16/11/13: Flight Lesson #11 - Precautionary Search & Landing

A 7.30am start this Saturday morning so a bit more reasonable than previous lessons starting at 5.30am  :-)  

Today, it will be a dual flight with Karen, an instructor I've not flown with previously.  I completed the pre-flight of Jabiru J170 24-7984 and received the pre-flight theory briefing on today's lesson - precautionary search and landing.

Different from the forced landing procedure where the engine has actually failed, you will need to complete the precautionary search & landing procedure under certain scenarios including:

• Uncertain of position (very lost)
• Weather is closing in and not near an alternate airfield
• Low on fuel
• Running out of daylight
• Engine failure likely
• Passenger and/or PIC personal emergency, eg medical reasons, nature calls, etc

To prevent these scenarios becoming reality, its all about pre-flight planning - check weather, check fuel & load calculations, check flight navigation correct taking into account winds, check end daylight, complete a thorough aircraft inspection, check latest NOTAMs, ensure have all latest charts & ERSA on-board, etc

In-flight planning can also help to prevent the above scenarios becoming reality - use correct cruise settings for planned fuel consumption, actively monitor fuel consumption, go or no-go decisions, etc

Some scenarios may be unavoidable, for example a passenger emergency, but all we can do is assess potential flight threats and ensure we have contingencies - plan, plan, plan.

There's been some storms over the past week so on checking ATIS, clouds were broken at 2000ft although visibility was more than 10km... ok for day VFR flying.  Just need to remain clear of clouds in Glass G airspace.  A straight out departure on runway 10L saw me tracking direct to the Eastern training area. 

A precautionary search is finding a piece of land suitable for landing (big, flat, open and preferably landing into the wind), and flying a number of circuit passes around the selected landing area to perform a series of suitability checks.  Three passes with a final landing is the standard procedure although in reality, depending on the reason for the precautionary search & landing, we may only have time for one pass then a landing.

The precautionary search & landing technique is basically:

1. Pass 1 - 500ft AGL circuit at 80KIAS
   - brief passengers on downwind leg
   - fly just right alongside airfield (non-active side) inspecting wind direction and time end-to-end of runway to determine length is suitable
2. Pass 2 - 500ft AGL circuit at 80KIAS - descend to and maintain 200ft AGL as flying alongside airfield
   - make PAN-PAN radio call on downwind leg
   - fly just right alongside airfield (non-active side) for low level inspection checking obstacles, power lines, surface condition, livestock
3. Pass 3 - 500ft AGL circuit at 80KIAS - descend to and maintain 50ft AGL as flying alongside airfield
   - fly just right alongside airfield (non-active side) checking approach & departure gradient and select landing aiming point
4. Pass 4 - short-field landing on selected airfield

Flying at 50ft on the third pass was fun... low-level flying!  :-)

I completed the above procedure at Heck Field except for the CTAF calls, which my Instructor handled for me as I focused on the aviate & navigate parts.  I completed a touch-and-go on the 4th pass, climbed to 1500ft tracking back to Archerfield.

On reaching the Eastern approach point, Archer Tower gave me join downwind 10R instructions.  I made the mistake on starting my descent to circuit altitude for downwind too early...  supposed to maintain 1500ft until abeam the upwind end of the landing runway.  Whoops!  :-)

Archer Tower changed me to the longer runway 10L late downwind and I turned base then final for a crosswind landing.  Higher than normal, I deployed full flaps earlier, dropped some RPM and steepened my approach path until established.  Landing was not the best with me not applying sufficient rudder to keep the nose consistently straight during the round-out and landing flare.  Ballooned it a bit as I adopted the round-out attitude a tad too early but got us down.  Think the downpour of rain turning base put me off slightly  :-)

Next lesson, time permitting I'll try and get some touch-and-gos in for practice.  I also need a lot more practice on crosswind take-offs and landings, so might book in an afternoon session soon when the winds are suitable.

No booked flights for next weekend as I'm off to the Ashes cricket  :-)

Until next time, have fun and fly safe!