Winter Flying Safety Seminar

Will Boles with Transport Canada gave an outstanding presentation on winter safety with lots of side stories that drive home the point.  Some notes below...

1.       Pre-flight

·         DRESS for survival – gloves, boots, warm clothes; (ensure passengers are also dressed for weather)

·         Icing – only thing GA can do is to pull into hangar and let the ice melt

·         If you PARK outside and there is frost on the plane:

o   Option 1: Move plane into the sun and wait for a while, then ensure that the control surfaces are clean of water droplets AND ensure static port, etc. is clean

o   Option 2: Put it in the hangar for an hour and half and dry off control surfaces

·         Review owners manual for winter flying AND join the owners club online and check
·         Engine intake mount needs to be installed.

·          Oil cooler needs to be installed?

·         What if you are flying from a colder temp to a warm temp?  You need to remove those 

·         Thawing out fuel check (use warm rag or stab it)

·         Does owners manual give air temp limits for flying? (-40 degree C?) need to use fuel additive?

·         Battery – gyros are susceptible to the cold (as they spin fast on start-up); good value to keep the plane in the hanger

·         If the engine is STONE COLD when you put your hand on it, get the airplane pre-heated

·         Ensure that when using a RED DRAGON heater it does not get TOO HOT (less likely to happen with modern heaters)

·         Use APP to turn the engine warmer power from home

·         Stone cold engine? Spark club might be frosted. If plane doesn’t start, it isn’t going to start no matter how often you crank the engine.  Only way to start is to warm it up. 

·         RPM – once it gest started, it doesn’t have to be 2000 RPM, just at 1000 RPM you will need to see oil pressure.

·         Have engine heater? There is a Airworthiness Directive to check muffler for cracks every year (as there is risk of CO2 in cabin)

·         Get a CO2 button you can get for the plane (get keychain that does parts per million CO2) – there are also electronic ones that goes on the Key Chain

·         Get fresh air in the plane – open vent

·         AIM – GREAT read, one came out in October (info on airmanship and winter flying)

·         Online course: http://aircrafticing.grc.nasa.gov/courses.html

    
·         Also check http://www.smartpilot.ca – all of North America (FAA, TSB, etc.); check 178 seconds and http://www.weathertofly.com   

·        

2.       Shoulder Harness

·         Always wear shoulder harness – required by law if it has shoulder harness

·         Lookup CASSERA (Volunteer Search and Rescue)

·         Back seat shoulder harness not required for planes before July 18 1978 but it is highly recommended that it be installed

3.       Thoughts about Landings

·         Pourposing (when airplane bounces up and down when landing as a result of trying to recover) – google “Barrie news purposing”

·         There are 2-3 accidents each year when plane is purposed

·         53% of accidents happen on landings

·         Out of the accidents – 50% are skill based errors, 25% are decision errors (personal minimums or aircraft minimums violated), 7% perceptual errors (eg. rain on windshield)

·         Prevent skill based errors by practice, practice, practice - doing cross wind landings, review emergencies,

·         See Pilot Performance Landing Check Sheet AND mark yourself each time!

·         Overshoot – don’t be afraid to overshoot and make it automatic: FULL POWER AND 

POSITIVE RATE OF CLIMB.  Why overshoot?
o   Runway incursion
o   Airplane on runway
o   HOT and LONG
o   Wind Gust
o   Tower wants you to overshoot
o   Something in runway (#1 things on runway are fuel caps)

·         Rehearsal points

o   BEFORE FLIGHT
o   Know landing procedures
o   Know landing distances and cross wind limits
o   Know wind and runway conditions

o   BEFORE LANDING
o   Have plan to enter circuit
o   Have plan that matches conditions
o   Have an exit point
o   Have an escape route

Side Stories

o   ONE hour a year, go up with a flight instructor and do things that you don’t do by yourself

o   Be careful about hand swinging prop for the planes that require this – many accidents have happened that way

§  Safest way to do is to tie the tail, have someone in the plane with the right throttle settings and breaks on

o   Scan airspeed on rollout

o   Check fuel on-rout EARLY – if fuel cap is loose, fuel will come out (eg. Float plane which took 120 gal of fuel between Toronto Island airport and Stouffvile doing a dead stick on a farmers field)

o   ACCIDENTS – more frequent to people who fly 0-10 hours!  Currency, recency and proficiency are all very critical

o   Oil Filter – cut it open and inspect it; is the engine making metal?

o   Landing control – ensure you can touch down on the numbers and keep plane on centerline without drifting – risk of hitting snowbanks with wings when drifting

o   Tie down rope – change every two years; be WEARY of trying it to concrete (as even 600 lb concrete flies off in strong winds)

o   GOLDEN RULE – NEVER EVER GO ON TOP OF A ROPE.. it is going to grab to a prop ($50k for repair); and any tie downs in grass

o   Google “tie up New Zealand” –you find a 18 pg doc

o   Regulation says – need to have everything you need to have a safe flight, they don’t say do these 50 things.

§  Be careful about DRIFT: Have a printed flight plan, do the prep (eg. Rocket launch north of Brampton – there are rocket launches and there are NOTAMS but people aren’t aware of it), review CYRs, have maps on-board,

o   Report close calls to http://tc.gc.ca/CAIRS  

o   Aviation Safety Letters www.tc.gc.ca/ASL