Volume 8, Number 5, September 11, 2015 INSUFFICIENT MARGINS

Volume 8, Number 5, September 11, 2015

INSUFFICIENT MARGINS: THE AIR SHOW INDUSTRY’S MOST COMMON AND MOST AVOIDABLE KILLER

In June of 1997, Jack Rosamond was killed while performing a reverse half Cuban eight in an F-86 Sabre at Air Show Colorado in Bloomfield, Colorado when he impacted the ground in a nose-low attitude.

In May of 1998, Miles Merritt was killed while performing a tumbling maneuver in his Sukhoi Su-29 at an air show in Manassas, Virginia; he finished the maneuver without enough altitude to recover and “pancaked” into the ground.

Air Force Major Brison Phillips was performing a repositioning Split S maneuver in an F-16 at an air show in Kingsville, Texas in March of 2000 when he hit the ground and was killed on impact.

Jim LeRoy was performing multiple snap rolls on a downline at the Dayton Air Show in July, 2007 when his aircraft impacted the ground in a flat attitude; he was killed on impact.

Bryan Jensen was flying at an air show in Kansas City in the summer of 2011 when he failed to recover from a tumbling maneuver in his Pitts Model 12 biplane. He was killed when the aircraft hit the ground in a nose down attitude.

Rookie and veteran. Propeller and jet. Military and civilian. Failure to build sufficient margins into individual maneuvers has been the most common contributing factor in fatal air show accidents for the entire 100-year history of air shows. We have listed five here. If space allowed, we could list another 55.

And the opposite is true. The most professional air show pilots…the performers that everybody agrees are least likely to be involved in an accident are those that have built margins into every element of their air show performances.

And those margins do not lessen the entertainment value of the pilots’ performances AT ALL. In fact, other than a very small number of his fellow performers, nobody at the air show will even know that the pilot has built these margins into his sequence.

The concept is as simple as it is effective. Build some slop into the design of your sequence. Give yourself some extra altitude or additional speed or available G in every maneuver in your sequence so that, if things don’t go precisely as you practiced, you’ll have some margin for error.

A pilot – even a great pilot – who does not build these margins into his sequence will eventually find that he needs them. And built-in margins will address a multitude of mistakes by an inexperienced pilot or a pilot who briefly loses focus or a pilot who has not practiced as much as he would like or a pilot that experiences some kind of unanticipated in-cockpit emergency that might otherwise have proven fatal.

For the air show performer working to identify hazards and mitigate risk, this is a no-brainer. With some very small modifications to your maneuver sequence and a bit more discipline during your performance, you can significantly reduce the risk of flying low level aerobatics in the air show environment.

BEWARE OF ENERGY DISSIPATING MANEUVERS ON THE DOWNLINE

Sadly, the history of air shows is awash with stories in which energy-dissipating maneuvers on the downline were determined to be a contributing factor in a fatal accident. But, as common as these types of accidents have been, they are also among the easiest to avoid.

The problem typically occurs when the pilot performs one too many energy-losing maneuvers on the downline, leaving the aircraft without sufficient energy to recover due to positioning on either the front side or back side of the aircraft’s cornering velocity. If this happens, the aircraft may become either aerodynamically limited or g limited which, in turn, denies the pilot minimum turn radius, sometimes with tragic results. The mathematics and physics of this issue differ from aircraft to aircraft and from air show venue to air show venue. Density altitude and weather conditions can also play a critical role. So, an exhaustive explanation with a consideration of all the different variables is not possible here. But what is possible is to move this issue to top of mind awareness for all air show pilots.

Consideration of any maneuvers that unnecessarily lose potentially lifesaving energy should be looked at very carefully. Can you be as entertaining to the audience with two snap rolls instead of three? Would you provide yourself with additional margins by changing your targeted recovery altitude from 250 feet to 500 feet? If your current sequence includes five energy dissipating maneuvers on the downline, can you simply reduce that from five to four and address any potential problems in that way? If you are performing and unexpectedly find yourself behind on energy, can you build in places where you can make up that energy loss without interrupting your sequence?

The common denominator on all of these issues is cornering velocity. Every pilot performing in the low- level aerobatic environment must have an intimate understanding of corner velocity and its ramifications relating to low altitude downline recovery. It is possible to be both too fast and too slow for ideal corning speed, but the most common problems come when aircraft are going too slow. If you dissipate energy on downline maneuvers to the point where you no longer have access to best possible cornering speed without building up some of the speed that you just deliberately lost, then you may be eliminating margins, reducing your options and putting yourself at unnecessary risk.

Perhaps more to the point, if you find that you are at a place during a performance where you are trying to find additional speed to achieve optimal cornering speed, then you have already lost the best opportunity. You should find those spots in the comfort of your hangar or living room and build opportunities to retain speed into your sequence so that you will never find yourself wishing you had that additional speed, but with no good way to get it.

ICAS RELEASES DRAFT AIR BOSS RECOMMENDATION PROGRAM FOR COMMENT

For nearly two years, a variety of ICAS members and staff have been working on a new program designed to standardize and document the training, experience and expertise of individuals who serve as air bosses at air shows in the United States.

Long discussed, this initiative gained traction and urgency following a January, 2012 public hearing at which the National Transportation Safety Board -- though generally complimentary of air show safety initiatives – specifically criticized the lack of standardization and training among air show air bosses. Both before and after that hearing, FAA representatives told air show industry leaders that, if the air show community did not develop its own program, the FAA would develop one for industry. And, just about three years ago, representatives from the U.S. military asked that ICAS develop a program that would allow them to be more confident about the training, experience and expertise of the air bosses working shows to which U.S. military assets have been deployed.

After seven different drafts and hundreds of different comments, the effort to develop a sensible air boss accreditation program has been captured in the attached document. Not less than two dozen different air show professionals have already seen at least one earlier draft. But, with this version, we are greatly expanding the distribution and – once again – encouraging members to provide comments that will help improve the document and the program.

We are circulating this draft as part of an effort to get input and integrate those suggestions, ideas and critiques into subsequent versions of this document. Although we hope that you’ll recognize that this has been a good faith effort to develop a workable program that is not overly burdensome on any individuals or constituencies, we want to hear whatever you have to say, whatever your perspective. Particularly at this point, it is only with input from the members that we can adjust the program and make improvements to it.

Air bosses and air bossing have been virtually unregulated and, to a certain extent, undefined to this point. One way or another, that situation is going to change in the near future. You can help us create this new program and we look forward to getting your feedback by September 30th, 2015. You can download the draft here. Send your feedback to Dan Hollowell, ICAS Director of Operations, at [email protected]

ICAS PUBLISHES PERFORMER DOCUMENTS

Over the past month, ICAS has published a pair of documents aimed at providing a wealth of information in a variety of formats for both rookies working to begin their careers as air show performers and veterans eager to improve and better understand their craft.

Copies of Air Show Performers Safety Manual and Voices of Experience: Air Show Veterans on Flying Low-Level Aerobatics have been sent to all holders of Statement of Aerobatic Competency (SAC) card holders, but -- to ensure a wider distribution of this information and because non-performer members might have an interest in this material -- ICAS is making these two documents available to all ICAS members.

They are both intended to be organic documents that are revised, expanded and improved regularly. So, if you have suggestions for improvements, please don’t hesitate to pass them along for possible inclusion in the next revision of either document.