10 minute read
COACHING CORNER
David Cockburn, PCS Head of Training, discusses the planning and preparation to get back into the air safely…
Well I certainly got ahead of myself when I started writing in the April issue! There I was suggesting we would all be pushing ourselves to get airborne after a ‘winter of discontent’ when along came COVID-19. For any who have been struck down by the virus, my sincere best wishes for a speedy recovery.
I am delighted that thanks in part to hard work carried out by the LAA, the case has been made to allow solo continuity flying to resume. However, that won’t allow a Coach to come along and provide the refresher training which we really need after a long winter lay-off, which I was recommending in April. We shall need to be especially careful when we eventually do manage to fly normally again, and if you decide to regain your currency by flying solo, PLEASE remember you are not as good as you were before the lay-off. Carry out more careful pre-flight checks than usual, including engine run-ups, and refuse to accept suspicious indications. Work up your flying slowly from Below GPS Nav systems, like Garmin’s new aera 760, are ever more capable, pilots need to be as well if they are going to get the best out of them. benign conditions, avoid challenging navigation routes (especially those close to notified airspace), and don’t take passengers until you’re absolutely sure you’re back in practice – and currently only those from your own household.
Avoid tricky crosswinds, low cloud bases, poor visibility and marginal runway lengths and widths – and be ready for it all to go wrong. A go-around, or even a diversion to a more suitable airfield, is vastly preferable to a broken aircraft.
Bluebirds over the White Cliffs?
However, while we’re spending more time at home, we can use it to plan for trips in the future. If we’ve always hankered after a flight to foreign parts, or the more distant parts of our own islands, this could be an ideal time to prepare ourselves.
We should of course start with a current chart of the route either paper or electronic, but remember, although the CAA regards a current electronic chart as meeting
the legal requirement, other countries may not, so check. To make navigation easier, select tracks to minimise any problems and try to use obvious turning points, but be prepared to change them to ensure you have obvious check features along your track. And keep safely well away from possible problem areas such as notified airspace or terrain that will not allow a safe off-airfield landing. The extra fuel needed for a slightly longer route is a worthwhile investment towards a safer and less stressful flight.
There’s a lot of information online, including the UK and foreign AIPs, which contain a lot of detail that we need in order to safely fly in areas we are not familiar with, including weather availability, customs and immigration requirements and possible destination and diversion aerodromes. We can often find guidance to help us avoid, or perhaps safely fly through, airspace restrictions.
Aerodrome websites can also be very useful, although it’s always worth checking how recently they were last updated – an email or telephone call may provide confidence that the details remain current. Reports from others who have flown to the same or similar destination can also provide good background, although articles in major magazines are written (or edited) to be entertaining, so they may not contain all the relevant accurate information.
Better days ahead
If we’re not planning for a great adventure, we can all use our time on the ground to learn more about our aircraft and navigation systems. Some manufacturers provide presentations and webinars about their equipment, which are usually a lot easier on the brain than the written instruction manuals, although it’s worth having the instructions to hand.
To minimise airspace infringements, the CAA are encouraging us to use moving maps, so whether we use fitted or hand-held devices, this could be an appropriate time to learn a lot more about them. I’m pretty sure from my own experience that many of us have limited knowledge about our devices, due to the fact that they usually have so many features that it would take a long time to study them all. We tend to restrict what we ask them to display to whatever we have managed to make work in the past, so now is as good a time as any to make sure we’ve been setting them up correctly!
It is also probably appropriate to update any databases which may be out-of-date – take a guess what I’ve been doing recently?
Then, when we’ve checked these ‘known’ functions, we can progress to learning about the other features these devices possess, they’re probably a lot more capable than we previously understood. Even fairly simple display features such as terrain avoidance may have put us off in the past because it seemed to interfere with what we were used to. Does your device indicate the current time to your next turning point, or can it if you make the correct selection? Does it continuously calculate the nearest possible diversion, and if it does, how can you access that, and can you set it to discard those sites which are unsuitable for your particular aircraft? How much warning, if any, does it provide about notified airspace ahead, and how? Is that appropriate for the way you fly, and can you change it without losing the facility? More basically, there are probably several ways of pre-loading your planned route into the device, so which method is simplest for you because, if you are flying solo, you certainly don’t want to be fiddling with switches and settings in the air.
Although how our aircraft systems function is just as important as those of navigation devices, I’ve concentrated on satnavs because when we get back to (relatively) normal flying, the old hazards will still exist, although some of the mitigations may be limited. For example, some air traffic service desks may be vacant to enable social distancing, and other personnel may have been re-deployed to cover for colleagues who are still isolated, so access to controlled airspace maybe difficult.
Radar services are likely to be limited too, so, more than ever, we need to take care of ourselves, be alert to possible hazards, and take action to avoid them.
The overhead join and circuit
I have already recommended that we stay close to our base aerodromes while we regain currency, and there may well be government guidelines asking us to do just that for other reasons. We are, therefore, likely to meet a lot of traffic around our airfields, even at strips which normally see only a few movements per week, and possibly without previously provided ground radio services. It is thus incumbent on us all to ensure we not only can be aware of, and fit in with, other traffic, but we provide accurate information for others to do the same.
If everyone can maintain circuit height accurately, then we can see others and they can see us. If we manage to call ‘downwind’ as we pass the upwind end of the runway, then others know where to look and may be able to adjust their own circuit to avoid conflict, especially if we include our intentions if we are not actually landing. History tells us how dangerous it is to make a turn in the circuit when we do not know where the other aircraft are – we can ask someone for their position and height but, if in doubt, get out! We can always rejoin the circuit after either climbing or maintaining direction at a turning point, announcing what we are doing if we can. However, the act of joining seems to be the most hazardous phase of the circuit. The ‘overhead’ join has been published for years by the CAA in posters, SafetySense leaflets, the Skyway Code and CAP 413. It
allows pilots to sit above the traffic pattern until they are sure where everyone else is. Even if the cloudbase prevents us starting the pattern at 2,000ft, informing others that we are following the pattern at a lower altitude (provided we are safely above circuit height on the ‘live’ side) helps with their situational awareness. However, weather and specific aerodrome procedures sometimes make that overhead join impractical, and there will be circumstances when it is sensible to join the recommended pattern at an intermediate point, either ‘crosswind’, ‘downwind’, ‘base leg’, or ‘long final’. Traffic already in the pattern has right of way, so no matter how we join the circuit we must keep out of their way.
An initial call to ask for aerodrome information should also advise others from which direction and at what height we are coming. However, that doesn’t often really give others much help in their situational awareness.
During an overhead join, a ‘descending dead side’ call gives others information about our position and intended movements. It also fulfils the requirement of Below The Standard Overhead Join explained. Rule 11 of the Rules of the Air, which many of us may have forgotten – to make a specific call when entering an ATZ. If we are joining the pattern in another position, then we ought to provide similar information, even if there is no ATZ. We need to warn circuit traffic, for example ‘G-ABCD joining crosswind’ when we are a couple of miles from the position at which we intend joining the circuit, and make normal circuit calls from that point (I would, however, also make a position call ‘base leg’ if I were joining at that stage).
Finally, on the subject of ATZs, the CAA has recently been concerned that pilots are not aware of the regulations, and the Airspace Safety Initiative website has recently published a presentation to remind us all of the facts relating to these, available through https:// airspacesafety.com/updates.
The ‘ATZ’ presentation is mentioned at the end of the updates. Although it seems to be directed mainly at pilots who have flown through ATZs without making the necessary calls, hazarding those of us actually in the circuit, I commend it if you have not already seen it. Stay safe!
Let’s Steer Clear of Infringements: by Steve Slater.
Adding to David’s excellent words above, a final thought on airspace infringements, which traditionally ‘peak’ in the month following the resumption of flying after the winter lay off for many pilots.
This year, the layoff has been longer, so there’s potentially a greater risk of us accidentally infringing controlled airspace while preoccupied with regaining basic flying and navigational skills.
Working with the CAA’s Airspace Infringement Working Group we’ve identified three issues which cropped up again and again in infringements. Let’s try to eliminate them.
1. Carry a moving map and use it. While a lot of us will be proud of our map and stopwatch skills, the failure to use electronic maps was one of the primary factors in pilots failing to keep out of controlled airspace. Effective use of a moving map enhances situational awareness and increases capacity. 2. Take Two. If you are close to controlled airspace, it only takes a small distraction or your planned heading to be affected by changing wind conditions for you to infringe, so the ‘Take Two’ initiative was created by a group of pilots based at Barton and dramatically decreased the number of infringements in a very complex area of airspace. The principle is simple; keep a margin of two nautical miles horizontally and 200 feet vertically from the edge of controlled airspace. 3. Think in Three Dimensions. A significant proportion of infringements are ‘altitude busts’. Some are the result of distraction or incorrect altimeter settings, but many are caused by pilots commencing a climb too early or a descent too late. Just as some of us would accelerate early at the end of a speed limit on the motorway if it wasn’t for that last speed camera, just remember that your altitude reading is being monitored too! ■
