Max Trescott Aviation Trends Aloft

Product Review: Husky A-1C and Garmin G500 and G600

This article is a companion piece to complement my Trends Aloft column that appears beginning with the January 2010 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. EAA members started receiving the print edition of that magazine today. If you're not an EAA member (and why aren't you?) you can view an online digital version of the issue in early January; I will post a link to it when it becomes available. 

EAA is the organization that brings you the world's greatest air show, AirVenture, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin each year. If you have never attended, you owe it to yourself to go in 2010—put it on your calendar now! I’m a huge fan of AirVenture and attend every year, primarily to network with aviation friends from around the country. EAA asked me at AirVenture 2009 to write a monthly technology column for their magazine and I was happy to accept. The result is Trends Aloft, an aviation technology column in EAA Sport Aviation and complementary pieces appearing in this blog. 

This year, EAA's 2010 Share the Spirit Sweepstakes airplane is a G500-equipped Husky A-1C. I was lucky to fly a similar, factory new Aviat Aircraft Husky in October that had just been ferried from the factory. You can view many photographs from that flight here. 

While I spend most of my time flying high and fast, I still love the joy of flying low and slower. When I owned a Cessna T210, I argued to my partner that we also needed to own a Piper Cub so that we didn't miss out on some of the true joys of flying. So I was delighted to fly the Husky—an aircraft that in some ways resembles a Piper Cub—to see how glass cockpits are trickling down to other aircraft. 

As I mentioned in the January column, the Husky is a good-looking airplane that can turn heads on any ramp. The magazine included photos of the red Sweepstakes aircraft; the one I flew was a bright yellow, which looked perfect on the airplane. 

The Garmin G500 was announced in July at AirVenture as a slimmed down version of the Garmin G600. For the most part, the G1000 is not retrofitable except in high-end aircraft like King Airs and Cessna Citations. Therefore, the G600 has been Garmin's solution for retrofitting glass cockpits into smaller aircraft. 

However, Garmin faced stiff competition in that arena from Aspen Avionics, whose product I reviewed earlier this year. Whereas the G600 sold for nearly $30,000, the entry-level Aspen avionics PFD sells for less than $7000 and a PFD + MFD combination sells for less than $15,000. Enter the G500. The G500 retains all of the important capabilities of the G600, yet has an entry price of less than $16,000. That's remarkable when you consider that the G500 includes all of the important features found in the Garmin G1000 but for a fraction of the cost. 

If you’re flying a single or twin-engine piston aircraft weighing less than 6,000 pounds, you can save a bundle by choosing the G500; aircraft over 6,000 pounds require the more expensive G600. To keep the G500 price low, Garmin unbundled several features found standard in the G600. For example, Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT), an onboard radar interface, and the GAD 43 autopilot interface are optional in the G500 but standard in the G600. TAWS-B terrain alerting is optional in the G600 but unavailable in the G500. 

If you have an older aircraft and are considering retrofitting a G500, G600 or the Aspen Avionics products, you owe it to yourself to take a test flight. Glass cockpits dramatically improve situation awareness by displaying nearby terrain, traffic, and weather. System reliability is also enhanced and when failures occur, it’s immediately obvious since a large red X replaces a portion of the instrument display. 

Glass cockpits make sense for just about every plane. A pilot of an open cockpit WACO recently told me he loves his glass cockpit since he no longer worries about paper charts blowing out of the plane! I certainly fell in love with the G500-equipped Husky that I flew. 

If you haven’t yet joined the glass cockpit revolution, consider jumping on board soon. Manufacturers continue to provide increased value at ever decreasing costs. Even a tail dragger like the Husky is more fun to fly with a glass cockpit. Consider getting your own piece of glass in 2010!

Amazon Kindle Survey of Pilot Aviation Uses for this E-book Reader

I hope you are enjoying the holidays. From what I read, a number of people received an Amazon Kindle as a gift this year. 

While standing in line at the post office the other day, I noticed a woman in front of me who was reading on her Amazon Kindle. My wife has been interested in one for a long time, so I gave her one. Also I saw a message on twitter from my blogger friend Sylvia saying that she too received a Kindle for Christmas. 

Hearing about so many new Kindles sparked my curiosity, so I did a little research using Google. I learned that JP Morgan estimates that some 10 million Americans either own one of these Amazon e-book readers or plan to get one soon. Another analyst said, "the Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world.” 

Users seem to like that the Amazon Kindle is lighter and easier to hold than a mass-market paperback. Also, it weighs just 10 ounces, meaning users can bring many books with them on a trip using their Kindle, while eliminating many pounds from their bag and the resulting luggage fees. Pricing for books is also excellent, with mass-market paperbacks selling for around six dollars and older titles selling for as little as three dollars. At these prices, the Amazon Kindle version of a book is comparable in price to buying a used book. Kindle users also tend to be older and have significantly higher education. 

I've read about a few aviation uses of the Amazon Kindle for pilots but wondered which were being used the most. Therefore, I put together a short survey that's intended for all pilots, whether they currently own an Amazon Kindle or not. Please take a minute to take this very short survey. Note: If you answer No, you don't own a Kindle, the survey will be very short, saving you time. However you can still see all of the survey questions (and the results) by clicking on the Results link below.  

Feel free to post in the comments at the bottom of this article about your aviation Kindle experiences. Also, you can click on this link to see a summary of results from everyone who's taken the survey so far. Have fun reading!

American Airlines Flight 331 Crashes after Long Landing at Kingston, Jamaica Airport; Downwind Landing May Have Been a Factor

[Update: AA 331 did land on Runway 12 as I had guessed. A reader pointed out that there is no ILS approach to runway 30. Thus it makes perfect sense that they chose the ILS to Runway 12. However, some people reported that the aircraft touched down nearly half way down the runway. If true, that will undoubtedly turn out to be a contributing factor to this accident] At shortly before 10:30 PM last night, a landing American Airlines Boeing 737-800, that originated at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, overan the runway at Kingston, Jamaica's Norman Manley International Airport. Flight 331 reportedly crossed a road and may have ended up on a beach just short of the Caribbean. The Jamaica Observer reported 40 injured passengers and Jamaica TV reported in a CNN video that 4 of the injuries were serious. There were conflicting reports about whether the aircraft broke up into as many as three pieces after the accident.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration web site, the 10 PM weather in Kinston was reported to include heavy rain showers. The temperature was 69°F, dew point was 66°F and the winds were out of the northwest at 13 knots. Looking at a Google Maps satellite photo and comparing it with Jamaica TV’s report that the aircraft overran the runway and “crossed a road,” suggests that the aircraft landed on runway 12 with a tailwind. If so, the accident may turn out to be similar to a December 2005 accident at Chicago’s Midway Airport in which a Southwest Boeing 737-700 landed downwind with a 11 knot tailwind. It encountered poor braking action due to snow and ice on the runway and was still traveling at 53 knots as it overran the runway.

 Landing with a tailwind increases landing distances. For example, a landing distance calculator for a Boeing 737-500 indicates that when landing at 61 tons with no wind on a dry runway, 4565 feet is required. However with poor braking action, the required landing distance increases to 8855 feet. The only runway at Kingston’s airport is 8786 feet long. With a 10 knot tailwind, the landing distances increase to 5055 feet and 10,370 feet respectively. With a 10 knot headwind, the landing distances decrease to 4435 feet and 8455 feet respectively.

While pilots are generally encouraged to land into a headwind, there are operational reasons when landing with a tailwind is preferred. In the case of the Southwest jet, an AOPA Pilot article said “Changing runways might have had a negative impact on operations at Chicago O’Hare International, 13 nm to the northwest, so the air traffic considerations must be weighed against the safety implications.”

It’s less clear that there were any compelling reasons why American Airlines flight 331 had to make a downwind landing. If the pilots did choose to land with a tailwind, more than likely they did so because they wanted to decrease their taxi time to the terminal. Had they landed with a headwind on runway 30, they would have had to taxi more than a mile to return to the terminal. By landing on runway 12, they would have rolled out next to the terminal, saving several minutes of taxi time.

 If the pilots did make a downwind landing onto runway 12, then another subtle factor may have played a role: Flight 331 was running late. The flight stops in Miami before continuing on to Jamaica and according to American Airlines online schedule, Flight 331 departs at Miami at 7:25PM. But, according to www.flightaware.com, for the last seven days, the flight departed on average at 7:46 PM. But last night, it departed at 8:53 PM, about an hour and a half late.

Could Flight 331’s crew have felt pressured to save 2-3 minutes of taxi time because they were running late? Absolutely. Would a downwind landing have mattered with a normal, dry runway? No, not at all. But with heavy rains and a wet runway, the crew may have been betting that everything else would go right. In the case of the Southwest overrun at Midway airport, a compounding factor was that the thrust reversers were not deployed until 15 seconds after touchdown; the four airliners that landed in the 20 minutes prior all deployed their thrust reversers in 4 to 6 seconds after touchdown.

Risk management and safe flying is all about building in lots of extra margin into every decision. It’s reasonable to shave the margins—for example by making a downwind landing—but then it’s important that there are no additional compounding factors. It will be a long time before we know the full story behind exactly what happened last night at Jamaica, but one thing is certain. Somewhere in the process, a decision or malfunction eroded the safety margins, causing this accident.

New Jersey Pilot Kills Himself and Son in Predictable Plane Crash

A new post yesterday on the All-Things-Aviation.com blog related "3 stories about pilots who didn’t learn, didn’t care and didn’t survive." I was all too familiar with one of those stories having read about it in the Cape May County Herald after it occurred last month. There's something particularly heart rending about a Private pilot taking off with his son into a 300 foot overcast with the all too predictable result. Clearly this pilot was not a student of history, aircraft accident data, or FAA regulations. Otherwise he would have realized that he needlessly threw away his life and that of his son.

The pilot was 53 years old, had a total of 395 hours and was not instrument rated. According to witnesses, the pilot had originally planned to depart KOBI, the Woodbine Municipal airport in Woodbine, NJ, for a family hunting trip to Indiana two days before the accident, but weather postponed his trip. The following day, the pilot requested assistance from the airport manager in using an internet-based flight planning tool and accessed DUATs once that evening.

The next morning, the day of the accident, IMC prevailed, but the forecast called for conditions to improve as the day progressed. The recorded weather conditions at the airport reported an overcast ceiling at 300 feet above ground level (agl) for the period from 10 AM to noon. This is considered low IFR and in fact the ceiling was below the minimums for the published instrument approach procedures at the airport. Witnesses universally reported a solid overcast ceiling was present at 200 to 300 feet agl, that "there were no holes" in the ceiling, and that "there was no sun" shining anywhere that they could see.

About 10:40 AM, the pilot radioed his intention to depart and began his takeoff roll on runway 31 in his 1972 Piper Arrow. According to newspaper reports, his wife “Valerie, 52, was actually very close to getting on the plane with her men. Even though she wasn’t packed for the trip, she was going to fly with them, buy some clothes in Indiana, and fly back on a commercial flight in a few days. The only reason she didn’t go was because Ted saw the break in the clouds and wanted to take advantage of it right away. There wasn’t time to get her on the flight.”

The quote speaks volumes about the state of mind of the pilot. If there wasn’t “enough time to get her on the plane,” then clearly he felt that he was trying to depart through a very narrow window of opportunity. Narrow windows mean narrow margins of safety. This pilot was so intent upon completing his mission—one which had already been delayed for two days—that he was willing to take on extraordinary risks without thought for his own safety. No sane Private pilot should take off into a 300 foot solid overcast.

In that frame of mind, the pilot was probably looking for any possible hint that the trip might be possible. “I was there and I saw what he saw,” his wife told the Herald. “There was a break in the weather. There was a thin spot where the sun was peeking through the clouds, not blue but a definite opening.”

The comment is telling. The couple was looking at a sucker hole. In this case it didn’t even go all the way through. Instead, they were apparently looking at a higher layer of clouds through a hole in the lower layer. In that situation, there would be no way to know if the hole would remain long enough to get through it and whether there was enough space above the bottom layer to operate safely. The couple wanted to believe that flight was possible and that was sufficient for the pilot to decide to take off.

After takeoff, one witness stated that the airplane entered the overcast about a 1/3 of a mile beyond the runway end. According to the preliminary NTSB report:

“Witnesses on and near the airport reported that they heard, and occasionally saw, for a period of between 5 and 10 minutes, an airplane flying in their vicinity. All witnesses reported that the sound varied in a way that gave them the impression that the airplane was continuously changing speed and direction, as if it was climbing, descending and circling. One witness, who was in his backyard with his daughter, stated that he was familiar with how airplanes typically sounded, but ‘this one was different.’ The continued variation in sound gave him the impression that the airplane was performing aerobatics, and he questioned the pilot's judgment for performing aerobatics in the clouds. He then saw the airplane fly over his neighbor's house. He said that he ‘never saw a plane that low before,’ and he sent his daughter inside for her safety. Another witness at the airport saw the airplane emerge from the overcast, headed away from him to the west, and disappear below the treeline. He then saw the airplane re-emerge, and climb back up into the overcast. All witnesses reported that their sightings of the airplane were very brief, and lasted only a few seconds.”

Most witnesses only reported a single sound of impact, which some described as a "thump." The aircraft came down within a mile of the departure runway and at a steep angle, according to the New Jersey State Police. The first 911 call was placed at 1059.

This pilot’s decision making was based solely upon hope. He was hoping that every possible turn of luck would go his way. In his blind pursuit of flying a trip that was obviously important to him, he recklessly disregarded FAA regulations and the laws of common sense. The outcome was predictable to everyone except the pilot and his wife. It offers up an important lesson in how pilots can be blind to every fact except one—their desire to complete a flight at any cost.

Video Interview: Iraqi Militants Intercepting Drone Video Feeds with $26 Software

Militants in Iraq and Afghanistan have been intercepting live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones according to the online version of the Wall Street Journal. Using $26 software intended to intercept and decrypt movies transmitted over satellites, the insurgents have been able to monitor and potentially evade U.S. military operations.

U.S. officials became aware of the problem after analyzing data from an insurgent’s laptop computer captured last December. Senior defense officials say that Iranian-backed Shiite fighters in Iraq have used a software program called SkyGrabber to regularly intercept the unprotected communications link in some UAVs. Officials say that there is no evidence thus far that militants have been able to take control of the UAVs. Still, this capability significantly undermines a weapon system in which the U.S. is heavily investing. UAVs account for 36% of the Air Force's budget for new aircraft in 2010.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. has known about this problem since UAVs were used in Bosnia 1990s. However, the Pentagon assumed local adversaries wouldn't know how to exploit the flaw. Yesterday, Lieut. Gen. David Deptula, who is in charge of the Air Force's UAV program, said that there are inherent risks since UAVs send video and other data over great distances. He added that the military was trying to solve the problem through better encryption.

The story is a telling commentary on the nature of warfare. Much like the Spy versus Spy comic strip, they illustrate that for every new technology invented, a counter technology is available. This is undoubtedly not the last vulnerability that will be found and exploited in America's newest weapon system.

Boeing 787 First Flight Video

Earlier today, on a cold and rainy morning, thousands of Boeing employees lined the runway to watch the first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The takeoff was broadcast via a webcast, but if you missed it live, you can watch the takeoff here on YouTube. Several minutes into the video, take a look at the rearview of the airplane and note the upward curvature of the aircraft's wings.

The Dreamliner program was unique in that it was the first one in which Boeing subcontracted large portions of the aircraft to other manufacturers. This had the benefit of reducing the amount of capital which Boeing had to invest in the project. However, it greatly enhanced the complexity of the communications and project management required. The program was also troubled by a major redesign of the aircraft wing.

Scheduled service is presently planned for the fourth quarter of 2010. As of September 2009, a total of 850 aircraft have been ordered. Here's hoping that with today's first flight of the Boeing 787 it will be smooth sailing ahead for Boeing and its newest aircraft. You can track the first flight live at http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE1

American Airlines Jet Scrapes Wingtip Landing at Charlotte: Pilots May Have Violated Procedures

On Sunday night, an American Airlines jet scraped a wingtip while landing in poor visibility at the Charlotte, N.C. Airport, according to an article in the online version of the Wall Street Journal. It states that the NTSB is “expected to look at whether fatigue may have played a role in the performance of the pilots. They had been on duty for some 14 hours before the botched landing, according to preliminary internal airline data.”

According to the article...

Fun Time Lapse Video: Reassembling a Cessna 182RG

Here is a really fun time-lapse video of a Cessna 182RG aircraft being reassembled after its landing gear was damaged in an accident. It's composed of several thousand photos taken over several weeks and assembled into a short two minute video. Although there is no sound on this video, I think you'll find that it is really fun to watch.

Paul Jones, who for the last year has been training at MMS Aviation in an aircraft maintenance apprenticeship, created the video. According to their website, 

Instrument Flying with GPS—What Your Flight Instructor Didn’t Teach You

This is the 8^th in a series of “12 Days of Christmas” gifts for pilots. You can find links to the previous seven articles on the www.aviationchatter.com web site. Special thanks to Vincent at www.plasticpilot.net for suggesting this series.

The Day 8 gift is something all pilots can give themselves: Get to know your GPS thoroughly to enhance your flight safety! Instrument flying is a “bet the ranch” proposition. If you don’t do it well, it can hasten your demise. Modern GPS receivers increase your potential capability, but require increasing amounts of training and practice to get the most from them. That puts the onus on pilots to do more self-study and training. Flight instructors can no longer just teach the same things they’ve always taught. Now they need to get smart on the sophisticated GPS systems found in modern aircraft.

Here’s an excerpt from my new Max Trescott’s GPS & WAAS Instrument Flying Handbook.

Three Ways to Fly an Approach
 “Most instrument approaches can be flown in either of two ways: via own navigation, also called pilot navigation, which often involves a procedure turn and via radar vectors from ATC. In addition, many GPS approaches can be flown a third way, which involves being cleared directly to the intermediate fix of the approach. We’ll discuss that third option in detail in Chapter 10.

“Own navigation is used in the real world when aircraft are below radar coverage and ATC can neither see nor vector the aircraft. In that case, aircraft can safely fly the approach on their own, provided they fly the instrument approach exactly as published. This is usually more work than flying an approach via vectors and often includes flying away from the airport before turning around using a procedure turn to fly inbound to the airport. Own navigation is also used heavily in training, so that pilots become familiar with its intricacies.

“Flying via vectors is the preferred way to fly an approach, since it’s less work for the pilot, though it requires more work from the controller who monitors your progress via radar and issues a series of vectors or turns that line you up for the approach. For an approach via vectors, envision a straight line, extending a number of miles from the airport, which is often, but not always, aligned with the runway’s extended centerline. The controller turns you onto the line and you then follow it, using GPS or other equipment, to the airport. When the chips are down, e.g., you’re tired, low on fuel or the weather is rotten, request vectors, preferably to an ILS or LPV approach, since it will require the least amount of work on your part and give you the greatest chance of successfully flying an approach….

“…The third method, new in 2006, is that ATC can clear you direct to the intermediate fix and allow you to turn onto the intermediate segment without flying any course reversal charted at the IF (intermediate fix). This is permitted if your IFR flight plan indicates an RNAV equipment suffix. When doing this, the controller is supposed to provide radar monitoring to the IF and advise you, at least 5 miles from the fix, to expect clearance direct to the IF. This allows you time to program your GPS to fly to the intermediate fix. The controller must also assign an altitude to maintain until the IF and ensure that your aircraft is on a course that will intercept the intermediate segment at an angle not greater than 90° and is at an altitude that will permit a normal descent from the intermediate fix to the FAF. Information about this new option is in section 5-4-7 of the Aeronautical Information Manual.”

The book also teaches:
 • The myth of “activating the approach” and why you never need to do it
 • Why your autopilot may fail to couple to an ILS glide slope
 • Details on the new minimums: LPV, LNAV/VNAV, LNAV, LNAV+V, and LP.
 • When to load versus to activate an instrument approach
 and dozens of other tips from top Master CFIs.

 Max Trescott’s GPS & WAAS Instrument Flying Handbook covers VFR and IFR programming of all modern panel-mount GPSs including the Garmin 430, 430W, 530, 530W, 480, G900X, G1000, Cirrus Perspective and Bendix/King KLN 94. You can read more about the book and order it online or call 800-247-6553 to order. Fly Safely!

Book Review: Lane Wallace’s Unforgettable: My Best 10 Flights

Flying magazine distinguishes itself with signature columnists that subscribers anxiously await reading each month. As a teenager, I grew up on a diet of hilarious tales spun by Gordon Baxter and airline piloting wisdom from the sage Len Morgan. Richard Collins coached me on air safety while extolling the virtues of his Cessna 210. Little did I know that decades later, I too would own a 210 and become an aviation writer.

Twenty-first century readers of Flying magazine know of Lane Wallace from her monthly column. When it debuted...