safety alert: reduced visual references require vigilance

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Safety Alert: Reduced Visual References Require Vigilance

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1,500 aviation accidents per year

Top Occurrence Categories

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Fatal accidents in GA personal flying sector, 2000-2011

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Safety Alerts

• General aviation on NTSB Most Wanted List

• Need to reduce GA accident rate

• Education, training, and risk management skills

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Safety Alerts

• Define a GA safety problem

• Provide statistics on the problem

• Provide examples of accidents

• Provide ways to prevent accidents

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Safety Alert Topics

• Aerodynamic stalls at low altitude

• Reduced-visual references

• Aircraft mechanical problems

• Pilots’ risk management

• Mechanics’ risk management

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Discussion of Accident Cases

• Completed cases: common causes, factors, and scenarios

• Used as educational tools• Not intended to admonish accident

pilots

• Intended to help other pilots learn

CFIT Accident:VFR into IMC

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WPR11FA078Perris, California

Accident Flight

• Aero Commander 680FL

• Mountainous terrain, daylight IMC

• Pilot was fatally injured

• Part 91, no flight plan

• Returning airplane to base after previous weather diversion

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Pilot

• 33,000+ total flight hours

• Airline transport pilot

• Instrument current

• Recent experience in accident airplane

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Weather

• No record of a weather briefing

• Departure: VFR

• En route: marginal VFR

• Precipitation in area of accident

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Accident Flight

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Accident Flight

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Accident Site

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Missed Opportunities

• Obtain a weather briefing

• Adhere to cancellation alternatives

• Resist external pressures to complete flight

• Act before situation becomes dangerous

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ASI Perspectives

• Make the right decisions at the right time

• If there’s doubt, reevaluate

• Never “go take a look”

• You never have to be anywhere when flying an airplane

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Spatial Disorientation:Dark Night VMC

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ERA11FA412Erwin, North Carolina

Accident Flight

• Cessna 182S

• Dark night VMC

• Pilot and passenger were returning home

• Radio contact lost about 25 minutes into flight

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Erwin

Columbus

Lost Comm

Meridian

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End of Civil Twilight

Erwin

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Runway 5

Accident Site

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Accident Site

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Pilot Experience

• No flights logged within 8 months of accident flight

• No recent flight review or instrument proficiency check

• Only 0.2 hours of night experience in last year

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Audio Panel

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Missed Opportunities

• Fully understand how to operate all onboard systems

• Divert flight after encountering abnormalities

• Terminate flight before nightfall

• Find airport with continuous night lighting, without disorientation hazard

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ASI Perspectives

• Balance risk vs. practicality

• Reduced visibility accidents are: • Often fatal

• Easily preventable

• No pilot is immune

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Spatial Disorientation:Day IMC

NYC08FA157Seale, Alabama

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Accident Flight

• Experimental-AB Vans RV-10

• Seale, Alabama

• Lebanon, Tennessee, to Eufaula, Alabama

• Pilot and passenger/builder fatally injured

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Accident Flight

• Airplane equipped with “glass cockpit” flight instruments

• Cross country flight to Sun ‘n Fun

• Approach flown in daylight IMC

• IFR flight plan

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Pilot

• 1,700 total flight hours

• Instrument current, 358 flight hours in actual IMC

• Majority of prior IFR experience in personal airplane, equipped with “conventional” instruments

• No flight experience in the accident airplane or type

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Pilot-Rated Passenger

• Private pilot, no instrument rating

• 68 flight hours in accident airplane

• Co-builder of accident airplane

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Weather

• Departure and en route: VMC

• Arrival area weather • 8 miles visibility

• 1,000-foot ceiling

• 4,500-foot cloud tops

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IMC

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ColumbusILS 6LOM

EufaulaVOR 18

FAF

Auburn

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ColumbusILS 6

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Missed Opportunities

• Declare an emergency

• Utilize ATC - additional resources will become available if emergency declared

• Climb into VMC

• Glass cockpit training

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ASI Perspectives

• Pilot-rated passenger familiar with the airplane, but would not have been familiar with flying an instrument approach

• Flight “legal,” but may not necessarily be advisable

• Glass cockpit does not guarantee additional levels of safety

• Read and learn from NTSB reports

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Summary

Safety Alert: “Reduced Visual References Require Vigilance”

• Accident summaries

• Links to educational resources

• “What can pilots do?”

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What can pilots do?

• Preflight planning

• Obtain weather briefing

• Don’t allow situation to become dangerous before acting

• Ask for help from ATC

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What can pilots do?

• Prepare for the challenges of night flight

• Be honest about skill limitations

• Plan ahead with alternatives

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What can pilots do?

• Understand how to use all aircraft systems

• Manage distractions

• Instrument flying proficiency

• IFR procedures

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