FAA Safety Briefing
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
November/DecemberMarch/April 2020 2019 8 19 Federal Aviation WhatA Very is Long WTIC? Title for One of the Feature TitleOperation of One ICICLEFeature Administration 10MakingStories Weather Could Possibly Technology Go in and this Space 16NewStory FAA Goes Program Here Tackles Information in the Cockpit Work for You Aircraft Icing ABOUT THIS ISSUE ... U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration ISSN: 1057-9648 FAA Safety Briefing March/April 2020 Volume 60/Number 2 The March/April 2020 issue of FAA Safety Briefing focuses on the variety of tools and technology aviators Elaine L. Chao Secretary of Transportation can use to avoid and/or safely mitigate what we’ve Steve Dickson Administrator dubbed as UMC, or Unfriendly Meteorological Condi- Ali Bahrami Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety tions. Feature articles cover some of the FAA’s weather Rick Domingo Executive Director, Flight Standards Service research work and programs, including more effective Susan K. Parson Editor ways to convey cockpit weather imagery, icing avoidance, Managing Editor Tom Hoffmann and the use of weather cameras. We also sit down with Associate Editor / Photo Editor James Williams the new FAA Administrator, Steve Dickson, to discuss his Jennifer Caron Copy Editor / Quality Assurance Lead take on general aviation safety. Paul Cianciolo Associate Editor / Social Media Alan Wallace Art Director Cover image courtesy of Garmin. Published six times a year, FAA Safety Briefing, formerly FAA Aviation News, promotes aviation safety by discussing current technical, regulatory, and procedural aspects affecting the safe Contact Information operation and maintenance of aircraft. Although based on current The magazine is available on the internet at: FAA policy and rule interpretations, all material is advisory or www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing informational in nature and should not be construed to have regulatory effect. Certain details of accidents described herein may Comments or questions should be directed to the staff by: have been altered to protect the privacy of those involved. • Emailing: [email protected] The FAA does not officially endorse any goods, services, materials, or • Writing: Editor, FAA Safety Briefing, Federal Aviation products of manufacturers that may be referred to in an article. All Administration, AFS-850, 800 Independence Avenue, SW, brands, product names, company names, trademarks, and service marks Washington, DC 20591 are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved. • Calling: (202) 267-1100 • @FAASafetyBrief The Office of Management and Budget has approved the use Tweeting: of public funds for printing FAA Safety Briefing. Subscription Information The Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office sells FAA Safety Briefing on subscription and mails up to four renewal notices. For New Orders: Subscribe via the internet at https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/faa-safety-briefing, telephone (202) 512-1800 or toll-free 1-866-512-1800, or use the self-mailer form in the center of this magazine and send to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9371. Subscription Problems/Change of Address: Send your mailing label with your comments/request to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Contact Center, Washington, DC 20408-9375. You can also call (202) 512-1800 or 1-866-512-1800 and ask for Customer Service, or fax your information to (202) 512-2104. DEPARTMENTS 2 Jumpseat: an executive policy perspective The FAA safety policy voice of non-commercial general aviation 3 ATIS: GA news and current events 5 Aeromedical Advisory: a checkup on all things aeromedical 6 Condition Inspection: a look at specific medical conditions 15 Checklist: FAA resources and safety reminders 34 Drone Debrief: drone safety roundup 36 Nuts, Bolts, and Electrons: 26 GA maintenance issues 37 Angle of Attack: GA safety strategies Straight From Steve Meet FAA Administrator Steve Dickson 38 Vertically Speaking: safety issues for rotorcraft pilots 39 Flight Forum: letters from the Safety Briefing mailbag 40 Postflight: an editor’s perspective Inside back cover FAA Faces: FAA employee profile What is WTIC? Making Weather Mind The Gap Understanding 8 Technology and Information in the 16 Latency Issues With In-Cockpit Cockpit Work for You Weather Imagery Will You Make Good Decisions About Bad Weather? The FAA’s Weather 10 19 Research Program Has Answers 19 Operation ICICLE New FAA Program Tackles Aircraft Icing 22 Omnipresence The Gift of Being and “Seeing” Elsewhere 28 ADAPTing to ADS-B How Non-Equipped Operators Can Request Access to ADS-B Rule Airspace 30 Roll of Honor 2019’s Master Pilot and Master Mechanic Award Winners March /April 2020 1 JUMPSEAT RICK DOMINGO, FLIGHT STANDARDS SERVICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HOW'S THE WEATHER? Everybody talks about the weather, but water contents) as well as non-icing nobody does anything about it. conditions (glaciated environments — Mark Twain and clear air). We’ll take a look at the FAA’s Heavy rain is falling as I write this weather camera program, which is column. Since I would strongly prefer wildly popular in Alaska. One of to be doing things outside, the late our most popular magazine alum- American humorist Mark Twain’s nae, Sabrina Woods, makes a return famous lament quickly comes to mind. appearance with her intriguingly titled If you are a VFR-only pilot, you may be “Mind the Gap” piece on … well, I’ll let especially in sync with these senti- you discover the subject as you read. ments. But even if you are instrument rated, it’s not possible (and certainly Weather Technology in the Cock- Meet the New Administrator not safe) to fly in all weather condi- pit (WTIC) program. As you will Last but definitely not least, we are tions. Conditions that are at or below learn, this NextGen weather research delighted to feature an interview with minimums can keep you grounded, endeavor is working on ways to the FAA’s new Administrator, Steve as can widespread convective activity ensure that cockpit and portable Dickson. Administrator Dickson or icing conditions. Those of us in weather displays convey critical has quickly become known around maintenance/airworthiness occupa- weather information more effec- the FAA for his weekly “Straight tions may sometimes have the benefit tively. The magazine team also takes from Steve” video messages, and he of a roof, but not always. In short, a look at how the WTIC program is received a great introduction to GA inclement weather can, and does, affect working with researchers at the FAA’s issues when he hosted a GA Safety anyone and everyone in aviation. William J. Hughes Technical Center, Roundtable late last year. Even with all of today’s whiz-bang the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical technology, there’s not a lot that we Institute (CAMI), and academia can do to stop rain, ice, turbulence, (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univer- or other conditions adverse to GA sity and the Partnership to Enhance THERE’S NOT A LOT THAT WE activity. But there is now an aston- General Aviation Safety, Accessibility, CAN DO TO STOP RAIN, ICE, ishing variety of tools and technolo- and Sustainability (PEGASAS)). gies that aviators can use to avoid or Winter may be waning, but aircraft TURBULENCE, OR OTHER work safely around a wide range of icing can occur at any time of year CONDITIONS ADVERSE TO UMC — “unfriendly meteorological if the conditions are right. Given conditions.” Thanks to the unstinting how dangerous inflight icing can be, GA ACTIVITY. BUT THERE IS work of weather researchers, tools another article covers a field program NOW AN ASTONISHING we can’t even imagine are already in called In-Cloud ICing and Large- the works. drop Experiment (ICICLE). ICICLE, VARIETY OF TOOLS AND which started in early 2019, saw TECHNOLOGIES THAT WTIC, ICICLE, and More the FAA working with the National With that backdrop in mind, and Research Council of Canada (NRC) AVIATORS CAN USE TO AVOID as the spring flying season gets GA and Environment and Climate airplanes and pilots moving again, Change Canada (ECCC). This team OR WORK SAFELY AROUND the FAA Safety Briefing team thought used research aircraft to compile UMC — “UNFRIENDLY it would be a great time for a fresh new, high-quality measurements look at some of these developments covering a broad spectrum of icing METEOROLOGICAL in weather awareness. We’ll start conditions (freezing drizzle, freezing CONDITIONS.” off with an overview of the FAA’s rain, “small drop” icing, high liquid 2 FAA Safety Briefing GA NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS ATIS AVIATION NEWS ROUNDUP New FAA Video Series Aims to • Public ADS-B Performance Report Reduce Runway Incursions (PAPR) information and purpose While high-profile runway safety (Section 4.3.2.5.6) incidents involving commercial (part • ADS-B performance requirements 121) aircraft make the headlines, during aerobatic flight (Section safety data shows that general avia- 4.3.2.6.2) tion (GA) pilots are involved in a vast • Inoperative ADS-B procedures majority of these events. One of the (Section 4.3.4.2) including a new common contributing factors to these section on the ADS-B Deviation pilot errors is a lack of awareness or Authorization Preflight Tool misunderstanding of local runway (ADAPT) (Section 4.3.5) and taxiway configurations. To help reduce the occurrence of • Flight planning and ICAO flight wrong surface incidents, runway incur- plan codes (Section 4.4) sions, and other high-risk events at U.S. • Privacy ICAO Address (PIA) pro- airports, the FAA has developed the gram (Section 4.4.5) “From the Flight Deck” YouTube video series that is targeted to GA audiences. • Call sign mismatch (Section 4.6.2) Each 4-5 minute video will focus on The AC also provides a helpful approach, landing, and taxi scenarios overview of the ADS-B system archi- at selected U.S.