Lesson 33 - Unintentional Lessons
November 10, 2023
After my long cross-country trip to Zanesville, I realized that the radio comms have very specific flow to it. Once I studied it, it seemed lesser and lesser daunting. The radio communication has very specific pieces of information. Usually the acronym that is used to note down pieces of information over radio is CRAFT. It stands for -
C: Clearance Center
R: Routing / Heading
A: Altitude
F: Frequency
T: Transponder code to squawk in.
Once I learnt this technique, I started practicing it in my chair-flying. My next goal was / is to earn further solo endorsements, so that I can leave the field and go practice maneuvers and tower work.
The plan for today was for me to put on PIC hat and take Drew to a foreign airport. We selected Morgantown airport (KMGW). It is about 45 nautical miles away from Rostraver, which would give me enough time to demonstrate -
My procedures,
My communications
My checklist usage,
Overall proficiency on aircraft - maintaining altitude, airspeed, and heading.
As I departed from Rostraver, I dialed in the PITT DEP. frequency and requested the flight-following. I had my notepad on my knee board and I was writing down stuff, especially longer messages, so that I could effectively read them back. One thing I experienced about flight-following was that, it is not just like talking talking to another person. There were couple of occasions where I didn't understand the controller. I simply requested to repeat last transmission, and they repeated the last message in a fashion that I would understand, (what I mean is slowly). Experiencing it first-hand was much of a relief for me and made me a lot more comfortable to handle the radios on my own.
As we neared the Morgantown airport, I went through my descent and approach checklist, and started to line up on the Final, as I was instructed by the controller. He cleared me to land on runway 18. Here's how Morgantown airport looks like below from Google Earth picture.
As I got on the Final for runway 18, I configured the plane for landing. As I got closer, those power lines right in front of the runway spooked me and inadvertently, I started to pull the nose up. My instincts got better off my training, because instinctively, I wanted to stretch my glide over those power lines. The Result - I lost the airspeed, rapidly.
These moments of lapse in the judgement are moments that determine whether you will live or die as a pilot. Drew pointed out in extreme urgency that I need to tend to falling airspeed, otherwise the power lines I was trying to avoid, I was on course to meet them. Although PAPIs, on the runway were telling me that I was on the right approach path, My instincts did not trust the instrument in that moment. I showed lack of situational awareness and becasue of it, the airspeed was bleeding off, and would inadvertently result into a stall with almost no altitude to spare. Having that kind of situational awareness is what makes a pilot, safe pilot.
I do see a pattern here though, especially on the Final leg. As the runway approaches, I tend to not pay attention to my airspeed. Remedy for it - I HAVE to more cautiously check on my airspeed, everytime I am on my final approach. Since I started to notice a pattern, I started researching more about inadvertent stall / spin situations. An airplane can stall at any airspeed, if the critical, angle of attack is exceeded, but most commonly there are 4 phases / situations where inadvertent stall / spins are most probable.
Situation 1 - Stretching the Glide Path
Suppose you are flying and either you are on the Final - like I was on my Morgantown Approach, or you experience engine failure. You get your best glide speed and start to fly towards the landing area you picked. Your immediate instinct is to stretch that glide, and in order to do so, you unintentionally pitch the nose up. Now all pilots know that if a plane is flying anything but its best glide speed specified in the operating handbook, the plane will descent faster. So as you pitch the nose up, not only you are losing your precious airspeed, but also descending faster than you anticipate. If for any reason, negligence being the top reason, you become uncoordinated, you can stall the plane and get into inadvertent spin.
Situation 2 - During Take-off
When you take-off, if you pitch the nose up excessively, or if the weight and balance of the plane are pushing the plane's standard operating limits, as critical angle of attack is exceeded, plane can get into a stall. In a single engine plane, the tendency is to turn left due to p-factor, and that causes the plane to get into an inadvertent spin, and there is no time to recover.
Situation 3 - During Go-arounds
For any reason when you miss your approach and go-around, you put in full throttle. When you do that, the natural tendency of the plane is to pitch up. If you do not anticipate that, and if you don't control it, the plane will pitch up, yaw to the left, and it WILL stall, and the plane will enter inadvertently into a spin.
Situation 4 - Overshooting Base to Final Leg
In crosswind situations, when a pilot is on Base and turns into the Final, sometimes the tailwind on base will blow the airplane away from the runway. When that happens, a pilot uses rudder and aileron strongly to get the airplane back on the extended centerline. That control input, especially rudder input, yaws the plane into the wind and that creates a great drag on the plane and the plane starts to descent faster. In order to stop the descent if you pitch up suddenly, the plane will stall and spin.
All these situations sound very familiar to me as on multiple instances, I have put myself in each of these situations. But moving forward, I will be extra-careful, especially in all these phases. I know that this is a biggest roadblock for Drew to sign me off on further endorsements, and only way I will earn it is by being more vigilant and aware as a PIC.
Don't get discouraged, early failures make you more determined & you come over your shortcomings earlier.
Pretty scary!