Aspen Arrival

I won't lie, I've been in a situation before where I have been on the fence about flying or not flying. I was suffering with "get there itis" when I was planning my long cross country for stage 4. When I was at flight ops, the weather seemed to be fine, but I noticed a storm cell pushing up into Colorado from New Mexico. If I left at a certain time, I might have beat the cell to the airport. That is what got me nervous. If I had gone, I may have beat the cell but only in best case scenario. What if something delayed me on the ground or in the air on the way? The storm would have beaten me, and I would have been in a bad situation. I was at flight ops for about half an hour deciding my go or no-go. I decided I would be cutting it too close, and postponed the flight for later.

Unfortunately, pressure got to the pilot flying into Aspen. He was basically demanded by "the boss" to fly into Aspen and only Aspen on their own time. Pressured to keep his job, the pilot decided to go for it, even though he would be landing extremely close to the cerfew and in deteriorating weather conditions.

On the way to Aspen, the pilot had many clues about what the conditions at Aspen were like. He knew they were deteriorating, and he heard two airplanes before him execute missed approaches. This should have been a clue that something was not right.

Also, the weather was right at minimums and continuing to get worse. This was a sticky situation.

Not only that, but the approach to land should have never been issued in the first place, as it was illegal to circle into Aspen at night. This was unfortunately the fault of the tower.

So with all these circumstances and "get there itis", everybody on board that airplane unfortunately lost their lives that night. The very sad part is that the alternate airport showed excellent weather and they could have landed there no problem.

The pilot should have put safety first and diverted to the alternate airport. This way, everybody could have kept their lives. Sure, "the boss" would have been pissed, but at least he would have been alive. Life goes on. Dinners are missed sometimes.

If I was in this situation, I know it would have been hard to execute authority as pilot in command and stand up to the boss. When it all comes down to it though, I would have had no choice but to fly into the alternate airport instead in the name of safety. Yes, I would have been in trouble, but I would have been alive.

Salt Lake 2 Departure

Can we do the SL 2 Departure in the current weather in a Seminole?

The current weather calls for:

Field Elevation Temperature - 18
Temperature at 7800 - 14
Temperature at 8300 - 13

Seminole Climb Performance, Max Gross Weight:

Two engines Operating:
Field Elevation - 900 fpm
7800 feet - 650 fpm
8300 feet - 550 fpm

One engine Operating:
Field Elevation - 0 fpm

For runway 17, we need a minimum climb of 400 feet per NM at 8300 feet, so we can do the SL 2 for runway 17.

For runway 35, we need a minimum climb of 260 feet per NM at 7800 feet, so we can do the SL2 for 35 as well.

However, we can't do the departure on one engine. In fact, with a max climb of 0 fpm, we can't do much of anything except land...

Single Pilot IFR

Thousands of SPIFR trips are completed safely every day. However, would I fly SPIFR right now?

Sure, I am instrument rated and have just a few hours in the air by this point. However, besides the fact that I need to get instrument current, I would not fly SPIFR at the moment.

I only have .2 hours of actual instrument time and have only flown a hand full of IFR cross country flights. I simply do not believe I have enough instrument experience to execute a completely safe IFR flight. I feel as if I need a co pilot at my side to help with the workload and be there in case I make a mistake. Without that co pilot there, I would be free to make mistakes without realizing it. I just would not feel safe doing that.

The main thing I took from the article is that an IFR flight comes with a much larger workload than a VFR flight. There is the departure procedure, en route procedures, approaches, briefings, more charts, more regulations, more everything. At the moment, it would be too much for me to handle. I want to wait until I have more than .2 actual and just a few IFR flights. Once I increase my experience in instrument flying, I might be more comfortable actually executing a SPIRF flight.

I hope I never have to deal with an electrical fire.

Yeah, I hope that never happens to me, but I know I must be prepared because it can really happen to anyone at any time. There is just as much chance of it happening to me as any other pilot.

First of all, a short circuit means that electricity is flowing along a different path than the one intended. Electricity is always trying to find the easiest path back to its source, even if that means flowing along a damaged wire or straight to a ground source such as the aircraft itself. Huge amounts of current flow along the wire, thus damaging it an deeming the aircraft unairworthy.

The article emphasizes the importance of circuit breakers and the Seminole checklist also does the same. The article talks about the importance of not reseting unessential breakers. The checklist gives you a list of what to do with all the circuit breakers and resetting the ones that are only absolutely critical. The article also talks about the sources of the fire and the importance of shutting down the electrical system entirely. The Seminole checklist also instructs the pilot to shut down the entire system.

I will make sure I'm prepared for an electrical fire should one occur. Most of it is memorizing the procedure so I don't have to fumble through a checklist or POH when time is critical. I will make sure I declare an emergency, shut down the source of the problem, and land at the nearest airport. I will even land off airport if I have to. I value my life, and I don't plan on losing it to an electrical fire.

Wet Sump

The wonderful world of oil...

A wet sump oil system is an oil management design. It is designed for four-stroke piston engines which have a built-in reservoir for oil as opposed to an external reservoir.

The oil does its job by lubricating, and then is allowed to drain to the base of the engine. The oil collects in this pan, called the sump, then it is pumped back up to the bearings by the oil pump. There is a continuous flow of oil around the engine.

The design is more simple than that of a dry sump. There is much less hardware to worry about in a wet sump system, and there is no external sump to worry about leaking.

Most vehicles today use the wet sump system. They decrease power, so the dry sump systems you see are in race cars mostly.

Until next time.

Since this is a blog that has just a little bit to do with aviation, I thought I would share my favorite picture I have ever taken on a flight.

I was over Utah Lake on my way back from KGUC/KMTJ in Southwestern Colorado. That flight was the highlight of my stage 4.