Stump the CFI

 

By Buz Witherington, CFII

Columnist

 

Got a question for Buz?  So do several other fellow FatBoyz.  It all started when Scott Peters sent a question about flying that he thought Buz could not answer.   Buz responded and arrogantly asked him some obscure, esoteric question. Scott proceeded to send his answer (along with a cc to others).....and the rest is history.  Each week, several questions / answers / opinions get emailed back and forth.

 

So much so that we are implementing a Fatboyz Users Group.  A place on the internet where everyone can ask question(s) and see opinions from their fellow FatBoyz along with Buzzy’s expert answer.

Rules.  They ain't no rules!  No winners. No losers. Just educational ribbing to see who can come up with a tidbit about flying that the other guys don't know. A simple game of one-upmanship.

 

Past questions have included things like:
Why did they inject water into the piston engines in WWII?  What is a through clearance?  What is the indication that you are "established on the final approach course?"  When is a procedure turn required on a GPS approach?  What are the required items of equipment for VFR daytime flight?

Most times, the questioner will supply the answer down at the bottom of the email so that you have to scroll down to see it. Sometimes the questioner will cite a FAR and have you look it up yourself. 

It seems that one question will spawn another. That is how this got so diversified.

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Dear Buz, I was reading an article on base to final spins. If you find yourself with a TAILWIND on base leg, and therefore overshoot your turn to final, what is the proper technique to avoid the inadvertent spin....increase bank angle with left aileron and right rudder to slip it back on course, or stay coordinated at all times?

 

Dear Fellow Pilot,

There are two dangers associated with this situation.  Either can kill you.  They include:

 Spin

 Accelerated Stall.

 

The way that either situation can kill you is that either will cause the airplane to quit flying while you are near to the ground.  Because you are so low, you don’t have enough altitude to affect a recovery so you fall to the earth in an unhealthy manner.

 

Spin

Let’s look at the Spin first.  It can be the more deadly of the two conditions.  In order to spin an airplane, you must have two conditions:

 Stall

 Uncoordinated Flight.

 

The Stall is brought on by wing’s reaching the critical angle of attack with the relative wind causing the smooth flow of air to separate away from the upper part of the wing.  Generally speaking, you point the nose of the airplane up too high causing it to become so slow that this angle is met.  Down we go in a stall.

 

But the recovery is simple enough.  Just let the nose of the airplane fall enough so that the airplane starts to fly again with enough speed.  Let’s just hope we have enough altitude for this maneuver.

 

The second condition, the Uncoordinated Flight, is brought on by inappropriate controlling of the ailerons and rudder.  Perhaps you have the ailerons set for a right bank, but the rudder pushed for a left turn.  Another uncoordinated condition is a left bank but pushing too much on the left rudder.  The instrument that will let you know if an uncontrolled condition exists is the ball in the turn coordinator.  If the ball is not centered, then you are in uncoordinated flight.

 

If you put the two together (stall and uncoordinated flight), you have one wing stall while the other wing is still flying and providing lift.  Ooops, the stalled wing drops like a rock and the flying wing stays up high.  Off we go into a spin unless we implement spin recovery procedures.

 

A spin on the base to final turn is deadly.  So, we don’t want to be doing much of that cross controlling stuff near that critical angle of attack and near the ground. 

 

Accelerated Stall

Now let’s explore the issue of stalling the airplane in a coordinated manner.  If the ball is in the center of it’s cage, it can be a non-event.  Just let the nose down a bit to get away from that critical angle of attack.  No problem.

 

But let’s think of some other, more unusual situations where an airplane will enter a stall.  Picture Patty Wagstaff flying her aerobatic Extra in an inverted manner.  If she pushes too hard on the stick to force the nose up to the sky, can it stall?  Yep.

 

Picture Buz Lightyear flying an F-16 in straight and level flight when he suddenly and with terrific force (as in hydraulically assisted controls) pulls back on his stick and holds it against the stop.  As the airplane roars up into the sky with water vapor condensing over each wing and crushing 11 G pitch up, can it stall?  Yep.

 

Picture Buz Lightyear flying his F-16 at 400 knots in a bone crushing 80 degree bank with his face sagging into his face mask.  If he suddenly pulls the stick back to the stop, will the airplane stall?  Yep.

 

Picture Buz Lightyear flying his F-16 at 150 knots in a not so bone crushing 70 degree bank.  If he suddenly pulls his stick back to the stop, will the airplane stall?  Yep.

 

In all three situations with Buz’s F-16, he flew into an accelerated stall.  The flyboys of the Navy and USAF know more about this condition because of the performance superlatives of their airplanes, but the accelerated stall can easily occur in general aviation when a guy starts to overrun his base to final turn and decides to fix it by cranking in a 60 degree bank but his airspeed in down too slow.  Ooops, the airplane stalls and quits flying.

 

There is one other deadly situation that occurs too frequently in general aviation.  The relatively new pilot in a rented Cessna 150 decides to “dive bomb” his buddy’s home.  He screams down his descent at a scorching 130 knots but knows he will pull up before he reaches the house.  He is laughing at his buddy on the porch when he pulls back briskly and firmly on the yoke.  But the airplane enters an accelerated stall and crashes into the barn on the far side of the house.  Not good.

 

So, what is my final answer?  Neither.  Do a go around.

 

If you are unable to salvage the approach by continuing the standard bank angle to regain the extended centerline of the final, then do a go around.  It is the ultimate tool in our tool belt.  Why even Buz Lightyear did a go around at KDKX the other day coming home from a family trip in the Baron.  Things just weren’t set up right on final because of a tricky cross wind that got the best of me.  My boys in the back of the plane thought it was neat.

 

Dear Buz, As I was pulling my V-Tail Bonanza out of the T hanger, a fellow Bonanza pilot came up to me and ask a question. He had placed his Bonanza on the Compass Rose (painted by the 99's) near the fuel farm at DKX. He and his friend had aligned the airplane with a cardinal heading and checked the compass and found it in error. He was unfamiliar with the adjustment of the compass and asked if I knew how to adjust a compass in a Bonanza.  What is wrong with this picture?

Dear Fellow Pilot,

The pilot does not adjust the compass. A qualified technician could make some adjustments of the metal inside of some compasses.  If you picture an old sailing ship with the pilot's wheel facing a binnacle which houses the compass, you might envision two huge metal balls on either side of the compass. These balls are adjustable on tracks to correct for adverse metallic influences from within the ship.

 

To be honest with you, I have not seen inside one of our airplane whiskey compasses, but I understand that they have moveable weights also.  To "swing a compass" is to take it through the cardinal headings as indicated by the painted compass rose and note what the compass reads at each heading. This notation is then applied to the compass deviation card mounted near the compass which we all have.....right?

Dear Buz, While being vectored from the en route to the approach structure by ARTCC (as opposed to Approach), what is the reason that Center will frequently ask you to "Report established on the final approach course." This request is often given by Center even though you are in radar contact.

Dear Fellow Pilot,

You are being vectored for the approach by Center. There is no "terminal control." This situation
happens to me a lot on Friday mornings when I fly to CSV. Atlanta Center is running the approach for this outlying, satellite airport.

The real reason for Center's request is that their radar is a composite of several radar sites that is compiled by computer. Their radar sweep is also slower than Approach radar. Because of these two factors, the refresh rate or update rate of their display is much slower than Approach which has one quickly turning radar. The airplane on approach could be well along in the approach before the next sweep comes up. They need to know where you are.

 

Dear Buz, "Hold for Release" is given with the IFR clearance. Can I depart in VFR conditions and pick up the clearance in the air or do I have to wait until the nice lady remembers to turn me loose? What are the risks (aside from getting scolded by ATC)?

Dear Fellow Pilot,

"Hold for release" means "you hold still until I can build a PROTECTED departure for you."  The ATC guy is working to carve out a protected area of airspace for
your IFR departure. He has definite guidelines to which he must adhere including altitude and horizontal separation. Therefore, he must manipulate the existing traffic to move them out of the way for your departure.

If you depart VFR, then all guidance is gone, including the fact that ATC will even be able to give you an IFR clearance once you are in the air. More than one airplane has eaten dirt having launched VFR in cruddy weather expecting ATC to immediately identify and give them an IFR clearance. Then the airplane has to weave and bob between clouds, mountains, and mist while ATC looks for their clearance in the computer, or ATC may simply be too busy to respond.

There have been many Friday mornings that I have sat in an idling Baron at the end of runway 8 at DKX when TYS gave me the "Hold for Release" on the clearance frequency of 121.7. And there have been a couple of occasions that, after hearing that Hold word, I simply announced that I would depart VFR and contact them airborne. They are ok with that because they know that I am responsible for my own terrain and traffic avoidance and for my own navigation (and for my own butt if they can't give me an IFR clearance after I launch). But those rare days in which I did that were real solid VFR, and I wondered why I filed IFR anyway.  By the way, a wonderful source of information about things like this is Vince Contessa over at TYS. I have used him many times to settle issues regarding ATC. I don't have his email on this computer, so I will look it up. I think it is vcontessa@faa.gov. It might be
vincentcontessa@faa.gov.

 

Dear Buz,

If a person identifies themselves as an FBI agent and asks to see your license and medical, do you have to show it?

 

Dear Fellow Pilot,

I found this on the AOPA weekly bulletin: FAR 61.3 (L) (1,2,3,and 4) states that "each person holding an airman certificate, medical certificate, authorization, or license required by this part must present it and their photo ID when requested from the [FAA] administrator, an authorized representative of the NTSB, any federal, state, or local law enforcement officer, or an authorized representative from the Transportation Security Administration [TSA]."

 

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Want to read more from Buz Witherington?  Check out of his other columns.

Got a comment, question or suggestion for future article? eMail Buz.

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