Scudrunners

From Airfacts journal

The hazards of not being able to communicate...


[url=https://airfactsjournal.com/2016/01/sur ... Facts!http://]https://airfactsjournal.com/2016/01/sur ... Facts!http://[/url]

[size=18pt]LOOK OUTSIDE[/size]

There will be no new causes of aviation accidents in 2019.

Nobody gives a shit, but both aircraft involved in the recent
fatal mid-air at Carp, Ontario had radios.  I knew both pilots,
btw.  Hell, I gave one some dual, decades ago.

[size=18pt]LOOK OUTSIDE[/size]

I have said it before, and I'll say it again.  Anyone foolish
enough to rely on a VHF comm for separation at an uncontrolled
airport is a dead man.

The engineering is horrible.  The more you need it, the more
likely it will fail.

[size=18pt]LOOK OUTSIDE[/size]

I was based at one uncontrolled airport for 27 years, which is a
measurable fraction of the history of powered human flight.  Flew
and instructed on nosewheel, tailwheel, single, twin, piston, jet,
warbird, antique, homebuilt and NORDO.  Surface aerobatics. 
In formation.  400 KIAS over the runway.

No problems, because I

[size=18pt]LOOK OUTSIDE[/size]

The Convergence of the Central Limit Theorem tells us that with
data collected over more than a quarter of a century, this was not
attributable solely to blind luck.

[size=18pt]LOOK OUTSIDE[/size]

A VHF comm, like a compass, can be amusing but I admit that I
don't put much faith in either.

[size=18pt]LOOK OUTSIDE[/size]

It could be said that that a successful flight depends on three things

[size=72pt]AVIATE[/size]
[size=72pt]NAVIGATE[/size]
[size=72pt]COMMUNICATE[/size]
Like a milk stool.

Take away one of the legs and things can get sketchy…  Not impossible, but definitely much more responsibility to ensure not being the cause of an accident.

Given that the Piper was hit from above and behind, the pilot of the red aircraft never knew the other aircraft was in the vicinity...  Never saw it.


Now, if he'd had that other leg...

Nonsense.

Aviate / Navigate / Communicate

is a list of priorities.

Communication is not required for aviation.  It’s
nice when you have it.  Eric and I fly transcontinental
perfectly safely with the radios off.

If you don’t understand this by now, I’m not sure you ever will, though.  Kind of sad.

[color=rgb(91, 91, 91)][/color]
[color=rgb(91, 91, 91)][font=]"[i]Eric and I fly transcontinental [/i][/font][/color][color=rgb(91, 91, 91)][font=][i]perfectly safely with the radios off."[/i][/font][/color]


The response to that was uttered by the window cleaner who passed the 29th story of the Empire state building after his scaffolding broke:


"So far, so good"


I would find fault with the inclusion of the words "perfectly safely" in your statement.


The pilot of the little Pitts central to the story is proof that not everybody can live up to that standard.  The guy who should have had his head on a swivel, didn't.  And ran down the other aircraft.  Had he a radio, the story would have had a different ending.


It is one thing to fly around in an aircraft with no radio; quite another to do so with a radio but not turn it on.


PS  For the life of me, I can't understand why such an accomplished pilot would be so anti-radio. 


Mic fright?


Arrogance?


Sheer cussedness? 

I’ve been flying since 1973 with no accidents.

46 years and counting.  I’m sure you think I’m stupid
and I’m cool with that.

PS I’m not anti-VHF comm.  I just don’t expect
much from them, and anyone that does, is foolish.

One could construct a pretty persuasive argument
that the VHF comm actually decreases safety at an
uncontrolled airport, but that’s likely over the head
of this crowd.

I’ve lost count the number of times someone said they were 3 miles EAST when in fact they were WEST. Left or Right it’s the same. 

I’d rather they shut up and look out the window. 

Even with a radio installed and on, people still need to use it.  For anyone who’s flown IFR in Class G, how many times have you made a call on 126.7 and kick off a cascade of a dozen other pilots remembering they need to talk sometimes too?

[quote]Even with a radio installed and on, people still need to use it.  For anyone who’s flown IFR in Class G, how many times have you made a call on 126.7 and kick off a cascade of a dozen other pilots remembering they need to talk sometimes too?
[/quote]

The biggest problem is the verbal diarrhea with some much useless information all you get is heterodyne. I keep telling people it's a traffic advisory not a detailed position report but it's remains the same. Ironically I would suggest more than 50% of traffic advisories are missed because of format and too much information. I know personally a lot of the times all I get out of the mumbling, shitty format, talking way too fast and heterodyne is the runway number. Then it goes into "am I close to an airport with runway bla" Why are people incapable of passing information efficiently on the radio. I am off to enjoy 2 weeks of this shit tomorrow -- damn -- haha

I still am trying to figure out why everyone is always asking me my wheels down time is - I always say sometime on final and prior to landing -- LMFAOOOOooooo  and when FSS asks you how long to arrival after you give them an ETA for landing - I actually had FSS ask a time to landing because it was too hard to figure out an ETA -- fuck me --

[quote]all you get is heterodyne[/quote]

I know Canadians think I'm pretty stupid compared to them, but
the reason AM is still used for aviation VHF comm instead of FM
is that with multiple transmitters, FM will "capture" one.  Not so
with the less-clear AM, where you get that terrible squeal, and
at least you know something got lost.

The busier the traffic at an uncontrolled airport - especially
with the demented frequency re-use so favored by the paper
pushers on a sunny weekend - the more useless the VHF comm.

One stupid PPL droning on with all sorts of irrelevant information
shuts down everyone else.

And inevitably, when it gets really busy, some genius will arrive
on the scene with a stuck mike, treating us to his cockpit conversation.
I have seen that so many times, unlike everyone else.  When it
happens, I smile and think of his transmitter overheating and
burning out.

What a clusterfuck the comm is, at uncontrolled airport.

As an instructor, I was horrified to see that people neglected their
lookout because of the sense of comfort that their comm erroneously
provided.

Even worse, pilots would STOP FLYING THEIR AIRCRAFT at low
altitude and low airspeed to listen to radio transmissions, often from
other airports.  This is the kind of Aviate/Navigate/Communicate that
John wants to see, I guess.

Aviation VHF comm is of marginal use when the traffic is light, and
completely falls down when it gets busy and you need it the most.
This is horrible faulty engineering.  Imagine if you have traffic lights
that functioned similarly.

I know I'm stupid compared to a Canadian, but I really think people
should try LOOKING OUTSIDE at uncontrolled airport.

Heresy, I know.  As retribution, more of my personal stuff should be
stolen?  Oh, Canada.