Looking & Scanning for Other Air Traffic
Proof that you can never stop looking for other aircraft.
During a lesson today at Eagle Airport as we were taxing back to the ramp a completely unannounced aircraft suddenenly appeared on short final and proceeded to do touch-and-go's. Consider that Eagle Airport is a tower controlled airport with as many as 1000 operations per day. Eagle airport serves a variety of military, airline, corporate, and general aviation aircraft.
The unannouced aircraft was obviously confused about their position, as they probably thought they were in Rifle instead. This incident illustrates the necessity for the pilot to continuously look for traffic in all situations and all types of airspace. Even at controlled airports there is the possibility for controller and pilot mistakes that could put at risk your aircraft.
The pilot should continuously scan the sky in 10 degree increments. In addition, there are obvious places to look for traffic that presents specific hazards. When changing heading look in the direction of the turn and behind for aircraft that may collide from behind and the side. Before taking the runway for takeoff look at the approach course to each end of that runway. On final consider the possiblity of aircraft below or above your aircraft.
Aircraft Rental in Vail Eagle Colorado
Aircraft rental at the Eagle County Regional AirportAlpine Flight Training offers pilot training and aircraft rental in the Vail Valley. Our aircraft is a Diamond DA-20 Eclipse, commonly referred to as a Katana and is the later generation of the tried and true Katana aircraft. The original Diamond DA-20 Katana was equipped with a 90 hp Rotax 912 engine. The Eclipse version we have at Alpine Flight Training is the C1 model equipped with a 125 hp Continental IO-240 that delivers excellent performance especially useful for Mountain Flying. Our Katana Eclipse, with it's larger engine delivers similar takeoff distances as a Cessna 172 SP, but provides superior climb performance, a faster cruise speed, and a fuel burn nearly 1/2 that of the Cessna 172 SP and a slower landing speed. The Katana was originally inspired by european glider design, and also features superior glide performance of 22:1 compared to the 17:1 glide ratio of the Cessna 172 SP as well as excellent visibility through it's bubble canopy design.
Aircraft Checklists
The importance of learning to use and using checklists.
One element of inital flight training that new pilots often rebel against is the use of checklists. Over and over I hear brand new students pilots ask the same questions. Why do I need to use a checklist, why not just memorize the items and operate the aircraft without the checklist.
To a certain extent this attitude makes sense. After all, in what other area of our everyday lives do we use checklists?
I usually explain checklist use by telling pilots that the point of using checklists as a student pilot is is to form a habit pattern that will hopefully stay with them for the rest of their flying days.
Why is that important? Well, student pilots don't stay student pilots for long. Some become private, commercial, ATP, and multi-engine pilots. Most will transition out of the 172. While it may seem meaningles to have an in range checklist on a 172, it's not on a 737.
By drilling the use of checklists into student pilots, we form habits that aid them in later endeavors. Whether the student is transitioning to larger more complex aircraft, flying unfamiliar aircraft, or dealing with an emergency or unusual situation, the response will be the same - turn to the checklist.
Besides the simple directive of "use the checklist," the pilot also needs to be taught just how to use the checklist to make it as useful a tool as possible. For example, when I train private pilots I usually tell them to use a flow pattern and then recheck their work using the checklist. If there are two pilots then a PF/PNF challenge/reaponse structure is excellent practice to prepare them for airlines, corporate flying, and CRM concepts.
My final thought... students need to also be taught to challenge the contents of checklists. As we've all seen there are many after-market checklists. Often these checklists are missing items, have incorrect order, or bad parameters. Sometimes the best practice is to consult several checklists and compile your own. Just today I was instructing in a 182. The checklist was missing any form of check for the fuel tank selector. Go figure?