Alexb2000
En-Route
Today I flew much of the day with an old friend that just returned from the great white north flying single pilot turbo prop cargo on a it has to get there period service level. He was up there for three years and just moved back to Texas. Anyway he was a good solid professional cargo pilot when he left, now he is on a whole other level IMO.
So we went out and did an IPC today. I fly IFR quite a bit, so the issue wasn't completing an approach safely, rather polishing up/improving some of the things I was doing based on his experience.
Little things:
I didn't turn on the strobes anytime I was on or crossing a runway. His point was in bad vis. that may save you from a collision.
Flows: I do a departure briefing, but I lacked a memorized departure flow. Missed turning of my landing and taxi lights. He uses a lot of flows because he flies single pilot no autopilot all the time and he feels it works more consistently and is safer than a checklist for something like the climb out where you don't want your head down, then just verify the checklist items when you are in cruise.
Buttons and Switches: NEVER touch any button or switch without verifying it has done what you wanted it to do. If it is something that can kill you then a double verification is required. For example, they just had a crash where they suspect what happened is on a bad weather night time departure the pilot thought they had armed the autopilot and began doing something else. It didn't engage and while the pilots head was down on the charts the airplane flew into the ground. So for example if you want to engage the AP hit the button, look at the scoreboard to verify it is engaged and on course AND keep your hand on the yoke so you can feel the servos working before you start doing some heads down task.
The approaches:
He challenged me using this approach KGVT LOC BC 35:
http://155.178.201.160/d-tpp/1310/05138LBC35.PDF
He asked me as we were approaching from the North at 5K how I would fly it if there was a layer of icing just below me and we were approaching fuel minimums. I said I would stay at 5K until established inbound then bring it down fast right before CASH. His idea: while South bound 1 second after CASH begin an aggressive procedure turn with a rapid descent holding about 150 indicated. We did it and it worked out fine although really fast for what I'm used to. His point was to practice flying approaches for tough conditions not to just fly them all the same speed and slow pace so that when it happens in real life you'll be ready.
BTW We were able to do all this in actual and the approach was right at minimums which made for a perfect practice day.
We did a couple other approaches and came home. It was a great day of flying and I learned something.
Good times.
So we went out and did an IPC today. I fly IFR quite a bit, so the issue wasn't completing an approach safely, rather polishing up/improving some of the things I was doing based on his experience.
Little things:
I didn't turn on the strobes anytime I was on or crossing a runway. His point was in bad vis. that may save you from a collision.
Flows: I do a departure briefing, but I lacked a memorized departure flow. Missed turning of my landing and taxi lights. He uses a lot of flows because he flies single pilot no autopilot all the time and he feels it works more consistently and is safer than a checklist for something like the climb out where you don't want your head down, then just verify the checklist items when you are in cruise.
Buttons and Switches: NEVER touch any button or switch without verifying it has done what you wanted it to do. If it is something that can kill you then a double verification is required. For example, they just had a crash where they suspect what happened is on a bad weather night time departure the pilot thought they had armed the autopilot and began doing something else. It didn't engage and while the pilots head was down on the charts the airplane flew into the ground. So for example if you want to engage the AP hit the button, look at the scoreboard to verify it is engaged and on course AND keep your hand on the yoke so you can feel the servos working before you start doing some heads down task.
The approaches:
He challenged me using this approach KGVT LOC BC 35:
http://155.178.201.160/d-tpp/1310/05138LBC35.PDF
He asked me as we were approaching from the North at 5K how I would fly it if there was a layer of icing just below me and we were approaching fuel minimums. I said I would stay at 5K until established inbound then bring it down fast right before CASH. His idea: while South bound 1 second after CASH begin an aggressive procedure turn with a rapid descent holding about 150 indicated. We did it and it worked out fine although really fast for what I'm used to. His point was to practice flying approaches for tough conditions not to just fly them all the same speed and slow pace so that when it happens in real life you'll be ready.
BTW We were able to do all this in actual and the approach was right at minimums which made for a perfect practice day.
We did a couple other approaches and came home. It was a great day of flying and I learned something.
Good times.