P ilot impairment contributes to many more accidents than failure of aircraft systems

1. Pilot impairment contributes to many more accidents than failure of aircraft systems Pilots need to complete the "I'm Safe" checklist before each flight. It's: • Illness, • Medication, • Stress, • Alcohol, • FatigueandEmotion Instruktoru seminārs 2013

2. Perform a “blind” cocpit check and specialy before night flying • Close your eyes • See if you could find things like: - fuel selectors - mixture - flaps - gear Instruktoru seminārs 2013

3. Eliminate Internal/External Pressure • It’s always something pushing us and it could be internal pressures as well as external pressures • Allow for delays and cancelations • Don’t let business (passenger) influance on your go / no go decision • Don’t fall wictim to the Get home-itis; the Get there-itis. Instruktoru seminārs 2013

4. ATC may ask for somthing you are incapable of doing • Your aerocraft may be incapable • You as Pilot may be incapable • The weather may render you incapable The magic word is “unable” Instruktoru seminārs 2013

5. Which wind condition requires maximum caution with regard to waketurbulence on takeoff? • No wind • Light crosswind < 5kts • Strong crosswind Instruktoru seminārs 2013

6. When air traffic control calls out traffic for you, the first thing you should do • direct your attention in the direction of the traffic. So look for the traffic first. There’s no need telling the controller that you’re “Looking,”. • "negative contact" or • "traffic in sight." Instruktoru seminārs 2013

7. Before landing It’s going to get very busy once we start into descent and get into the terminal area. So this is the time to get the coffee cups and the charts and all the things out of our way in the cockpit, and get our cockpitorganized. Get our charts organized as we’re going touse them. Pull out the taxi diagram; have that available. Instruktoru seminārs 2013

8. Before landing (cont.) • Since we know what the wind is as we’ve been traveling along, we can pretty well guess what runway we’re going to land on. So this would be a good time to review your taxi plans. They might get changed after you arrive, but at least you’ve got a good start on it. Instruktoru seminārs 2013

9. Before landing(cont.) • Set up your standby frequencies and your radios. Prepare for tower, ground control - think about getting your radios set up for the ATIS, the tower, all of those issues. You know there’s nothing worse than landing, turning off the runway and when the fellow says change to ground, you suddenly realize you’ve forgotten the frequency. And that’s about the time your chart slides right under your seat. So get that ready early. Put that frequency in your standby radio and you won’t have that incident." Instruktoru seminārs 2013

10. Before landing(cont.) • flying is like a chess game. It’s meant to be played five or six moves ahead. • If we can just get two moves ahead, we’ll be good. Won’t we?" • The airlines require their pilots to set up all the NAV radios that they can, and utilize all the approach aids that are available at an airport. If it’s a good practice for them, it’s a good practice for us. There’re many stories of pilots landing at the wrong airport because they thought they had the right airport in sight." Instruktoru seminārs 2013

11. After spotting approach lights, the next visual reference usually seen is • runway end identifier lights • runway or runway markings • visual approach slope indicator • Other Instruktoru seminārs 2013

12. Landing and taking off in nasty surface winds • For a high-wind takeoff, it’s best to lift off firmly so that any downdrafts don’t let you settle back to the runway. For the same reason, leave the gear down in retractable-gear airplanes until you’re safely above the runway. • On final, use your normal approach speed, but add half the gust factor if winds are gusting. For example, if winds are 15 gusting to 25, then add half the difference (five knots) to your normal approach speed. • Don’t fly high-wind approaches with too much speed; it will take longer to bleed off lift and airspeed, you’ll be exposed to crosswinds for a longer period of time, and be subject to ballooning with the excess lift caused by any gusts. Instruktoru seminārs 2013

13. Landing and taking off in nasty surface winds (cont) • Consider using partial flaps when the winds are high. In strong winds, full flaps make for more lift at slower airspeeds when in ground effect, something you don’t need when you’re trying to touch down in style. • The wing-down/opposite rudder method for crosswind touchdowns seems to work the best for most airplanes. This means lowering the upwind wing so as to stop any sideways drift, and at the same time applying opposite rudder to keep the airplane’s longitudinal axis aligned with the runway centerline. Sure, you hear some pilots advocate crabbing all the way down final, then making a quick transition to the wing-down method the moment before the upwind tire meets the runway. It’s possible, but your timing must be impeccable lest you swerve on the runway—or worse. Instruktoru seminārs 2013

14. Pilot’s stick-and-rudder skills • There are several ways of evaluating a pilot’s stick-and-rudder skills, but one of my favorites is to cover the airspeed indicator during pattern work (if you’re not a stick-and-rudder instructor and/or feel uncomfortable doing this, then cover the indicator so that only you can see it). A stick-and-rudder pilot will have no problem at all taking off and landing without looking at the airspeed indicator. At first, panel pilots feel very uncomfortable with this exercise. With a few hours of stick-and-rudder training, they quickly gain basic stick-and-rudder skills—something every pilot should have. Instruktoru seminārs 2013

15. Estimated and actual • Keeping a pen or pencil—and a couple of spares—within easy reach when you launch on a cross-country flight isn’t just a good idea for writing down assigned frequencies and altitudes. It is also an important part of a whether your flight’s actual progress and performance match your preflight estimates. • Remember to jot down your takeoff time before rolling out to the runway • Make another time note when arriving at your first checkpoint • Is your actual groundspeed as was estimated • contact flight service to update your VFR flight plan • Don’t forget to factor in fuel consumed in taxi, takeoff, and climb phases when calculating the estimated consumption figure. • Report on a hazardous inflight weather Instruktoru seminārs 2013