot H wrote:Use the trim. It should feel viscerally uncomfortable if you are so out of trim that you have to hold back pressure to maintain airspeed while banking near the ground.

What??? :shock:

You mean trim forward during the base to final turn to make it harder to apply back pressure in the turn? As a protection against pulling back inadvertently?

If that's what you mean, then rubbish. The whole point of the trimmer is to allow you to fly sensitively with small control loads. And you'd then have to remove all that forward trim once you roll out on final, otherwise it will be unpleasantly difficult to flare. Learn to fly properly instead.

If not, then I've misunderstood - please clarify.
#1840425
TopCat wrote:... you'd then have to remove all that forward trim once you roll out on final, otherwise it will be unpleasantly difficult to flare.


You have missed the point. Pilot H flies a Cirrus. He never has to flare to land, he just pulls the handle and waits.

Rob P :D
JAFO, Dominie, Ben K and 2 others liked this
#1840452
Rob P wrote:
TopCat wrote:... you'd then have to remove all that forward trim once you roll out on final, otherwise it will be unpleasantly difficult to flare.


You have missed the point. Pilot H flies a Cirrus. He never has to flare to land, he just pulls the handle and waits.

Well, well, never heard that gag before :D

But it would explain the rather odd handling recommendation.
#1840547
Mention of water contamination in fuel and why check if a/c flown already today?

Happened to me a few hours ago. A flying lesson, someone had flown the a/c before me. My instructor is meticulous so he definitely would have checked fuel first thing, and he later confirmed that.

I did my checks. I treat the checks as a challenge to try and find something wrong :D

All drains OK except the fuel filter drain, lowest in the system of course. First time I've seen water in the fuel, a small-ish amt but unmistakable. I showed my instructor , we drained some fuel off and I double checked with the tester to make sure no residual water.
JAFO liked this
#1840552
I didn’t fly today after finding something wrong, took me 10 minutes to work out if it was me being over nervous in my second flight back or not.

Funny thing is I’d usually have scrubbed instantly, but I had a niggling doubt that it was me being over cautious.

After I scrubbed, a more experienced pilot/FI walked past, I said “Here, what do you think of this?”

His reply was “crumbs, I’d not fly that, it didn’t do that yesterday” !
T6Harvard, NDB_hold liked this
#1840563
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:What was it?


Our flaps can sometimes be a bit stiff when returning to their up position.

I noticed there was a small delay when going from 3rd stage of flap to 2nd stage of flap, and again from 2nd to 1st. The movement of the flap was behind the movement of the handle.

Everything was fine if you went slowly.
(Except a bit of a twang noise, but I’ve heard that before)

However, if you went from 3rd to 1st without pausing, when the handle said “up”, they stayed down, for about 2 or 3 seconds and then “sprang” from 3rd to 1st with a big clonk.

Thing was, they just seemed a little odd/tight till I did that, then it became a“something definitely doesn’t move as it should somewhere” feeling.

I very nearly flew at first, till I discovered they were doing the clonking thing.

I took a video so I could watch it this morning as I knew I’d be feeling “I should have gone for a flight, I’m sure it was nothing really”. Watching the video has helped with that. It was real.
Flyin'Dutch' liked this
#1840565
Most accidents are caused by a human error in judgement. Regardless of which mechanical fault brings the aircraft down, in many cases it is the reaction of the pilot after the event and the judgement of the pilot before the event which can prove to be the decisive factor. Much of the advice given here is focussed on improving pilots judgement to conduct the flight. Something is mechanically wrong or the weather is marginal or I don’t feel confident in the rental shed etc all judgement calls. Even down to things like leaving a towbar on the front wheel, if you do and the prop is damaged, it’s the human not the aircraft who is going to get it to ground safely. In HPL the SHELL model places Liveware at the centre and all inputs to the pilot in the decision making process flow through the Liveware.
I guess I’m saying if you want to avoid accidents take a look at yourself first.
One area I come across regularly is the propensity to try to avoid contact with an ATO outside of the legally mandated two year flight with instructor. I’ve noticed on biennial flights a reluctance to be judged in any way which places a mental block on seeking further training. There have been long and frequent threads on here about the content-less biennial and in some quarters an expectation that it will be conducted as simply the FI sitting quietly on a 1hour flight around the local area. I suggest the best way to avoid an accident is avoid being the pilot with this mindset.
T6Harvard, Flyin'Dutch' liked this
#1840587
TLRippon wrote:I’ve noticed on biennial flights a reluctance to be judged in any way which places a mental block on seeking further training.

List please - my "will not fly with" list hasn't been updated for a while :)

Just kidding, but that's a little shocking, if perhaps not surprising.

When I fly with another pilot, part of my briefing is "this is an ego-free aircraft; please tell me immediately if you spot something I've missed or if you're concerned about anything at all". I wouldn't want to fly with anyone who didn't take the same view, especially input from an instructor.

I've occasionally disagreed with an instructor. Indeed, berating me for not adding power in a steep turn, one CFI even told me once that in a 60 degree banked turn the stall speed doubles. I had a little trouble biting my tongue on that occasions, but even so I kept schtum. Arguing with the instructor in the aircraft or even getting huffy about things is a big no-no and I can imagine it really pisses them off.

In any case even being on the receiving end of a different perspective is hugely useful, and if I haven't been criticised about quite a few things, I don't feel I've had my money's worth.

There have been long and frequent threads on here about the content-less biennial and in some quarters an expectation that it will be conducted as simply the FI sitting quietly on a 1hour flight around the local area. I suggest the best way to avoid an accident is avoid being the pilot with this mindset.

I don't recall any suggestion that the biennial should be content-free. Lots of debate about the way some instructors treat it as a test, but none that it should be content-free. It's supposed to be training. But I agree, anyone that doesn't want content has a bad mindset and is wasting a great opportunity.
JodelDavo, skydriller liked this
#1840632
Cessna571 wrote:
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:What was it?


Our flaps can sometimes be a bit stiff when returning to their up position.

I noticed there was a small delay when going from 3rd stage of flap to 2nd stage of flap, and again from 2nd to 1st. The movement of the flap was behind the movement of the handle.

Everything was fine if you went slowly.
(Except a bit of a twang noise, but I’ve heard that before)

However, if you went from 3rd to 1st without pausing, when the handle said “up”, they stayed down, for about 2 or 3 seconds and then “sprang” from 3rd to 1st with a big clonk.

Thing was, they just seemed a little odd/tight till I did that, then it became a“something definitely doesn’t move as it should somewhere” feeling.

I very nearly flew at first, till I discovered they were doing the clonking thing.

I took a video so I could watch it this morning as I knew I’d be feeling “I should have gone for a flight, I’m sure it was nothing really”. Watching the video has helped with that. It was real.


Always the remote possibility of asymetric flap (if one side is binding). Probably about the worst that can happen.

Worth being prepared for it is definitely survivable. How many might attempt a cross wind landing however just to get it back on the ground?
#1840648
IMCR wrote:Always the remote possibility of asymetric flap (if one side is binding). Probably about the worst that can happen.

Worth being prepared for it is definitely survivable. How many might attempt a cross wind landing however just to get it back on the ground?


Asymmetric flaps are likely to be a terminal event.
#1840649
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:
IMCR wrote:Always the remote possibility of asymetric flap (if one side is binding). Probably about the worst that can happen.

Worth being prepared for it is definitely survivable. How many might attempt a cross wind landing however just to get it back on the ground?


Asymmetric flaps are likely to be a terminal event.


On what do you basis this?

My expectation is that in many types the roll will be slow, and control maintenable with full or close to close aileron. Dont attempt to land with any cross wind because you will run out of authority. Fly the approach faster to maintain authority. There are accounts and pilots who have survived.
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