AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958 - (Page 42)

' I or haze though horizontal visibility has been reported by the ground station a t only Ã few hundred feet. HUB con lead to a pilot's failure to heed the ground H e landed immediately, climbed station's visibility warning and cause shakily from the plane and headed for him to attempt a landing on the basis the lunch counter and a cup of black of his own air--d observation coffee. Jim knew almost without look- of visibility conditions. Only aa he being what had happened. Before takeoff, gins his descant does he find that with he had taxied over a slosh-covered run- forward vision sharply reduced by way. Soft spring slush, kicked up on ground fog, he haa dropped down into arch is named for the guy with the the landing gear had frozen in the instrument conditions. bellicose disposition whose emuThis experience i graphically des pades were hardly models of safety. But scribed in the CAA Pilot's Weather if it was that way with Mars, the god Handbook, and because it illustrates a A squall or a gust? of war, with us it's safety f r t and is, point that could hardly be overemphahere are some thoughts on the subject When weather reports differsized, we would like to quote. The prifor March: entiate between wind squalls and rate pilot was approaching Nantucket With dogged persistence when we gusts, Is it just fancy talk or ia (Mass.) Airport at 5,000 feet "Over say March, we keep thinking "winds." there a clear distinction? Martha's Vineyard, I was stiD able to You cant ignore them in the air, and The difference ia i the timing, n see landmarks 16 to 20 miles array, even on. the ground, you shouldn't. says the CAA. while at the same time the radio broadMichael Messingar ( AOPA 149107) A squall is a sudden acceleracast gave the visibility as t w o miles sent us this item a few months ago. tion of the wind lasting two minat Nantucket, Arriving- over the western March seems like a good time to reutes or more then decreasing as edge of the Island I was able to see tell it. quickly as it 'begins. quite clearly the buildings and terrain I seems a friend of Messinger's was t A gust, too, ia a strong wind as well aa the airport several miles looking over his plane one hot Sunday increasing rapidly but of duraahead. I began to wonder about the afternoon at Zahn's Airport, Amitytion measured in seconds. Both reported two-mile visibility. Realizing ville, N. Y. About 3 9 0 p.m., the pilot gush and squalls indicate turbuI was in a controlled area, I called. had rolled his plane out on the parking lance near the ground. for an IFR clearance. After taking m y field, and after tinkering a little under place in the stack and flying the rethe cowling, he had opened the cockQuired holding pattern, I became more pit door, preparing to dean out the baggage compartment. Suddenly everywheel walls i the colder upper air. and more disgusted with the visibility n thing w a s crazy. A goat of wind picked H e had forgotten to recycle the land- report, as I could see at least 15 miles up the plane, b e it aloft several ing gear to shake off any possible snow. and possibly more. When it came my lw yards in a perfect chandelle, dropped If you take o f in Blush, remember Jim, turn to land, I still could see the airport. f On descending, the ha@ suddenly bein neatly on top o f a Piper J-3 parked thicker and I soon nearby, while the pilot stood dumb- b Since ~ p r i n g makes us want to fly came thicker andinstnanents. When I founded, dangling his whisk broom. The more for pure pleasure, i t might he found myself on J-8 was cracked through the fuselage a good time to recall some facts about landed, I estimated the ground visibility and the runaway suffered broken wings, d b f l i k . For instance, it's a fact that and felt that it was in agreement with battered fuselage and tail and broken Â¥risibilitas reported by a ground ob- the two miles reported by the obaer~er.~' Props server and as it appears to a pilot in Really, no need to point to a moral the air are not always the same. for March, but AOPA'er Mesainger When a weather station reports good declared convincingly: "Regardless of visibility, thia means that it i s good weather, when working on aircraft; in on the ground. Lateral visibility a few the open, tie it down." hundred feet up is not necessarily equally good; an aircraft might eucounter a layer of haze or low-hanging CCIDENT REPORT b If y u live north of Dixie, you're o probably more impatient w t winter cloud. ih than tha reat o f vs. When March sun Another phenomenon not always so starts rivulets running in the gutters clearly understood, is the fact that a sad rough8 up the dwindling mow pilot can occasionally have god Rir-tobanks, you think it's time for change ground v s b l t while an observer on iiiiy Stalled en Go-amend over. Enough winter flying, by gosh, the ground reports extremely poor conspring's here. P e r notwithstanding, ditions. Both those situations can get oty there is one more winter hangover to an unwary pilot into trouble. PILOT: Postal clerk; age 84; Visibility for purposes of weather deal with in March: Slush. 2,600 hours, So often when trouble traps someone reports Is defined aa the farthest diaPLANE: Cessna 170 we know, we think: "The danger was bee which prominent objects can be obvious all the time." In this ease it seen from the p o d station, and Â¥th PROFICIENCIES ; Commercial was. About a year ago, Jim a pilot condition prevailing over one-half or pilot; flight instructor we admire, was coming in for a landing more of the horizon ia reported a s the The airport where the accident ocafter a short cross country hop between visibility a t the frtation. This visibility two midwestern airfields. When ready can, however, be spotty-not following cnrred lies in a deep valley. Tricky to land, hi8 right gear refused to drop a continuous &s -o that a pilot ap- winds drive down from the hills onto down. He flew around the field a couple proaching the station from one direc- the two-way turf atrip which runs genmore t m s wondering what to do and tion might have considerably less for- erally north-southfor about 2,600 feet. ie, realizing he was low on fuel, Deaper- ward vision than one coming i from Sometimes within a few minutes these n winds shift direction as much. as 10. 8' ately he tried the gear again, and by another angle. At the time of the accident, the airwhat seemed & fluke,this time it showed However, one of She most potentialdown and locked. ly dangerous conditions sterna from (CmttnÃ§f on page 49) the fact that it is often possible to see objects on the ground from the air quite dearly through a layer of fog Guard Against Damage From Spring Winds M THE AOFA PILOT

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958

AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958
Contents
Calendar
Legally Speaking
Editorial
What About Airspace Use, Mr. Pyle?
10,000 Seconds Under the Hood
Flying Weather One Month Ahead
AOPA Weathercast
AOPA 185579
Air-Age Teenagers Give City a Lift
Your Radio and You
Operation Cost Cut
Put Your Fabric to the Test
Are You "Compasss Punchy?
Yankee Duster in Latin America
South American Challenge
I Lived Through a Graveyard Spiral
Safety Corner and Accident Report
On the Airways
Travel
What's New?
Classified Department

AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958

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