Low Level Flying - PowerPoint Presentation

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Slide 1

Low Level Flying

Brigitte Ouellet
System Safety

Slide 2

Content

• Recency training requirements

• Altitudes and minimum distances

• Birdstrikes

• Illusions and disorientation

• VFR flights in adverse weather conditions

Slide 3

Recency Requirements

• safety seminar given by Transport Canada Aviation

• questionnaire published in Aviation Safety Newsletter

• obtaining a rating, a permit or a license

 

 

Slide 4

 

 

Altitudes and Minimum Distances

Slide 5

Where Am I ?

Over a Built-Up Area

 

Slide 6

Fatigue

 

 

 

Slide 7

 

 

 

Slide 8

Did you know...

• Only known objects extending 300 feet or more will be depicted on VFR chart.

• Alert TC if there are such objects not depicted on VFR chart.

• Make sure you will not enter an MF or ATF Zone.

Speaker's Notes

Obstacles not yet depicted on charts are listed in the Planification Section of the CFR

Slide 9

Birdstrikes

 

 

 

Slide 10

E = M V²

 

Slide 11

To minimize the risks

• NOTAMS and ATIS

• Strobe lights and landing lights

• Windshield heating

• Avoid low level flying

• Report bird activity and birdstrikes

1-888-282-2473

Slide 12

Illusions and disorientation

Vestibular apparatus and loss of visual references

 

 

Slide 13

 

 

Runway length and width

 

Slide 14

Runway and terrain on a slope

 

Slide 15

Runway and terrain on a slope

 

 

 

Slide 16

 

 

What else ?

Black Hole “effect”

When: At night

Illusion: Too high

Result: Approach too low

Speaker's Notes

Black Hole Effect

At night when there is no lightning before the runway.

• Approach over water or dark ground.

Stronger effect by clear night

• Perception of being closer to the runway.
• Start the descent too soon.

Numerous aviation involving B727 in the year 1970s. A Human Factors engineer with Boeing observed similarities among these accidents. They landed short of the runway at night in clear visual conditions after an approach made over water or dark ground.

Slide 17

How to fight illusions

• Planning and pre-landing checks

• Verify runway length, width and slope

• Know the field elevation

• Do not “cut corners” on the approach

• Prop pitch and power settings

Slide 18

Disorientation

Contributory Factors

• Stress

• Health condition

• Alcoholic drink D

• rugs

• Sky obscured by fog or clouds

 

 

Slide 19

 

 

Vestibular Apparatus

 

• Opposite turn illusion
• Coriolis illusion

Slide 20

Semi-circular canals

 

Slide 21

What happens ?

No turns

 

 

 

Slide 22

 

 

What happens ?

Accelerating turn

 

Slide 23

What happens ?

Prolonged constant turn

 

Slide 24

What happens ?

Decelerating turn

 

 

 

Slide 25

 

 

Opposite Turning Illusion

When will it happen ?

• Coming out of a turn or a spin

• Loss of visual reference points

• Brain is sending/receiving erroneous information

Speaker's Notes

• As the fluid speed reaches that of the canal the inner ear tells the brain there is no motion.
• In clouds, when you loss visual cues, your brain will receive false messages. YOU MUST THRUST YOUR INSTRUMENTS.
• It was proven that pilots with no instrument flight knowledge will put the aircraft in a spin within one minute.

Slide 26

Coriolis Illusion

When will it happen ?

• Coming out of a turn or a spin

• Loss of visual reference points

• When leaning or raising your head

• Brain is sending/receiving erroneous messages

Speaker's Notes

• Fluid in all three canals is in motion.
• When the fluid speed reaches that of the semi-circular canals, your brain receives the message that everything is in equilibrium on a vertical plane.
• When the motion is stopped and the head held upright, the inner ear signals the brain that the body is falling over. SENSATION OF TUMBLING
• Sensation is stronger when your head turns in the direction opposite to that of the airplane.

Slide 27

To reduce the risks

• Fly healthy

• Learn to recognize the situations leading to disorientation

• Recognize when you are a victim of disorientation

• Learn to control disorientation

• Trust your flight instruments

Speaker's Notes

• Ask about the side-effects of any over the counter medication to your aviation medical examiner.
• Drinking and flying is deadly.
  • Even after 8 hours, there is still alcohol left in the canals’ fluid of the vestibular apparatus - emphasize all sensation of rotary motion.
• Human senses are not perfect.

 

 

Slide 28

 

 

VFR flight in adverse weather conditions

Slide 29

TSB Recommendation

The Department of Transport evaluate the adequacy of the margin of safety afforded by current VFR and SVFR regulations.

TSB A96-10

Speaker's Notes

TSB expressed its concerns over the frequency and the consequences of CFIT and LOC accidents.

Slide 30

CFIT

What is Controlled Flight into Terrain?

When the aircraft collide with an obstacle before the pilot can react and avoid it.

Speaker's Notes

CFIT accidents kill more people than any other type of aircraft accident.

Virtually all CFIT are attributable to human error frustrating because the errors leading to CFIT have been identified again and again, but he same accidents keep happening.

 

 

Slide 31

 

 

Safety of VFR Flight

• Human factors assessment related to flying

• Aircraft performance * obstacle avoidance manoeuvres

• Understanding the process leading to CFIT

  • identify unsafe act(s) and conditions

  • determine error type (slip, lapse, mistake)

Speaker's Notes

It was decided to examine the decisions that resulted in accidents. The study team analyzed 129 Canadian CFIT and LOC accidents that occurred between 1984 and 1995.

As a result, they identified six categories of accidents among which Night VFR and VFR flight into IMC.

Slide 32

VFR flight into IMC

• 49 accidents (largest group)

• Inexperienced pilots

• Weather worst than forecast

• Happened while a/c was turning around

• Failed to delay or land

Slide 33

Violations

• 22 accidents - 36 lives

• knowingly flew into below minima weather

• for most of the pilots, was common practice

 

 

Slide 34

 

 

Analysis

• Almost no one crashed « legally »

• Relatively few « willful violations »

• Perceptual issue :

  • What does 2 miles look like ?

• Decision difficulty - selection of action

• Use available resources

Slide 35

Human Performance

• Navigation

  • get lost

• Control of the aircraft

  • Loss of control

• Obstacle avoidance

  • CFIT

Slide 36

Navigation

• How does it work

  • mental model * map or knowledge

• Decrease in visibility !!!....

  • do not recognize landmark
    
    LOST

  • misidentify landmark
    
    do NOT KNOW that we are LOST

 

 

Slide 37

 

 

Control of the aircraft

• How does it work ?

  • attitude, altitude and heading * horizon or landmarks

• Decrease in visibility !!!....

  • disorientation

• At night

Speaker's Notes

It is difficult to estimate what minimum visibility is required to preclude loss of control. In fact, control difficulties have been encountered in excellent visibility conditions when there was no contrast on the ground or horizon available to provide external references to the pilots, such as in white-out conditions.

In an experiment conducted at the University of Illinois, twenty non-instrument rated student pilots in ground trainers flew into simulated IMC. They loss control of their aircraft in average of 178 seconds. The shortest time to loss of control was 20 seconds and the longest any of them maintained control was 480 seconds.

Slide 38

To Prevent CFIT

Detect the obstacle * identify hazard
Select and implement evasive action

• TIME (critical element)

  • identify the obstacle as a hazard

  • select the appropriate action

  • make control inputs

  • aircraft response time

Slide 39

Decrease in visibility !!!...

• decrease in capability to evaluate distance

• need more time for decision making

Speaker's Notes

Hazard recognition and decision times will be extended.
Rules regarding minimum visibility are unambiguous, the cues by which a pilot can assess the prevailing visibility are not clear. Determining, with certainty, when visibility has fallen below two miles in VFR flight, or 1 mile in SVFR is beyond the ability of pilots.

TRICK

The length of the interval from the sighting of the most distant discernible feature until the aircraft is overhead might be useful to in determining whether the flight can be continued safely.

If the time available between sighting an obstacle and arriving overhead does not permit these actions to be accomplished, flight is not safe.

 

 

Slide 40

 

 

Countermeasures

• Acquire bad weather flying techniques

• Learn to turn back / alternate plans

• Overcome normal human decision making tendencies « traps »

• Better weather interpretation and weather related decision making skills

• Make PIREPS

• Use available liveware

Slide 41

Aircraft Performances

• How much airspeed will you lose if you slam your aircraft into a 45^o bank turn ?

• How much space will you need to do a 180^o turn ?

• How much more space will you need with a 20 knot wind behind you half way round the turn ?

• If you have to pull up quickly straight ahead, what airspeed will you have after 300 feet of climb ?

Slide 42

 

 

 

Slide 43

 

 

 

Slide 44

REVIEW

• Respect your limits and capabilities

• Make room for change of plan

• Weather does not cause accidents, WE DO

Regulations may well have protected
these people, had they been observed