14 February
Warrior III VH-TYD
Weather QNH 1019; Wind: light S, Temp: 22c
Runway 17L
Today I would be learning all about forced landing. One of those things you need to learn but you never actually want to do. The goal of a forced landing is to get onto the ground safely, if the plane can fly again - it's a bonus.
We start the lesson with the normal routine; Preflight, run up, take off and fly out to the training area. It had been about 5 weeks since I'd last went to the training area so I need to think hard to remember all the steps - climb to 2500 on downwind leg, change squawk code and radio frequency once outside Class D airspace.
The basic steps for a forced landing are
- Come to best glide speed (73kts)
- Select a suitable landing area and position the plane.
- Try to restart the engine
- Mayday call
- Passenger Brief
- Prepare for the landing
The first step seems relatively easy. If above 73kts use the excess speed to gain height. If below 73kts stick the nose down to gain 73kts. However, a couple of things make this a bit harder - 1) the need to quickly trim the plane at 73kts, this reduces the workload for the other steps, 2) while trimming get started on steps 2 &3.
Step 2 should be easy as I'm over hundreds of large flat paddocks - However it's this step that caused me the most problems and leads to me trying to rush the following steps. With so many options I became fixated with finding the "best" paddock. I'd learn later to just pick an
area with "ok" paddocks and start heading that way while you get through steps 3, 4 & 5. (more on this later)
Step 3 - Two rounds of checks to try and restart the engine. First the basic CFMS checks (same as EFATO).
Carb Heat on, Fuel pump On Change Tanks, Mixture rich, Magneto on both, Master switch On.
Next the more detailed Trouble shooting check list - FMOST.
- F Check the fuel levels, check fuel pump on, change tanks if required
- M Mixture learn then back to rich, (Just simulate when practicing)
- O Oil Temperature and Pressure,
- S Switches. Magneto Left, Right and back to both, (Simulated)
- T Throttle. Throttle to idle and back to full.
Hopefully the engine will have restarted at some point, in which case time to head for the nearest airport and land. If it didn't, then we are going to be making a forced landing and it's time to let someone know.
Step 4 the Mayday call. This part was easy
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Tango Yankee Delta, Tango Yankee Delta, Tango Yankee Delta, <location>, <Problem>, < Number of people of board> < what I'm going to do>. Also need to turn on the ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) and squawk 7700.
We can't restart the engine so we are going to have to land, someone hopefully knows we are in trouble so time to get everyone on the plane ready - Step 5 The Passenger Brief. "
Glasses off, Remove sharp object, pen, keys from your pockets and place on the floor. Seat belts tighten and prepare to brace." Front passenger get a special bit about opening the door
"unlatch just before we land and once we stop open and exit and quickly as possible."
Now all that is left is the landing. So continuing on from Step 2. While we have been going through steps 3,4 & 5 and maintaining 73kts, we also need to be refining the landing spot and get the plane into position. The goal is a standard left hand circuit which puts at 1500ft AGL abeam the landing point on a downwind leg.
Ideally the landing paddock should be 400+m long, aligned with the wind direction on the ground, Have a good approach (no/low trees, no power lines, buildings etc.), Clear of stock, ditches, fences, plough lines, rocks etc, Doesn't slope downhill too much, Near help (houses, road etc).
The last preparation is a prelanding checks BUSH.
Brakes, undercarriage, Switches off (Master off only once electronic flaps are deployed) fuel off, Harness secure (Hatch unlatched once at ~100feet). Aim is to complete this during base or early final.
Once Jason has demonstrated all this it was my turn. Even though I read the brief before the lesson and have gone through the check list dozens of times in my head, I quickly start having problems.
- Trying to find a paddock and maintain 73kts quickly chew up most of my brain power. (I fell like I'm back doing my first circuits)
- 5-6 paddocks look OK as a good landing paddock but none are prefect. So I start second guessing myself which wastes valuable time.
- I'm to close to the paddock on downwind. This makes my turn from downwind around to final quite steep and I end up losing height or overshooting.
- I need to practice my side-slips some more. I not yet comfortable slipping to lose extra height if required. (I would have overshoot a couple of time - which is better than undershooting, providing I can slip to lose the extra height)
After 4 attempted forced landing we headed back to Moorabbin. Jason assured me I'll get plenty of practice over the coming lessons and during my Navigation exercises (after my GFPT) .
VH-TYD Piper Warrior III - Forced Landings - 1.3hrs Dual, (Total time 28.3 hrs)
View Forced Landings 14/02/2012 11:46 AM in a larger map
