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situational awareness. Don’t allow your attention to be diverted—fly the airplane. Complacency—Don’t assume anything. Cockpit distraction brought about by overzealous instruction—Carefully choose the best time and place for instruction by avoiding the hot spots. Use your kneeboard to take notes; use the briefing room to sort out any difficulties. Next, expand the discussion. If your flight school does not already have a policy that specifically references distraction and situational awareness, spread the word. For an organization like yours—one whose employees spend most of their time with flight students—a standard operating procedure would be valuable. Consider the following as a blueprint: • Acquire senior management’s buy-in on the plan. • Select the right person to champion the project. • Develop an enforceable department policy regarding distractions. • Include this policy in the operations manual and/or instructor’s handbook. • Make distraction a subject regularly discussed during instructor meetings. Be sure to invite open discussion from all parties. • Examine your briefing and debriefing SOPs—look for opportunities to bring more of the cockpit discussion and evaluation into the briefing room, lessening reliance on cockpit chatter. • Evaluate your program periodically, making sure it is up to date. Interruptions are troublesome. Study after study has made the point that it takes only a few before situational awareness begins to disappear gradually and safety is compromised. It’s the instructor’s responsibility to ensure that priorities are kept in order: Safety first, then student needs later. The example you give will make a lasting impression on your students.
J.J. O’Neill is a former corporate pilot and airline pilot currently teaching aviation to students at a Minnesota college.

Getting comfortable in crosswinds
» By David Jack Kenny

CROSSED UP

IF YOUR STUDENTS are nervous about crosswind landings, they may have their reasons. While a few exceptional individuals have no trouble learning to land, most seem to find it the most difficult part of pre-solo training. Even in light winds, keeping the airplane over the runway until it slows below flying speed gets tricky. When the air starts pushing it sideways, there’s a lot going on. The Private Pilot Practical Test Standards leave room for a student to earn a pilot certificate without ever getting comfortable with crosswinds. This naturally shows up in the accident record. Fairly typical was the 500-hour pilot who relaxed the flight controls too soon after touching down in 12-knot winds angled 40 degrees to the runway. The airplane veered off the side, collapsing the gear and bending the firewall. And crosswinds that fall within strict limitations can still spoil student solos. Gusts to 18 from 190 degrees gave a maximum six-knot crosswind component on Runway 17, but the combination proved a little too unsettling for a 14-hour student. Although you do get the sense that sometimes the crosswind is just a convenient excuse. One 300-hour private pilot, for example, said that “a gust of wind caused the airplane’s nose to rise and turn to the left”; a wing tip hit the ground as he tried to recover, and the airplane went into a ditch. He was trying to land on Runway 36. The reported six-knot winds from 340 included a whopping two knots worth of crosswind—and this didn’t happen in a taildragger. It was a Cessna 172. Of course, sometimes lack of skill isn’t the problem. One Utah student delayed a planned solo in the pattern because of gusty winds at the nearest reporting station, five miles away, but then decided the winds at his own field were down the runway. On his first landing, the airplane bounced, went out of control, and cartwheeled. At that same nearby weather station, the winds during this period came from 80 degrees off his runway heading, increasing from 16 knots gusting to 26 a half-hour before the accident to 22 with gusts to 40 a half-hour after. The airplane had a demonstrated crosswind component of 17 knots. Not many of us could have held it on the runway in that.
David Jack Kenny admits he’s really bad about relaxing crosswind corrections after touchdown.

AUGUST 2012 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - August 2012

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