Professional Documents
Culture Documents
● PIC is directly responsible for and is the final authority as to the operation of that
aircraft
● In an emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot-in-command and remote
pilot-in-command may deviate from FAR 91 or FAR 107 respectively, to the extend
required to meet the emergency
● If the PIC choses to deviate from the provisions of an ATC clearance, the PIC
must notify ATC as soon as possible and obtain an amended clearance
● Note this is not a blanket clearance to perform unnecessary
deviations!
● Unless deviation is necessary under the emergency authority of 91.3, pilots of
IFR flights experiencing two-way radio communication failure are expected to
adhere to the procedures prescribed under "IFR operations, two-way radio
communications failure"
● Troubleshooting is important but don't fix an airplane airborne when you can safely
land first
● Be directive, if you want something, tell them, don't let ATC drive you
● Declare emergencies with general terms, use "electrical" or "engine" for example
● The PIC must notify ATC as soon as possible and obtain an amended clearance
● Discrete emergency frequencies may be assigned by ATC
● By default use CTAF or guard (121.5/243.0)
● You must hear different radio communications
● Emergency hand signals are listed in 6-5-3
● First 3 seconds, ask yourself, where am I? What do I have? Is the light valid?
● With every emergency there will be primary and secondary signals
● It is important to realize that secondary indications may, or may not be
present
WARNING:
All procedures are GENERALIZED.
Fly the maneuver in accordance with the Pilot Operating Handbook (POH)
and/or current Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Emergency Procedures:
● ALWAYS:
● Aircraft control - MAINTAIN
● Precise nature of problem - DETERMINE
● Applicable emergency procedures - EXECUTE
● Appropriate landing criteria - DETERMINE AND EXECUTE
● As always, the most important emergency procedure you can ever remember is to
aviate, navigate, and then communicate
● These three steps are really a continuous process which never stops requiring pilot
judgment to prioritize steps
● Aviate:
● Complete any immediate action procedures that may be required
● Reduce the electrical load, as required, to buy yourself time
● Position the aircraft in the best position to address the emergency,
such as "climbing to cope"
● After the situation is under control, and while
navigating/communicating, open to Chapter 7 of the POH and begin
going through the emergency procedure steps, starting back at step 1
●
● Navigate:
● Evaluate the situation and determine if you think the aircraft needs to
land as soon as possible, or as soon as practical
● Depending on your decision and the situation at hand, prepare for
arrival
● Remember that without electrical power to your instruments, you will
have to rely on dead reckoning or radar vectors from ATC
● If you don't know where to go, don't go anywhere
●
● Communicate:
● Contact ATC if able
● If you have not already had to address your passengers, take the time
to do so now
● If you have a hand held radio, break it out and attempt to establish
radio communication, as able, with a local agency
● While less reliable but more predominant, reach for your cell phone
and attempt calling ATC
● With this option in mind, remember that fumbling to find the
phone number while in flight is going to be distracting and
could make the situation much worse, causing distraction and
possibly loss of situational awareness
● Consider loading your phone with the appropriate telephone
numbers a step in preflight
●
Troubleshooting:
● Request block altitudes and orbit on the approach end, offset to the runway of
intended landing if possible
● Climb above the weather of possible
● When contacting base start with what you have, what you've done and what page
you're now on
● Consider fuel remaining for the urgency to get the aircraft on deck
● Receiving vectors it is a good idea to constantly repeat headings and altitudes are
you are busy and it is easy to forget
Types of Emergencies:
● Immediate Action: do as quick as possible consistent with flying (aviating, navigating,
communicating)
● Non-Immediate Action: Get to them when you get to them
Emergency Notification:
● Emergency notification may come in several forms including aural, visual, or tactical
● Aural:
● Alarms may be utilized with more advanced avionics
● Alerts are intended to cause people to stop what they are doing and attend to
a potential hazard. However, some alerts fail to provide useful information and
can create their own human factors problems. These are known as nuisance
alerts (Sanquist, Thurman, & Mahy, 2005). Nuisance alerts are troubling
because the person receiving the alert must devote attention to deciding if the
alert is valid and whether action is necessary
●
What to do?
● Breathe, determine what is going on
● Panic is no solution
● Prioritize emergencies (if compounding)
● Point to field/Immediate Action
● Climb if possible to improve communication and radar coverage
● Note that you cannot climb unauthorized in IFR
● Continue squawking the same code under radar coverage, if unable to contact ATC,
squawk 7700 and this can keep you free from violations, though an explanation may
be requested later
● Orbit near field in VMC
Powerplant Emergencies:
● Powerplant emergencies can range from minor degradation to all out engine failure
● Regardless, treat everything as if it will lead to an engine failure
● Consider thinking of the memory aid: glide, grass, and gas
● Catastrophic Engine Failure:
● Although uncommon, catastrophic engine failures are when an engine comes
apart in flight
● Any oil that escapes the cowling and impacts the windscreen is likely to blur
the windscreen and won't simply blow off
● In this instance, enhanced vision systems are life-savers
● When selecting an off-airport landing site, consider: wind, space, obstacles,
and surface condition
● Consider the memory aid of "A-B-C-D-E" whereby you pitch for AIRSPEED,
fly at BEST GLIDE, run the CHECKLIST, and finally DECLARE AN
EMERGENCY, as appropriate, and EXECUTE the landing
●
● High Cylinder Head Temperature:
● High temperatures of any kind are cause for concern
● High cylinder head temperatures are cause for concern about your engine
● High Cylinder Head Temperature Indications:
● Your cylinder head temperature gauge will operate high than normal,
though not yet necessarily in a 'red' area
●
● High Cylinder Head Temperature Secondary Indications:
●
●
● High Cylinder Head Temperature Considerations:
● Insufficient air is getting into the engine cowling calling for reduced
pitch, increased speed, open cowl flaps, or a removal of a blockage
● Improper fuel-to-air mixture ratio (lean mixtures could
● run hotter)
● Equipment failure (spark plugs, magnetos)
● Expect engine power to decrease
● Eexpect egine oil consumption to increase
● Left uncorrected, detonation and pre-ignition may start occurring,
exacerbating the problem
●
Engine Failure:
● With engine failures, speed (trading speed for altitude) is life, and altitude (time) is life
insurance
● Engine failures are largely due to mechanical failure, loss of spark, loss of air, or loss
of fuel
● Engine failures require immediate action
● You should always have a plan, based on phase of flight, before you take off
● Engine Failure Primary Indications:
● Dropping, low, or no RPM
●
● Engine Failure Secondary Indications:
● Dropping temperatures and pressures
● Reduced noise from the engine
●
● Engine Failure Considerations:
● Consider an action just performed may be the source of the problem
● There may be enough time to restart the engine
● Altitude is important, but without the appropriate airspeed you will lose too
much altitude or stall
● As part of takeoff, engine failure must be discussed in as much detail as
practical with altitudes and turning limitations
● Electrical abnormalities may distract the pilot from engine abnormalities,
leading to improper immediate action procedures
● Following an engine failure you will lose several systems such as the vacuum
system which will result in a partial panel situation
● Loose mixture controls may slowly move to idle
● Sometimes the engine is receiving too much fuel (esp. at higher altitudes),
resulting a flooded engine that requires leaning, counter to most conventional
engine failure immediate actions
● A partially open primer allows raw fuel to get into the engine intake without
atomizing as required for proper combustion
● Loss of the alternator will mean you're running off battery power which is
limited to the condition of the battery
● If conducting an off-field landing, remember that magneto wires can be
broken leading to a hot mag
● Make your landing crash as slow and as controlled as possible
● Deceleration impacts increase as the square of the speed
● Impact forces at 60 kts are four times those at 30 kts
● At 45 kts only 9.4 feet of deceleration will bring you to a stop
● Losing situational awareness and stalling the aircraft is far more lethal than
the emergency landing
● Engine Failure on Takeoff:
●
Pilots must have a plan for engine failure on takeoff before they take
the runway
● Failure to obtain and/or maintain flying speed is a leading cause of
accidents, so fly the aircraft at the appropriate speed first and
foremost
● Based on glide performance, pilots may chose altitudes at which their
options on where to land and how far they will turn may be
● Turning back to the departure runway (often referred to as the
impossible turn) is a highly dangerous maneuver
● The FAA now states matter-of-factly in Advisory Circular
61-83J that flight instructors should demonstrate and teach
trainees when and how to make a safe turnback to the field
after an engine failure
● The impossible turn is only impossible if you do not have the
performance, so know when you do, and practice-don't guess!
● Factors to consider is not just altitude, but also, and most
importantly, the distance required
● Aircraft that climb and glide at relatively higher airspeeds will
be further from the airport and eat up more distance in the
turns, resulting in a reduced likelyhood of success
● Be sure to feather (if available) the propeller
● In multi-engine aircraft, use a call-out similar to "Identify, Verify,
Feather" where identify is putting your hand on the feather for the
correct engine, verifying is verification (potentially from another
crewmember, and feather is the action
●
● Engine Failure Prevention:
● Ensure sufficient fuel quantity (between all tanks), type
● Avoid changing fuel tanks (on selector driven aircraft) away from suitable
ditch points
● Mark navlogs when fuel selectors are swapped
● Minimize actions that could foul spark plugs, like running excessively rich
●
● Best Glide:
Partial Power:
● If experiencing a partial power situation, consider and recent changes made, such as
switching fuel tanks or mixture modifications
● Aircraft, if trimmed, will pitch down to compensate for loss in airspeed
● Slow to best glide or minimum sink, depending on which is most appropriate
● Set up for an emergency landing with the expectation that a full power loss can
happen at any time
Stuck Throttle:
● Throttle inputs may stick, causing the engine to be unresponsive to pilot controls
● Throttles can stick anywhere along the range of travel, but are generally considered
as high, mid, or low
● Stuck Throttle (High):
● Stuck throttle high occurs when the engine is stuck at a high power setting,
generally relative to cruise settings
● Stuck Throttle (High) Primary Indications:
● Throttle remains high when lever retarded
●
● Stuck Throttle (High) Considerations:
● Consider flying to a point of intended landing and performing a
power-off 180
●
●
Magneto Failure:
● Magnetos failues cause one of the spark plugs in a cylinder to stop firing
● The cylinder effected will experience a higher than average EGT
Overheating:
● Engines can overheat due to a failed cooling system or operations prohibiting
effective heat management
● In turbine engines, engines may be cooled by motoring the engine, thereby moving
cool air throughout the engine
● This may also extinguish fires due to fuel leaks
● To better diagnose, consider that cylinders are generally numbered higher as they
move from the front of the engine to the back
● In most engines, the right side, as viewed from the cockpit, are odd numbered
and the left are even
● Some aircraft are different, and so cylinder placement should be verified if
relying on that data to make a decision
Propeller Overspeed:
● Loss of oil pressure may first present itself in propeller overspeed in constant speed
propellers
● Reduce the throttle
● Reduce pitch, as able
Fuel Delivery:
● Within fuel-related accidents, fuel exhaustion and fuel starvation continue to be
leading causes
● From 2011 to 2015, an average of more than 50 accidents per year occurred
due to fuel management issues
● Fuel exhaustion accounted for 56% of fuel-related accidents while fuel
starvation was responsible for 35% of these accidents
● Fuel Delivery Primary Indications:
● Rough engine
●
● Fuel Delivery Secondary Indications:
● Dropping or low RPM
●
● Fuel Delivery Considerations:
● If fuel delivery is not sufficient to keep the engine running smoothly, the
engine may be about to quit
●
Hot Start:
● When the EGT exceeds the safe limit of a turbine-powered aircraft, the engine
experiences a "hot start"
● Hot starts occur when too much fuel enters the combustion chamber or turbine RPM
is insufficient
● Hot starts are caused by improper starting procedures which may be cause of the
pilot or electronically controlled systems
● Any time an engine has a hot start, refer to the AFM/POH or an appropriate
maintenance manual for inspection requirements
● If the engine fails to accelerate to the proper speed after ignition or does not
accelerate to idle RPM, a hung or false start has occurred
● Reciprocating engines may be hot when start, but these procedures are deviations,
and not usually cause for concern
● Hot Start Primary Indications:
● Rising Interstage Turbine Temperature (ITT)
●
● Hot Start Secondary Indications:
● Engine smoke or fire
●
● Hot Start Considerations:
● Be prepared to turn off the engine
● Note dark colored smoke is most often attributed to gas or oil while white
smoke is likely electrical
● Aging magnetos may show as the increased frequency of hot, or at least
hotter, starts
●
Hung Start:
● A hung start is typically associated with turbine engines
● A hung start occurs when there is insufficient starting power source or fuel control
malfunction
● Hung Start Primary Indications:
● Rising Exhaust Gas Temperatures
●
● Hung Start Secondary Indications:
● RPM does not rise
● The engine fails to start
●
● Hung Start Considerations:
● Hung starts may be an indication of a weak or disconnecting starter
●
Tachometer Failure:
● Tachometers can fail, be it the instrument, or connections that feed the instrument
display
● Listen to the powerplant, and determine if it is in fact the engine (see engine failure)
or the instrument malfunctioning
● The instrument is the only direct reading of RPM the pilot has, which means even if
the engine sounds healthy, the engine or the tachometer are unairworthy
● See also: First XC Solo didn't go as planned
Aviation Fuel Anomalies and Malfunctions:
● Aviation Fuel: Fuel Imbalance:
● Fuel imbalances are covered in controllability, below
●
● SAviation Fuel: ystem Failures:
● Running a tank completely dry may allow air to enter the fuel system and
cause vapor lock, which makes it difficult to restart the engine
● Vapor Lock: on fuel-injected engines, the fuel becomes so hot it vaporizes in
the fuel line, not allowing fuel to reach the cylinders
●
● Aviation Fuel: Loss of Fuel Pressure:
● Loss of fuel pressure can be caused by malfunctioning/failed pumps or
cavitation
●
● Aviation Fuel: Fuel Leaks:
● Fuel leave severity will dictate the response required
● Aside from running out of gas (a common accident casual factor), fuel leaks
can lead to inflight fires
●
Electrical Emergencies:
● Loss of Electrical Power:
● A total loss of electrical power, especially at night, can be extremely
uncomfortable
● Considerations:
● Aircraft radios will not work, requiring the use of a hand held radio
● If at night, pilot controlled lighting will not work
●
● Alternator Failure:
● Leading to failure, alternators may cause a whining sound to be picked up on
the headset as well as generally under-perform (degraded charging)
● An alternator failure can be recognized by the batteries picking up the
electrical load on the aircraft
● The aircraft will continue to fly without the alternator, if that is the only issue
● However, aircraft components such as radios and lights will eventually
cease to function
● This means the aircraft will not be legal to fly and may prohibit safe
landing at the intended airport due to the loss of radios and
transponder
● Alternator Failure Considerations:
● Alternator failures at night should be considered an emergency in
most situations
● Declaring emergency to buys attention and priority handling
● How much battery time you have depends on the health and size of
your battery, as well as how quickly you notice and respond to the
failure
● Turn off as much as you reasonably can
● Consider turning off nonessential lights, especially non-LED lights
● Pitot heat uses a lot of power, but don't turn it off if you need it
● You can likely turn off one radio, and possibly your transponder if
you're not being vectored by ATC
● If you have an iPad you can navigate with, turn off the GPS too
● Keep radio transmissions to a minimum—they're a significant power
draw—and consider using a handheld radio proactively
● Turn off autopilots
● Dim the backlighting on glass displays as low as possible. If you have
instruments with internal battery backups, understand how to make
them switch to their internal batteries if not automatic
● If you need more range than the battery alone will provide, you still
have an option:
● Turn off the master switch and fly by iPad or dead reckoning
until you're in range of an airport
● Then turn the master back on and you'll have power to spare
when you need it most
● This is even an option in IMC on an IFR flight plan
● Let ATC know when and where you plan to turn your radios
back on, and they'll provide a frequency to call, and the
controllers there will be expecting you
● Save battery for approach phase, including instrument approaches,
pilot-controlled lighting, as well as for electric flaps and landing gear
● Tell ATC your plan and ETA before the battery dies so they can look,
provide signals, and clear airspace
●
●
Pitot-Static Emergencies:
● see Pitot-Static systems
Avionics Emergencies:
● Making time updates on navlog will help identify the approximate location in event of
an avionics failure
● If vectored off route, the creation of internal reporting intervals will assist
● An example would be time crossing landmarks or waypoints
Oil/Lubrication Malfunctions/Emergencies:
● Oil consumption depends primarily upon the efficiency of the seals
● Oil can be lost through internal leakage, and, in some engines, by malfunctioning of
the pressurizing or venting system
● Increases in oil temperature are not always associated with a drop in oil pressure,
nor a rise in CHTs
● Low Oil Pressure:
● Low oil pressure can be caused by an oil leak which leads to lack of oil in the
system, or an ineffective oil pump
● These emergencies can be particularly detrimental when flying an aircraft
utilizing a constant-speed propeller
● Low Oil Pressure Primary Indications:
● Oil pressure will indicate low
●
● Low Oil Pressure Secondary Indications:
● Rising Cylinder Head Temperatures (CHT)
● Oil temperature may rise (if the pressure drops rapidly then it is less
likely you will have a corresponding temperature indication
● Rough engine indications
●
●
● Low Oil Temperature:
● Primary Indications:
● Oil temperature will indicate low
● Secondary Indications:
●
●
● High Oil Temperature:
● High Oil Temperature Primary Indications:
● Oil temperature will indicate high
●
● High Oil Temperature Secondary Indications:
● Other temperatures will indicate high
● Possible smoke
● Low oil pressure
● High RPM
●
● High Oil Temperature Considerations:
● Open cowl flaps, if equipped
●
●
● Oil Leaks:
● Ensure dipsticks are properly secured (i.e., closed all the way, not
cross-threaded) to prevent leaks
● Oil on windscreen may come from engine or propeller
● Oil leaks will smoke when in contact with hot engine components
●
Communication &/or Navigation Failures:
Conclusion:
● Always Aviate, Navigate and Communicate
● Two things will kill you immediately: hitting the ground or another airplane
● Think first before you act, and avoid a startle response
● The pilot in command, has the final authority in the operation of the aircraft
● It is okay to say "unable" to ATC if in your mind it will put the aircraft into a
dangerous state
● Still, ATC can declare an emergency on your behalf, which does not gie them
authority over you, but does raise your priority/level of service
● Pay attention to those procedures that require immediate attention and have then
memorized
● If a step ties directly to an immediate safety concern, the step should be
memorized
● If equipped with an autopilot, consider flying the aircraft by hand in any emergency
● While the use of an autopilot to reduce task saturation is tempting, flying by
hand maintains tactile feedback on aircraft performance
● In the event of a pilot incapacitation, an Emergency Autoland system or an
emergency descent system may assume operation of the aircraft and deviate to meet
that emergency
● In several cases, an inflight malfunction requires immediate notification to the NTSB
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