Pilot Training – Emergency Procedures.
So, You want to do some pilot training? Practice Emergency Procedures!
If your looking to do some pilot training and practice emergency procedures, then a flight simulator is a great place to get them down pat before you go flying. If you’re a budding pilot either simulator or real world and you fly as realistically as possible then your going to have random failures turned on aren’t you? If this is the case your going to now and again have random minor or even catastrophic occur in your flight and you need to be ready.
PILOT TRAINING – MOST COMMON EMERGENCIES.
The most common or concerning emergencies are engine failures especially during take-off and climb out as they are where most pilots make big mistakes and die. The most common accidents are loss of control at low altitude due to loss of power and loss of speed awareness where pilots continue to pull back on the controls to climb when the power is to low or not present. This most often leads to a stall and a spin causing a crash and normally a fatality.
Engine failures are certainly very dangerous if not recognized quickly and acted upon correctly. Crashes in the pattern due to failing to be aware of other aircraft in the pattern like gliders or ultralights and helicopters who all have different priorities on landing and also generally different circuit requirements.
Losing instruments due to electrical failures as well as vacuum failures causing important instruments to fail which is especially dangerous in IFR conditions. If you get caught on top of cloud as a VFR pilot although probably less common an issue does happen. There are YouTube videos with this readily available. The final one Ill talk about now is flying into icing conditions and being aware you are getting into dangerous climatic conditions with cold air and moisture either as a VFR or IFR pilot. These are all items you should practice as emergency procedures.
Where do Most Accidents Occur?
What are the main Causes of Accidents?
In a report by for AOPA Air Owners & Pilot Association) by AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Joseph T Hall shows a majority of accidents are in GA fixed wing aircraft. A large majority are during the takeoff phase which includes stalls and loss of control.
Pilot Training – Takeoff Accidents.
The report Shows 75% of takeoff accidents were tricycle GA aircraft & 1% down to Single engine turbine aircraft. I think its fair to assume the turbine aircraft would likely be commercial pilots and the majority of the GA tricycle aircraft being General aviation pilots. Training and practice along with more experience could likely be a reason he difference is so stark.
Pilot Training-Take off Conditions.
It is surprising the majority are Day VMC accidents and 87% fatal. This to me is amazing that so many of our fellow pilots died during this initial but crucial phase of flight. Speed management and possibly distraction in crucial phases of flights often show as causes for these types of accidents. Good speed control, being prepared for engine issues and preplan for them. Prebrief emergency plan before powering up. In some cases in the case of engine loss of power there may be limited options to land and a collision with items also could be the cause of fatalities. The reports does not get that specific.
Pilot Training Landing and Accidents.
Landing accidents are also featured high in Joseph T Halls report (Read it in full here!) showing again our general aviation tri gear pilots having the most accidents. This may be because there are just more tri gear pilots out there yes? But if we look at the turbine and turbo prop accidents there are substantially less and surely this is down to training. We need to do better don’t we!
Pilot Training – Fuel Management Accidents
Fuel management continues to show the trend of GA aircraft accidents. Fuel planning in hand with weather planning would likely go hand in hand. Getting simply caught not being able to get to your destination and not enough fuel to divert could well be a cause of these figures. Yes its easy to take a simplistic look but my point is to show its pilot training more that seems more than mechanical issues causing accidents.
What can we do to improve these figures?
Yes I know mechanical issues were the point of this blog post but its more point to look at individual training to try and prevent some of the accidents. It has to be better training and being prepared for the inevitable, yes inevitable engine failure or power loss on takeoff.
We have to be better prepared and plan better for the possibilities of issues.
Again this is the whole point of practicing all the possible emergencies we can and be ready at any time to get home safely. Use your PC and practice for your simulator flying if your being realistic. If your a real world pilot then talk to your QFI for their guidance and possibly personal instruction to practice for the inevitable.
PILOT TRAINING
EMERGENCY PROCEDURES INFORMATION.
If your ready to do some pilot training and practice emergency procedures on your home PC, then what are the first steps. You can search google for the POH “Pilot Operating Handbook” procedures and you can get one for your aircraft. If you’re flying a real aircraft, then you will have the actual manual available to you. You can read and make checklists for all your different emergencies. IF you’re a sim pilot then just find the online manual for your chosen aircraft.
FLIGHT SIMULATOR FAILURES.
No matter which flight simulator you prefer, X Plane 11, MSFS 2020, P3D or another there are options in all sims to enable failures. In X Plane as an example you can set random failures for every system in the aircraft at the click of a button.
If your wanting to practice an engine failure or fire at a specific speed, or altitude you can set it easily to trigger. Let’s say you want an engine failure at 600Ft AGL you can set this up and fly it till it becomes 2nd nature.
Is Flight Simulator EMERGENCY Practice Realistic?
Practicing emergency procedures in a home PC or a flight School simulator enables you to get use to a dangerous situation safely. You can practice emergencies over and over till they become second nature. In X Plane 11 you can use a second PC or even an iPad and have a friend or Instructor manage weather and failures in real time. This will make the training more realistic and more beneficial.
What can be learnt in this type of training are procedures first and foremost. Its developing the sequence of events starting at 1: Recognising a failure.
2: Learn to react to the failure.
3: Learn the switch sequencing to resolve the failure.
4: Practice the flying skills and procedures
5: Learn to cope with failures – Flying – Communication
combined under pressure.
Select failures from the drop down menu and adjust the parameters as you need. Time/Height options as well as hours.
Conclusion:
I hope this guide has helped you decide if practice emergency procedures on you home PC is worthwhile. As an LSA (Light Sport Pilot) I have spent a lot of time learning the basics and reaction to varying emergency procedures. It could be argued by many to the contrary but if its helpful to you I’d say its better than doing nothing. It’s better than just reading the procedures and not practicing them. If you are flying for real, then you can practice with your instructor and then do it for real and I am confident you will be better prepared.
I hope you enjoy the experience regardless.
(Disclaimer: I am not a qualified flight instructor so please consult with your QFI regarding real world training and procedures. Fly realistically and practice realistically with good guidance from your QFI.)
Emergency Procedures Videos – How to Start.
LetsFlyVFR YouTube channel has a number of EMERGENCY Procedures videos which are made for entertainment. These show some of the situations you may need to consider. It may be being stuck above cloud as a VFR pilot. Bad news but it happens. Engine failure in the pattern is always dangerous so this is worth practicing.
These are not designed to be not as a guide to how to do emergencies but may give you an idea to how you would start.
Check out the playlist below! I hope you enjoy these videos.
It happened to me!
In a short flight in the Aerobask Robin 401 last night I was happily passing through the clouds at about 2500 Ft and breaking into the beautiful skies above Miami having left Maimi Int a few minutes before. The aircraft then started to feel different. It took me time to recognize I was having to hold in more and more control input. Checking fuel balance it was ok. I then checked the trim and tried to add trim to counter the unusual control issue.
The aircraft became more uncontrollable needing near full stick to maintain level flight and wings level.
I had a FAILURE! I had a run away trim where the motors of both the aileron and elevator trims both run to full deflection one side!
I was able to maintain control and performed a landing on a street which went ok and likely survivable but it was rough.
The take out was I was not really prepared for this failure and had not considered it even though I did check failures were turned on in X Plane 11. It was a truly eye opening simulation experience. So there are more issues than just an engine failure you need to be ready for in a sim. This is why I really think X Plane 11 is great.
Author.
Brendon McAliece is a multi lingual-expat who brings over three decades of flight simulator/PC building experience as well as over two decades of real world jet fighter experience as a weapons/egress technician. He holds a sport pilot certificate giving him real world flying experience. Hi travels have taken him from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and his home of Australia. He has a passion for travel, languages, Flight simulation as well as Guitaring and Coffee. You can read more in his blogs below.
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