Monday, June 13, 2011

The Precautionary Landing Procedure

When bush plane conditions of a landing areaare unknown simply because the landing is an unplanned one or if no advance data is available, you needs to perform a precautionary landing.


This happens ifyou are flying to such a location on as part of a planned flight, or because an unplanned landing is a good idea as a result of changes in the weather, low fuel or oil pressure, or perhaps because of a bush planemedical emergency.


For a backcountry strip, or even a non-dedicated strip like a farmers field, a moose meadow or a gravel bar a fly over inspection is needed, and typically the only method to obtain the requisite details to land.


Unplanned landings as a result of urgent, but non-emergency situations require the same sort of approach. Fuel guages that read empty, even when you're sure that the tanks are still full, require that you land in order to investigate. In most cases you can't determine whether the gagge is faulty or the tank is leaking from your seat in the cockpit. Still, if you have sufficient power and the airplane is behaving normally you can't consider it an emergency. The engine hasn't failed, there isn't a massive loss of power, and there is no imminenet danger to life or machine. The landing is unplanned, but it is a precaution. This is also the case for medical issues, minor mechanical problems or bush planelow oil pressure.


Another reason for precautionary landings is deterioration of weather. You may begin a flight in acceptable weather conditions only to have them deteriorate pst acceptable VFR standards. Low fuel or bad weather behind you may prevent you from simply turning around or diverting. In this a precautionary landing may be in order.


Use the following Precautionary Landing procedure if any of the following things occur:

Fuel is low, or the gauges read low, or oil pressure has dropped;

There is a medical emergency that is best dealt with on the ground;

If weather has deteriorated below VFR minima;

The bush plane conditions at the landing area are unknown;


The first three scenarios are Pan Pan, not Mayday, situations. There is no need to make the Pan Pan call if you are making a planned landing at an unknown airstrip. Forced landings are for when you lose an engine entirely or suffer a massive loss of power; precautionary landings are executed when you are not in imminent danger - don't get them confused.



This procedure has 8 steps:



One) Begin at the regular circuit height of 1000 feet AGL

Two) Fly a normal downwing leg to inspect the landing zone to decide if a lower pass is safe; this is called the high inspection. Keep an eye out for any hazards like trees, towers, power poles or anything else tha may effect closer inspection. Scan for cues to wind velocity and direction.



Three) The next stage is low inspection, which is an upwind leg flown at a lower altitude. Fly parallel to the landing area in order to examine it. Establish the airplane in trimmed, level flight at 60 knots with flaps at 10 degrees. Fly as low as you safely can while scanning the proposed landing strip. Try to detect anything, whether obstacles or terrain conditions that will effect your landing. At a speed of 60 knots you cover 100 feet every second, so it's a good way to estimate landing strip length. Thirteen to fourteen seconds should give you enough room to land, depending on conditions.



Four) Overshoot, apply full power and return to circuit altitude. Get back into a normal circuit pattern in anticipation of landing.

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Five) Make your radio call advising who you are, whereyou are and what you're doing



Six) Brief any passengers;



Seven) Complete the normal pre-landing checks - primer in and locked, master on, mags both, cicuit breakers/fuses, carb heat hot, mixture full rich, seats and harnesses secure, fuel on, test brakes;.



(These last three are sometimes called the 3 Ps, Pan Pan, passenger briefing and pre-landing )



Eight) Land the airplane as appropriate. Whether it is a short field, soft field or combination of the two will be dependent on the conditions. Don't forget to take any obstacles that can't be avoided into account

Monday, June 6, 2011

How to pick a flying School

Deciding which bush pilot training to use is difficult because before you've actually started learning to fly you probably don't have good criteria to base your decision on.


When I began comparing schools I looked at three things: price, time and groundschool. I didn't want to pay too much, I wanted to get a license as soon as possible and I wanted convenient times and locations for groundschool.


Looking back I think I can say that, of the three criteria only bush pilot training emergedas a lasting quality on which to base a decision. Groundschool will teach you whatyou need to pass the written exam. There are different options available. You can take it online, one on one or in a classroom setting. Location can be on or off airport and they can be offered during the day or evening. If you're a mature student with a full-time job an off airport night time class can be very advantageous. On the other hand, if you're young and can devote full days throughout the week to learning to fly then an on airport daytime setting is likely more practical.


If you have an optiogon do not depend on an online course. The material is too dense and technical to lend itself easily to self-study. A lively and experienced pilotwho can bring flying experience and practical application to the subject matter.



The amount of time required to learn to fly varies with each individual. If you flyonce a week you'll need more hours than someone who flies everyday; younger people often pick up the motor skills required to fly more quickly than older people. What this means is that it is difficult
for a flying school to accurately estimate how long it will take a given individual to learn how to fly, and so comparing the inaccurate estimates of different schools isn't likely to lead to a good decision.


What's more, sometimes schools will provide unrealistic timeframes, and that brings up costs. An
unrealistically short time estimate translates into a lower cost, except that the estimate is unrealistic.

The fact is that learning to fly, like flying itself, is expensive. Don't try to save money on the education - save it in other areas instead. If you can buy a share in a plane, for example, you could spend the same amount of money as renting, but end up owning a share of an airplane by the time you earn your PPL.


If only one of my three initial reasons for bush pilot training is a good one, what others can you use? To begin with, choose a school that doesn't begin by misleading you about how long it will take or how much it will cost or how easy ground school will be. It's a good sign when a school is honest about cost, time and difficulty.


Another way to compare schools is the number and quality of aircraft . A school with a single aircraft might mean that you're grounded when it comes time for maintenance or repair. At the same time, maintenance is important. A multi-aircraft school wih a maintenance facility is a great sign. Age of the aircraft isn't critical, but they should be well maintained and cared for. Ask the school operator about maintenance and repair policies. The things that you hear can be instructive.


Staff is another thing to compare. Its sometimes easier to learn with a consistent instructor, so try to find out about turnover, and how long instructors have been with the school. It's natural for instructors to move along in their aviation careers, but excessive turnover can be a sign of poor management.


Learning to fly is an involved process, and perhaps the most important thing for a school to have is a systematic approach to the process.


When I was shopping for schools I checked out several. While all the operators seemed like great guys several seemed as if they were trying to pull off more than they could handle. The school I eventually chose was very clean, well organized, was run by a non-instructor, had multiple planes and instructors, and an onsite maintenance facility. The staff also allowed me to use my own plane and combine cross country training with business trips.Soon after beginning my training I realized that cost and time were not important considerations. Safe planes and quality instruction were. I recommend that you choose your bush pilot training on the same basis.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Extensive Earthquakes

Right after media accounts of extensive earthquakes,vancouver property management, house owners enquire about earthquake insurance coverage fortheir condominiums.Indeed, your condo corporation is protected, but keep in mind that your belongings aren't protected and the condo corporation's plan features a insurance deductible (see beneath). Please be aware the condo corporation's insurance coverage plan doesn't protect your belongings and, as a result, you need to make sure that your home-owner's plan will. When there is a big quake "fittings" and flooring added by you won't, with the exception of in restricted situations,be protected by your strata corporation's insurance coverage plan both. Believe of one's strata corporation's insurance coverage as covering your strata great deal only because it existed on "day one" when it was offered through the developer. Most enhancements and betterments because then aren't protected through the strata corporation's insurance coverage plan. You need to verify together with your very own vancouver property management agent to acquire protection for these products. In the event you don't possess a "tenant's" or "home owner's" package deal! you need to think about it.

Insurance deductible:

Your condo corporation features a complete insurance coverage plan, which consists of vancouver property management.Please be aware, nevertheless, the earthquake protection features a insurance deductible which, at the moment, is in between ten - 20% with the complete. appraised and insured worth with the condo corporation. It's obvious that this kind of a insurance deductible indicates a great deal of cash within the occasion of an earthquake, even a gentle 1. To place it an additional way, your condo corporation is uninsured for earthquake brought on harm as much as the insurance deductible quantity. It isn't feasible to buy supplementary insurance coverage to protect this insurance deductible; nevertheless, it might be feasible for you personally, as being a home-owner, to buy an earthquake rider in your homeowner's plan, which might offer protection for your personal strata great deal although not for your strata corporation's typical house. Your personal insurance coverage broker ought to have the ability to offer additional info on this subject.

When you have any concerns regarding the strata corporation's vancouver property management, make sure you really feeltotally free to get in touch with your strata agent throughout normal company hrs.