lacloudchaser(at)yahoo.co
Guest
|
 Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:02 am Post subject: Yak 50 mishap, FAST, RPA Manual |
 |
|
Folks,
Please listen, without ego, bias or judgment. I will talk a little about these mishaps and more, excuse the use of the term "I", in all accounts, countless volunteers have helped in all areas...
My name is Drew Blahnick, average joe pilot, in 2001-2 was board elected as president of the "Yak Pilots Assoc" (YPA) and changed the name to RedStar Pilots Assoc (RPA), designed the website at www.flyredstar.org , published the "Ecom" electronic newsletter system, if you wear an RPA patch from the association store, whether the members patch or the "CJ or yak driver", they started on my laptop's photoshop program. If you've had a chance to enjoy any aspect of this infrastructure, just give this a listen,
There is an aricle coming out in this qtrs Red Alert magazine on takeoff and landing procedures and mishaps...
For two years this december, the attention/effort will have been centered around providing an updated comprehensive formation manual that is not, repeat, not for "trainees", but for all civil formation interested pilots regardless of qualification. Forget this idea of it being "FAST" only, or "FAST Clique", or "Only applies to airshows with wavered airspace and an IIC" - you will note that the manual almost never uses the word or initials "FAST"...this manual is not regulatory and should not be looked at in that way, this is just sourced knowledge derived from the best sources we could find (such as the USAF and US Navy and western Air Forces, as well as current civil operating practices). Some may react that any organizaional manual must be too "conservative", - read the takeoff interval and/or runway lineup guidance , it's different from what your used to being provided in past "formation manuals".
Is it made up? We flew to Pensacola for a personal tour of the US Navy basic formation program, obtained their guidance documents, no less than 9 phone interviews with AETC/UPT and ACC officers from Nellis to Randolph, along with inspecting training documents and procedures that have been "cooking", evolving for decades through such platforms as the T-34, T-37, T-38, T-6...looked at civil formation accidents,
When the basic content was complete, I formed an RPA check pilot panel and asked them to look at the procedures in the new manual, asked them to not worry about grammer and layout, look at procedures. You can bet there were disagreements, hard to change mindsets, some varying tolerance levels...to end some stalemates, we then went out and video taped procedures, folks thought it would never end 
Originally this effort was for a combined RPA - national FAST formation universal training manual with Mike Filuccis help as FAST president and principal co-author (like the old T-34 manual concept that would apply to all groups), but this concept has thankfully changed; FAST national will now produce "broad standards" for 2008 and beyond, addressed mainly to the signatories, their instructors (leads), and all check pilots, helping standardize such things as how we communicate in formation and what an evaluation will look like, this supports safe interfly among aviation groups, but each signatory, such as the RPA, is responsible for their own member-training, thus your formation manual...yours is by far the most comprehensive document in civil formation - please don't write off the information as "just fast", that would be incorrect - this is just knowledge derived from sources that can help civil formation pilots, nothing more, nothing less...
Mishaps:
First, let me clarify a term so I don't get hate mail;
In the manual you will read about "Element landings", this is interchangeable with the term "Section Landing". Both mean the same thing - Landing in close formation, or "landing on one's wing". There is effectively no interval.
I know someone asked this: Neither recent accident, Oshkosh (strong conjecture) or RPA (confirmed), was an element/section landing. These were what the manual calls "Interval Landings", as when you land from an overhead pattern and take up alternating sides of the runway ("staggered interval") with X number of seconds between aircraft. Easy enough...The manual now also lays out other interval landing options, such as taditional "Hot-Cold" procedures...Whether interval or element/section, such operations are "formation", with multiple aircraft moving on the runway...
As both accidents involved TW aircraft of course, a contributing factor for both was forward visibility [during interval landings], but other issues were present, such as communication (lack there of), etc. In all cases, the new formation manual deals effectively with these issues if you read and absorb it. Just reading and applying the red "warning and caution boxes" will help you stear clear of such mishaps. Again, watch for the nex Red Alert article specifically on takeoff and landing.
By the way, the toughest part of this research was in Tailwheel procedures. Why? The military moved away from TW aircraft in the 1950s with such aircraft as the T-28 - I could find scant procedural information for the mass training of formation pilots from the era of TW aircraft. Would this help? Maybe not, but it gives us a benchmark, just reading the yak list reveals that there are as many ways to skin a cat as there are TW pilots...The T-34 manual was of course too thin, so we looked at current "general TW operating practices (NATA/T-6, Fighters/P-51, etc.) and TW formation accidents for clues to where the guidance should lay...in no way does this manual attempt to "restrict" anyone, forget comments about "regulations" or "club/clique rules", this is about indentifying safe operating practices, nothing more folks.
If you have questions and inputs, the manual is a living document, please email me directly, I'm collecting all your intelligence. Leads and instructors, you will find "instructor note" boxes throughout the manual, these came from your personal experiences - if you see something that needs to be added, let us know.
By the way, one clear line through several mishaps is execution of procedures with minimal/no briefing/discussion, with pilots who might have marginal recent currency - about all of us at one time or another right!?!. Now watch this; the clincher that then seals the deal in almost all that were looked at is a lack of communication at the point of no return; there was a question about "what is going on", but you've been bred to "stay off the radios", "wingmans job is to be there", "he knows what he's doing" and in one mishap, a controller probably thinking "they fly warbirds, they know what there doing"...
Brief it (especially takeoff and landing procedures)...practice it...
"communicate away the confusion in it"...debrief it...drink beer to it...
A great process I think, hope you agree...
Sincerely,
Drew
PS: I flew lower than I should have with friends last year, I screw sh_t up too, you bet, this yak post is designed to help us all have a good time....
Drew Blahnick/305.803.9158
Vice president/FAST
CJ/Y50/L29 Type
[quote][b]
| | - 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 |
|
|
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
