Emergency Procedure of the Day and other AF best practices

[IndyTim]

My son has recently graduated to T-38C training at Colummbus AFB. I'm lending moral support and bolstering my own continuing education by following along with his syllabus. Nothing like watching how the pros do it, to learn new good practices.

This is probably old hat to many of you, but since I've only had my PPL about a year I'm still developing my self-training regimen...

One interesting idea that the UPT (AF undergraduate pilot training) students follow is to incorporate an "emergency procedure of the day" into their flights.

I'm thinking of cerating a list of emergency procedures to keep on my kneeboard, so I can work through it, one or two at a time, each time I fly.

Does anyone else do this?

[scottfromiowa]

My checklist has EMERGENCY PROCEDURES on the back. It is on the top of my kneeboard whenever I fly. I like having the written cues. I can have my wife read them while I fly the airplane...

[IndyTim]

I think it's a very good idea to have the procedures where they can be quickly accessed. But I'm talking about actively rehearsing them on a regular basis.

I asked my son about this today and here is his response:

"The EPOD (emergency procedure of the day) is quite useful, we cover one before every flight. The student briefs it and the instructor asks questions / quizzes on airspeeds or techniques for recovering. We have to maintain a log of when we went over each EP, and each one has to be seen within 60 days. Even after not seeing an EP for 30-45 days I notice I am much slower at remembering the proper recovery actions."

[aerobat95]

Remember....

 

Maintain aircraft control

Analyze the situation

Take the proper action

Land as soon as conditions permit

[John Pleisse]

My next door neighbor and family friend flew long sorte C140's. Over the ocean they had a generator fire (the generators were positioned in the fuselage under the wing root, near fuel lines). He said he knew he could make a nearby island, but instead got the book out and followed the emergency procedure to the letter. He said it was counter intuitive to basic logic at the time, but he figurd they were screwed and it was their only hope. The procedure (remembering from childhood, so military jocks please correct me accodingly) was to climb to FL250, depressurize and open a partiuclar door. Obviosuly to starve the fire. It did, quickly.

 

He said he would never deviate from a checklist again and it was the best advice he'd give anyone. Great guy...the late Commander Fred Swenson.

[Earl]

What I learned from my CFII during instrument training was his SOP while he was a freight pilot.  Get to altitude and established on cruise, then go to the POH and review one or two emergency procedures, then set up his number 2 radio for his destination and then cruise along.  I picked up that habit so I usually do a review of a couple of emergency procedures during cruise.  Fly often enough and you will have gone through each many, many times before you will need them.......hopefully.

[fantom]

Fly often enough and you will have gone through each many, many times before you will need them.......hopefully.

 

True, but who is doing visual traffic avoidance, yes, even while IFR?

[Earl]

True, but who is doing visual traffic avoidance, yes, even while IFR?

Sigh.....I don't read the emergency procedures uninterrupted.  I will scan a few lines, look outside if in VMC, look at the gauges, then review a few more lines......look around, look at gauges, etc.  All in it probably takes no more than a total of 10 minutes to review a couple of emergency procedures.  I defy you to find one pilot that can claim in a cross country flight that they aren't looking at something inside the airplane for a portion of that time.  And no, I don't spend a lot of time doing see and avoid when I am in IMC.  That is clearly a waste of time unless you have a burning desire to see the fine print on the side of an airplane right before you collide with it........not that interesting to me personally and if you happen to run into someone in IMC it is just your day and theirs.  

[fantom]

Sigh.....I don't read the emergency procedures uninterrupted.......if you happen to run into someone in IMC it is just your day and theirs.  

 

So your answer is 'it just isn't all that critical'.

 

I'm not trying to be holier than thou Earl, and can't say that I haven't done some reading in cruise myself. Just trying to get a feel for attention diverting reading emergency procedures is. All in life, and flying, is a trade-off.

 

I'm sure you meant to write: it just ISN'T your day or theirs.

 

Just be careful up there.

[Earl]

So your answer is 'it just isn't all that critical'.

 

I'm not trying to be holier than thou Earl, and can't say that I haven't done some reading in cruise myself. Just trying to get a feel for attention diverting reading emergency procedures is. All in life, and flying, is a trade-off.

 

I'm sure you meant to write: it just ISN'T your day or theirs.

 

Just be careful up there.

I'm sorry but when did I say that it wasn't critical? I take see and avoid very seriously as I am sure you do. I explained how I review the emergency procedures and if you think that's not sufficiently careful then don't follow what I do. When do you review emergency procedures? I learned that method from a CFII and it seemed to make sense to me and it's not very distracting from the more important tasks.

And I did intend to say it is your day and not use the word isn't. It's your day to have your last flight, it's your day to meet your maker, etc. Also works the other way but the result is the same. And you be careful too and let's hope the first time you've read an emergency procedure in the last little while is not during an actual emergency. Now that is a bad time to be distracted from the task at hand.