Page 17 - Twin and Turbine December 16

is already ahead of me, with the ATIS frequency dialed in, and the VNAV display already up on the FMS. GEG is clear, but has changed its runway to 3 from 21, the one I had initially programmed. More prompt button pushing by my long-armed PNF, and we are quickly set up for the ILS to 3. However, a few minutes later, I can see the airport from 20 miles out and decide to save some time by just hand-flying the approach visually, so we cancel IFR and I turn off the autopilot in order to set up for a wide left-base entry.
It’s always interesting to make vertical path decisions purely on the basis of how things look out the window from some distance away. As it turns out, I miss it slightly; when we roll out on a six-mile final, all four of the VASI lights are white. I pull the power all the way back, call for full flaps, and as soon as their drag drops the IAS below 150, ask for the gear. Fairly quickly, one of the white VASI lights turns red, and when another starts to turn pink I push in power to maintain Vref, trim out any control pressure, briefly take my hands off the wheel, and say to TL...“that looks about right, what do you think?” He replies, “yeah, looks fine to me, but you might want to stay five knots above Vref; we have lots of runway and it will give you a little more time in the flare.” Good idea.
Using the helpful landing hint, I touch down gently and we make exit G3 about halfway down the runway, which happens to be almost in front of the FBO. The tower clears us to Signature Flight, even while still on tower frequency. I call for the after-landing check list, which TL, with a bit more of “long arm” reaching, has already about half completed. The ramp guys have us park right in front of the FBO door and lend us a van to get dinner at the nearby Longhorn Steakhouse, where we get seated right away. The trip and check ride are going very well indeed.
It is well after dark by the time we get back from dinner. The Lear 40, all white and floodlit, with its engines looking like they are half the diameter of the fuselage, shines brightly just outside the FBO door, surrounded by orange traffic cones. We drink coffee and yawn until our VIP pax finally arrives at 10:30 and, while I get the clearance back to Seattle, TL briefs our pax and closes the door. As we taxi out, the controller voluntarily offers runway 21, even though runway 3 is being advertised as the active on the ATIS. That gives us a nearly straight shot at our destination of Boeing Field (BFI), and with a Lear’s low altitude burn rate, probably saves well over what we paid for dinner in fuel... good thinking on the controller’s part.
Ten minutes after takeoff, we are at FL 320 and shortly thereafter can see the entire Puget Sound basin from Olympia to the Canadian border, all lit up like a flat Christmas tree. Somewhere within that mass of light bulbs there is a beacon and two parallel lines of lights
belonging to the runways on Boeing Field. The controller informs us to expect a visual approach to runway 31L, which, even after a fair amount of visual groping in the sea of lights below us, we just can’t make out. So I just turn inbound when the needle centers on the ILS that “long arm” has conveniently already set up.
We land and drop off our passenger at Clay Lacy, then immediately take off again. Five minutes later we are at 4,000 feet heading directly for BVS, which is just about 20 minutes away. I have the airplane on autopilot, with heading and altitude mode activated and pulling about 65% power, with the airspeed just below 250 knots. Everything is going just fine until I notice the airspeed slightly fading. This puzzles me until I see TL has used a “long arm” to sneakily reduce the left engine to idle.
An engine failure at reduced power is not commonly practiced and can sometimes be initially confusing, because you do not get all the other cues, such as engine noise changes, or sudden deceleration and rotation about the vertical axis. In addition, when an engine operating at low power goes to idle, there are no warning lights and the autopilot in a Lear 40 does a remarkably good job of quietly sacrificing airspeed in order to maintain heading and altitude. Fortunately, I clue in to what is happening before anything bad happens, click off the autopilot, push in power and rudder on the right side, announce a left engine failure and ask for the checklist, which TL again handily takes care of, using his “long arm” method.
By the time we have finished with the engine-failure exercise we are near our destination. The conditions are CAVU and I elect another visual approach, but this time I cheat slightly because I know the location of OPIXE, the IAF (initial approach fix), by ground reference, and so I just head the airplane to that location while descending to the crossing altitude of 3,000 feet. When we get there and turn from base to final, the VASI lights show two white and two red, like magic. The last landing of the required three is completely uneventful, although I do have to fuss more than I would like, getting the reverse- thrust levers stowed.
Ten minutes later, we are standing at the counter in the office doing the paperwork when “Long Arm Lewis” reaches way over from the other side to sign off my•FAR 61.55 logbook entry...done for another year.
There is a lot to be said for a PNF with “long arms”. T&T
DECEMBER 2016
TWIN & TURBINE • 15
Kevin Ware is an ATP who also holds CFI, MEII and helicopter ratings, and is typed in several business jets. He has been flying for a living on and off since he was 20, and currently works as a contract pilot for sev- eral corporations in the Seattle area. When not working as a pilot, he is employed part-time as an emergency and urgent care physician for a large clinic in the Seattle area.