An airplane with leaky fuel caps is sitting out in the rain. How long might it take each drop of water, the moment it gains access to the fuel tank, to: a) reach the bottom of the tank; and b) get to the engine?
Trivia Testers : Splitting Hairs
Turbo Failure
Most aircraft engines are limited by the structure of the atmosphere -- the higher you go, the less air is available to create power. Turbocharging, or mechanically compressing inlet air to provide more power at altitude, overcomes this limitation by boosting the air pressure to something greater than “natural” levels. Turbocharged engines particularly shine above 10,000 feet MSL, where sea-level (or greater) power is combined with reduced air resistance to provide spectacular true airspeeds.
Stay Ahead Of The Airplane — Prioritize
Pilots are confronted with an inflow of information (radio communications, spotting other traffic, flight and engine instruments, etc.) at all times during a flight. We can only do so much with this information and must decide which bit of information or which potential conflict should we attack first, second, and third.
It’s Only A Flat Spot
Tires are one of the most forgotten parts of our airplanes. After all, we spend a majority of our time flying through the air, our tires getting a “free ride,” as it were, not in contact with the ground. To the dismay of engineers and aircraft designers everywhere, most of the time an aircraft is in use, its tires are just sitting there being heavy. Unfortunately, because of their seemingly secondary role, pilots tend to neglect their tires to some extent, downplaying problems that could eventually come back to bite them in the tail – HARD!
Trivia Testers : Parched
Of the following early airmail pilots, who doesn't belong? Charles Lindbergh, Elrey Jeppesen, Leonard Brooke Hyde-Pearson, or George H. Boyle.
Trimmed Stalls
Some years ago I was deposed as an expert witness in the case of an aircraft accident. The aircraft manufacturer was being sued over a fatal accident where the airplane's cabin door had popped open just after takeoff and the airplane stalled.
Staying Ahead Of The Airplane (Don’t look past the obvious)
It seems that the most obvious thing can become elusive when you don't concentrate on the details. A pilot and controller together looked past the obvious and almost caused a tragedy in Charlotte, North Carolina, one night.
Trivia Testers : Strength in Numbers
Just as the greater relative proportion of one substance introduced into another can improve the effectiveness of a mixture or a solution in physical chemistry, the increasing numbers of a smaller population intermingled with another more predominant one can serve to further justify the agenda of the former (whether that be equal rights, or simply acceptance). When it comes to the pilot population then, at what point in time during the last 100 years has the relative number of pilots been the greatest, with respect to the population at large?
How to Stay Ahead of an Airplane
Where ever you are - be there! This is a direct quote from Mr. Joel Smith who is a training coordinator for the Boeing 747 fleet of Northwest Airlines. Joel is a former student of mine, and he invited me to sit in on one of his CRM training sessions one time.
Bingo Fuel – Don’t Let It Happen to You!
When I heard about this story, I nearly fell out of my chair. A pilot and his passengers, with a flight plan on file but according to the NTSB's preliminary report not activated, had to wait an hour before he was cleared into the Washington area ADIZ. By the time ATC cleared him in, the aircraft ran out of gas and the aircraft landed deadstick in a field and collided with trees...