takeoff

Testing Tuesday: Wake Turbulence

20 May 2014 by Andrew Hartley Leave a Comment

It’s #TestingTuesday – prepare yourself and learn to fly smarter!

Wing Vortices

What wind condition prolongs the hazards of wake turbulence on a landing runway for the longest period of time?

Direct headwind.

Direct tailwind.

Light quartering tailwind.

Click here to display the answer…

The correct answer is “c” – Light quartering tailwind.

Wake turbulence tends to be strongest behind large, heavy aircraft, flying slow, such as landing or departing airliner. All aircraft create a wake, but smaller, lighter aircraft create very minimal, if any, lasting turbulence.

Wake turbulence is a direct effect of the creation of lift – the higher pressure air below the wing will find any way to move to the lower pressure area above the wing, and near the wingtips of any aircraft, this higher pressure air “curls” up and around the wingtip to get there. As it moves around the wingtip, the wingtip continues to move forward with the rest of the aircraft, and the “vortex” created continues to spin, creating a wake on both sides of the aircraft.

The wakes, in still air, tend to sink and move outward from the aircraft slowly, meaning they descend and get farther apart as time goes on. However, just as the wind affects flying aircraft, it also affects the wake created by an aircraft. Strong winds will tend to dissipate a wake, but light winds will simply move them.

So if an aircraft is taking off with a light crosswind, it is possible that, instead of a wake moving outward, away from a runway, the wind may move the upwind wake directly over the runway, meaning that the wake remains a hazard for longer than normal for any aircraft departing or landing on that runway after a heavy aircraft lands or departs ahead of them on that same runway.

Understanding this is critical, so that you can also understand how to avoid wake turbulence if you suspect it might be a factor.

If you are departing after a heavy aircraft departs, you should lift off before the departing aircraft lifted off (wake turbulence is not generated until lift is being generated, so until the plane in front of you has rotated (begun its liftoff), wake turbulence is not a factor). Once you have lifted off, you should also make a shallow bank and move upwind of the departing aircraft’s flight path. Doing this should keep you clear of any wake turbulence generated by the aircraft that departed ahead of you.

If you are landing after a large aircraft lands, you should stay above the large aircraft’s flight path while on the approach, and land after the point the large aircraft landed. Since wake turbulence “sinks,” remaining above the glide path of the large aircraft ahead of you, and landing beyond it’s touchdown point, will keep you above & ahead of any wake turbulence generated by that aircraft.

If you are taking off after a large aircraft has landed, you want to stay on the ground until you passed that aircraft’s landing point. So a rolling takeoff would be recommended here – take the runway and roll forward slowly, and possibly advance the throttle a little more slowly than you normally would, so that your takeoff roll is longer than usual. This will ensure that any wake turbulence you may encounter is while you are still on the ground. A little counter-intuitive, I know, but this is one situation where using more runway than necessary to takeoff is safer.

If you are landing after a large aircraft takes off, your goal is to land before the point where the large aircraft lifetd off the runway, so don’t float and don;t land long. Get on the ground as early as possible, safely.

And of course, you can always choose to wait a few minutes for the wake turbulence to dissipate before you takeoff or land… sometimes tower will make you wait before you depart “for wake turbulence.” And you can always request to do another circuit around the pattern if you are uncomfortable landing behind a large aircraft’s departure or arrival.

For more information on wake turbulence (and wake turbulence avoidance):

And watch this video about the topic from YouTube (there are lots of great YouTube videos about wake turbulence):

Andrew Hartley is a certificated flight instructor and commercial pilot in Columbus, Ohio.

ABOUT TESTING TUESDAY: Each Tuesday, Smart Flight Training will post a sample question that a pilot might expect to see on an FAA Knowledge Test or hear during the oral portion of a checkride. A little known secret to saving money and time during your flight training is PREPARATION! Hopefully Testing Tuesday post will be one small step in helping you live up to your side of learning to fly by being prepared when you meet with your flight instructor, saving you money and time! Good luck on the below question – click the link at the bottom to see the answer and explanation!

Solo – A Blogging in Formation Post

1 April 2014 by Andrew Hartley 11 Comments

What does it mean to solo?

14 CFR Part 61.51(d): …a pilot may log as solo flight time only that flight time when the pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft.

Like all of the Federal Aviation Regulations, the above is an incredbly dry statement. It defines when you may log solo flight, which is an important step to obtaining your pilot certificate.

There are lots of other regulations pertaining to solo, defining even further what solo flight means to the FAA, to your instructor, and to you:

61.51(e)(4)(ii) states that you must have a current solo flight endorsement (as laid out in part 61.87). Got that? Good.

61.51(i)(2) lays out what you must carry with you when you solo as a student pilot during cross-country flights: your logbook and your student pilot certificate/medical (and any other record required by that section of the regulations). Got them all? Fantastic.

61.87 lays out all the things you must do before solo to even be eligible to solo in the first place:

demonstrate satisfactory knowledge on a knowledge test given by your instructor
review any incorrect answers from the test
receive and log training in certain maneuvers
- surface operations including taxiing & runup
- normal & crosswind takeoffs and landings
- straight & level flight and turns in both directions
- climbs & climbing turns
- traffic pattern procedures, including entry & departure
- collision avoidance, windshear avoidance, and wake turbulance avoidance
- descents (turning & not turning) in high- and low-drag configurations
- flight at various airspeeds
- stall recognition, avoidance, and recovery
- emergency procedures
- ground reference maneuvers
- approaches to landing with simulated engine malfunctions
- slips to land
- go-arounds
You must have received an endorsement on your student pilot certificate to solo the specific make and model of your aircraft from your instructor
You must have received an endorsement in your logbook to solo from an instructor who has given you the above instruction within the last 90 days
etc. etc. and on and on – you have to know these regulations, as they define precisely what solo flight is and when you can legally perform solo flight.

And that is that, right? That’s what solo flight is – a flight by a person who meets all the above criteria and is the sole occupant of an aircraft during flight.

But does that truly answer the question of what it MEANS to solo?

Aviation has a knack for knocking the wind out of its participants with all the limitations and restrictions and constraints and conditions that the regulations lay out for everyone who wants to set foot in an airplane and leave the ground.

But there’s a reason, I think, that the word solo was chosen to be used for the first time a person flies sans instructor, and it is not simply because the dictionary defines it as “a thing done by one person unaccompanied, in particular;” which, of course, it is.

But solo also has a beautiful connotation in the arts – music and dance, in particular, where a dancer or musician or singer steps away from all the others who have been there alongside for that song, that concerto, that period, and – on their own – does something beautiful.

Unaccompanied.

Notice I have not said “alone.” A solo of a musician is not them alone, but is a piece of a larger composition. The solo stands out BECAUSE it is related to the rest of the dance or the song, not because it is separate from it. The solo artist takes courage from the other artists who have helped support her up until that point, and she steps out on her own but not alone to add her voice, her motion, her music to the overall piece.

All the months and years of practice shape the artist to be ready and able to make that step – and so it is as a pilot.

The hours you have studied and practiced with your instructor have led you to this point, where you get to step out – on your own but not alone – and take flight.

Unaccompanied.

And like the solo artist, you – the solo pilot – know the technical pieces (as the musician knows the fingering of his instrument or the dancer the placement of his limbs for balance, you know the power settings and sight picture of your instrument – the airplane). You play the throttle to get the hum of the engine you are familiar with, and set your pitch to get the perfect balance of airspeed and lift and hear the exact right tone of the wind over the wings.

You are an artist of the air, and while you know all the regulations that got you to this point, right now you are simply free, and flying, as it should be. The checklists run through your head, and the crosswind component for your runway is in your mind, and you’re thinking “red over white” as you slide down the glidepath on final approach, but your heart is beating faster than ever, and you can’t wipe the smile off your face, because this feeling is like nothing you’ve ever felt. The safety net is gone, and you’ve never been more nervous, or scared, or READY for anything in your life.

And maybe you miss a note, or place your foot wrong and slip a little, or forget a word. But that bounced landing was YOUR landing – and whether you believed your instructor when she said “That was all you” is immaterial now, because that WAS all you, and whether it was bounced or beautiful, it was YOUR landing and no one can take it away from you. Because your supporting artists are all down there, and you are up here, on your own.

Unaccompanied.

So I’ll leave you with this, Captain:

Aviation loves to boast about the individualistic nature of its participants. Solo makes it sound like you finally got away from everyone else and did this thing alone. But that is as far from true as it gets. You got here through the help of your instructor and other pilots who encouraged you, motivated you, and rooted for you (whether you knew it or not).

For all the independent, self-reliant, individualist image aviation puts out there, we really rely on one another, and want to see each other succeed. We are an incredibly helpful and supportive family, we aviators. You might be solo, but you’re never alone.

Just unaccompanied – sometimes.

This is a Blogging in Formation post. Check out the rest of the Formation Bloggers in this month’s series: “Solo.”

April 1:
Andrew Hartley – Smart Flight Training
Karlene Petitt – Flight to Success – Near Midair!
April 2:
Rob Burgon – Tally One
Chip Shanle – Project 7 Alpha
April 3:
Eric Auxier – Adventures of Cap’n Aux
Ron Rapp – House of Rapp
April 4:
Brent Owens – iFLYblog
Mark L Berry – marklberry.com/blog

If you like what you see, share us with your friends: #blogformation

12 Aviation Resolutions – A Blogging in Formation Post

1 January 2014 by Andrew Hartley 6 Comments

This is installment nine of the Blogging in Formation Series, a monthly series where six big-time aviation bloggers put their heads (and blogs) together and post about the same topic, each in their own special way.

Ah, New Year’s.

The time of year to suffer all the prediction posts about what will happen in the upcoming year. If you have been a follower of the Blogging in Formation series for any length of time, you are aware of my disdain for predictions.

So I’m not going to do one.

What I will do is suggest how you might choose your resolution(s) for 2014 – at least as they relate to aviation.

But first, let me give you my aviation resolutions for 2014:

Complete my CFII (by March?)
Blog more regularly (if it weren’t for Blogging in Formation, I wouldn’t have blogged at all the past few months)
Podcast more consistently

Now they are out there and public! That should be even more motivation for me to follow through on all of them in 2014.

But what about you?

If you are reading this post and following the Blogging in Formation series, you are either a pilot or you would like to be a pilot!

With that in mind, I’d like to suggest 12 aviation resolutions – 1 for each month of the year of 2014. You certainly don’t have to do all of these, but what a fun challenge that might be – to do one of these suggested resolutions each month in 2014 (just print this post and use it as a checklist – you’re familiar with checklists, yes?)! Or simply choose one of these if you are having trouble deciding on your own aviation resolution for 2014:

If you are not a pilot yet – START YOUR TRAINING!Go out to your closest airport and talk to an instructor about starting (or finishing) your flight training. Set a goal to get through solo, or to complete a Sport Pilot Certificate, or Recreational Pilot Certificate, or even go all the way through the Private Pilot Certificate!
If you are already a pilot – GET A NEW RATING!

Start working on that instrument rating, or a Seaplane Rating, or Multi-Engine, or Glider, or Rotorcraft – you get the idea!

Simply set more time aside to fly!Do your best to at least stay current. Get your Flight Review done if you need to, and go get an instructor and practice landings at least once every ninety days! Don’t fool yourself into thinking that this makes you proficient, but also take pride in being able to call yourself a “current pilot” – even if that is all you can manage!

The $100 Hamburger FlightThese days it might be a $250 hamburger, but the idea still stands. This resolution is one you could do twelve times throughout the year and still meet the spirit of the post. It might even help you meet resolution 2 if you do it consistently!

Fly a Different TypeIt’s quite possible that you flew one type of airplane while getting your certificate – most likely a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. Go out and fly a new kind of plane! If all your training was in a high-wing, go out with an instructor (or another pilot who is familiar with the plane) in a low-wing. Or a glider. Or a helicopter. Or a high-performance/complex something. Get creative! Have fun!

Take someone on their first flightThere is nothing quite like taking someone on their first airplane ride – whether they love it or they vomit on final approach (both of these have happened to me on intro flights) it is an experience that you both will remember! Imagine the impact we could have in getting people interested in aviation if every pilot took up one new-to-flying person per year!

Shoot an instrument approachEven if you don’t have an instrument rating, and even if you never plan on getting one, get with an instructor or another current and proficient instrument pilot and go shoot an approach. Breaking out of the grey and haze of the clouds and seeing an airport in front of you is nothing short of magic, and every pilot should experience this from the cockpit at least once in their career, even if the career is a hobby!

Give Back
Join the Civil Air Patrol and fly as a mission pilot on search and rescue missions. Volunteer as a pilot for Air Care Alliance and fly medical patients to badly needed treatments. Or save animals from being euthanized by volunteering for Pilots-N-Paws and flying animals to no-kill shelters or to their new homes. Or choose from many of the other aviation charities out there!

Fly in to a Fly-In Breakfast (or lunch or dinner or Saturday at Sporty’s for a free Hot Dog)
Check out Social Flight or Google “Fly-Ins in [your area]” to find an airport that has this kind of activity scheduled and go! This is a great way to use your certificate for something other than flying the pattern or flying circles around your (or your friend’s) house.

Fly to an unfamiliar airport
This one can be combined with several of the others, but keeping yourself sharp by planning a flight, navigating to a new place, and finding that new airport that you have never been to before is not only valuable and ego-boosting – it’s fun!

Take an actual vacation by airplane
For all the talk of the utility of the airplane, I don’t actually know very many people who have taken a plane to go on vacation once they have their pilots license and the ability to do so. So go take a long weekend with the family and fly somewhere you would not be able to go by car – whether that is simply a farther distance or a place that is difficult to get to by car, but not so difficult by airplane (I’m thinking backcountry out West)!

Fly into / out of a grass strip
For some, this may be how they fly every time they go up, but for many pilots doing a soft-field takeoff or landing is a maneuver they have to demonstrate to get their certificate, but they will only ever do it from a concrete strip. Go out and do it for real – with an instructor or an experienced pilot who is familiar with turf operations, of course!

Aerobatics or Upset Recovery Training
Take an aerobatic lesson or several. Complete an Upset Recovery Training course. Or just get an instructor and do some spin training! Any of these things will increase your comfort with the plane, will increase your skills and confidence as a pilot, and will make you safer. Not to mention they are a whole ton of fun!

So there you are! Take any or all of these suggested aviation resolutions and make a commitment to do them in 2014!

And let me add 1 more – read the other Blogging in Formation posts this month! We are trying out a new format: two bloggers a day, completing the series in three days instead of six. So go read Karlene’s post today too! Here’s this month’s schedule:

Jan. 1: Smart Flight Training – Andrew Hartley & Flight to Success – Karlene Petitt
Jan. 2: House of Rapp – Ron Rap & Adventures of Cap’n Aux – Eric Auxier
Jan. 3: iFlyBlog – Brent Owens & Mark L. Berry

Andrew Hartley is a certificated flight instructor and commercial pilot in Columbus, Ohio. He hopes his new year’s resolution to only say nice things about people isn’t misinterpreted as a vow of silence.