Lack of Airmanship

[Ross]

I was working on the J160 in the garage at home during and after the issue of the new ERSA with the radio set to scan a number of frequencies including Melbourne Centre.

 

It was interesting that I partially heard at least one case of where an aircraft was temporarily possibly out of touch from a controller or another aircraft because they may not have been using the new area frequencies published in ERSA on 22nd November.

 

I did not note either the frequency or aircraft call sign component of the message.

 

Regards

 

 

[Guest browng]

In view of the subject of this thread I have linked from here to a post I have just made in 'News', it is directly relevant to this discussion.

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/showthread.php?p=31567#post31567

 

 

[Guest osprey5]

Genuine mistakes happen once in a blue moon, whereas mistakes due to poor airmanship happen more often and its these offenders that need be put right by highlighting their errors.

 

We don’t want to start a black book of Bad Pilots but if someone is consistently stuffing it up for others and they’re not heeding friendly advice then CFI’s have to threaten failure of bi-annual tests.

 

You don’t reckon more Ute drivers are taking up flying do you??

 

Flyer does have a point that if the authorities get wind of issues within the rec flying fraternity they will step in to regulate us further. Having said that it’s still valid to express issues to bring it to the ‘flying’ public attention to help resolve issues ourselves rather than keep quiet and let these known issues continue until it ends in disaster.

 

We learn from our own mistakes and the mistakes of others which are expressed within these forums. Better to learn from others than experience it ourselves.

 

Well Ultralights, put some teeth on that Vampire and fit machine guns – they’ll either hear you or feel you.

 

Though to be serious I do accept any cutting up or other misdemeanours as inadvertent mistakes until it’s repeated. Thankfully I haven’t experienced it yet.

 

Mike H

 

 

[Ben Longden]

I always hear Tristos voice when Im in the cockpit... keep your eyes outside, and look. Thats what he would say, and learning to look properly is a skill in itself.

 

Hearing today of the mid-air in Victorias south, where the the Avid 992 ultralight and the Cessna 172 were coming in to land reminded me starkly of the day at Shepp where Tristo and I were nearly run over by a student on a solo navex in a brand new 172.

 

We were turning base, and I was in front, when a second after I made the radio call, the Cessna guy did... Tristo looked over his shoulder and said he swore he could see the cooling fins on the engine... I firewalled the throttle and got out of there.

 

"It appears the Cessna has hit the ultralight while both were attempting to land and the Cessna came in on top of the aircraft during the final approach,"

 

I wont comment on this case at Morwell, but in my case the cessna driver, a chinese student with naff all english skills was not keeping his eyes out of the cockpit to SEE and AVOID.

 

Ben

 

(Quotation source; Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesman Peter Gibson. From Nine News on the Morwell incident)

 

 

[Mazda]

Osprey if you really think that mistakes happen once in a blue moon I'd suggest reading the ATSB weekly summaries (on their website). Every single page is littered with those "once in a blue moon" mistakes. I'm not just talking about recreational pilots or private pilots either. There are plenty of mistakes by two pilot airline crews too.

 

Everyone makes mistakes. Even if you only get a frequency wrong once, that might be the one and only time you really need to talk to someone.

 

What can we do to get Unicoms operating?

 

 

[Yenn]

What use is compulsory radio. Where I fly from we use 126.7 CTAF, but we are adjacent to Gladstone CTAF® 118.8 and the area frequency is 119.55.

 

What should I tune to to have full situational awareness.

 

Legally I have to use 126.7, but I will not hear the RPT coming over the top who will be changing from 119.55 to 118.8.

 

Most of the planes departing Gladstone in my direction will not be tuned to 126.7 when they pass by, and a lot of them are within 5 miles, transiting along the coast at any height, not necessarily a quadrantal level as they are doing a scenic trip.

 

There is a lot of bad radio procedures heard on the CTAF frequencies, anything to missed start of message to what sounds like a novel being read, and if we all used all the legally required calls the airwaves would be clogged.

 

My opinion is use everything you can and rely on nothing.

 

 

[Ultralights]

seams to me a bit more emphasis on airmanship and traffic avoidance is required in training, and made a major point in the BFR

 

 

[facthunter]

Reasonable.

 

Who could argue with that, Ultralights. Nev...

 

 

[vk3auu]

You can't beat the old Mk 1 eyeball.

 

You don't really need a unicom, somebody will have to pay for the operator and that will ultimately be all of us, but you at least need an AFRU so that you can get an acknowledgement that you are on the right frequency.

 

Another useful trick when you are flying in the circuit and not too high is to look at the ground and see where your shadow is. If there is another aircraft about to hit you from behind and you can't see it, you sure as hell will see the shadow converging.

 

David

 

 

[Yenn]

Recently the only shadows here have been of the clouds, but the rain was great, we may even have to mow the strip this year. It only needed mowing 3 times last year, but has had one mowing since the start of the wet this year.

 

 

[Guest Cirrus]

Would not a strobe light, say, on approach, work as a visual aid? Don't all VH reg aircraft have anti-collision lights? Just wondering.

 

 

[facthunter]

Visibility

 

Cirrus, everything helps. Landing lights are on below 10,000 ft in CONTROLLED airspace or in conditions considered necessary by the pilot. They are a help in our environment as well. Nev..

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Landing lights in all controlled airspace for commercial/rpt ops. It's in the flightcrews checklists. If you see an commercial/rpt aircraft climbing out of an aerodrome and then his lights go off sometime later, chances are he has reached 10,000ft.

 

 

[Guest Cirrus]

My thought is, surely having a strobe light on an Ultralight/LSA would make it stand out against the local environment near an aerodrome?

 

We've just lost another Ultralight pilot to a mid-air collision .. it drives me nuts that we still lose people this way! It's almost like they are the motorbikes of the air and folks in GA 'vehicles' don't see 'em!!

 

What we need are bloody loud truck air-horns, strobe lights and day-glow colours just like those poor buggers that drive trucks, forced to wear yellow day-glow shirts! ;)

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

IIRC the US Military did extensive testing of anti-collision lights of several types using camouflaged a/c.

 

As I recall they concluded that in daylight strobes and other bright lights had little effect at allowing spotters to see the aircraft sooner.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

[Flyer]

What we need are bloody loud truck air-horns, strobe lights and day-glow colours just like those poor buggers that drive trucks, forced to wear yellow day-glow shirts! ;)

I couldn't agree more Cirrus.

 

The problem I've found is that when an aircraft is below you height wise they are damn difficult to see. They seem to blend into the scenery so well, strobe lights or no strobe lights.

 

teaching people HOW to do an EFFECTIVE scan of the area may help as well. ( should take about 8 to 10 seconds to scan the area properly)

 

I see plenty of people swinging their heads around but it happens so fast that you dont have time to focus and actually see anything....

 

Regards

 

Phil

 

 

[Guest Cirrus]

OK how about this?

 

With all the companies out there making radar detectors and radar detector detectors .. why not develop a small device that sends out and receives say a K, Ka, or X Band signal so when in close proximity to that device your detector will go nuts!

 

Wouldn't have to be any bigger than current (banned) radar detectors. Might as well use these devices for something since they're banned on the road, even though statistics proved over and over again that drivers who (used too) use them were much safer on the road then those who didn't! But I digress. :)

 

 

[Guest High Plains Drifter]

Interesting article in the Brisbane Courier Mail news paper the other day.

 

An Australian university study was done of how a cars colour increased the risk of having an accident - appears there is a far higher risk of having a prang with another car if you drive a darker coloured car.

 

HPD

 

 

[Guest browng]

..........As I recall they concluded that in daylight strobes and other bright lights had little effect at allowing spotters to see the aircraft sooner.Regards

 

Mike

Yes, I read about that study in one of the aviation magazines, but I still reckon that in the circuit a strobe or landing lights would aid visibility, particularly landing lights on aircraft doing straight-in approaches to un-towered airfields where people are not used to them, and don't necessarily scan for aircraft on a long final.

 

 

[Guest brentc]

I've personally never seen an aircraft strobe light prior to seeing the aircraft fuselage in flight! I have however seen landing lights when aircraft are on final. I have full strobes and NAV lights, however I do question their value for day ops.

 

 

[facthunter]

Visibility.

 

Yeah, on a bright day they don't help that much. Like motorbike lights when the sun is behind the bike. Bright days are when you should have the best chance of seeing them anyhow. I don't believe they are ever a negative in our environment, however... Nev..

 

 

[Flyer]

Yeah, on a bright day they don't help that much. Like motorbike lights when the sun is behind the bike. Nev..

Let's not start on the beaurocratic that goes with motorcycle headlights and daytime riding..... We campaigned hard against that and I am still forced to ride with a light on and no way to turn it off.....

 

guvernments..too stupid for their own good and we compulsorily get to vote the :censored:heads in...

 

End of rant......:;)6:

 

Maybe while on final with the sun behind you turning OFF the landing light may help silhouette you to the background...;)

 

Regards

 

Phil

 

 

[peter]

An Australian university study was done of how a cars colour increased the risk of having an accident - appears there is a far higher risk of having a prang with another car if you drive a darker coloured car.

 

Thanks for the above quote HPD

 

I have changed my plane from white to bright red on the gut feeling that it would be more visible -- watching Chris Sperou in action gave me the idea -- his plane was so easy to see from below, but of course I have no idea how visible from above looking down -- does anyone else find bright yellow planes easier to find? I do.

 

 

[Guest browng]

-- does anyone else find bright yellow planes easier to find? I do.

I have been told that my bright yellow Cub is easy to see from above, but not necessarily so from below, where it only takes a bit of sun to turn any colour into a silhouette. I recall that until the 1960's The USAF, RAF, and RAAF all painted their trainers yellow, in fact the RAAF and RAF colour was called 'Trainer Yellow'. They all then changed to Silver and Dayglo Orange, and now I don't know what they use, or even if there is any common theme at all.

 

 

[youngmic]

G'day Cirrus,

 

VH reg. aircraft are not required to be fitted with anti collision lights except except in certain circumstances, eg. night and IMC and higher capacity ops.

 

In day VMC as stated previously not much use, bit like an ashtray on a motorcycle. Landing lights are good though.

 

As for a radar detector device, yes they exist (PCAS) and from a user perspective look and work almost identical to radar detectors, about the same price to, but just like their automotive equivalent require an interrogated signal to work.

 

If you were closing on another aircraft with mode C in use and being interrogated by radar, be it ground or airborne (TCAS) then it will alert you.

 

Many will argue that this device requires head in the cockpit, and as such can be a hindrance to proper visual separation. Be skeptical, try asking them how many hours of experience they have on these systems.

 

I have just started using one in both commercial and private ops. Within its limitations it works well but is not to be considered a panacea. To date I have beaten it every time with my eyes when set to close range mode. But early days yet I'm sure one day it will beat me.

 

Regards

 

Mick