Page 25 - Oct2016 Vol 20 No 10

Most ChecklistThe wings and engines separated during the accident sequence but remained within 20 feet of the fuselage in their approximate and respective locations relative to the fuselage. The right propeller separated from the engine and exhibited span-wise gouging and curling in an “S” pattern. The left propeller remained attached to the engine. The blades were positioned to a flat pitch with little chord-wise damage and minimal curling.There are many lessons to be learned from this event, and we’ll likely glean even more once the NTSB investigation is complete. It appears that once the pilot got the Baron airborne following his balked landing attempt, however, the flight succumbed to a stall during a go-around...an unfortunately common contributor to fatal accidents. However, pilots who know the airplane type suspect that a second, common contributor mayhave played a part. The vintage Baron involved in this accident was equipped with independently selectable auxiliary fuel tanks. Those tanks are limited by the manufacturer to be used in level flight only—a limitation that, as far as I’ve seen, applies to auxiliary fuel tanks in all airplanes so equipped. Pitching the nose up for climb can unport the fuel in the auxiliary tanks, causing power interruption or a total engine failure.There are similar warnings that prohibit using auxiliary fuel pumps for landing in some airplane types, while other engines require aux pumps to be on for landing. Almost every airplane type has one control or another that should be set a specific way for landing. Forgetting one of these things in a busy arrival or traffic pattern, or if you’re a little tired or distracted at the end of a long day, can have disastrous consequences. That’s why you need the quality control of using a pre-arrival checklist.From the POHOne reason pilots don’t often use the Descent checklist, I believe, is that there’s not a lot on the checklist in most Pilot’s Operating Handbooks (POHs). There are a lot of pre-landing items on the Before Landing checklist, but short final is not the time to be diverting your attention to read through a printed checklist. So, we do what we need to do “Before Landing” from memory, and we forget that the Descent checklist even exists.Covington Aircraft Engines Half Page4/C AdOCTOBER 2016TWIN & TURBINE • 23