AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025 - 14

LETTERS
'Fundamental truths'
Reader comment on
Catherine Cavagnaro's articles
Catherine Cavagnaro's articles, along with
Richard McSpadden's and now Mike Ginter's,
are among my must-read monthly articles in
AOPA Pilot.
I believe Cavagnaro was mentored by
William Kershner, whose books I have relied
upon for over 54 years. He used a mathematical
approach, as did Aerodynamics for Naval
Aviators, to explain the physics of flight. But
they both stayed away from calculus.
Cavagnaro tends to excel in carefully presenting
a mathematical understanding of your
subjects. As an engineer, I have always found
it easier to understand and to teach electricity
and magnetism, energy management, and the
physics of flight when they can be taught with
differential and integral calculus. I find that I
remember these relationships after years of not
using them because they represent fundamental
truths-much easier to remember than when
taught solely by algebra. I look forward to her
mathematical approach and often find myself not
merely reading her articles but going through the
thought process of trying to re-derive her conclusions.
I admit: Sometimes, I get stuck!
Jim Diehl
Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Obsession With a Waypoint
I just got through reading Machteld Smith's fine
article ( " Obsession With a Waypoint, " July 2024
AOPA Pilot) and had a question: Did the aircraft
have a cockpit recorder that was retrieved? I
didn't see a mention of that in the article, but it
was certainly written like there was. I think she
did a great job pointing out how fixating on one
thing that doesn't seem right can lead to disaster.
Great article. I have a Cessna 182RG and fly
every six months with my instructor and get an
instrument proficiency check. I ask him to try
and make something not look right so I can recognize
when I might be fixating. It is hard to not
stare at an instrument that doesn't read what
you are expecting it to read.
Warren L. Grigsby
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Machteld Smith responds: Yes, the aircraft was
equipped with an L3 Lightweight Data Recorder
14
AOPA PILOT / January 2025
that is capable of recording flight data and cockpit
audio (basically a combination cockpit voice
recorder and flight data recorder). It's specifically
designed for general aviation fixed-wing aircraft
that don't require installation by regulation. The
recorder was retrieved from the wreckage, and its
data transcripts, which I used for the article, are
included in the NTSB's accident docket.
Not a Readalong
Bruce William's article ( " Not a Readalong, "
October 2024 AOPA Pilot) is a nice discussion
of an approach briefing, but if I may, from experience,
suggest that the details of the approach
lighting system be added to the list. While runway
lighting, pilot controlled or otherwise, was
mentioned, it is good to know what is expected
to be seen at minimums by way of approach
lighting. This can preclude landing on the wrong
runway and aid in orientation. The approach
lights are an integral part of the instrument
landing system and should be briefed.
Steve Walton
Port Orange, Florida
Carbon Cub UL
I really appreciated Dave Hirschman's article
( " Carbon Cub UL, " August 2024 AOPA Pilot).
For me, it was personal, as it is the culmination
of the work of a great company and a great visionary
man, my friend, Jim Richmond.
Jim, his wife, Susan, their son Nathan and
daughter Carrie, and my family were candidates
together applying for full-time missionary
pilot service in the summer of 1980, in Fullerton,
Your news article
( " Cirrus Does not
Approve, " September
2024, AOPA Pilot)
reminded me of the
reformulated fuel
change for diesel
vehicles in the early
'90s. Road diesel was
mandated as low sulfur
diesel from plain diesel.
At the time, I owned a
'78 diesel automobile
and had to begin using
LSD. Soon, every nonmetal
connector in the
fuel line began to weep.
Moving to lead free
aviation fuel is more
complex than " will it run
the engine properly. "
Jim Walrath
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
TRACI DABERKO
RUDDER & WRENCH
FLY ING SMART /
Timid turns
When small bank angles reduce safety
BY CATHERINE CAVAGNARO
ON THE FINAL landing of his private pilot practical
exam, Steve guided the Cessna 172 through a gentle
turn from the downwind leg of the pattern onto
base. As he did so, I didn't realize until our shoulders
bumped that I had been subconsciously leaning
to the left as if I could somehow make the turn happen
more quickly. I immediately sat up straight and
hoped that he had been too busy to notice. Steve
followed that with a lazy turn onto final and our
shoulders bumped again. I cringed when he rolled
the wings level and, just as I had suspected, discovered
the runway way off to the left in the windscreen.
By overshooting final by so much, Steve now
faced the decision to either make a herculean effort
to intercept the extended runway centerline or to
admit defeat and commence a go-around. Steve chose to save
the approach by applying a small amount of left aileron, at first
complemented by rudder in the same direction. Struggling to
get back onto the extended centerline, he kept the bank angle
small, but his over-enthusiastic left foot made the inclinometer
brick swing to the outside of a turn. The once coordinated turn
had evolved into a skid, a condition that is never appropriate and
downright dangerous in the pattern.
In the debrief after landing, I asked him about overshooting
the runway centerline while turning final and he confessed
that it happens to him often. When I suggested that using a
lower approach speed and a more aggressive bank angle could
help, Steve explained that his instructor's advice, " Never bank
more than 20 degrees and keep your speed up, " is always on
his mind. Instructors offer such advice in the interest of safety
AOPA PILOT / November 2024
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025

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