Some common rules or other aircraft terms to remember

Aircraft Tips, Basic Flight Procedures, and Strategies for Light Aircraft

Every field has some "rules of thumb" that are truisms. Aviation is no different. The following are offered only as a way quick to remember how an aircraft performs or what you should think about when flying. In all cases FARs and the POH always overrules anything stated here and in no way should be substituted for any international or governmental regulation or what the manufacturer has stated to do in any given situation. These suggestions are for light aircraft.

• Aborting a takeoff halfway down the runway will allow you to stop on the runway.
• Always be at least 1000 feet above the terrain (2000 in mountains) to ensure you will miss any unknown or unseen obstructions or an upwind / downwind draft over a hill / mountain.
• The distance / time to clear an obstacle is reduced by 5% for every 100 lbs below max gross weight. (We are talking Cessna 172, Bonanzas here, NOT 747s!)
• For every 1% airport grade it will affect the aircraft by 10% over what is stated in the POH for performance.
• Use 150% of what what is stated in the POH to ensure a margin of safety when taking off in order to clear an obstacle at the end of a runway. Calculate 200% if really bad conditions are present.
• When landing if an object at the end of the runway appears stationary you are making a good glide path. If moving up you are undershooting and if moving down then overshooting.
• Add 20% to stopping the POH stopping distance for every 5 mph of tailwind component.
• Altitude above you does not help with a dead engine.
• Judging distance at night using your eyes is unreliable. (And if you only have 1 good eye estimating distance in daytime is also unreliable too!) Trust your instruments.
• 3 degree Glide slope quick calculation: Add zero to ground speed and half the result. 75 MPH ground speed, add 0 to make it 750, half of that is 375 so a sink rate of 375 FPM will be real close to a 3 degree glide slope.

Operational Good Practices

• Remove wheel pants from the a/c if extended operation is expected in snow.
• Flying in freezing weather with retractable gear taxi slow to ensure slush does not freeze your wheels in place or freeze them into the wheel well.
• Always go to the airport and clean the snow off your a/c wings after a winter snowfall. (And get a bite to eat at the airport while there!)
• Never use a lighter to heat overflow vents filled with ice.
• If extreme cold either pull your a/c into a heated hanger to warm it up or use pre-heat on the engine. Usually this is when temperature falls below 20 degrees F.
• Have a emergency kit for 3 days worth of water, some food, mirrors, flashlight, matches, "survival blanket" and other items based on where you are flying.
• Keeping an emergency kit easily accessible at your home or in your pod storage container when making a move is very important as well. Emergency essentials like food, water, and first aid supplies can even be stored long term in a pod storage unit by ABF UPack if you have a large amount of supplies set aside.

Airspace Utilization

A lot of new efforts are underway in the industry. One is the Advanced Personal Air Transportation System. This is an attempt to take all the computer advances like heads-up displays, GPS, weather radar and other items normally installed in heavy metal and make them available to the general aviation flying community.

As a member of AOPA when you renew your membership you get a lot of useful items like this Airspace at a Glance reference card. On the backside of the card there is a table showing all the requirements needed to fly in that airspace.

While at Reno in 2000 I picked up from the FAA a "Guide to Airport Signs and Markings". This link will take you to Airport Signs and this one to the Airport Markings reference sheet. 72 and 80K respectively. The resolution is good enough to get a decent print from.

General Tower and Non-Tower Airport Procedures

Aircraft V Speeds

Quick Decent Calculation

To find the distance from the airport that you should start a descent subtract the pattern altitude (MSL) from your current altitude, delete the three 0s (dividing by 1000) then multiple by 3 to give you the distance you should start you descent to give you a nice steady 500 fpm decent.

Current Altitude: 6500, pattern 1500'. 6500-1500/1000*3 = 15 miles out.

Standard Day

29.92 inches of Hg at 59 F is what is used as a standard day to measure from for aircraft performance purposes.

Aircraft Checklists

Each aircraft has their own checklist created by the manufacturer and approved by the FAA. (Older aircraft may only have a Pilot Operating Handbook and no approved checklist, generally a/c made between 1890 and the 1950s when the CAA - Civil Aeronautic Authority was in existence.)

Memory Aids

RECIT - before flight

• Radios
• Electrics
• Controls
• Inside
• Trim

CIGAR - for takeoff

• Cowls
• Instruments
• Gas
• Altimeter
• Run up

WUFTDM - after takeoff

• wind
• Undercarriage
• Flaps
• Time
• DG
• Mixture

GUMP - for landing

• Gas
• Undercarriage
• Manifold
• Prop

GUMPSS - for landing

• Gas
• Undercarrage
• Mixture (rich)
• Prop (high rpm)
• Switches (landing light)
• Seatbelts (on)

FAST — In Flight Piston Restart

• Fuel - select correct tank
• Air - Carb Heat (alternate air?)
• Spark - Magneto in on "both"
• Terminate - land at the best suitable location if engine fails to produce sufficient power to get to an airport.

ICE-T

• Indicated Airspeed - what you see from the pitot tube, air-pressure reading
• Calibrated Airspeed - airspeed after accounting for mechanical and position errors (attitude) of the aircraft
• Equivalent Airspeed - airspeed after compensating for compression effects (usually need at speeds above 200 MPH)
• True Airspeed - airspeed after accounting for temperature and atmospheric pressure changes

Rule of Thumb for True Airspeed

Increase IAS by 2% per 1000 density feet above sea level. 5000 density altitude yields 5*2% or 10% above indicated airspeed. So 100 IAS = ~110 mph TAS at 5,000 foot density altitude.

Extra Checklist Items?

Some common things that anyone should know about their a/c but I have not seen in any checklist are:

• Height of your aircraft - - can you really get it in that hanger?
• Prop Clearance - blade to ground at idle and during bouncing taxis?
• Length and wingspan of your aircraft - can you really make that turn between those two aircraft on the ramp?
• The real glide ratio of your aircraft when you are flying it?
• If you had to make a 180 degree turn with no engine, how much altitude would you lose to complete the turn and be at the same speed when the 180 degree turn is completed and be at the same airspeed that you entered it at?
• Do you pack a really good set of emergency gear equal to the number of passengers when going rural cross-country flying?

Pre-Departure Checklist

• Airworthiness certificate
• Registration certificate
• Radio station license
• Operating handbook (for a/c)
• Weight and balance data
• Equipment list (if needed)
• Annual Inspection
• VOR receiver check (every 30 days)
• 100 Hour inspection (for hire a/c)
• Pitot static check (every 24 months)
• Transponder check (every 24 months)
• ELT Battery check (every 12 months)

Approach Briefing

1. ID Procedure
2. Final approach nav aid tuned and ID'd
3. Inbound course verified & set in #1 CDI/HSI
4. Final approach fix ALT ______
5. GS crossing ALT _____
6. Missed-approach point marked
7. DA is at what ALT ________ and minimal visibility is _______ distance
8. Time for approach is ______
9. Missed approach procedure is ___________
10. No Flags
11. Passengers secured
12. Flaps
13. Power
14. Gear

Missed Approach

1. Pitch-up
2. Power-up
3. Flaps Initial
4. Positive Rate of climb
5. Gear Up
6. Turn to missed course
7. Flaps up
8. Advise tower of missed approach

Emergency Landing

1. Establish Best Glide speed
2. Find a place to land (within gliding distance!)
3. Fly directly to the landing area
4. Try restart of engine
5. Communicate situation (121.5 MHz, 243 MHz, 406 MHz, Activate ELT, FAA, other a/c)
6. Once at field descend to landing altitude for field (wet, short field, long field, trees, lake)
7. Square pattern to land into the wind (if possible)
8. Electrical off
9. Get out of plane, eat the candy bar crushed in you shirt and wait
10. Start filling out paperwork

FARs

• PIC 91.3
• Pilot Experience 91.57
• Preflight 91.103
• Fuel 91.167
• VOR 91.171
• A/C Documents 91.203
• Altimeter 91.411
• ELT 91.207
• Transponder 91.413

FAR Numbers only valid as of November of 2003. Always subject to change by the FAA.

Twin Engine Advice

Engine Failure advice

1. Fly the Aircraft
2. -->Apply rudder and aileron deflection into the good engine
3. Mixture RICH
4. Props High RPM
5. Throttles FULL
6. Flaps UP
7. Gear UP
8. Identify the dead engine (dead foot usually = dead engine)
9. Raise wing on dead engine a few degrees
10. Verify the dead engine
11. Trim Rudder
12. Feather dead engine

Low Altitude

1. Throttle idle
2. Prop Feather
3. Mixture cutoff
4. Check for fire
5. Feather
6. Squawk the IFF
7. Talk

Low altitude is always more dangerous due to lack of time and or obstructions. Most twins have either a slight (50' per minute) or negative climb rate with one engine out. High power low and slow with one engine dead or producing minimum power is a classic way to induce a accelerated stall that turns into a spin that is nearly (99% of the time) impossible to recover from below 1500' AGL.

"If One engine quits the other will surely take you to the scene of the accident." — Old saying about engine failure on twins at low altitude.

Rated HP, Effective HP and fuel consumption

Rated HP = Maximum RPM at Full Throttle

Fuel consumption = max hp * %current power * .435 BSFC / 6 lbs (fuel weight)

Control Harmony

The term applied by pilots when the amount of force to move any one of the three directional controls each only requires the same amount of force to deflect the control surface the same amount for each.

Operating an Engine "Over Squared"

Back during the 1930s and 40s when Radial Engines predominated pilots were taught never to run an engine "over square." This was defined by dividing the RPM/100 and comparing it to the manifold pressure. i.e.: 2500 RPM and 25 Inches of Manifold pressure was fine but not to run it 2500 RPM at 30 inches of pressure. This was taught during the 1930s to prevent excessive wear on the engines due to bearings and other metals used in the engines would wear out faster at the higher engine operating range. By teaching pilots not to run "over square" the engines would last longer.

The advent of WW-II and the increase in engine ability and reliability (P-51 Mustangs with the Merlin engine would run at 52 inches of manifold pressure at 2600 RPM) changed a lot of "engine rule of thumbs." So this "over square" rule no longer applies to most aircraft engines.

As a general rule, following it will still work on most any aircraft engine to ensure low engine wear. Consult the POH section concerning the engine to find out what the best RPM/Manifold combination is for any given flight realm.

Flight Reporting

When To Give Position Reports

Under IFR

1. Leaving an assigned altitude
2. There’s a change of altitude
while VFR-on-top
3. You’re unable to climb or
descend 500 fpm
4. There’s a true airspeed change in excess of 5% or 10 knots
5. Reaching a holding fix
6. Leaving a holding fix
7. There’s a missed approach
8. There’s any kind of
equipment failure
9. Anything affects the safety
of the flight

When not in radar contact

1. Leaving a final approach
fix inbound
2. Unforecast weather
3. Change in the ETA greater than plus or minus three minutes
4. Designated reporting points

What to report at designated reporting points

1. Identification
2. Position
3. Time
4. Altitude
5. Type of flight plan
6. Name of the next reporting
point and ETA
7. Name of the next succeeding reporting point
8. Any pertinent remarks

Night Vision

Your eyes need more O2 at night. Flying above 5,000 MSL people should use O2 to improve vision. Vitamin A helps improve peripheral vision also.

Painting Propeller Tips

Painting them improves visibility of the tips which can exceed the speed of sound when turning, but you must follow some FAA rules before doing so. AC 91-42D was to owners to maintain existing paint schemes while FAA-AM-78-29 deals with how some painting may cause pilot problems due when looking at or from peripheral vision in twins.

When at an FBO it is best to point the a/c away from the office to avoid people walking into tips to and from the loading area; but then the FBO may get mad at you when you power up and all their paper in their office goes flying.

Jargon

Every profession has their own unique jargon - shorthand phrases - to convey precise information. In the aircraft world there is an official phrase book that air traffic controllers must use and there is also common phrases that is good to know.

Frequency talk

• Ground point nine (seven / eight): shorthand for 121.9 MHz
• Tower Eighteen Three: shorthand for 118.3
• Carrier only: transmitter is working but no audio on the carrier wave. Loose microphone jack or microphone broken
• PD: Pilot's discretion
• Are you familiar?: If you know the airport layout well enough to taxi to where you are supposed to park the aircraft
• High Speed: High speed taxiways to allow large jets to taxi off the active doing 30+ knots
• Over the Marker: on an ILS approach it denotes the aircraft is on the outer frequency marker on final to landing using instrument landing rules under IFR procedures.
• Company Traffic: Aircraft owned by the same airline company is being referenced
• Fish Finder: TCAS shows another aircraft
• Penalty Box: A/C waiting to go someplace on the airport are told to park their aircraft at an out of the way place till they can taxi elsewhere

Call Signs

• Speedbird: British Airways
  --> Corrigendum, actually. Under nicknames, you include: Call Signs * Speedbird: British Airways "Speedbird" was actually the signifier for aircraft type "Concorde," not for any a/c operated by BA. This designator was required (or at least started) because the flight envelope for an SST was a bit further out than for other a/c. In this sense, it corresponds to "Heavy" to refer to a large and full-loaded a/c in the 747/1011/DC-10 range -- one which required special treatment due to high wake turbulence. But non-SST BA a/c were not called "Speedbird." Cheers -- Edward Rice Vienna, Virginia (about 7 nm from IAD on the 100-degree radial)
• Candler: Atlantic Southeast
• Citrus: Air Tran
• Cactus: America West
• Blue Ridge: Coast Airlines
• Jetlink: Continental Express
• AmTGram: American Trans Air
• Clipper: Pan Am
• Windy City: Chicago Express
• Sun King: Southwest (Nickname?)
• Bluestreak: US Airways Express or CCair or Chautaqua or, Piedmont or Allegheny or Trans States and for sure PSA
• Star Check: AirNet
• Blue Ridge: ATLANTIC Coast Airlines (ACA)
• AmTran: American Trans Air
• Trans-States: Waterski
• CAP - Civil Air Patrol. It used to be CAP Flight but the airline that had the CAP callsign is now gone (as of 2011) so they assigned CAP to the Civil Air Patrol.

Thanks to Cade (x ACA) who sent me 5 more call signs for airlines.

Aircraft Types

• Experimental: Usually homebuilt / non production / non FAA certified aircraft, also covers WW-II Aircraft
• Mad Dog: MacDonald-Douglas -MD- aircraft
• Diesel9: DC-9
• TriStar: Lockheed L-1011
• DoJet (Doh'-jet): Dornier 328

Turbulence Strategies

• Tighten down everything (pretend like you are about to do aerobatic display - well on 2nd thought, if you get this far maybe you will be doing aerobatic maneuvers if not real careful)
• Turn up illumination on all instruments that you can (contrast changes to high will also allows you to see them better)
• Lower gear for better stability (no flaps, lowering flaps reduces G loads that can be sustained)
• Keep Va (maneuver) speed - do not change power settings
• Turn off altitude hold (sometimes known as attitude)
• Keep wings level - ignore altitude fluctuations and try not to maintain one altitude
• TELL ATC that you want a block altitude.

Check aircraft for wrinkles afterwards.

Icing Strategies

• Turn on de-icing equipment
• Retract flaps and gear (this overrules any turbulence problems)
• Get out of visible moisture by course changes or altitude changes
• Tell ATC that you are in icing conditions and want to head to the nearest airport (Judgment call here. Once you notice the aircraft is not starting to respond it may be too late! Look out the windows and try and see what accumulation is like. Frosted, rime, clear and how thick. Once you determine that is shorting going to cause control problems call ATC and get to the nearest runway.)
• When landing do so at 1.2 over normal landing speed - pick a long runway.
• No flaps
• Delay lowering gear till on final and airfield in sight
• Plan ahead - there is no go around option with ice on the wings

Aeronautical Formulas

Diskloading DL = Thrust / Diameter(2) / (Pi/4)

Power = Thurst / 550 * SQRT (DL / 2p) (p = density of air 0.0023 at sea level, all other items in pounds)

Drag = .0012 * V(2) x A * Cd
(A = Wing area, Cd is Drag coefficient, V= Velocity)

V = 550 * Power / Drag

Disclaimer

The advice on here cannot be construed as absolute truth when it comes to operational practices when flying an aircraft in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter.

The POH (Pilot Operating Handbook) is the first place to check on how to fly an aircraft and that is always trumped by the FAA (or the people with the power in the country you are over flying) as to how the POH is interpreted in actual use. Also consult the AIM (Airman Information Manual), the PIM (Pilot Information Manual), FAA regulations as published, or other official rules for your own country and those that you fly over if you are in doubt. The FAA has the final say on safe practices on operating any aircraft in the United States.

The math functions and other information here is presented and published as is and is accurate and correct to the best of my knowledge.

Please e-mail me with any corrections.