The new Fork Tailed Doctor Killer

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in news:n-
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

Bob F. wrote:
I had an interesting event years ago with an owner of a light twin
who took off from FXE to go to PMP, just after lift off, reach down
to pull the gear up, stopped and said, "you know what, It's only 7
miles to PMP, I'm just going to leave the gear down". Ok, sounds
ok
to me. There was a quick call to PMP, two turns later and we are
downwind. He does a GUMPS check and RETRACTS the gear. I said to
myself, this is going to be interesting. He's trying to slow the
airplane down but hasn't put it together that he just got rid of a
lot of drag. He turns final, still over speed, and I ask him to
do
another GUMP check and he misses it again. Halfway down final I
tell
him to call the tower and tell him we are going around. He does,
initiates a go around procedure and this time, on climb out,
realizes
the gear is already up. What a surprise look on his face. So
after
we got on the ground and started talking about this, we wondered
what
it was that he was actually training himself to do. He was not
correlating gear up - take off, gear down -landing. Nor was he
correlating "three green - gear down". All he was training himself
to do was to "flip the switch into the other position". We talked
about using rituals in order to reduce accidents, like when you
take
off, bring the gear up, no matter how close the next landing will
be.
I also have never heard of one of my students land gear up since I
teach 3 checks. 1 full check list before pattern, 2 enter pattern
GUMPS list, and 3 short final say "three green".
I do the same, and did so for years while instructing. Many gear up
accidents are caused by the go around scenario where the gear cycle
gets reversed. I've always taught that a go around means a complete
clean up of the airplane, then a recheck of the prelanding
checklist.
I also agree on the triple check. I suggest a final GUMPS check
performed by a verbal touch, identify, and verify method immediately
after the base to final turn.
There's nothing better to keep you in good health in the aviation
business than a good solid no changes allowed habit pattern!!


Hmm. My own view of it is that at any given moment, you're screwing
somethng up. If there's a mistake to be made, you're going to make
it.
That means looking around for the error and double checking double
checking and double checking again. Assuming that your habits will
protect you just never worked for me. I'm not saying you shouldn't
have
them, far from it, I'm just saying the best safety net I've
discovered
for myself is that of a heft suspicion that ATC, the company, Boeing,
the FO and myself especially, are all conspiring to kill me.


Bertie
Basically no conflict here.

Oh I meant none, just elaborating using my own "thing"

Knowing when to think defensively is
entirely cohesive with the existence of good habit patterns in a
pilot.

Xactly.

Bertie
You have it exactly right. Each pilot should and will develop his/her
own method of dealing with the flying environment.

The "tools" we ingrain from the beginning will just be integrated and
used to reflect this individual platform.
The main thing is that we all have to learn to use some form of
structure within a solid habit pattern scenario.

--
Dudley Henriques

Dudley Henriques wrote in
:



You have it exactly right. Each pilot should and will develop his/her
own method of dealing with the flying environment.

The "tools" we ingrain from the beginning will just be integrated and
used to reflect this individual platform.
The main thing is that we all have to learn to use some form of
structure within a solid habit pattern scenario.

Yes. absolutlely.The thing is, when you are loaded up and your brain
turns to that of a lizard, it's the habits that you develop that wil
allow that tiny lizard brain to do what it has to do to save your neck.


Bertie

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:



You have it exactly right. Each pilot should and will develop his/her
own method of dealing with the flying environment.

The "tools" we ingrain from the beginning will just be integrated and
used to reflect this individual platform.
The main thing is that we all have to learn to use some form of
structure within a solid habit pattern scenario.

Yes. absolutlely.The thing is, when you are loaded up and your brain
turns to that of a lizard, it's the habits that you develop that wil
allow that tiny lizard brain to do what it has to do to save your neck.


Bertie


This is exactly what I've been working on with our display pilots work
group. We're brainstorming questions like, "What causes a highly trained
demonstration pilot who knows his airplane, knows his skills, knows the
show site, knows the regulations, knows his personal limitations, has
attended the show safety meeting, is fully aware of the density altitude
and temperature at the show site, commit to a high gate inverted down
line pull that is too low to allow recovery.
It "ain't" easy, but we are working hard to find answers to questions
like these. There isn't any magic bullet solution to these issues.

--
Dudley Henriques

Dudley Henriques wrote in news:NtidnVqz55F6-
:

This is exactly what I've been working on with our display pilots work
group. We're brainstorming questions like, "What causes a highly
trained
demonstration pilot who knows his airplane, knows his skills, knows
the
show site, knows the regulations, knows his personal limitations, has
attended the show safety meeting, is fully aware of the density
altitude
and temperature at the show site, commit to a high gate inverted down
line pull that is too low to allow recovery.
It "ain't" easy, but we are working hard to find answers to questions
like these. There isn't any magic bullet solution to these issues.

No, there isn't. you're obviously thinking of that Hurricane in the UK.
Are there any items that they think may have contributed? altimeter
setting? I never went in for field zero or QFE, but a lot of low level
guys do, as well as glider pilots. It's commonplace in the UK.
I suppose that it does give a you a quick no-math gate, though.



Bertie

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in news:NtidnVqz55F6-
:

This is exactly what I've been working on with our display pilots work
group. We're brainstorming questions like, "What causes a highly
trained
demonstration pilot who knows his airplane, knows his skills, knows
the
show site, knows the regulations, knows his personal limitations, has
attended the show safety meeting, is fully aware of the density
altitude
and temperature at the show site, commit to a high gate inverted down
line pull that is too low to allow recovery.
It "ain't" easy, but we are working hard to find answers to questions
like these. There isn't any magic bullet solution to these issues.

No, there isn't. you're obviously thinking of that Hurricane in the UK.
Are there any items that they think may have contributed? altimeter
setting? I never went in for field zero or QFE, but a lot of low level
guys do, as well as glider pilots. It's commonplace in the UK.
I suppose that it does give a you a quick no-math gate, though.



Bertie

I always preset at zero. It eliminates the math and gives you a familiar
visual cue through the high gates.

The Hurricane accident is indeed under scrutiny. One of our group was in
the show flying another warbird.
The Cane was flown by a pilot who was extremely well qualified and knew
his numbers. What caused him to commit in the specific instance that
killed him is still conjecture.
We all have opinions and have expressed them in the work group.
I can say that one common denominator was a cogent discussion on low
level hard decks as opposed to ground level unlimited waivers. There is
a lot of "opinion" on this issue alone.


--
Dudley Henriques

Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

I always preset at zero. It eliminates the math and gives you a
familiar
visual cue through the high gates.

I can see the value, just never liked it, myself. Can't say why.

The Hurricane accident is indeed under scrutiny. One of our group was
in
the show flying another warbird.
The Cane was flown by a pilot who was extremely well qualified and
knew
his numbers. What caused him to commit in the specific instance that
killed him is still conjecture.
We all have opinions and have expressed them in the work group.
I can say that one common denominator was a cogent discussion on low
level hard decks as opposed to ground level unlimited waivers. There
is
a lot of "opinion" on this issue alone.

OK, you lost me here. You're talking about a low level floor of a few
hundred feet as opposed to an unlimited waiver? I can't see it making
alot of difference, to be honest, but that's your department...



Bertie

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:
I always preset at zero. It eliminates the math and gives you a
familiar
visual cue through the high gates.

I can see the value, just never liked it, myself. Can't say why.
The Hurricane accident is indeed under scrutiny. One of our group was
in
the show flying another warbird.
The Cane was flown by a pilot who was extremely well qualified and
knew
his numbers. What caused him to commit in the specific instance that
killed him is still conjecture.
We all have opinions and have expressed them in the work group.
I can say that one common denominator was a cogent discussion on low
level hard decks as opposed to ground level unlimited waivers. There
is
a lot of "opinion" on this issue alone.

OK, you lost me here. You're talking about a low level floor of a few
hundred feet as opposed to an unlimited waiver? I can't see it making
alot of difference, to be honest, but that's your department...



Bertie

In low level work, many pilots, myself among them, feel that being
restricted to an arbitrary hard deck puts you in a decision making
process at a critical time in a vertical recovery.

Many pilots flying in this environment don't like the idea of trying to
"visualize" a hard deck vs an altimeter visual cue during this critical
time in a routine when you are visually and physically constantly
comparing the recovery sight picture to your radial g situation.

Also, using the ground allows a familiar visual cue at all locations
going through a known altitude at your high gate where the visual angles
are trended to giving you positive feedback on your accuracy.


--
Dudley Henriques

Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

In low level work, many pilots, myself among them, feel that being
restricted to an arbitrary hard deck puts you in a decision making
process at a critical time in a vertical recovery.

Many pilots flying in this environment don't like the idea of trying
to
"visualize" a hard deck vs an altimeter visual cue during this
critical
time in a routine when you are visually and physically constantly
comparing the recovery sight picture to your radial g situation.

OK. Makes sense. When I started getting very low I almost never looked
at the altimeter anyway. I would never do a split S towards the deck in
any case and for other vertical stuff like a loop I'd be more concerned
with the speed and feel through the first half

Also, using the ground allows a familiar visual cue at all locations
going through a known altitude at your high gate where the visual
angles
are trended to giving you positive feedback on your accuracy.


Yeah, also makes sense.

Bertie

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:
In low level work, many pilots, myself among them, feel that being
restricted to an arbitrary hard deck puts you in a decision making
process at a critical time in a vertical recovery.

Many pilots flying in this environment don't like the idea of trying
to
"visualize" a hard deck vs an altimeter visual cue during this
critical
time in a routine when you are visually and physically constantly
comparing the recovery sight picture to your radial g situation.

OK. Makes sense. When I started getting very low I almost never looked
at the altimeter anyway. I would never do a split S towards the deck in
any case and for other vertical stuff like a loop I'd be more concerned
with the speed and feel through the first half
Also, using the ground allows a familiar visual cue at all locations
going through a known altitude at your high gate where the visual
angles
are trended to giving you positive feedback on your accuracy.


Yeah, also makes sense.

Bertie

Remember, we're talking professional display flying here. Some of these
guys and gals are unrestricted. That's level 1 flying and vertical
recoveries with these guys are made right on the deck. This means
extreme accuracy through their top gates where airspeed and altitude
have to be exactly right. Too slow and you lose altitude through the
float. Too fast and the recovery line is extended. Too low and you have
Chris Stricklin's Thunderbird F16 at Mountain Home, and "that ain't
good" :-))

--
Dudley Henriques

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:35:31 -0400, "Bob F."
wrote:

I had an interesting event years ago with an owner of a light twin who took
off from FXE to go to PMP, just after lift off, reach down to pull the gear
up, stopped and said, "you know what, It's only 7 miles to PMP, I'm just
going to leave the gear down". Ok, sounds ok to me. There was a quick call
to PMP, two turns later and we are downwind. He does a GUMPS check and
RETRACTS the gear. I said to myself, this is going to be interesting. He's
trying to slow the airplane down but hasn't put it together that he just got
rid of a lot of drag. He turns final, still over speed, and I ask him to
do another GUMP check and he misses it again. Halfway down final I tell him
to call the tower and tell him we are going around. He does, initiates a go
around procedure and this time, on climb out, realizes the gear is already
up. What a surprise look on his face. So after we got on the ground and
started talking about this, we wondered what it was that he was actually
training himself to do. He was not correlating gear up - take off, gear
down -landing. Nor was he correlating "three green - gear down". All he was
training himself to do was to "flip the switch into the other position". We

It may not be that simple and in most cases I don't believe it is.
When I was getting checked out, I went through the whole 9 yards or
point to it, say it, then do it. recognized it and say it again.

I was ready to be signed off to make my insurance company happy. We
were on down wind, I hit the gear switch, waited, checked the green
light, pointed at the nose gear pointer, identified it as down,
adjusted the MP, added a tad bit of flaps. At the turn to base I was a
little fast but a little more flaps and steeper turn slowed me to
where I wanted. I again did the put my finger on the light, identify
it, and say it. I also pointed to the nose gear mechanical pointer,
and identified it as down On final I kept coming back on the power.
About 100 AGL the gear warning horn went off.

I had physically identified the lights and mechanical indicator three
times and each time I saw a green light and the pointer as down. IOW
I had not programmed myself to push buttons or flip switches. I saw
what I expected to see. Even though the light was red and the pointer
was up I really saw green and pointer down.

talked about using rituals in order to reduce accidents, like when you take
off, bring the gear up, no matter how close the next landing will be. I
also have never heard of one of my students land gear up since I teach 3
checks. 1 full check list before pattern, 2 enter pattern GUMPS list, and 3
short final say "three green".

And my example shows that even then you can program yourself to see
what you expect. The human mind can be easily programmed.
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com