Deadly Failure

[bnicolette]

Forgive me if this has been posted already but since it is centered around a Mooney I thought you all may enjoy it.  Educational too.  What could be better?

 

http://www.pilotworkshop.com/video/failure

 

[mike_elliott]

Wally Moran, a Mooney C owner and one of the CFII's of Pilot workshops, will have a couple of different scenarios he will present at the Mooney Summit II Oct 26th. I am sure we will all enjoy learning from him and are lucky to have him make this presentation!

[Piloto]

From the video it is obvious to me that the CFII lacks flying experience in real malfunction situations.

 

1. When you have an A/P runaway condition the first thing you do is press the A/P disconnect switch on the yoke. That is what the switch is for. If you turn off the Trim Switch only you will still have a roll and elevator servos overriding. Trying to locate the A/P CB in IMC at night will distract you from maintaining control of the plane.

 

2. ATC has told the pilot to maintain 3000 ft. If the pilot decides to go lower he looses ATC radar and radio contact. By going lower how the pilot is going to know that he will be in VFR conditions at night? Specially in hilly terrain, with no ATC contact.

 

3. At night it is easier to see the horizon on the ADI than on the windshield, even if you have vertigo.

 

4. An induced vertigo event can easily be resolved by tilting your head left and right for 30 seconds at a time.

 

5. How would you deal with a run away condition with PC (pneumatic) in the old Mooneys, there is no CB to pull. You just press on the yoke button

 

Never heard so much babbling for an autopilot malfunction.

 

José

[carusoam]

Thanks for sharing...

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

 

3. At night it is easier to see the horizon on the ADI than on the windshield, even if you have vertigo.

 

 

I've never heard that - where can I read about that?

[kmyfm20s]

I can tell you I would not have climb back into IMC after successfully recovering from vertigo and being in VMC. I would have landed, had a couple of my favorite beers to shake it off and waited for daylight VMC to finish my trip home. The daughter can get some real life experience on a Gray Hound bus if she wants to get home right away.

[WardHolbrook]

I've never heard that - where can I read about that?

Think JFK, Jr. It doesn't take a lot in some parts of the country. Out west, over the desert, all it takes is a high thin overcast to obscure the stars and with little or no ground reference you're essentially flying on instruments. It's something that I demonstrate to all of my Private students. There are a lot of "gotchas" at night for the VFR only pilot.

[Piloto]

If you are in IMC with A/P engaged and suddenly your altitude start drifting away it may be easily related to the ADI driving the A/P that is not getting vacuum. You may think is the A/P and disengage it trusting your ADI for hand flying. Before trusting the ADI I always cross check with the old trusty steam gauges (VSI, T&B, ALT) and GPS. Happened to me twice.

 

José

[Danb]

I've had runaway trim in IFR conditions and was a young pilot at the time, you'd be surprised how quickly you remember where the breaker is to pull which is exactly the correct move as Bob M states. The most important thing is to get your body back to accepting realty and usually that only occurs with outside reference, agreed you should declare an emergency get all the help you need get on the ground then kiss the ground...recurrent training in invaluable IMC with vertigo is no place to attempt to learn your systems and gain ahold of yourself. I do not see any un useful babbling within this scenario, if one does go get recurrent training rather than being a statistic!

[John Pleisse]

State of mind is important and different with every person. A 3,000 ft descending left dive, in full vertigo is a pretty strong indicator to not re-enter cloud and pack it in for the night. Nearest VFR and regroup in the morning. Also, MVA in this case is for radio reception and likely not terrain. TX's style TV towers are 2,000 agl, so pick your way through it and land asap. I wouldn't declare, I'd pan-pan it and go it alone at 1,500 VFR and land........anywhere. 

[Marauder]

I had the great pleasure of taking a ride in a Barany chair once. And once was enough to convince me to take vertigo seriously. (At least I didn't toss my cookies like the guy after me).

[Yetti]

To quote Sully  "Unable"  to climb.    I don't think you need an emergency once at 1500. Tune up Easterwood tower ask for vectors to the nearest airport and put it down for the evening.   Nice big runway at Easterwood 38 miles away with friendly tower people to guide you in.  I am sure he had that as an alternative airport right?

[fantom]

I had the great pleasure of taking a ride in a Barany chair once. And once was enough to convince me to take vertigo seriously. (At least I didn't toss my cookies like the guy after me).

You must have been getting a gentle ride.

[Marauder]

You must have been getting a gentle ride.

Nah, I read up on the device before I went and decided that a greasy breakfast before going probably wasn't advisable...

[Danb]

Chris I find it hard to believe you gave up on the greasy breakfast...btw if you want to practice give me a buzz.....

[flyboy0681]

This was a really good video lesson, and I selected option 4, declare the emergency. Many years ago while sitting at my desk at work with a head cold I blew my nose and the entire room started spinning on its axis. This lasted for about 45 seconds and not only was I holding onto the desk for my dear life, but was scared at the same time. If that happened to me while flying and I was lucky enough to recover, I would not attempt to climb back up because, as stated in the video, it would have been a traumatic experience and I would probably feel it could happen again in short order. Better safe than sorry. There were only a couple of times in my life where I had an adrenaline flush and while not at all pleasant, it teaches a lesson not likely to ever be repeated.

 

But I do have a question. When ATC inquired about his initial altitude excursion, is it advisable to inform ATC that the A/P malfunctioned? Other than possible paperwork, what, if anything, is the downside to informing them of this?

[Danb]

I've subscribed to pilotworkshops since they have been out they have a lot of good scenarios which there are many responses. They also do some workshops for the AOPA Jay simulator which puts one in differing situations in order to help our decision making...