With all of your flight
training, there will be times when you get the notion that your instructor
is mean or doesn't know what they are talking about. Perhaps not in such a
bold way, but it will happen. This brings me to a story I have of a night
cross-country with a student.
The flight itself is a pretty simple one and is safe for night flights.
The flight goes from Mesa Falcon Field to Wickenberg, Arizona. I have
personally put this flight in my syllabus for many reasons. I have gotten
into many arguments with instructors who worked for me about this flight.
Several of them refused to do the flight and instead ended up taking the
student down to Tucson. As far as I am concerned, this defeats the purpose
of the night cross-country. Following a big lit-up highway in between two
bright major cities does not expose you to the real situations that can
happen on a night cross-country.
Don't let your instructor take you to an easy-to-find destination that is
lit up like New York City. Go somewhere that is pretty difficult to find,
at least for you, not your instructor. Yes, you want to make sure the
instructor knows where he is going to land in the event of an engine
failure, but you need to be on a flight that can get you into a little bit
of trouble if you aren't paying attention.
I will call the student John. You know that I am totally against using all
these high-tech things for private pilot training and even instrument
ratings. Remember what job number one of the pilot is ? Yes, fly the
airplane! I have also already stated that it will take you about 500 hours
before you have this second sense stuck in you inner memory. Even then, a
difficult situation will be a battle between many parts of your brain at
the same time.
John called me in the afternoon about his night flight. We verified the
time, and at the end of the call, John stated that he had just gotten his
new Garmin 95 latest-and-greatest GPS device and asked if he could bring
it along. You probably know me pretty well by now and know exactly what my
answer was: "NO"
John showed up at the airport with his cross-country planned and flight
plan filed, and ready to go. Before we walked out of the office, out came
that shiny new Garmin box. Fred, you need to check this out . . . this is
the new Garmin 95, top-of-the line, latest-and-greatest . . . This was
back in 1996. Garmin was a no-name back then and was just getting into the
market.
"Please, please, please can we take it with us?" After all the begging, I
finally gave in. Deep in my mind somewhere, I had a little smile, and a
voice just said, "Okay."
Before John even started his pre-flight, he set up his new Garmin 95 on
the control column. I knew right then that we were in for a good time! I
told John that he couldn't turn it on until we got out of Phoenix
airspace, which is right where it starts to get nice and dark. He said,
"Okay, no problem."
We took off and headed west as planned. John was right on the money with
all of his checkpoints and times. Flight plan opened at the right time. He
was getting an A+ at this stage of the ball game. We got about five miles
west of Deer Valley airport, where it starts to get nice and dark. (Again,
don't do a night cross-country when there is a full moon! It is nice to
see the big bright moon from 4,500 above the ground, but it makes your
night cross-country easier. If you are doing your first night flight as a
licensed pilot with your girlfriend/boyfriend, go for it,that is the safe
thing to do.)
John looked at me with those puppy eyes and asked, "Can I turn it on?" At
this point, I just looked at him and said, "Yes." The little voice in my
head spoke to me again, "Now it is time for the real lesson to begin."
John turned on the new greatest gift to mankind. The screen came on, and
he said, "Look, Fred, isn't this great? It tells you everything!" The
little voice in my head said, "Yeah. Right. It tells you everything except
what your #1 job in an airplane is...... FLY THE PLANE"
John kept playing with his new toy. I learned way back in 1989 that there
are times when the flight instructor's job is to shut up and let the
student go. This was definitely one of those times.
At first, John had it under control. He was following his line on the
screen and was okay, but I knew that sooner or later, it was going to
distract him from his number one job . . . Yes, fly the airplane!
A little while passed, and John decided to start playing with the screen
options. I knew now that the big lesson had begun, so I just sat there.
Slowly, his altitude started to go up and down,not very much at first, but
I knew it was just going to get worse.
I looked at John, and his head was down looking right at the GPS. By the
way, the time frame of this entire lesson was probably less than a minute.
John continued to look down and said, "Hm, I can't find the screen I am
looking for." I just sat there. Slowly, he started a right turn, only a
few degrees bank, heading right into the mountains. The plane began to
slowly lose altitude as the right turn started to get steeper. There was
no horizon at all, so John had no clue of what was going on. Luckily, He
was one of the students that took my aerobatic option before solo, so he
was familiar with extreme unusual attitude. But not at night.
Slowly but surely, the plane had entered the dreaded graveyard spiral at
cruise power setting. I waited and waited, hoping that the sound of the
wind howling across the airplane would give him a clue, but nope.” he had
been trained for this many times, but he didn't pick it up.
The plane kept going into a steeper bank. If it had been daytime, I would
have let him get upside down, but not at night. Finally, it was time to
open my mouth. "Anything wrong?"
John looked up, and the string of four-letter words began to flow. He got
the plane under control. Power back wings level and nose level. However,
he was still heading on the quickest path to meet God, right into the
mountains a few miles north of the very dimly lit highway I plan as my
emergency landing spot.
I said to him, "What can you see in front of you?" "He replied with,
"Nothing." I said, "So that means . . . ?" I got the reply, "I am flying
right into the ground." That answer was pretty much correct; with his new
heading, he was flying straight into the hills. Since we lost about 1,500
feet, our altitude was perfect for the big smack.
I raised my voice slightly and said, "If you can't see anything, you are
in trouble. Find some light, start climbing, and head in that direction."
John got the plane under control, turned the GPS off, and we had an
uneventful flight to Wickenberg and then back home to Falcon Field.
When we got back on the ground, John said, "I think I am going to learn to
fly before I worry about that GPS." He also requested some night unusual
attitude training. I also highly recommend this.
So again, the little lesson is fly the airplane! John got distracted from
that job by his little GPS. If you insist on using this stuff, make sure
you know how to use it, and don't try to learn it in the plane, especially
at night!
As far as disorientation goes, it can happen very quickly, and when it
does, it is not going to be pretty. It has happened to me in actual
instrument conditions. I had all my ratings, and it still took a few
minutes before the blood pressure went down.
Just remember this little unusual attitude check, which you should be able
to repeat at the bar when you are about to fall on the floor:
Airspeed High, Or, "I Hear the Wind Howling Outside the Plane"
|
Airspeed Low, Or, " I can't Hear Any Wind Blowing Outside the Plane"
|
If you are out on a dark night, you are going to be fighting that attitude
indicator. Get some training on night unusual attitudes. Then come back a
few weeks later and do it again until you automatically react, especially
after some time has gone by.
Make sure you go somewhere that is not easy, and make sure it is on a dark
night. The FAA requires a night cross country for a reason in your Private
Pilot License Training. Use it to learn something. You need to understand
that when you get out over the mountains at night, there is no horizon.
Now Only $9.97
| Download Airfreddy's Flying Stories Now For Only $9.97 |
How your
order will be processed
|
 Please Allow 60 Seconds for the Cart To Load *NOTE* At this time Airfreddy's Flight Training Stories is not Compatible with MAC Computers |
| Download Airfreddy's Flying Stories Now For Only $9.97 |
Airfreddy's Newsletter
|
Hello
Thank you for your willingness to help. Advice, suggestions and your deep understanding of flying instruction process helped me very much to resolve my dilemmas and to chart the path for the remainder of my training and after. There are very few instructors like you, ready, willing and able to help students. I will keep you posted. Best regards and safe flying, Dragan Kocic
|