Page 26 - August18T

Jet Journal
The Currency Conundrum
Spoiler control on the Lear 40.
by Kevin Ware
It was a hot and dry day near the banks of the Columbia River in Eastern Washington. The lawn sprinklers were creating a distracting fine mist with mini-rainbows as I made an approach to the helicopter’s designated grass landing area. I had another pilot onboard and a group of field
workers also watching, so I really wanted this set-down to be gradual and smooth. To my satisfaction, that was what happened. But after shutting the machine down and exiting, I was disappointed to see that the right skid was about 5 inches to the left of the yellow line of dry grass located where the helicopter’s skid was parked earlier. In a helicopter, putting the skid exactly where you found it without even thinking is an indicator of real competence. And though no one else noticed this small snafu, I thought to myself, I could be more current.
A week later, I was pre-flighting the Lear 40 and found the flaps were left down by the crew who flew the previous trip. The flaps are electrically controlled but hydraulically driven, and since pulling them up requires an engine start, I decided to leave them where they were until we were ready to go. When my fellow Lear pilot arrived, I pointed the flap position out and we briefly discussed this small oversight by the previous crew. We noted that we would be extra careful not to commit a similar sin.
So, upon returning that afternoon, we made a smooth landing then proceeded to diligently work our way through every item on the after landing checklist, ensuring we pulled the flaps up. Thinking ev- erything was perfect, we then taxied up to our home FBO smiling smugly. But the smile soon turned to a blush of embarrassment when I opened the door and with a slight grin the line guy said, “Spoilers are out.” I looked and sure enough, they were. Now, how the heck did that happen? Simple. The spoiler lever moves by an indent, but only a half-inch exists between armed (ARM) and retracted (RET). When we reached that checklist item, I apparently did not push it quite hard or far enough to do the job. Though no harm was done, I again thought to myself, I have not flown this airplane for a while. I could be more current.
A month or so went by, and I was making an ILS approach in a round-dialed Cessna 340 outfitted with Garmin avionics and an older Bendix King autopilot. This combination usually works well, but there are a few steps you have to remember or things can go awry. One step is switching the navigation source on the Garmin control head from GPS to ILS – which I successfully caught. The second step is switching the King autopilot control head from NAV to APCH. About the time that task was due, the controller gave me a clearance and while reading it back, I was a little late in pushing the APCH button. This caused the yel- low glide slope needles on the airplane’s old round dials to show the airplane was slightly above the glide slope. I caught this gauge indication and (based upon recent flights in turbines with good FMS systems) thought, the autopilot will probably fix it.
But as the airplane continued to remain above the glide slope, I remembered in that particular airplane, with that particular avionics and autopilot, it would only capture the glide slope from below, not above.
24 • TWIN & TURBINE
August 2018