AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2021 - 28

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
Headwork
Putting your skills to the test in the
backcountry
BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN / Senior Vice President
AOPA Air Safety Institute
I SPED THE six-airplane Thunderbird delta formation toward Falcon
Stadium for a tribute to the U.S. Air Force Academy's newest
graduates. My job was to come from behind the crowd, directly
overhead, perpendicular to the field, and timed to the second. The
fly-by is choreographed every year so photographers can capture
the iconic scene of disciplined graduates, in disorderly celebration
underneath a swarm of disclaimed hats, photo-bombed by
the U.S. Air Force's flagship formation.
One of the newly commissioned lieutenants that day was
Patrick Williams. His father, Dick, watched from the stands and
hugged his wife, Linda. It was a joyous scene for Patrick, an emotional
one for Dick and Linda, but a stressful one for me. The
graduation fly-by demands good headwork. Because of the runin
direction, it's impossible to pick up the stadium until too close
for any corrections. Misses by Thunderbird leads in the past are
infamous. As we began our run-in west of the field over the Rocky
Mountains, blind and out of radio contact, I uttered the universal
pilot prayer, " Dear God, please don't let me mess this up. "
This past summer, Dick, Patrick, and I discovered our shared
connection to that moment when we met for the first time in the
Idaho backcountry. Backcountry instructor Amy Hoover had
invited us to join her for July Fourth weekend at the Flying B
Ranch Landing Strip (12ID). Earlier this year Amy, Dick, I and
a host of other pilots, representing associations and state agencies,
had formed a coalition to improve safety and stewardship
in backcountry flying. I'd spoken with Dick but never met him in
person. He has flown the backcountry for decades in all kinds of
airplanes and all seasons. He's piloted for lodge owners, owned
Part 135 operations, given seminars, written books, and offered
instruction. I couldn't wait to get some of his time, guiding me
through this spectacular, demanding country. Patrick was in town
on vacation from flying F-22s with the Hawaii Air National Guard.
It didn't take long for Patrick and me to get into the " do you know
him, do you know her " associations. We swapped a few funny stories,
a bit of Air Force gossip, and eventually made the graduation
flyover connection. Now, here we were with his dad, each in our
own Super Cub flying the Idaho backcountry. How marvelous, this
small and intimate aviation community of ours.
Over the weekend, Patrick and I analyzed our enjoyment
of backcountry flying in the context of our shared background
28
AOPA PILOT / September 2021
flying fighter jets. We are both asked how we can enjoy flying a
150-horsepower Cub at 100 mph after flying beyond the speed of
sound, with more than 50,000 pounds of thrust available at the
snap of a wrist. At least part of the answer, we both believe, lay in
the mental challenge. A modern fighter jet is not hard to take off,
cruise, and land. The challenge comes in employing the airplane as
a weapons system. Sure, you must harness stick-and-rudder skills
and advanced air combat maneuvering, but those come early in
the training syllabus for a reason. They are the easiest of the skills
to master. Leading a mission, maximizing the airplane's combat
advantage, knowing when to engage, and having the discipline not
to engage when conditions are disadvantageous takes headwork,
judgment, and years of experience. Your stick-and-rudder skills
are assumed. They operate in the subconscious as you dissect the
air war developing and maneuver to engage with an advantage.
Backcountry flying shares the emphasis on headwork.
Certainly, you must have strong stick-and-rudder skills: short
and soft field operations; exact speed control; slow flight at high
gross weight; high density altitude flying; coordinated turns. All
of those basics are critical, compulsory in fact. Show up in the
backcountry without them honed and you will very likely damage
your airplane and hurt yourself. But the more demanding aspect
of flying the backcountry is the head game. There is no supporting
infrastructure, no ATIS, no wind sock, or sometimes dueling
wind socks placed at each end of the airfield indicating opposite
wind directions. Runways are short and rough and often offer no
go-around option. Almost all patterns are nonstandard and very
few finals can be flown on a standard 3-degree glideslope. Density
altitude can become extreme. Winds change swiftly. Thermal turbulence
can preclude precise aircraft control. Mountain drafts can
exceed the capability of your airplane to climb or descend out of
them. Pilots are tempted to follow others whose skill and aircraft
capability exceed their own.
A pilot's critical skill flying the backcountry-like flying a jet
in aerial combat-is headwork. Good stick-and-rudder skills are
compulsory, but all your best
skills are of no value if you put
yourself and your airplane in
an unwinnable situation.
richard.mcspadden@aopa.org
ASI Senior Vice President
RICHARD MCSPADDEN
owns a 1993 Piper
Super Cub.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2021

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