Observation Flight

Aaron Trodahl

Lance Vaculin

Multi Engine Ground

4 November 2010

Observation Flight

     On November 1, 2010, I went on my observation flight with Craig Hughes and Tyler Lohmhoelder in the 1030am flight block. Overall, this flight was very helpful in being able to see the way another student flies the airplane and the way another instructor does things. In addition, it just so happened that Craig is a little bit ahead of me in the training so it was good to get a glimpse of what is to come. On this particular flight, Craig and Tyler first worked through the basic flight maneuvers of slow flight, stalls, and steep turns. Next, Tyler began to further refine Craig’s engine out skills in the air and while on approach.

     The first thing that stuck out to me on the flight occurred in the before takeoff briefing. Tyler encouraged Craig to think about how the checklist says to put flaps and gear up. He mentioned that if you are airborne just after takeoff and lose an engine you most likely have the gear and flaps up. The moral of the story was to not spend a lot of time on those two steps in the checklist. Once in the practice area, Tyler started giving instructions for Craig to follow. While Craig was busy flying the airplane, he pulled one of the alternator circuit breakers. I know for me it is easy to lose the scan with all the new things going on in the Seminole. It is essential to maintain a good proper instrument scan.

     With the engine out, Craig seemed to struggle with rapidly going through the flows to identify and verify, troubleshoot, and securing the prop. Knowing the flows is essential, especially when on approach. As a by product of focusing on accomplishing the checklists, we failed to maintain zero side slip. The moral of the story is to first fly the airplane and then worry about everything else. 

Blog Post 6

I learned several thing in Multi Engine Ground, but the most important two things have to be 1. How to handle an engine out and 2. Single Engine aerodynamics. ME has been a pretty fun class overall. Thank you Lance for not making it death by power point. There was actually nothing that I really didn't like. I had to be up anyways so the early start did not even matter. This whole blog thing has been sort of weird. I do think it is a clever way to do homework assignments. In that regard, it was really cool. I would definitely not mind having it in more classes.

Aspen Accident

This tragic accident depicts the danger of having that get home itis and succumbing to the pressures of an outside influence who has no flight experience. The ultimate responsibility lies with the pilot and copilot. It is clear that final decision rests with them. Neither of them had any recent experience with flying into Aspen at night. In addition, there were outside influences that restricted their CRM. In deteriorating weather, there should not have been a passenger in the jump seat. Furthermore, the numerous missed approaches that occurred right before their approach should have heightened their awareness and made them break off the approach at the first sight of something wrong. In a small way, I know what these pilots felt. I've made the mistake of letting outside influences adversely affect my flying. It almost caused a disaster. So when in doubt,  break it off, find some clean air away from terrain, and live to see another day.

Single Pilot IFR

Without having flown in IFR conditions in quite sometime, I would refuse to fly in IMC conditions right now. I firmly believe that even most of our students (including myself) could not function in IMC conditions immediately following our instrument checkride. Flying in the real deal is much different than under the hood. This article highlighted the danger that single pilot IFR presents. Managing the workload is probably the biggest piece of advice this article gives. Under IFR conditions, there are many things to do very quickly. Without a copilot, managing these tasks is essential. Ultimately, I would not fly IFR without an experienced copilot at this time.

In Flight Electrical Fires

The problem with most of the emergencies that we could possibly encounter on a real live flight is that we, as student pilots, cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of the emergency until we encounter it and are forced to make those split second decisions. However, that is why we are constantly drilled on emergency procedures for things like gear malfunctions or power loss. We know to immediately pitch for 79, look for a suitable field, ect... for an engine loss. Electrical fires, on the other hand, are rarely ever discussed. This article brings to light the dangers of electrical fires and the consequences of not dealing with them correctly. I like the fact that it states that "your attention should be focused on getting the airplane on the ground as soon as practical." Personally, I have never felt the urgency or stress of a catastrophic emergency before, but through articles like this, I can take little nuggets and store them away in case I ever find myself in this situation.

Blog Post #1

To all my fellow Multi Engine Ground students and Lance:

The foundation for advancing to another platform in aviation is rooted in the ground school classes. None of us could have accumulated the limited knowledge we have of aviation if we did not have our ground school classes. I expect to learn in this course all of the necessary information to enable me to fly and understand a multi engine airplane at a rudimentary level. Basically, enough information to get me to a point where I can pass the checkride. Unfortunately, this is also enough information to lure us into a false sense of security when it comes the topic of multi-engine flight. I hope this answered the topic of blog #1 and came out sounding somewhat understandable.