In this edition, Thomas T Turner relates the drama of handling a partial engine failure in IMC. Flying in the United States early in the GPS era, before the advent of moving map displays, he decided he needed to ignore ATC when they asked him twice to descend early. ‘I’m going to maintain 4,000 feet until you tell me I’m two miles from the airport. Then I’ll descend out of the clouds and land.’ Tom says he doesn’t fault the controller for trying to make things easy the best way they know. He references the ATSB’s landmark study in 2011, ‘Managing partial power loss after take-off in single-engine aircraft.’
Monica Kade analyses how to stay comfortable – and therefore focused – when flying, and discusses choosing the right headset, having warm clothes and managing overly long cables. She comes up 10 factors influencing cockpit comfort, some of which are easily managed, including seat adjustments, control placement, temperature regulation and reducing clutter, all aimed at making the flight safer.
Angela Stevenson explains the ‘dirty dozen’, the term often used to describe the most common human errors preceding accidents. She nominates the dozen as lack of communication, distraction, lack of resources, lack of awareness, complacency, pressure, stress, lack of knowledge, fatigue, norms (e.g. normalisation of deviance), lack of assertiveness and lack of teamwork.
Brendan Reinhardt analyses a crash involving a Canadian Bell 212 that hit mountain waves, was flipped inverted and crashed. A notable helicopter accident in Australia due to mechanical turbulence was the crash in 2001 of a Bell 47 flown by the Skyhooks lead singer Shirley Strachan in south-east Queensland.
In the historical feature ‘Down to a sunless sea’, Robert Wilson discusses why the disappearance of famous musician Glenn Miller in World War II remains relevant for 21st century general aviation. The lessons from his death are as lasting as his music: impatience and weather are a deadly combination, particularly when conditions are in the ‘let’s have a look’ category rather than unambiguously unflyable.
In the close call ‘Tropical chill’, a pilot experiences carby ice several times in a Cherokee 180 and warns that carby ice can form at any time under the right conditions and often catch you as a pilot completely unawares. ‘At low altitudes it can be deadly!’
This 64-page edition includes a crash comic, quizzes and valuable safety insights, making it a must-read for aviation enthusiasts.
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