Mike’s 03/20/10 post about training was excellent and brought to the table some very important practical points. I would like to emphasize some of these points and add a couple of my own, if I may. Due to time constraints, I’ll break it in several posts.
The Classroom
I couldn’t agree more. Although sometimes the geographic location of the airport is so good that it trumps the reality of the suboptimal facilities, an extra effort should be made in selection of optimal classroom/conference room facilities. The room should be comfortable, with sitting and writing space for every attendee. The room should have a decent screen installed or space to deploy a portable screen. If nothing else, at least a good, light-colored wall surface on which to project the slide presentation. If there are windows, they should have shades or curtain to darken the room for the projected images to be viewable to the audience. There is no question that in a crunch, we can do without these facilities. But it is always nice to have the best we can get; besides good classroom facilities enhance the learning process.
The Ramp, Taxiway and Runway
Whether we train in a non-towered airport or one with full ATC facilities, I believe the important point is the ground and air visibility from the airport surface. What I mean is that the visibility from the cockpit, starting from the ramp and all the way to the takeoff threshold, should be enough to allow the pilots, trainee and safety, to clearly visualize enough distance ahead to move in a safe way and to interfere as little as possible with other traffic on the ramp, the taxi surfaces, and the pattern. The ramp area should allow for before-takeoff run-up without throwing the propwash onto other aircraft on the ramp. The idea is to leave the ramp ready for takeoff. If enough run-up space is not available on the ramp, then there should be enough space available at the takeoff end of the runway in use for two to four aircraft, which is the size of most training sorties. At the hold-short point, there should be enough space for the lead PIC of the first element to do a 360° turn to scan for traffic in the pattern. For runways less than 100 feet wide, the full-length surface should be as level as possible, without bumps and dips. It should allow the PIC of each aircraft to see all the way to the end of the runway, or at least, all the way to the liftoff point of the aircraft taking off ahead. If this is not possible due to runway imperfections, then precautionary measures during the takeoff run, and contingencies for takeoff aborts should be discussed during the pre-flight briefing. These precautionary measures should include at a minimum, a procedure to avoid a collision on the runway or having to exit the runway, in case the aircraft taking off ahead has an emergency and needs to stop on the runway, i.e. a blown tire. Pilots should not start the takeoff run until the aircraft in front has lifted off the runway and a positive rate of climb is established. This would apply to narrow runways, less than 100 feet. The wingspan of most of our aircraft is about 36 to 38 feet. These wingspans would preclude closely-spaced takeoff on runways less than 100 feet for lack of wingtip-to-wingtip clearance. On runways 100 feet wide or more, closely-spaced takeoff, like the one we do at Juneau, are safe and should be practiced.
More to follow…
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Gil... A great start to the collection of training wisdom.
ReplyDeleteOne point, though: if our target is a five second intra-element time interval, it is unlikely that the preceding airplane will be off the ground when it is time for the following airplane to begin its takeoff roll.
The briefing needs to take into account the procedures for an aborted takeoff: 1) The aborting plane will announce on CTAF/Tower, or at least the flight frequency, that he is aborting. 2) He needs to move to the nearest side of the runway, and expedite to the nearest exit - or maybe all the way to the DER, if possible. 3) Discuss other things that may cause an abort, and may cause the airplane to have reduced aircraft control or a need to stop NOW - maybe a flat tire, maybe an engine fire.
I recognize it's impossible to contemplate everything that can go wrong, and at some point a need for flexibility is important, but an effort needs to be made to get the airplane out of the way of the following planes, and let the following pilot know what's going on with enough time for him to contemplate his best course of action.
Good points on your comment Mike. I do have some additional comments. I'll quote the parts of your comments that I want to address.
ReplyDelete"… if our target is a five second intra-element time interval, it is unlikely that the preceding airplane will be off the ground when it is time for the following airplane to begin its takeoff roll…"
That is true, but in situations where the available runway will not provide wingtip-to-wingtip clearance, typically runways that are less than 100 feet wide, safety considerations must take precedence over the desire to practice a given technique. On such runways, if the aircraft taking off ahead experiences an emergency on the runway that causes sudden deceleration to a full stop, and departing the runway is not an option, the risk for the wingman colliding with the lead aircraft is very real.
"The briefing needs to take into account the procedures for an aborted takeoff: 1) The aborting plane will announce on CTAF/Tower, or at least the flight frequency, that he is aborting. 2) He needs to move to the nearest side of the runway, and expedite to the nearest exit - or maybe all the way to the DER, if possible. 3) Discuss other things that may cause an abort, and may cause the airplane to have reduced aircraft control or a need to stop NOW - maybe a flat tire, maybe an engine fire."
Even after the best preflight briefing, situations like the ones described above leave very little room to avoid a collision. All of the following references: the T-34 Formation Manual, the US Naval Command T-34 Primary Formation Flight Instruction Manual, the Bonanzas to Oshkosh On Your Own Manual (based on the T-34 Formation Manual) and the Team RV Formation Training Guide, either explicitly forbid formation or staggered takeoffs (the ones we do) when there is no wingtip-to-wingtip clearance or make it mandatory.
In addition, one of the absolute mandates of formation flight is “never loose sight of lead”. On a runway with a dip or a hump the line of sight between the Wingman and Lead can be interrupted by the hump or the dip. In the rare and unfortunate instance that Lead experiences an emergency and has to come to a full stop on the runway, the wingman may not reacquire the incapacitated Lead until it is too late to avoid a collision.