"Kick the Tires and Light the Fires" —
Not
The colorful
lingo of military aviation has found a permanent niche in the civil
aviation vernacular, including that often-quoted favorite, "Kick
the tires and light the fires!" This expression originally meant
to bypass or severely limit the time required for physical inspection
of an aircraft prior to flight. Currently, it means, "Let's get
this aircraft pre-flighted and out of here!"
Regardless of
which interpretation is applied, the result can spell trouble for
pilots who follow the advice too literally.
- I
took another pilot to airport ABC to ferry an
aircraft to my home
field. Due to winds, I elected not to fly my
taildragger and borrowed
another tri-gear aircraft. The VFR flight to ABC was uneventful
with my fellow pilot navigating. I had never been to
ABC before,
which is a very busy Class B area.
Upon departure [from ABC] in high winds and turbulence throwing
me around in the cockpit, I quickly became disoriented. [Not]
having... my navigator did not help. I could not
recognize landmarks...
on my Terminal Area Chart. I estimated my position, staying low
to clear the Class B [airspace]. Once I confirmed my position
I realized I was probably in the 1500-foot ring and my altitude
was 1900 feet MSL. I quickly dove to 1400 feet. I continued at
1400 feet until well clear of that portion of Class B.
I failed to have a clear plan in mind when departing
ABC for heading
and altitude. Because I was in unfamiliar territory
in a borrowed
aircraft and turbulence was throwing me all over the sky, I was
a bit overwhelmed. I am an experienced pilot and
learned a great
[lesson] from this experience. That is ? work up a plan with an
alternate [plan] and stick to [them]. Don't just "kick the
tires and light the fires"!
Pay Your Toll To the Towbar Troll
- I
arrived at the airport, pre-flighted the airplane in the hangar,
attached a towbar to the nose wheel and pulled the airplane onto the
ramp with my vehicle. Disconnected the towbar from my vehicle and
pulled around the side of the plane to put my flight bag into the
plane. Put the vehicle in the hangar, closed the hangar door. I
called FSS to obtain my IFR clearance. I jumped into the airplane,
taxied to the runway, and departed into 200 sky obscured and 1/2 mile
visibility. After rotation I heard a thump. Concerned that my landing
gear may have hit a small animal (fox, etc.) I did not retract the
gear. I continued to my destination, which was VFR with its services.
Approximately 20 minutes prior to arrival, I remembered the towbar
and advised the Tower of my situation and requested CFR services as a
precaution. The landing was uneventful, with a 1/4-inch dent the only
damage to the airplane.
Events leading to this occurrence were:
- Early morning departure;
- Using my vehicle to pull the airplane out (normally I
tow by hand);
- Attention devoted to departure into IMC conditions.
- Suggestions: Attaching a towbar requires that at the
very least, action be corrected to... complete pre-flight.
A Note on ASRS Report Submission
ASRS has
received several recent reports submitted by air carrier crew members
that include a sentence like this:
"I am submitting this report on
behalf on myself and the First Officer, with his permission."
[ASRS emphasis]
ASRS
program users should be aware that only the individual whose name
appears on the report identification strip (ID strip) is eligible for
the FAA immunity provisions associated with ASRS participation.
Two individuals cannot receive immunity from submission of the same
ASRS report form. Only the person who submits the report is
eligible
for immunity, assuming that other important conditions such as timely
receipt of the report and inadvertent nature of the incident are met.
There is
another reason for each person involved in an incident to submit his
or own report. Multiple reports of the same incident provide a
richer, fuller picture of what happened, and are of special interest
to many requesters of ASRS data.
FAA
Advisory Circular 00-46D outlines all the ASRS program provisions,
and is available from the IMMUNITY POLICY
page on this site.
Notes from the Galley
Most
air carriers have policies that prohibit cockpit crews from eating
the same entree. These policies are a safeguard against an entire
flight crew being incapacitated by food poisoning. An
incident recently
reported to the ASRS points to the need for care in serving cockpit
beverages, as well.
- While parked at the gate waiting for departure time, my
First Officer and myself asked for a glass of orange juice. The Chief
Purser brought us each a glass of orange juice and after taking a
sip, we discovered that both glasses of orange juice were mixed with
champagne. I asked the Chief Purser where he got the glasses from and
he said he took them from a tray in the cabin. We were both very
disturbed by this, so I called the duty Flight Manager to inform him
of this incident. We were told to pack our bags and leave the
aircraft, we were no longer legal to fly... The flight was delayed
over an hour and a half while another crew was found to fly the
aircraft.
I
was very glad that this incident happened while parked at the gate
rather than in flight, but I am very concerned that it happened at
all. I feel that the cabin crew need to review their procedures for
handling cockpit beverages (as well as food items) so that this
problem does not happen again.
Attacks from the Back
ASRS has received
several reports during the last year of a potential hazard to air
carrier flight crews that are repositioning or ferrying aircraft.
Because these flights do not carry passengers and the usual cabin
crew complement, some pilots forget to secure the cabin.
Here’s what can happen when this precaution is
neglected:
- During landing rollout at 60 knots, a galley cart from
the aft galley rolled all the way down the aisle and into the flight
deck on our ferry flight. The cart struck the center pedestal
preventing damage to any flight instruments.
- I,
the First Officer, failed to properly secure the aft galley as per
our flight handbook. During preparation to start the flight, I did
assure that the forward galley was secured. For some reason, I didn't
think to check the aft galley. We don't [do] ferry flights very often
so it is easy to overlook cabin security during a ferry flight. I am
now sure I will always check cabin security on my future ferry
flights.
An almost
identical situation was experienced by a B737-400 crew on a recent
repositioning flight.
- ...Because we were the only people on board, we kept the
cockpit door open. Captain...crossed the threshold of Runway 33 on
speed, on course and touched down at the proper touchdown point.
Without warning, at about 100 knots there was a loud bang and hissing
noise in the cockpit. We continued to stop the airplane on the
runway. As the airplane came to a stop we realized the aft center
galley cart had traveled through the center aisle of the aircraft,
crashing into the center console of the airplane. Several pop cans
had been dislodged and were at our feet. Some had burst. None of the
cans hit the forward instrument panel...
It's easy to
envision even worse damage occurring to cockpit instrumentation and
occupants, including jamming of flight controls by loose cans and
injury to pilots. Securing the cabin during preflight is the best
defense against such incidents.
ETOPS Sign-offs
A maintenance
incident reported to ASRS carries a reminder that sign-off
requirements for ETOPS (Extended Range Operations) repairs are
restrictive – a point that can easily be forgotten.
- I am
an A&P mechanic for a major international airline. Another
mechanic and I were assigned two tasks on a Boeing 767-300ER. Per our
company's policies and procedures manual, only those people
designated as "ETOPS Qualified" (EQ) may sign off tasks or
discrepancies on most systems on the aircraft. A non-EQ mechanic may
work under the supervision of an EQ mechanic and the EQ mechanic may
sign off the non-qualified mechanic's work. I am not EQ, while the
other mechanic is. We had pretty much wrapped up the first task
and...I began the second task, which was to replace a bearing tube
assembly on an engine...The other mechanic joined me not long after I
started to remove and replace the tube, and in fact assisted me with
the installation. We completed the replacement per the maintenance
manual and leak-checked the line, which was found to be OK for
service. Later in the shift the other mechanic made all the required
logbook entries for the items we had worked, except for the entry for
the tube replacement. He handed the logbook to me so I could enter
and clear the item, which I did.
A
few days later, I received a memo and copy of the log page from my
foreman indicating...I may not have been in compliance with our
policies and procedures regarding ETOPS only tasks.... As it turns
out, any maintenance done on the engines is considered an ETOPS item,
so I was most definitely not in compliance by making the entry for
the repair in the logbook. The maintenance performed was OK, as I was
being supervised by an EQ mechanic. The sign-off was the
problem...
On
non-ETOPS aircraft it is common to pass around the logbook for each
mechanic to sign off his work. This has become more habit than we
thought, [even though] we have all received ETOPS awareness training.
Some solutions we have implemented are to post a "read and
sign" [notice] reminding everyone of the restrictive nature of
ETOPS maintenance. The foreman also intends to meet with the leads
and remind them to be more aware of whom they are assigning work to
on an ETOPS airplane.
