West Coaster Posted February 4, 2006 Report Share Posted February 4, 2006 Just curious as to what kind of Emergency Procedure regiment instructors put their students through in the US. Do all schools do autos to the ground... and if so are most to the ground, or mostly power recoveries? What about simulated stuck pedals / TR failure landings? Thanks gang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flingwing206 Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Just curious as to what kind of Emergency Procedure regiment instructors put their students through in the US. Do all schools do autos to the ground... and if so are most to the ground, or mostly power recoveries?Most schools do only power recoveries until CFI training. Some (ours) does touchdowns as part of Commercial training. Very few do touchdowns as part of Private training.What about simulated stuck pedals / TR failure landings?A bit of "exposure" at the Private level (demonstration, a little experimentation), more extensive training at the Commercial level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Coaster Posted February 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Thanks for the reply mate. So why aren't autos to the ground done more frequently... insurance rates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flingwing206 Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 So why aren't autos to the ground done more frequently... insurance rates?In that bent aircraft lead to higher rates, yes. The reasoning is this: if you can train someone to properly enter an auto in the event of an engine failure, teach them to get to a spot with the right combo of airspeed, RRPM, and height above the ground, make sure they are proficient as a hover auto, then you have given them everything they need to walk away from an actual engine-out situation. Remember that "when the engine stops, the insurance company owns the aircraft". As long as the student can get seven feet from the ground with low/no ROD, low groundspeed and RRPM solidly in the green, everyone should survive with nothing more than bruises at worst. Bonus points for keeping the aircraft upright, and a gold star for only spread skids or less! Just get the collective down, get it into the wind, find a spot, keep 60 kt on the way down, flare, level, wait, pull, heck I don't even care if you close your eyes after you pull (although the results might be better if you keep them open and use your feet too)! Take the number of accidents which happen in autorotation training, and the relatively high amount of aircraft damage incurred in touchdown training, then compare it to the relatively rare occurance of engine/drivetrain failure in flight, and you can see that from a safety standpoint, touchdown training really doesn't make sense for a FAA private or commercial level student. To be honest, the 1-in-1,000 chance of writing off a rolled-over R22 or 300 isn't worth the almost-even odds that an aircraft WILL be damaged at some point in touchdown training at the private (or even commercial) level. However, before a student goes solo, they must have experienced (demo) touchdown autos so they know what to shoot for in the real thing. Now an operator flying multi-million-dollar machines may take a greater interest in keeping the aircraft undamaged, so they will send their pilots to a place like Bell Academy for intensive training (in Bell's aircraft, not their own). This costs big bucks, but if it means that an ENG pilot manages to not destroy a $600,000 HD camera after an engine failure (or that they manage to find a safe spot from an 800' AGL hover over an urban environment), it's well worth it. Long answer to a short question, and not everyone will agree... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Coaster Posted February 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 I can see where you're coming from. Got the left seat's collective stick sitting on my desk at home from the R-22 I trained in. Was a momento the instructor gave me after another student rolled the poor thing. Interesting to see the different thoughts and ideas on training on either side of the boarder. Not trying to start the old "which is better" debate though. Think I developed a nervous twitch from my instructors always chopping the throttle off, looking at ya and saying "well you better find a way to get up back to the training field." Nothing stops road traffic like a Robbie screaming in overhead, just above the airport fence and onto the grass. Did anyone else ever find that doing an auto to the ground was actually easier than a power recovery? I hated doing recoveries... damn machine would always get all squirrly on me. Found it a lot easier to just carve some lines in the grass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.