Flight Training - January 2013 - 51

less. However, in calm air it may be prudent to descend at a higher airspeed. In the case of a fire, a high-speed descent may actually blow the fire out. The pilot should not violate VNE (never-exceed speed), VLE (maximum landing gear extended speed), or VFE (maximum flap extended speed) as appropriate to the aircraft’s configuration and the prevailing weather conditions. The descent should be made at the maximum allowable airspeed within those limitations. The maneuver concludes with a recovery to level flight at an altitude high enough to initiate a safe precautionary landing if necessary. That is pretty much all there is to an emergency descent. During practice, CFIs and students will want to terminate the descent as soon as it has been established and stabilized. This is especially prudent in

piston-engine aircraft which can suffer excessive cooling, sometimes called shock cooling, as a result of excessive cooling airflow at too low a power setting. Shock cooling an engine during a lesson can turn a simulated off-airport landing into an actual off-airport landing, to the consternation of those aboard the aircraft. The emergency descent also is an excellent opportunity to stress the importance of clearing turns and potential conflicts in the airspace. Because the task can involve a significant altitude loss in a short period of time, over a limited distance, other traffic should be considered carefully. Other pilots will not typically be expecting such an aggressive descent in the practice area, and the emergency descent can really turn heads when initiated in the traffic pattern.

So clear the area well in all three dimensions, and make the appropriate radio calls in the traffic pattern to warn your fellow pilots of your intentions. So in review, check your POH for a specific procedure. If one isn’t available, you can safely revert to the method synopsized here, which is the FAA method described in the Airplane Flying Handbook. With those references and an understanding of why a pilot would consider initiating an emergency descent, as well as the challenge of remaining wary in the training environment, you can confidently instruct your students to success in one of the more impressive maneuvers they will encounter on their way to a private pilot certificate.
Jamie Beckett is an active pilot and instructor living in Winter Haven, Florida.

Teach your students to communicate well
» By David Jack Kenny

LOST IN PLAIN SIGHT
SINCE AOPA’S HOME airport gained a control tower in May 2012, we’ve seen and heard just how well—or badly—our neighbors learned to operate in that environment. Some are crisp and professional, using standard radio phraseology and keeping the airport diagram handy to decipher taxi clearances. Others—well, this exchange one recent Friday afternoon was a good example. (We’ve changed the N-number to protect the guilty.) “November Three-Seven-Tango, what are you doing, sir?” “What am I doing? ... I’m going to 23.” “I cleared you to taxi via Hotel, Delta, and Alpha, sir. You’re on taxiway Bravo.” “But this is how I always...what?” I don’t know whether this was a student who’d never learned to follow a clearance or an old-timer who’d forgotten, but not knowing how to read it back was the least of his problems. It took

four radio exchanges to establish that he wanted to stay in the pattern; his request to take off from a runway perpendicular to the one in use was then denied. He acknowledged the instruction to report midfield downwind but never actually did it. Eventually the tower controller focused on keeping other aircraft out of his way. The embarrassment of hearing a pilot

who was in over his head before he ever called ground control was a reminder that the regulations are a floor, not a ceiling. To reach the checkride, private pilot candidates only need to make sure their 10 hours of solo flight include three full-stop circuits around the pattern at an airport with an operating control tower. Sport pilots aren’t required to log any experience with towered fields at all. But are students well served if they only get the minimum required training—then find themselves painfully out of their depth at the busiest airports they’ll ever use? It’s not just a question of comfort. Fumbling on the frequency gums things up for everyone. Blown clearances lead to runway incursions and taxi conflicts that endanger others (especially at night). Even if it takes a long cross-country to reach the nearest towered field, you can drill your students until the procedures are second nature. No pilot should ever be afraid to talk to a controller.
David Jack Kenny is manager of aviation safety analysis for the Air Safety Institute.

JANUARY 2013 FLIGHT TRAINING

/ 51

Flight Training - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - January 2013