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pursuit of these goals will be a big APR 2013 FROM THE PRESIDENT factor when the IRS evaluates our VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2 application for tax exempt status. We jeff edwards hope to become designated a 501c(3) organization later this year. Winter is past and This April, I accepted an invitation to spring is here! I just represent LOBO as a speaker and got out of the participant in the NTSB’s General in this issue basement after Aviation Listening Session at NTSB tornado sirens HQ. I advised NTSB leadership on ways sounded here in to improve EA-B aircraft accident from the president St. Louis multiple investigations. Specifically, I offered 1 times tonight. Are the NTSB the expertise and knowledge you ready for the challenges of spring of LOBO’s membership as a resource safety brief flying? Convective activity, higher for investigating Lancair accidents. 2 density altitudes and windy conditions In the five years since LOBO’s inception make for interesting flying. Get ready we have gained 353 members against social occasions now for the spring flying season with a about 1000 flying aircraft. Since then 5 recurrent training session. Click here to there have been 45 serious reported contact a LOBO-approved instructor in accidents, only three of which involved your area! loss of power LOBO members. That tells me you are 8 all doing a great job of managing risks WHAT’S NEW? and safely flying your Lancairs, keep it up! emergency landing! Your LOBO board has been busy! 13 Here’s some of what they’re up to. SHARING THE WEALTH LOBO is on the march making great progress towards achieving our goal of Two nights ago I was invited to speak 501c(3) tax exempt status. What does at EAA chapter 429 in Jefferson City. I 501c(3) mean for you? Achieving fired up the Lancair and flew 20 501c(3) status would vali- date LOBO’s commitment to the goals of improving flight safety and educat- ing our mem- bership, as well as others editor: mark sletten in the Lancair and wider GA LOBO communities. 3127 creve couer mill rd, h-n5 saint louis, missouri 63146 LOBO’s PHOTO BY MARK LEET COURTESY OF LANCAIR www.lancairowners.com Apr 2013 minutes to KJEF where I was met by fellowship and fun. If you are planning chapter members who oohed and to fly in to Wittman Regional Airport to SAFETY BRIEF ahhed over the Lancair’s sleek lines. attend Airventure please review the NOTAM. If you’ve never flown to jeff edwards After some pizza and a bit of friendly Airventure before consider reaching conversation I spent a couple of hours out to those that have for some “been DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T talking about our type club. I focused there, done that” advice. In addition to on what LOBO is doing to address KNOW? our annual Oshkosh banquet, LOBO safety concerns and how they, as will host a Lancair forum—so stop by If you fly behind glass, do you know fellow experimental amateur builders and participate. Also, don’t forget your what you don’t know? Do you know and fliers, can take steps to reduce tiedowns! how to program a flight plan, add a their flying risks. As an aside, on the waypoint, activate an RNAV approach way home I logged a few night Planning continues for this year’s on the GPS navigator or transition the landings. Have you looked in your annual LOBO/Lancair Landing, slated autopilot from enroute to approach logbook lately to check your currency to be held at Greenville, SC in October. mode? Are you an expert with all the status? Be sure to read Claudette Colwell’s bells and whistles of the glass cockpit article later in this edition of LOBO or are you a “direct to” flier? Have you UPCOMING EVENTS News for more information about both read the flight manual supplement for Oshkosh and this year’s Landing. If I your cockpit instrumentation, availed LOBO is working hard to make a great know Claudette, she has a terrific yourself of John and Martha’s Avidyne showing at this year’s Airventure. lineup planned to entertain and or Garmin course or just winged it? Please join us there for an evening of educate us all! Volume 5 Issue 2 Apr 2013 airspace system utilizing glass cockpit LACK OF PROFICIENCY KILLS technology. In other words, I believe responsibility for pilot proficiency lies On March 26, 2005, a turbine single with the pilot in command. What do aircraft flying from Florida to Penn you think? State crashed while flying the ILS approach to University Park, PA. Radar OBSTACLES TO PROFICIENCY data suggests the aircraft was flown by the autopilot during the nearly four One big factor working against pilot hour trip. While being vectored to final, proficiency today is high cost. Most ATC instructed the pilot to maintain directly, high fuel costs mean fewer 4000 feet MSL until established on the flight hours. AOPA’s recent pilot approach. The pilot leveled off at 4000 survey indicates pilots are averaging feet MSL, but failed to begin a descent only 5 hours/month or about 60 at glideslope capture and quickly hours/year. Is this enough for pilots to exceeded the upper vertical limit of the stay instrument proficient? Research glideslope. Passing the outer marker, suggests it’s not when you consider PENUE, the aircraft began a rapid the average instrument pilot logs 10 descent as the pilot apparently percent or less of their total as actual attempted to get back on the instrument time. Research also glideslope—a classic unstable indicates that overuse of the autopilot approach. is linked to a decline in hand flying Analysis of radar data indicates the instrument skills. Ms. Susan Parson, pilot was flying below the writing in the FAA’s Safety Briefing recommended approach speed and says that, “instrument flying skills— close to the aircraft’s stall speed. It like any other skill—are perishable.” appears the pilot eventually What are your obstacles to abandoned his attempt to capture the proficiency? Identifying them is the glideslope, and pitched up without a first step to eliminating them. commensurate application of power. The result was a stall and subsequent The 2010 NTSB Safety Study, Introduction of Glass Cockpit Avionics into Light Aircraft, concluded, “[T]he introduction of glass cockpit PFDs has not yet resulted in the anticipated improvement in safety when compared to similar aircraft with conventional instruments. Advanced avionics and electronic displays can increase the safety potential of general aviation aircraft operations by providing pilots with more operational and safety- related information and functionality, but more effort is needed to ensure that pilots are prepared to realize that potential.” (Emphasis added.) At the heart of this argument is a question: Who is responsible for pilot proficiency? The study suggests the FAA and manufacturers are. I believe that pilots should place more effort on their own preparation to ensure they are prepared to fly in the national Volume 5 Issue 2 Apr 2013 crash. transmission on the ATC recording the pilot said, On November 13, 2008 an “…seven golf mike’s gotta instrument-rated private go...” pilot and his wife in a “new to him” piston single According to data crashed while on approach downloaded from the GPS, to Tallahassee, FL. Night airspeed during this final IMC conditions prevailed, segment fell below 65 with a 400 foot broken miles per hour. The aircraft ceiling and 10 miles stalled and crashed in the visibility. The pilot front yard of private purchased the aircraft just residence. a month before the During a post-accident accident, and had logged a established on the localizer. Radar and interview, the accident pilot’s CFI said total of eight flights, four with an GPS data shows the aircraft he’d counseled the pilot not to fly instructor. The accident flight was the intercepting the localizer, but the pilot instrument approaches without a CFI. second leg of a cross country failed to descend to the glideslope The aircraft manufacturer recommends originating in upstate NY. intercept altitude of 1800’ MSL. Near at least 100 hours of time in type Radar and onboard data indicate the the final approach fix (GACED) the before instrument or night flight. The autopilot was engaged for the majority aircraft deviated north of the course, pilot had logged 17 hours of flight time of the trip. flying a serpentine flight path while in the aircraft—with one hour at night. descending. ATC issued a vector of 240 The aircraft was equipped primarily What is the root cause of these to rejoin the localizer, which the pilot with steam gauges, but included a acknowledge-ed. The aircraft initially accidents? In a word, proficiency—or Sandel HSI and Avidyne moving map lack of it. turned to the directed heading, but display. Additionally the pilot used a again deviated north while continuing The piston pilot had acquired his handheld Garmin 496 GPS, from which to descend. Despite being aircraft only a month prior to crashing the NTSB was able to download data approximately one mile north of the it. He had logged only six night IMC and reconstruct the accident flight path final approach course, with the HSI approaches in his flying career—most The pilot requested and received likely indicating full-scale CDI at his home airport. Additionally, the clearance for the ILS 27 approach. ATC deflection, the pilot continued the accident investigation revealed the provided vectors to final and directed approach, eventually descending pilot had not complied with an the pilot to maintain 2000’ MSL until below 400 feet MSL.

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