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Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - 23:09:54 ET

Incipient Spin Caused By Engine Failure

"...If the engine fails on take-off with insufficient runway remaining, I will trim the aircraft for best glide and try to land withing 30° of the runway centreline."

Ahh, the take-off briefing! This particular line is an important one. It's not advisable to try to turn around after an engine failure on take-off. This video demonstrates why you shouldn't.

With such a high bank angle at such a slow airspeed, the aircraft enters into a spin and crashes. The sad thing about this situation is that it looks like the pilot had enough room to land straight ahead without incident.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009 - 10:48:36 ET

VFR Flight Itineraries

A recent comment about flight plans by a reader has prompted me to write this post about flight itineraries.

Pilots have the option of filing a flight plan or a flight itinerary. There are important differences between to the two. It's important to know what these differences are so you don't expect a certain level of service that may be available when in fact it is not.

When do you need to file a plan or itinerary?

CAR 602.73(2) lets us know:

(2) No pilot-in-command shall operate an aircraft in VFR flight unless a VFR flight plan or a VFR flight itinerary has been filed, except where the flight is conducted within 25 nautical miles of the departure aerodrome.

There may be that rare case (bonus points if you can tell me when this would apply) where you may be flying from a Canadian airport to a US one, where the distance is less than 25nm. CAR 602.73(4) covers this:

(4) Notwithstanding anything in this Division, no pilot-in-command shall, unless a flight plan has been filed, operate an aircraft between Canada and a foreign state.

If you are doing circuits or airwork, sightseeing, etc.. near your airport, you do not need to file a plan or itinerary unless you will be leaving that 25nm boundary.

Although I cant seem to find it in the CARs, I'm pretty sure you need to file a flight plan if you are entering an ADIZ.

So you've determined that you need to file a plan or itinerary. So which one do you use?

The main difference between a flight plan and itinerary is where the responsibility is for letting the authorities know when you are missing or overdue.

A flight itinerary gives you the option of "filing" the plan with a responsible person. This person should be someone you trust to notify the authorities if you have not arrived at your destination.

A flight itinerary does not preclude you to do proper flight planning. You still need to provide them with your planned route of travel, speeds, altitudes, ETA, etc...

It is important to note that unlike with a flight plan, search and rescue is not automatically initiated by NavCanada if you are over due. The responsible person must contact the proper authorities to initiate SAR.

I would suggest that you give clear instructions to your responsible person on when and how to contact the authorities to initiate search and rescue. You can't expect your responsible person to understand how to read a flight itinerary form. Something similar might work well:

If I don't arrive at Anypoint Airport by 12:00pm, please contact the RCMP at: xxx-xxxx.

CAR 602.79 outlines what the responsible person must due when an aircraft is overdue.

Another big difference between flight plans and itineraries can be illustrated by the following scenario:

Lets say you've filed a flight itinerary with your responsible person. It outlines that you will arrive at your destination at 13:00. You depart on time and head towards your destination. About half way there, you notice that your engine is running a little rough. You decide to divert to the closest airport. This airport would take you 30nm north of your course. During your diversion, your engine quits and you are forced to land 2nm short of the airport.

Your responsible person calls the authorities at 14:00 because you are over an hour late. SAR is launched and they are looking for you along your planned route. Nobody was made aware that you diverted to another airport.

Granted, I'm sure you could tell FSS that you are diverting, but they know nothing of your itinerary because it was filed with someone else.

Flight plans on the other hand contain the same information as a flight itinerary. The difference is that the "responsible person" is now NavCanada. They will automatically notify the authorities when you are overdue.

Do you use a flight itinerary? If so, why? Personally I don't see why I wouldn't file a plan 100% of the time.

Mr. Buckley from CASARA had this to add:

Assuming ATC, FSS, CARS or JRCC is notified you are overdue (as above), the first thing they will do is a communications search, which will include looking for contacts from the aircraft in question to ATC, FSS, CARSs etc. So notifying FSS about a diversion when on a Flight Itinerary is every bit as good, useful and recommended as when on a Flight Plan. In fact giving regular position updates to FSS when possible is a very good idea as each position report removes a good chunk of the country behind you from the area that needs to be searched in the event the worst happens.

Comments (3) | Permalink | Category: Ground School

Friday, October 31, 2008 - 13:14:25 ET

The CRFI, Part 2

Let's take a look at an example METAR with CRFI data in it:

CYFB CRFI 17/35 -22 .34 0201190630

In order, the block of data contains:

• Airport/Station Ident
• CRFI Indicator
• Runway
• Temperature
• CRFI value
• Date/Time reading was taken

So the CRFI for runway 17/35 is 0.34. We can use this value now to figure out how much extra runway we may need on landing. Let's take a look at Table 1 in the AIM, Section AIR 1.6.6. You can also find the CRFI charts in the CFS.

If your performance calculations indicate that you will need 2000 feet of runway to land, with a CRFI of 0.34, you will in fact need 4170 feet. We used table one because the type of aircraft we're flying does not have discing or thrust reversers. One thing to note. These distances assume that you're wheels do not lock/skid when you apply brakes.

It is important to do all your performance calculations first, then use the table to find out the extra distance needed due to the CRFI. It's not recommended that you extrapolate the data in the tables either. You should also round down to the nearest CRFI value.

Table three allows you to figure out your maximum allowable crosswind. It's your standard cross-wind chart/calculator with the addition of CFRI values along the top and bottom. Looking at the chart, you can see that the maximum allowable crosswind for a CRFI of 0.34 is approx 12knots. At that speed and above, you may be unable to stay on the runway as the wind will blow your aircraft off to the side as there is insufficient friction on the runway to keep you in place.

In my next post, I am going to talk another winter tool that complements the CRFI. It's the runway surface condition report! Stay Tuned.

Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Training

Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 13:39:11 ET

The CRFI

Back in January of 2007, I breifly talked about the Canadian Runway Friction Index (CRFI). With the recent winter-like weather in Southern Ontario I figured this would be a good time to go into more detail.

Most progression in aviation safety is usually prompted by a previous accident or incident. The creation of the CRFI was no exception. A Fokker F-28 slid off the end of the runway at Dryden in March 1989, killing 24 of the 69 persons on board. An inquiry was created and the Dryden Commission stressed the need to come up with a way to measure and apply corrective measures for differing runway surface conditions.

Transport Canada teamed up with NASA (along with French and Norwegian authorities) to come up with a way to measure runway conditions. The study was started in 1996 and it's aim was the following:

• to study methods of friction measurement and define an International Runway Friction Index (IRFI) for worldwide use;
  
• to establish an international methodology whereby a common indication of runway conditions can be established worldwide; and
  
• to study the operational performance of aircraft on contaminated surfaces and establish a relationship with the harmonized index (IRFI).
  

Tests were performed in North Bay, Ontario, Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Oslo Gardermoen Airport, Munich and at Erding Airbase. Tests were also conducted at Prague Airport in the Czech Republic and at the New Chitose Airport, hosted by the Japanese civil aviation authority.

A database was developed and made available that contains test data from over 38,500 runs with 44 devices of 14 different makes. Test surfaces include at least six different ice conditions, packed snow, loose snow from .25 mm to 100 mm, and over 30 wet and dry surfaces. Test temperatures range from -25°C to +10°C.

In the end, two standards were created.. The CRFI as well as an international version called IRFI.

A survey in 2001 was released to over 3,000 airline transport pilots requesting their input on how they use the CRFI. Here are some of the findings:

• In winter 2000-01 about half the pilots reported either remaining airborne until runway friction improved or diverting to another airport.
  
• Reductions in weight prior to take-off or while en route were far less common.
  
• Friction values need to be updated more frequently, particularly at small airports, and steps taken to ensure readings are current and have been updated when significant changes in conditions occur.
  
• Over 20% of pilots of large jet aircraft had not received any formal training on the use of runway friction information, and only half had received training in the previous 12 months
  
• For landings on runways that are icy or covered with compacted snow, most pilots apply a 15% increase in landing distances, which is a requirement for many aircraft on wet runways.
  

Even for light aircraft, the CRFI is still an important part of your flight planning. One thing I've noticed, especially at Buttonville, is the lack of updates to the reported CRFI. In my experience the CRFI has only been updated once, during the morning, and that's it. I'm glad they do it anyways.

Tomorrow I will talk about how to apply the CRFI to your flight planning. How to use the available graphs as well as how to calculate any increase in take-off and landing distances. Stay Tuned.

References: http://www.tc.gc.ca/TDC/publication/tp13361e/13361e.htm

Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Training