Like everyone else, I’ve been
troubled by the seemingly large number of Lancair accidents since I started
building my Legacy in 2004. And
like everyone else, I’ve given it a lot of thought. Despite that, I really can’t propose a
solution with any confidence that it would help.
But this is becoming an
emergency. Back in my Air Force
days, long before it got this bad, wing commanders would have been fired,
airplanes grounded for inspections, and pilots grounded until they received
additional training. The current
situation is unacceptable. As a
result, even though I have no confidence in my ideas on this, here is what I
would propose for discussion. Maybe
there’s the seed of a good idea here; maybe not.
1. Flight into Thunderstorms Leading to
In-Flight Breakup
Since we all know that we
shouldn’t fly into a thunderstorm, I’d suggest assembling a volunteer panel of
instructor pilots to analyze the Lancair thunderstorm accidents. The objective is to understand what
specific chain of events lead good pilots to do something that turned out to be
so obviously wrong. Understanding
the details of how it happens is the first step towards structuring a response
to prevent it.
These accidents are really
baffling to me, which means I don’t understand them. And as an instrument pilot, this is
something I need to understand. For
example, were they flying in IMC and unknowingly flew into an embedded
thunderstorm they couldn’t see? Did
they see the thunderstorm and fly into it anyway, not recognizing it? Or had they allowed themselves to get
into a position from which they had no alternative but to fly into a
thunderstorm? Did they use onboard
systems for thunderstorm avoidance that weren’t adequate for that?
Telling each other to avoid
flying into thunderstorms isn’t working.
Understanding the specifics of what lead to these accidents might reveal
circumstances for which we are unprepared.
2. Stall/Spin Close to the Ground
While I don’t understand the
circumstances leading to flying into a thunderstorm, the cause of the stall/spin
accident seems clearer. IMO, the
stall/spin accident includes a lack of basic airmanship skills. Two fatal accident examples are Legacies
that took off with the canopy open and it seems possible the pilots forgot rule
#1 of any emergency: “fly the
airplane.” Other examples include
flying too slow in the traffic pattern, probably trying to stay behind slow
traffic, and then not recognizing the start of a stall. Or pulling too many Gs in the final turn
to avoid overshoot.
Maybe HPAT could publish a number
of specific lesson plans for Lancair pilots to fly for self-training. HPAT could make the syllabus available
for free in the hope that it might be good publicity for HPAT and they might get
back their cost through more HPAT training.
Each lesson plan would be a
short, fifteen minute exercise on a skill that will help avoid stall/spin
accidents. They would be intended
for a solo pilot to use to maintain his skill level in a critical area that we
demonstrate too often that we have allowed to decay. Instead of just flying from here to that
next hamburger, spend fifteen minutes enroute going through a specific lesson
exercise that focuses on one specific skill and then record it in the pilot’s
log book.
Use peer pressure to instill an
atmosphere that continued training is what good pilots do. Have monthly local lunchtime Lancair
fly-ins that include going around the table and giving each pilot the chance to
tell which lesson plan they’ve done since the last meeting and how it went. Create the sense that this is what good
pilots do and if you’re not doing it, there’s something wrong with you.
It won’t work for everyone, but
this sort of thing worked in the Air Force, where nearly every pilot wanted to
be one of the top pilots in the squadron and would jump through whatever hoops
were necessary to achieve it. Even
if it only works for half of us, that could result in fewer accidents.
For pilots who didn’t get HPAT or
equivalent training at the start, they would do the lesson plans with a
qualified instructor or experienced Lancair pilot in their local area until they
acquire the skills. Once the skills
are acquired, they would continue the lesson plans solo to maintain the skills,
which would continue as long as the person was flying a Lancair.
Fly safe,
Dennis
Legacy, 176
hours