You are the boss!

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Antoine
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You are the boss!

Post by Antoine »

I just bumped into this very sad piece of news. Apparently the pilot of the TBM-900 who most probably died from hypoxia has asked for - and not obtained - a lower altitude clearance.

http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/acci ... r-altitude

I will remember this next time I end up waiting for a controller who for whatever reason is not cooperating fast enough on a problem I report.

The PIC is the boss and it is our responsibility to decide when we want to exercise full decision power. From now on I will make a mental note to rather do it once too often than the other way around.
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Colin
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by Colin »

The second time I collected a little ice on my wings I asked for lower. ATC said they couldn't because they had opposite direction traffic (a King Air) below me, but I could descend in two minutes. I said that if more ice formed on the wings than I was comfortable with I would be declaring an emergency, turning left 90 degrees and descending as quickly as possible, they could work out what to do with the King Air. They acknowledged and it was a tense minute and a half.

The E-word is a really good one to get their attention. The TBM-900 pilot should have used it.
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Antoine
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by Antoine »

Colin wrote:The second time I collected a little ice on my wings I asked for lower. ATC said they couldn't because they had opposite direction traffic (a King Air) below me, but I could descend in two minutes. I said that if more ice formed on the wings than I was comfortable with I would be declaring an emergency, turning left 90 degrees and descending as quickly as possible, they could work out what to do with the King Air. They acknowledged and it was a tense minute and a half.

The E-word is a really good one to get their attention. The TBM-900 pilot should have used it.
Well done Colin - when you think about it, they can instruct the King Air to get out of the way if you are in trouble. I was once caught in icing in A airspace around Amsterdam and when I said that I needed to get out I could hear the controller instructing airliners to stop their climb!
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rwtucker
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by rwtucker »

Other words I sometimes forget to use are "unable" and "standby." It is not required that you explain your reasoning if you determine that your "aviate" or "navigate" objectives take priority.
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Gary
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by Gary »

A couple of weeks ago the local flying club's only airplane, a 40 year old 172, was wrecked because the pilot accepted the wrong runway as assigned by the tower. There was a very stiff gusting crosswind that varied between a quartering tailwind and headwind. The tower does not change the runway every few minutes and when the pilot was assigned the runway with the quartering tailwind he was unable to maintain control and ended up off the runway flipped in a snowbank. The smart thing would have been not to attempt to fly that day but he might have done better if he had requested the other runway.
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mdieter
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by mdieter »

Antoine wrote:I just bumped into this very sad piece of news. Apparently the pilot of the TBM-900 who most probably died from hypoxia has asked for - and not obtained - a lower altitude clearance.

http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/acci ... r-altitude
This TBM and the pilot was based here in Rochester KROC. Just last week they announced the family had recovered the bodies and some of the aircraft thru an independent salvage firm. I hope they are able to discern what caused the apparent de-pressurization. Terrible shame.
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Antoine
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by Antoine »

Yes, this is a terrible loss, and a humbling one. I understand the pilot was the president of the TBM owners association and it is frightening to think that even such competent people simply die under such circumstances.

My condolences to the KROC community.
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Gary
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by Gary »

Risk increases significantly as a function of performance and complexity for aircraft. That's one reason it's unlikely I will ever advance beyond the DA40. Fortunately it has decent performance and is fun to fly.
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CFIDave
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by CFIDave »

Gary wrote:Risk increases significantly as a function of performance and complexity for aircraft. That's one reason it's unlikely I will ever advance beyond the DA40. Fortunately it has decent performance and is fun to fly.
In many ways, the bigger the aircraft, the easier it is to fly. Landing a light-sport aircraft in gusty crosswinds is far more demanding than landing an airliner (one of the reasons too-confident experienced pilots coming from larger, more-complex, higher-performance aircraft sometimes have accidents in LSAs). My DA42 is easier to fly than my DA40 was, and my DA40 was easier to fly than the DA20 in which I soloed and got my PPL.

Perhaps I would rephrase your statement to say that the *consequences* of an accident increase significantly as a function of performance and complexity. However, the *potential* for an accident may decrease due to more-stringent certification rules, more redundant/backup systems, greater levels of automation, greater aircraft stability, excess power, greater ability to avoid weather, etc. The result is that overall risk may very well be reduced in higher performance and complex aircraft.

Airline pilots aren't superheros; they're just trained to follow very rigorous rules and procedures. You have a lot more freedom in which to demonstrate good judgment in a DA40. :)
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Antoine
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Re: You are the boss!

Post by Antoine »

rwtucker wrote:Other words I sometimes forget to use are "unable" and "standby." It is not required that you explain your reasoning if you determine that your "aviate" or "navigate" objectives take priority.
Quite agree with this statement. Now that you mention this I realize it happened to me just a couple of weeks ago. I was doing this hand-flown ILS in very turbulent clouds and was really working hard to keep the plane upright. The controller asked me for intentions after the approach and while thinking/responding I found myself in a 30 degree bank with the ILS marker shooting up towards the upper limit - incipient spiral dive... Fortunately I was able to recover this but in retrospect it was poor judgement:
I should have kept 100% of my capacity for "aviate" and simply replied "standby". A two minute delay in the reply would have caused no harm and my full concentration was needed to keep the plane on the glideslope .
Another mental note...
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