Page 28 - Dec21T

Heavy snow will cause more preflight work.
Been There, Done That
An employer once over-primed an engine and caught it on fire. I’ve had a wheel brake freeze, windshield heat failure, CADC probe heat failure, fuel heat failure, wing heat failure and electric heat on one blade of a three-bladed prop fail. I’ve seen deicing personnel accidentally skip half of my airplane, had fluid holdover times expire and minimum takeoff fuel has been reached waiting in long lines. Make like a Boy Scout and be prepared. A wintertime addition of 10 or 20 minutes worth of fuel above your summertime number is prudent. List an alternate (or two) if the weather is marginal or if the arrival airport has only one approach
or one runway – snow plowing will close runways on a regular and unpredictable basis. Be ready for holding, a missed approach and a divert. Ramps will be slippery – walk and taxi slowly. Airfield surface marking and signs may be buried, covered or obscured, making incursions more likely. Aborting a takeoff due to an incursion, especially on a contaminated runway, will exercise your judgment and adrenal glands.
This time of year, dawn comes later and dusk earlier. Light may be fundamental to life, but for pilots, so is currency and proficiency. Just because it’s cold and dark, don’t solstice – get out of that tilted chair in your office and go flying. Both you and the airplane need to stay aeronautically limber despite our astronomical condition – a condition that creates more work for pilots. Don’t be a snowflake about cold weather – or my comment about snowflakes. Earth’s 23.44-degree tilt will, after all, make it, you know, like winter.
Kevin Dingman has been flying for more than 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737, DC9 and CE-650 with 25,000 hours in his logbook. A retired Air Force major, he flew the F-16 and later performed as an USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organiz tion Wings of Mercy, is retired from a major airline, flies the Cessna Citation for RAI Jets, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke.Contact Kevin at dinger10d@gmail.com.
26 • TWIN & TURBINE / December 2021
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