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Commercial pilots, with a little initiative, can make the skies “friendly” again. Today I want to outline a few techniques that I’ve learned along the way to make your passengers more at ease and maintain better crew relationships.

Don’t worry, they aren’t hard to do. They just require that you remain aware and practice them.

The Light Touch

Over the years, I noticed the dynamics of flight crews. I realized that when my crew members were affable, positive, and didn’t take things too seriously, the trips usually went better. I flew better, my first officer flew better, the flight attendant was happier, and the passengers, most importantly, were more content.

If the relationship was contentious from the beginning, well it was hard to get into the “grove” and make the trip “flow.”

One ingredient that always seemed to be present was a sense of humor. It always went easier when humor was involved and when we, as a crew, didn’t view our relationship with everyone around us as “us” against “them,” but rather “us” and “them,” a team. This combination of congeniality and wit helps make quick friends with customers, other employees, and colleagues. The unsaid theme of this humor is that the business you are doing is not all that serious but it is important.

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Today’s blog post was written by a fellow pilot, Pat Flannigan, who is a professional airline pilot, aviation blogger,  and certified flight instructor (CFI). Pat has many years of flying experience in his log book and writes the blog, www.AviationChatter.com. You really need to check it out.

Well the other day he asked if I would be willing to post an article he wrote on “The Hidden CRJ200 Altimeter and Airspeed Indicator.” It is a relevant article enlight of Air France 447 accident.

So here is Pat’s article. I hope you enjoy it!

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The Hidden CRJ200 Altimeter and Airspeed Indicators

by Pat Flannigan (AviationChatter.com)

All the speculation over Air France 447 and the probable pitot-static failure presents an interesting scenario. Suppose you have lost all pitot-static systems in the CRJ: you have no airspeed and no altitude indications. To make matters worse, the weather is standard simulator conditions: IMC down to minimums anywhere you go. The question is, how do you safely descend and land? In the CRJ, there is a way — albeit a bit unorthodox.

In this scenario, the first challenge to aircraft control comes with speed management – the very thing that may have brought down Air France 447. We can initially fly pitch and power, which ought to give a reasonable margin of safety. But there is another speed indication. The GPS on the CRJ provides groundspeed information, which isn’t terribly accurate but does provide a good ballpark figure for indicated airspeed.

Of course, we have to keep in mind the two dominant factors contributing to the difference between groundspeed and indicated airspeed: wind and altitude. Recall that groundspeed is true airspeed +/- tailwind/headwind component, and that true airspeed increases with altitude. As we descend, the groundspeed indication becomes increasingly accurate. And if the wind speed is known, we can even estimate our actual indicated airspeed with great precision – though I would suggest applying a generous margin of safety.

With airspeed under control, we need to determine our altitude. Believe it or not, the CRJ-200 does not indicate GPS altitude to the pilots, and ATC can’t help because the transponder simply broadcasts altitude from the busted left or right altimeters. The radar altimeter ought to work well, but only indicates height above terrain from 2,500 feet on down. But there is a hidden altimeter – and it’s staring you right in the face.

The CRJ features an overly complicated sounding unit called the cabin pressure acquisition module (CPAM), which is a fancy altimeter in the cabin. It provides some much needed information on EFIS Display 2 – particularly the cabin altitude and cabin pressure differential.

If the airplane were completely depressurized (with a cabin pressure differential of 0 (zero)), cabin altitude would equal pressure altitude. We have a working altimeter again! Of course, we have no idea how high we are, and it would be a bad thing to pop the EMER DEPRESS switchlight and blow up your passenger’s eardrums for no good reason.

I would suggest switching the cabin pressure controller (CPC) to manual, spinning the rate knob to minimum and manually climbing the cabin to a cabin altitude of about 10,000 feet or 0 (zero) delta p, whichever is first.

If you hit 0 (zero) delta p, then you can press the EMER DEPRESS without fear, using the cabin altitude readout as a makeshift altimeter. If not, then simply begin a controlled descent while manually climbing the cabin towards 0 differential.

To be extra safe on the approach, make sure you get an ILS to the longest runway and land with plenty of speed to spare – watching for abnormal pitch and power settings for the approach.

As with any “outside the box” aviating, use these procedures at your own risk. You certainly won’t find this in any company manuals or in the Bombardier QRH. Share your thoughts or alternate solutions to this scenario in the comments below.

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So, you see, there is a reason why you learn all that stuff in ground school for your private pilot certificate and your commercial certificate and your instrument rating. Without a thorough foundation, this article might as well be written in another language.

To Your Flying Success,

Jeffrey

Unless you are in some sort of flight training, there is really not much to do in between landing and takeoffs. If you are going through flight training, then from the moment you show up till the time you leave, you are probably busy learning something.

But once you get all your pilot certificates and pilot ratings though, it’s time to FINALLY enjoy flying.

As a professional pilot though, I find that from the time I arrive at the airplane till we get above 10,000 feet I’ve got a lot to do. After that everything slows down…a bit. Then, when I’m 30 minutes out from a destination, things start to get busy again and my brain goes on high alert.

In between these two events though, unless I’m dealing with weather, turbulence, or other nuisances, there is not much to do except to monitor your route, answer radio calls, and monitor the airplanes instruments.

So what can you do that will really pay you back when the time comes?

Review your emergency procedures.

OK, yeah, it’s not the most fun thing to do but then we don’t plan for emergencies and when they happen, unless you have been practicing, you may find that you are not performing as well as you should.

Here are two recommendations:

1. When everything is stabilized and you are at cruise, pull out your emergency procedures and see if you can remember your “memory items” and see if you can perform the steps listed in your emergency procedures.

2. Right before takeoff, take a moment to visualize what you would do if you had a engine failure at V1 or a blown tire. What if an animal darts onto the runway or you hit some birds. What about wind shear? What would you do? What actions would you take? What would you do if you had a engine failure or other emergency right after rotation. Read the rest of this entry »

A whole flight, no matter how perfect it is, seems to always comes down to whether is was a nice, smooth landing or a jumbled mess.

And it seems that pilots, for better or worse, seem more concerned about the landing than anything else. You could say that landing an airplane is the holy grail of flying because a good landing is what we strive for most. To sip from the cup of a sweet landing.

My view of a perfect landing for most general aviation aircraft and jet airplanes is one where the aircraft touches down smoothly on the center line at just above stall speed (general aviation) with the yoke nearly full aft or on center line at Vref within the first 3000 feet of the runway threshold (jet), respectively.

In a general aviation airplane, the pilot then holds the nose wheel off as long as possible, applies crosswind correction, and smoothly lowers the nose as elevator effectiveness is lost.

In a jet, upon touchdown, you smoothly lower the nose wheel, apply thrust reversers, input crosswind control and slow until you can safely make one of the high-speed exits.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And for the most part it is. But to do it consistently is the challenge.

We have all heard the saying that it is possible to make a bad landing from a good approach—which I do, often— but it is almost impossible to make a good landing from a bad approach. If you don’t make a stabilized approach, chances are you aren’t going to make a good landing.

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The other day I was watching TV that was exploring what made some athletes great! Imagine being one of the world’s top athletes. I mean the “top!” You are truly gifted and currently operating at your very best. And then realizing that because you are the best, you are actually holding yourself back both personally and professionally from your true potential. Sounds kinda strange, doesn’t it? You are the best but you still holding yourself back.

There is an author, Malcolm Gladwell, who asked a group of panelist at the 2011 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference to consider this exact dilemma.

His goal was to guide a discussion that focused on the value of pure natural talent versus work ethic and the ability to accept coaching and instructions.

You see this all the time in the sport’s world. Great individual talent but poor judgement hence a short, uneventful, even embarrassing career. It happens to a lot of athletes. Think of all the No. 1 draft picks that disappeared into obscurity never to be heard from again.

Now think about how this might apply to your airline and flying career. You might be thinking, how does this apply to me? I’m not an elite athlete, I’m just a pilot.

So here is a question: Have some things come so easy for you that you took them for granted and never pushed yourself further?

I’m guilty of it.

Also, consider the huge number of obstacles a wannabe pilot has to overcome. Read the rest of this entry »