Page 43 - June 2015 Volume 19 Number 6

helping us avoid CFIT on arrival. And a Class-A TAWS will help to ensure proper landing configuration as well.
Climb, Climb Now!
We should all be practicing a handful of the alert and warning modes from our TAWS each time we go to the sim for recurrent training. At my carrier, windshear and terrain alerts are two of the many “first-look” maneuvers included in a long list of mandatory events that we perform every time in the sim. First-look means we are not forewarned about when, where or h how often the alerts will occur – – just like real life. The requirement is both a test and a strengthening g of the mental memory-muscles to ensure instinctive compliance with the warnings. While I’ve never experienced an actual terrain warning, I did experience my first TCAS RA (resolution advisory– a traffic warning in which you must react) recently. We were in IMC and the TCAS display was being shared with the weather radar. The display scale was at 40 nm due to convective activity, making the TCAS target appear at the very bottom, where the radar display comes to a point. At DFW, all departures have a top altitude of 10k and all arrivals have
a bottom altitude of 11k – a 1,000- foot difference. If the departing and arriving aircraft are climbing and descending at 1,300 fpm or so and are converging, the TCAS of one or both aircraft will compute an incursion into the safety bubble. This was the case during our arrival and the TCAS instructed an immediate climb of over 2,000 fpm instead of our existing 1,200 fpm descent: Autopilot off, auto- throttles off, initiate rapid but smooth compliance. Shortly after beginning the maneuver, a break in the clouds allowed us to spot the o other aircraft– and, as you would d hope, it wasn’t even close and it w wa a s s n n’ ’t t a a g g o o a a t t . .
Immediately and Instinctively
As was discussed in the April T&T article “Where Are We Now, Exactly?”, even if the TAWS operates as it should, action initiated by the crew is what makes the airplane avoid the rocks, not the avionics. After all, we are the ones flying the plane, the ones who are supposed to know exactly where we are at all times, and the first ones at the scene of the impact if we fail to do so. In the past, I’ve discussed the phenomenon of time compression during an intense event: how our
memory works and, more relevant to this article, how we experience a mental delay when we’re surprised or shocked by an event. Unlike piston-engine failure training, in which we verify, identify and feather, or the well-known axiom to “Wind The Clock” to slow us down, so as to not make a bad situation worse through our haste, it’s critical that we are trained and conditioned to react immediately, and instinctively, to both TCAS and TAWS warnings.
The escape maneuver or procedure for your plane likely includes disengaging some, or all, of the automation, then hand-flying a prescribed maneuver. Once into the maneuver, it probably has you check your configuration for such things as spoilers and power settings, and then to monitor aircraft performance to ensure terrain separation or a return to normal performance during a windshear event. Don’t think about it, don’t question it, don’t analyze a false warning, don’t look around to figure out what it sees – and don’t delay. Like the Nike slogan says: “Just Do It.” Be smooth, but be quick. You can get on the radio after you have a successful recovery in progress; tell ATC or other aircraft what you are doing. Don’t worry, following a TCAS RA or a TAWS warning gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card to violate any clearance or regulation.
P Pi il lo ot t s s W Wh ho o S St t a ar re e a at t G Go oa at t s s
Based on Jon Ronson’s non-fiction bestseller of the same name, the movie “Men Who Stare at Goats” is based on the U.S. Army’s foray into psychic research for use as a weapon. During an allegedly true incident, a psychic operative stared a goat to death. Staring at a TAWS warning is like staring at the goat in a cloudbank, believing that it must be wrong. Even if you think you’re a psychic, the goat won’t fall over and the rocks won’t move out of your way. This is one of the few times in aviation that you are encouraged to act quickly and instinctively. When the TAWS gives you a warning, don’t s s t t a a r r e e a at t t t h he e g g o o a at t . . E E s s c c a a p p e e. . I I
JUNE 2015
TWIN & TURBINE • 41