 |
Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Joe Enzminger
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 26
|
 Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:52 pm Post subject: Dissertations |
 |
|
I am always amazed at the fact that I used to hate writing English papers in high school but yet I have no problem writing 2000 words on the topic of the day when flying is concerned. I didn't get very good grades in English, though, so take what you read next with a grain of salt.
I operate out of an uncontrolled field with a very active contingent of formation pilots. There are three reasons why I'd like to chime in on the topic of formation flying and the average General Aviation Pilot. First, I have been in the aformentioned situation (formation conflict with another aircraft) many times, as recently as last week. Second, our group recently had an incident (on the taxiway thank God), that serves to remind us that what we do is very dangerous and that even a moment's inattention regardless of past experience combined with the slightest unexpected circumstance can at the very least damage an airplane and at the worst kill people. And third, until a few years ago I was a typical General Aviation pilot, and, yes, I did swear a few times at those formation jerks barreling into the pattern in non-standard ways.
From the standpoint of making the two viewpoints merge a little bit, the solution is education. It wasn't until I started formation flying that I came to realize just how hard it is to safely manuever a 4-ship formation into the pattern at an uncontrolled field is, and with that perspective I was a bit more willing to yield the right of way when I heard or saw one coming in. When I am leading a formation I'm also a bit more defensive and willing to adapt when bringing a flight into the field. If there is an airplane that I can't positively communicate with and ascertain intentions from, I simply fly to avoid. It does suck to know you are burning four times more fuel than the other guy, but that's the best way to handle things while you're in the air. If I happen to get a chance to talk about it on the ground (which doesn't happen as much as it should), I think the best way to handle it would be to introduce yourself, explain what happened and what you would have liked to have seen go another way, and offer to take them up on an orientation flight so they can see what it's like. We are a pretty hard group to break into (you have to own a really cool airplane or two), so a little reaching out on our part is probably a good idea.
The "spam canners", etc. are all a part of life. Everyone has to start somewhere and you can't assume that they are as smart or as good as you are (or necessarily should be). It would be great to have overhead approaches and terminology be part of the basic PPL Practical Test Standards, but for the average 40 hour new pilot just keeping the basics in his or her head and the airplane upright at the same time is a lot to handle, and although many of us might not remember being that green, I'm confident we all were at one time or another. I'm a relatively low time pilot, but I hope to have thousands and thousands of hours someday. However, everyone needs to remember that while experience counts, it can also lead you to do things that a less seasoned pilot might consider foolhardy. There are lots of airplane crashes with high-time pilots at the controls, and what we do in our airplanes certainly increases the risk. The premiere formation demo team in the world - a team that practices every day leading up to the show season and has nothing but experienced professional aviators flying in a sanitized environment - lost a great pilot doing what most of us would consider fairly routine in our formation flying - a rejoin.
Perhaps an effort on the FAST signatories' part to try to educate the GA public about how to handle flying in the same airspace as a formation would be a good idea. It would be interesting to see if one of the major GA magazines would run an article about how our operations work so that at least we can get the word out. I know that at our own field we are starting to grow to the point where we are going to have to figure out how to play nice with the other folks or we are going to lose our ability to do what we want when the tower comes. We're going to have to do that locally, why not try to figure out how to do it nationally as well?
Drat - only 743 words. Back to work.
Joe Enzminger
T-34 Association FAST Administrator
CJ-6 N700YK (with new paint)
T-34 N520HT (without....)
| | - The Matronics Yak-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Yak-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Ernie
Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 513
|
| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:50 pm Post subject: Re: Dissertations |
|
|
Just ask Craig Payne or Pappy, or anyone else who has ever flown with me. I'm a friggin chicken. I think I will coin a new term, I am a "PatternTrafficCondriac". Which is to say that I'm the kind of guy who transmits traffic reports like ... in the State...20 miles out....5 miles out...3 miles out....joining the downwind...on the downwind....turning base.....on final...short final...then I announce my gear being down...( I once had some schmuck ask if my pants were also)....on the ground.....clear of runway..( I was once admonished when I said clear of the active, appraently that is only appropriate at towered airports), but thats open to another thread.
One day Craig was leading a 4 ship into OCF,. Now being a local, I know that on weekends this particular airport is a beehive of activity with local training, and its a favorite destination for PPT X-Countries from SFB, DAB and DED, along the edge of restricted area 2906 in FL. So I was a bit apprehensive about our silence as we approached the airport 10 miles to the south on the ILS approach to that airport on a CAVU day.
Well not to be out of character, 2 (me) alerted Craig that we should be a little more pro-active in our position reports. Craig, the diplomat that he is ignored my lack of radio dicipline and continued on his stealthy approach to OCF. To my dismay there were no incidents and we landed with no bogeys in sight and ended the flight perfectly safe.
Which is to prove...as long as you have a paranoid wing, luck will prevail 
Ernie
| | - The Matronics Yak-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Yak-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
