It is election time again.  This year two at-large Board seats and the WVFC CFI Board seat are up for election. 

The Voting process began at 12:01 AM on Monday, June 15th and will end at 11:59 PM on Sunday, June 21st.  You can vote via the web site or by going to any of our 3 Bay Area Locations and using a paper ballot. Ballots and the ballot boxes are located at the front desk.

Please take a few minutes to read the questions and answers in Election Central, located in the members’ portion of the web site. 

For any election related questions please contact John Felleman, Board mMmber at john.felleman@gmail.com

THE COMMUNITY OF FLYING
by Josh Smith, General Manager

As Mark Twain once said, the coldest winter I ever spent, was a summer in San Francisco. (Actually Mark Twain never said this, Mark was actually misquoted in the movie Escape from Alcatraz by the character Doc right before Clint was about to get shived by Wolf.., I learned way too much from Clint Eastwood movies). I hope everyone is enjoying this late spring weather. It is a very strange pattern this year, however, it is very good if you want to experience afternoon cross winds. I guess it is another reason to enjoy the unique experience of learning to fly in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Hopefully you have read over the last few weeks, this is voting season for WVFC. As a non-profit corporation the Club goes through an annual vote for 3 of the 7 board seats. To cast your vote please go to the elections home page, www.wvfc.org/mem/v/election.html

Some changes to the fleet:
We have added a 'new to us' Cirrus SR22. N988CD is a 2004 SR22 and will be based at KPAO. This is a very nice SR22. The aircraft is online and available for scheduling. We are also moving N456DX to SQL to accommodate the large amount of G1000 instructional hours that are taking place there.

A few changes in Cassi are upcoming:
The first couple of changes are around scheduling flights greater than 24 hours. First the system will give a brief warning/reminder that flights which are scheduled greater than 24 hours are subject to flight minimums. The flight minimums are 2 hours for every 24 hour period M-F and 3 hours for every 24 hour period on the weekend. This allows the aircraft to be used appropriately based on the requirements of our owners.

Additionally the system will be requiring a route/destination for flights that are over 24 hours. Our goal is to have information readily availble should a flight not arrive back on time we will know where to look. All the other changes to Cassi are structural to allow for better reporting and transfer of data.

After hours:
Should it be that our outstanding front desk staff forget to leave your key book out for your after hours flight, there is a new process to handles these rare occurrences. Each blue box will have an after hours number to call which will contact a WVFC employee who will know how to fix the probelm. This will allow us to help the member, verify flight information, and monitor where the process may have broken down so we can continually improve our customer service.

Thanks for your continued support.

FROM THE DESK OF THE CHIEF
WVFC Chief Pilot chief pilot@wvfc.org

Fuel exhaustion is one of the most common causes of aviation accidents. Many of you probably read the reports and think that it couldn’t happen to you because you plan conservatively and always arrive with VFR minimums and hopefully even more. But sometimes events just conspire in a multitude of ways to set you up for trouble. We had just such an incident recently. I went out to a Cessna 172 one evening and my student told me we needed fuel. I asked him how much the plane had and he said 3-4 gallons. I assumed he meant 3-4 gallons on each side but he quickly corrected me and said 3-4 gallons total! I got out the dip stick and checked it myself and sure enough there was only 3-4 gallons total in the two tanks. Needless to say I was keen to follow up with the previous renting member to find out the story. It’s a classic case of fuel planning gone wrong. Fortunately it didn’t turn out badly, but these stories should be a constant reminder that, in aviation, you can NEVER take anything for granted. As soon as you do, it’s only a matter of time before your luck will run out. Here is his story in his own words.

Safe Flying.

The Accident that Almost Was
Recently, I flew a 172 down to Oceano – there are few better ways to spend a day off than at a beach with an adjacent airport. When I landed back at Palo Alto later that evening, the plane had just 3-4 gallons of usable fuel remaining. It was only because I was lucky that my weekend was not memorable for all the wrong reasons. This article is about an accident that almost was and the lessons I learned from it.

First the basics: The final leg of the flight that day was from Oceano to Palo Alto over the inland route. It was about 160 nm and the weather was VFR the entire way. I dipped the tanks before departing and there were 20 gal remaining. From the Cessna 172P performance tables (at a 69% 113 kt cruise), the trip should have taken about 1.5 hrs and 12.5 gal of gas – an average of about 8.3 gal/hr. The actual trip ended up taking 1.7 hrs and the burn rate was about 9.4 gal/hr.

What are the lessons that can be learned from this experience? The most fundamental one is that complacency can kill. When I tell people this story the first question is ‘What were you thinking?’ And the simple answer is that I wasn’t. I did a quick calculation of the fuel burn, and took off without a second thought. This was a classic case of get-home-itis. But digging deeper, there are some critical factors that led to poor decision making in this situation.

1. Planning is useless if you don’t follow the plan: One of the factors that led me to be complacent about this flight is that there is an airport with fuel available every 40 nm along this route. One of these airports, King City, is where aviation legend Sean Tucker had a fuel exhaustion incident just weeks ago. But these airports might as well have not existed, because I did not land at any of them. For landings, I always have a spot picked out at which I will automatically go around if I have not yet landed. This gets rid of the last minute indecision that often leads to runway overruns. I should have followed a similar mentality for fuel planning and specifically established under what conditions I would land enroute for gas.

2. Don’t rationalize decisions with unreliable information: Building on the previous lesson, the question is, why didn’t I land and get gas when it became clear the flight was going to take longer than the planned 1.5 hrs? A contributing factor was that the fuel gauges in the aircraft were slightly mis-calibrated. I don’t trust fuel gauges, which is why I dip the tanks before every flight, as I did for this flight. But when the flight was running a bit long it was easy to look at the fuel gauges and see that they were showing the expected fuel burn and so an extra 15 minutes of flying would not be a problem. After landing at Palo Alto, the fuel gauges showed about 6-7 gal of fuel remaining, which is exactly what I expected from my flight planning. I used inaccurate fuel gauges to rationalize fuel burn estimates based on inaccurate performance calculations. In this case, two wrongs did not make a right!

3. A little difference can go a long way in fuel planning: It is commonly known that aircraft performance tables represent best case scenarios. But it was still surprising to me how easily small things can add up to big differences in fuel burn. Going back to the 172P performance tables, at 6000 ft., the difference between 2600 rpm and 2500 rpm is 8.6 gal/hr compared to 7.8 gal/hr (a 10% difference). For my trip, the difference between the actual and estimated fuel burn was about 12%. Between tachometer calibration and imprecise throttle setting by the pilot, it is pretty easy to imagine a 100 RPM error in power setting. And that is not even taking into account sub-optimal leaning

As pilots, we spend a lot of time talking about accidents and the chain of events that lead to them. This experience has really shown me that you do not necessarily need an accident to have an accident chain. I hope that it encourages you to reflect on flights of your own that may have been only one link away from completing an accident chain.

AS THE WRENCH TURNS
by your friendly maintenance department, maintenance@wvfc.org

Trim Alert: Rudder trim needs to be used in the following manner; Apply the required rudder pressure, and then trim out the pressure. You should never require more than 2 finger tips worth of pressure to move the trim wheel. Do not use the rudder trim as the primary control to correct the adverse yaw without first applying the required amount of correction via your foot. Using the trim alone causes the cables to get over-stressed and they will then break.

CRAKENSTEIN ALERT !!!!!! We are having a significant issue with fuel injected engine starts. Although this problem is seen throughout all fuel injected motors, we are seeing that the 182S and T models are taking a particular beating. There are really 2 issues;

Issue 1. Under priming. This is usually do to with one of two issues. Incorrect placement of the throttle or not running the pump long enough to prime the engine. Please note that if there is no fuel flow indicated when attempting to prime the engine, there will be no fuel getting to the cylinders and the aircraft will not start. The throttle will need to go in usually to a ¼ of its normal distance, combinned with full rich mixture, to get fuel flowing through the fuel control and into the spider valve and cylinders. With the proper amount of fuel in the cylinders, the engine will start in a couple of blades, without which the engine will crank, and crank, and crank, and now we are using the starter to prime the engine. This in turn will wear out the starter and battery.

Issue 2. Not following hot start procedures. When a fuel injected motor is hot, it will heat the fuel that is in the fuel lines which in turn can cause vapor lock. This results in a pressure build up in the fuel lines and will create a head-ache when trying to start the motor. Hot starts have a distinctly different priming procedure. If you do not start the plane correctly the first time around, you will more than likely be required to perform a flooded start procedure in order to clear the vapor in the lines out. In either case, please just follow the POH. The procedures are laid out pretty simply and if followed will work consistently. If you are not able to start the motor within 2 complete revolutions of the prop, stop and see if there is something that what not followed. Constantly turning the engine over will only burn out the starter and does little to show off your mad skills as an aviator.

Finally, we are updating a procedure in terms of labeling and disabling equipment. We are now labeling and disabling non- essential equipment that appears to be intermittent or it completely fails. Examples of this will include A/P, ADF’s, Electric trim. In many cases the older equipment, even if it is intermittent, due to its age is unrepairable. The equipment will be placarded in the aircraft, disabled, log books wll be updated, notes will be made on the paper and electronic squawk systems, and the equipment listing of the aircraft web page will be noted. Please as always, prior to scheduling and flying an aircraft, always check the MX status board and the aircraft equipment list on the aircraft's website.

Thanks

Your Freindly MX Department

LANDING EXERCISES
by WVFC CFI Nick Ulman

Landing exercises, Part 1

Landing is the hardest part of learning to fly. Almost all other maneuvers are easy by comparison. The “monkey see, monkey do” method of teaching is effective at the beginning of your landing education – the instructor lands the airplane, you try to copy. However, it is also very helpful to have some games to play to improve landing skills while not actually landing.

Landing exercises help you get comfortable with controlling an airplane near the ground and in a flare. If you can fly the exercises well, you will have an easy time landing. The exercises should be performed with an experienced flight instructor on board.

Exercise #1: Centerline tracking with crosswind correction

Fly down the runway with enough power to sustain level flight at a comfortable airspeed; about 1.5 Vs usually works well. Maintain altitude just a few inches or feet above the ground. The goal is to fly right over the runway centerline with the nose of the airplane pointed straight down the runway. If there is a crosswind, wing down into the wind will be needed to keep the airplane from drifting downwind and opposite rudder will be needed to keep the airplane from turning into the wind. Insist upon precise altitude control with the nose pointed straight and no drift.

Exercise #2: Sliding sideways while pointing down the runway

Once you have experience with centerline tracking, try sliding the airplane from the upwind side to the downwind side of the runway and back while keeping the nose pointed straight down the runway at all times. You can also try flying over the centerline while pointing the nose left and right to prove to yourself that you can point it wherever you want to. The control inputs necessary to perform this exercise well are the same as those used in crosswind landing. Remember to use the ailerons to move the airplane from side to side and use the rudder to keep the nose straight.

Make sure when doing landing exercises 1 and 2 that you know what the goal is, landing with the correct amount of crosswind correction. Then, use whatever control inputs are needed to achieve the goal. If you need lots of rudder to keep the nose straight, use lots of rudder! Be confident, aggressive even, with the controls. The instructor’s job is to keep you out of trouble so there is no need to be timid.

Good luck with landing exercises.

Several years ago, I was in a staff meeting with a Major General and an entire flock of bird Colonels. We’d all seen the nine-dot-matrix and the don’t-lift-your-pencil, four-line solution that has a line going through each of the points. That, of course, gave rise to the expression “out of the box thinking.” The General had expounded on the merits and benefits of “out of the box thinking,” and why creative thinking was so critical for getting things done in an environment of limited and decreasing resources (i.e. money and people). He made it clear, however, that “While I strongly encourage out of the box thinking, I’m really not interested in seeing out of the box behavior.”

And that’s where we get into flying. In the course of my flying career, I’ve seen some pretty amazing flying that fit into the out of the box behavior category. We all have. I’ve seen a flight instructor loop a Bonanza with a student on board over a populated area and under a Class Bravo shelf. We’ve all seen people fly without doing weight and balance, but what about the people who proudly say that “this plane will fly really well 200 pounds over gross.” And then there was the time that a student and I came out of a cloud (we were on an IFR descent), and were nearly face-to-face with a pilot flying with his plane so close to the cloud that the tail was probably in it – clearly no 500 feet below the clouds.

Or pilots that fly to an airport without getting a weather brief and any of the NOTAMs. Or the pilots who never fly a stabilized approach. Or routinely exceed any of the other aircraft limitations. Why do pilots with good flying skills do things like these? There are probably as many reasons as there are pilots, but the thing they all have in common is that they represent one of three hazardous attitudes. It could be the Macho “I can do it.” Or the Antiauthority “Don’t tell me.” Or the Invulnerability “It won’t happen to me.”

The scary thing to me is that each of these attitudes is so close to an attitude that is important for a pilot to have. For example, “I can do it,” is a straightforward extension of confidence. “Don’t tell me,” isn’t far from the independence and self-reliance that made America great. “It won’t happen to me,” is a simple step into denial from the self-assurance that a flight can be completed successfully. And in the interest of full disclosure I have to say that I have had all of those hazardous thoughts from time to time.

But there is a distinct difference between out of the box thinking and out of the box behavior. There is a line at the edge of the box, and the line divides constructive from destructive behavior. So, if the hazardous behavior is a simple extension of good behavior, how do we know when we’re crossing the line? It seems to me that the answer is in the antidotes,

For the Macho attitude, there is the “Taking chances is foolish.” For Antiauthority, ”Follow the rules. They are usually right.” And for Invulnerability, “It could happen to me.” All those are well and good, but how should we apply them. I kind of like simple stuff, so a simple technique would be to ask if we followed those concepts and it changes our plans, it’s a good bet we were across the line into out of the box behavior (or were contemplating it at least).

And it’s better to have those self-editing thoughts before flying than after.

One of the most common themes for questions and suggestions at the Club is the mix of aircraft available for rental. Everyone has their favorite plane, and they would like to see one or more online. Some people want the latest, greatest and fastest. Others want more of the older, simpler and cheaper models. A few are looking for the exotic or unusual. Overall, our Club has a range of aircraft that exceeds most other organizations. Nonetheless, it is not all-inclusive. This month I will share from the perspective of an owner, the factors that affect the choice of model.

Most owners understand that purchasing a plane to put online at the Club is not going to be profitable. Most owners are losing money, while a few are breaking even or perhaps making just a little. However, very few are interested in owning a plane with the expectation of losing a lot of money. As a result, we look for planes which are going to do well in the rental environment. That success will depend on the plane meeting a number of requirements.

The principal of leaseback is that the receipts from flight hours cover variable expenses such as fuel and maintenance with enough left over to help defer fixed expenses such as insurance, tie-down fees, and interest payments. That means that the plane has to fly enough hours a month to generate some income and that the hourly operating cost has to be lower than the hourly rate people are willing to pay. In other words, the economics are triply constrained by desirability, hourly operating cost, and sustainable price.

One trend people have observed is a decline in the number of older Cessna and Piper trainers. These older planes were the mainstay of the club for many years. However, planes from the 70s and before are starting to age. As a result, maintenance expenses are creeping up. This is happening at the same time that glass panels have started to achieve critical mass in small trainers like the 172, leading to lower demand and putting pressure on the hourly rate. The consequence is that planes like the Cessna 152 and the older 172s are not very economical.

Complex aircraft are another challenging category. A recent BBS thread noted the loss of our two Cessna 182 RGs. Another thread reported that the Cutlass was out of service for some time. The problem with retracts is that the gear mechanism tends to incur wear and tear leading to higher maintenance cost. This is especially true when the plane is used in training. Under such conditions, the number of gear extension operations per flight hour is much higher than in cross-country use.

New, high-performance aircraft are expensive to purchase. Many flight hours at a relatively high price are required to cover the cost of capital. Fuel, maintenance, and insurance costs make twin engine aircraft dramatically more expensive to operate than singles with similar performance.

The bottom line is that selecting aircraft that will have sustainable economics in the club environment requires analysis and discipline. Since owners have different motivations and different tolerance of risk, different individuals will find different aircraft feasible to own. If there is a model you want to see, expressing your interest on the BBS can certainly help, since it lets prospective buyers see where the demand is. Club management makes an effort to manage the fleet to best serve the club, but it can only make choices based on what interest is shown by potential buyers.

It’s squirrel season. That time of year when a new batch of critters ventures out from the burrows to play "Dare the Pilot". One minute you think the runway is clear and the next there he is… a cute little furball just sitting there on the centerline staring at you. Waiting. Tail twitching in the breeze. It’s enough to make you wonder if old Darwin really got it right when it comes to rodents.

What’s a conscientious, non-violent pilot to do? You’ve been cleared for take-off. You’re already on the runway, accelerating straight down the centerline. Straight toward that big squirrel with the dumb grin on his face. “Come on,” he’s saying. “I’ll bet you don’t have the guts to run over me. Come on… I dare you.” He’s big for a squirrel, and he’s not moving. So what do you do? Should you abort the take-off? Do you have time to abort the take-off? The answer to that question was in the abort plan you just went over a minute ago, before calling for your take-off clearance.

Hold on… you did go over your abort plan, right? Take-off is one of the most critical phases of flight. For one thing, it’s your last chance to decide to stay on the ground. What kinds of things might cause you to make that decision? Inadequate acceleration, a rough engine, a slipping seat or, perhaps, a squirrel (or goose, or coyote, or dog, or deer) on the runway. Those are some reasons that come to mind, all of which I’ve experienced either in my own flights or with students.

What would cause you to want to stay on the ground, and what is the point by which you must make that decision? Early enough that you still have room to stop safely before coming to the end of the runway, that’s for certain. But where exactly is that point?

Sparky Imeson includes a useful rule of thumb in his Mountain Flying Bible. If you DO NOT have 71% of lift-off speed by the halfway point of the runway, abort the take-off. You can safely stop the airplane on the remaining half. If you DO have 71% of lift-off speed by the halfway point, your acceleration is adequate and you can continue the take-off (www.mountainflying.com). Imeson is careful to note that this rule of thumb does not apply to wet runways or to any runway with a downhill slope. It also does not guarantee that the airplane will be able to climb over obstacles in the departure path.

Using Imeson’s rule of thumb it’s easy to come up with your own abort criteria for short runways, like we have at PAO and SQL. On longer runways, like those at HAF or Castle, your risk of running off the end after an aborted take-off is pretty low. Finding 71% of your airplane’s lift-off speed requires a simple calculation. All that’s left is to get out an airport diagram and find an easy-to-see landmark that represents the halfway point.

This is also a good time to review your emergency procedures for an engine failure on the upwind. Based on terrain, wind, traffic and pilot experience, what will you do if you have an engine failure on the upwind leg? Two of those factors can change significantly during the course of a session of pattern work, so it’s a good idea to repeat the abort plan briefing prior to each and every take-off. If you keep it simple, this isn’t as cumbersome as it might sound. Much of the benefit comes from simply having reminded yourself recently that you do in fact have a plan for dealing with unexpected situations during this critical phase of flight. If that means that your “oh sh*t” moment is only one second rather than three, it’s worth the effort. For a student pilot flying a Cessna 152 out of Palo Alto’s runway 31, for example, you might say:

1. 40 knots by the pole.
2. Trouble before that – abort.
3. Failure on the upwind – nose down, go left, right or center.
4. No turning back below 800 feet.
5. No landing on 13.

There, it only takes about 10 seconds to say that – I just timed myself.

Getting back to the squirrel. Is his presence the kind of “trouble” that would cause you to abort? Not necessarily, but it’s not a question you want to ponder while you’re charging down the runway. It’s something you want to think about back in the briefing area so you don’t respond with a knee jerk reaction like swerving the plane or hitting the brakes.

His twitching tail is a sign for you – he might be one of the smart ones. I’m not a zoologist, but I would guess that a squirrel who makes himself more visible by sticking his tail up in the air while crossing an active runway is more likely to survive than one who does not. You’re likely to see him from farther away, when you’ve barely accelerated to 30 knots and the halfway pole is still ahead of you. You can safely pull your throttle to idle and abort the take-off if that is what you decided, back in the briefing area, would be the best thing to do in that situation. If you’re a member of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) or if you practice Jainism, you might choose this option as the most appropriate pilot action. Alternatively, in this situation you would have plenty of time to carefully adjust your path so that you’re not aiming right for him. Keep in mind, though, that the squirrel might adjust his path too.

A squirrel who does not stick his tail in the air on the runway is harder to see. As an airport resident he may be evolutionarily disadvantaged. At least he’d better be fast. By the time you see this guy sunning himself on the asphalt you’re at 50 knots and accelerating, and the halfway pole is just passing off your right. Too late to abort safely according to Imeson’s rule of thumb. If you can avoid hitting him by making a gentle movement right or left, great – the critical word here being “gentle” – but your most important consideration as PIC is to maintain positive control of the airplane which means, if necessary, you have to be willing to run right over him. That’s true even if you are a member of PETA or a Jain… a pilot can’t risk wrecking an airplane to save a squirrel.

A squirrel is one thing, but what if the creature that’s wandered into your path is something bigger – a goose, a coyote, a deer? If your skill level is up to it, you might choose to transition mid-way through your take-off to a technique that enables you to leave the ground before you pass him. If your air adventures take you to little-used runways near animal populations, it’s worth getting together with your flight instructor to practice this. Then be sure to include “animal on the runway – ” in your abort plan when operating at those airports. My point is, don’t wait until he’s staring at you to start thinking about it. If you do that, chances are good that the situation will be resolved through luck rather than skill. In that case, good luck.

So this squirrel season, if you’re out during recess on the 13-31 playground, consider adding rodent avoidance to your Palo Alto abort planning. And in any season, make sure you have an abort plan and that you remind yourself of it prior to every take-off.