AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010 - 24

LETTERS
“Don’t let the aircraft get there before you do.” Interpreted as always be thinking about the next phase of the flight before it happens. From Ron Donley, CFII: “Fly every instrument approach as if the missed approach was the planned outcome and the landing was the alternative.” Dick Lake, CFII: “Attitude is as important as altitude.” “You can never have too much fuel, unless you’re on fire.” And one that I have developed and

that takes precedence in my decisionmaking: “How will this read in the NTSB report?” Jim Stevens, AOPA 1082619 Mooresville, North Carolina I have always held that with things mechanical, “you never know what it will do until you know what it will do.” As an example, there was a fellow based at our airport who flew a Bonanza. His approach speed on final had to be in the 120-plus mph range. He would never touch down until halfway down the runway! It used to drive me crazy
© 2010 Cobham, plc. All rights reserved.

watching him. I can assure you that he never took the airplane up and practiced stall recoveries. I know what my airplane will do (a Bellanca Viking) and if I were in trouble and had to make an off-field landing I think my chances of doing it successfully are good. One more thing that is very important in mountain flying, which I did not see in the “Top of the World” article by Steven Coonts in the same issue: There is a 100-percent sure way you know you are going to be above that mountain ridge over which you are trying to fly. This is it: As you are approaching the ridge from, say, 15 miles, if you see more terrain beyond the ridge you are approaching, you are higher. If you see less of the terrain beyond, then you are lower. Combine this with your altimeter, the winds, etc. and you are in good shape. My dad told me that if flying up a canyon and you are not 100-percent sure you will clear the pass, stay to one side of the canyon and monitor the room you have to do a 180 turn. David Alger, AOPA 356960 Lago Vista, Texas Why your next engine may be a turboprop I loved Tom Haines’ piece about turboprops in the September issue (“Waypoints: Why Your Next Engine May Be a Turboprop”). He did a nice job of poking fun at prognosticators who’ve rung the death knell for them over the past 20 years. While he cited several advantages to turboprops, he missed one—the turboprop is not “a step backward, at least from an overall efficiency… standpoint.” The fact that the turboprop engine utilizes a much larger diameter fan (i.e., a propeller), a smaller-core engine can be used to generate acceptable takeoff and climb performance, which provides for more fuel-efficient cruise operation when compared to the turbofan engine. As fuel becomes ever more expensive, this only helps to make Haines’ case for turboprops even stronger. Mike Disbrow, AOPA 4667022 Piqua, Ohio The author is senior vice president of marketing and customer services for Hartzell Propeller.—Ed. I agree with most of Haines’ logic, but unless someone finds a way to chuck a zero or two from the price of a turboprop engine I’ll not be affording one for my Cessna 180. I’m good down to 80 octane,
AOPA PILOT •

3D Synthetic Vision view of approach into Aspen, CO

Pilot’s view of approach into Aspen, CO

Situational confidence
The most important thing we build is trust

3D Synthetic Vision EFIS for Parts 23/25
• 3D navigation, terrain, traffic, and towers • Integrated TAWS (Terrain Awareness and Warning System) • Integrated FMS (Flight Management System) with Highway-In-The-Sky Now STC’d for Cessna 500, 550, 551 and 560 • STC’d on over 740 aircraft models Cobham Avionics Integrated Systems One S-TEC Way Mineral Wells, TX 76067 (817) 215-7600
sales.mineralwells@cobham.com

Visit us at AOPA November 11-13

www.cobham.com/avionics

24 •

NOVMBER 2010

http://www.cobham.com/avionics http://www.cobham.com/avionics

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010