Coaching corner
Coaching Corner…
COVID-19 will restrict your dual flying, if you are out of practice take extra care. Also beware of the ‘silent killer’ in the cockpit, as David Cockburn, PCS Head of Training reports
W
hen I wrote the original first paragraph for this article I was going to encourage pilots to contact coaches to help carry out that New Year Resolution of ‘doing more flying this year’. The winter weather has not been conducive to keeping current, and even when it has, strips and even runways on licensed aerodromes have been waterlogged and effectively unusable. We know that if we are out of practice we are going to be less skilled, and less able to cope with less than perfect flying conditions. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has reached pandemic proportions and presents a considerable threat, and not just to those of us who have been encouraged to self-isolate. At the time of writing, schools, restaurants and cafes have been closed, and even healthy people who think they are in a low-risk area have been advised to give each other a two metre ‘personal space’. An aircraft cockpit normally cannot provide that space. Even if two people are willing to take the risk of confining themselves together for an hour or so, I should not wish to recommend it. Family members will frequently be that close in a car, and it would seem inconsiderate as well as impractical to ban them being together. However, flying and pilot coaching is another matter. Both are discretionary activities, we’re all grown-ups and I’ll leave it to you to use your own common sense in making such decisions. And if lockdown legislation allows, and you decide to regain post-winter currency yourself, without a coach’s help, take great care. Minimise risk by starting your flying season in good conditions of weather and surface, and only gradually expand the conditions in which you fly. Our horizons may be limited for some time, but fly safely!.
The ‘silent killer’
Both EASA and the UK CAA have recently issued reminders about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. This is a consequence of an AAIB report (S2/2019 dated 14 August 2019), into a fatal accident to a Piper Malibu last winter, in which the summary included the following: Toxicology tests on the blood of the passenger showed a carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb) saturation level of 58%. COHb is the combination product of carbon monoxide (CO) with haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein molecule contained in red blood cells. CO is a colourless, odourless gas produced from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing materials. It readily combines with haemoglobin in the blood, decreasing the carriage of oxygen and causing a direct effect on the performance of those parts of the body which rely on oxygen for proper function. A COHb level of 50% or above in an otherwise healthy individual is generally considered to be potentially fatal. …It is
Above The familiar ‘Dead Stop’ CO warning card, which goes black in the presence of CO. Generally these cards last for no more than 12 months after opening, and some, once they’ve gone black, are no longer serviceable. This example from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty, returns to its neutral colour once the CO presence has ceased and can continue to be used. Make sure you date the card and replace it when its life has expired.
26 | LIGHT AVIATION | April 2020
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23/03/2020 11:36
