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When the Rubber Doesn’t Meet the Road
by Joe Casey
We’ve got a problem in the twin and turbine world, and I predict this problem is going to cause the demise of many nice and flyable airplanes this winter. What is the problem, you ask? Pilots accepting contaminated runways with a crosswind. I’ve preached about this issue to clients during training
events for years, yet pilots continue to end up in a snowbank or a ditch in perfectly good airplanes. I usually get a call shortly after the event and the pilot feels terrible, knowing the limits were pushed and immediately understands his or her error within a short discussion.
I believe the solution to this problem comes from a better understanding of the aerodynamics associated with a takeoff or landing and then applying that knowledge to the real world. So, let’s dissect a landing with hopes of cast- ing light on both the problem and the solution. Hopefully, the flight instructor community can collectively preach this same sermon and we can reduce the numbers of airplanes that leave icy runways this winter.
There are effectively four ways that a pilot can interface with the medium in which the airplane operates (air): ailerons, elevator, rudder and power. I know I’m going to a get chorus of corrections from those who feel that I left out the lowly flaps (if installed), spoilers (if installed) and trim tabs. But, those flight controls are either secondary controls (f laps and spoilers), or only relieve control pressures (trim tabs). Reduced to the lowest common denomina- tor, the ailerons, elevator, rudder, and power are the controls that must be managed in the heat of the moment to make a good (and safe) takeoff or landing.
The question is: What do those flight controls do during a takeoff or landing? Most pilots move the flight controls intuitively, meaning without much robotic action, and hopefully, that intuition is based on appropriate experience and honed by good instruction. We have a whole generation of pilots who learned to fly in directionally stable airplanes on the ground which means many pilots have a basis of experience that will fail them if the airplane suddenly be- comes directionally unstable – this can happen in the blink of an eye with a contaminated runway and a crosswind.
The long debate over pitch and power is not going to be solved with this article. In fact, I’m not going to address pitch and power in this article for they are not applicable to my final point. Rest assured, I shall tackle that ginger subject in a future article. For this discussion, the proper use of the aileron and rudder is the focus.
6 • TWIN & TURBINE February 2019