Accident Report Aspen Arribal

Our assignment was to read an accident summary about a Gulfstream III and its passengers. While reading it I noticed that the flight plan from the beginning was a tight squeeze to fit. They originally only had a slim margin of time to land the aircraft because circling minimums were not allowed at night anymore so they had to get down before a half hour after sunset at 6:58pm. On top of their tight time constraints the Boss of the charter flight spend a lot of money on the dinner they were to attend in Aspen and called the charter dispatcher to insist the aircraft take-0ff even though the pilots knew they were going to arrive late. They took off late knowing they would not make the landing curfew. They also ignored the signs because around 5 jets went missed approach prior to their arrival. The visibility was very poor and the crew wasn't sure of their position or of what action should be taken. The GPWS alarm kept going off and the first officer states, "to the right" which the capitan repeats but the runway is off to the left. I thought it was weird that there was a NOTAM stating that circling was not authorized at night and since no straight in minimums were published for the VOR/DME approach the entire procedure was not authorized at night and they should never had been cleared to fly the approach. The main lesson from this article is that even if you are pressured as a pilot...don't do something that your not comfortable with. "Get there Itis" is a dangerous thing

Single Pilot IFR

Basically you need to have skills to be flying Single Pilot IFR. I really like how they say a near perfect performance is what you need to bring to the table if you want to be sucessful. They say that more than three to five tasks, depending on the individual, accuracy and effectiveness deteriorate rapidly. That makes me think about the Hudson River Miricale. The pilot, an ex-airforce pilot, had run into a flock of Geese and lost both engines. I bet he had a lot of Multitasking to do in a little amount of time. In single pilot IFR if you are getting overloaded you should ask for a delaying vector, tell ATC to stand by, slow the aircraft down or just fly to a VOR fix instead of programming it into the GPS. Since I got my IFR rating last April I have only done a couple of approaches. I wish that I still felt confident flying IFR but i haven't practiced enough flight plans to keep my skills up. I remember flying with Jeremy IFR and the biggest thing i got out of it was to always be preparing for the next phase of your flight, stay ahead of the airplane and know what you have to do next. I learned more about the use of Flight Watch on 122.0 mhz for enroute weather advisories. I'm not sure if I feel ready to fly single pilot IFR...It says in the reading that if your mind can't arrive at an event at least two minutes before the aircraft then you are not ready for SPIFR...therefore I believe i would pass on it until I get a safety pilot, do alot of ground work, and practice in good weather first. I have not reason to take ne risks! except that i want to be good at it..

What is a Dry Sump, and what is a Wet Sump?

The difference between a Wet Sump and Dry Sump oil system is that a Wet Sump is what you have in your car. The oil pools at the bottom of a pan and a pump moves the oil from pool all the way through the engine. A dry sump makes the oil return to a reservoir by scavenger pumps. Oil gets pumped to the engine bearings by a pressure pump. This system has a dual oil pumps.

Blog Post #1

I have never had the opportunity to blog before and this is my first time. I'm pretty excited about trying it cuz it looks fun. Even if it is for the multi-engine class I'm taking. What I hope to get out of this class is the knowledge to feel safe when it comes time for me to get into the left seat of the Seminole. I also hope to get to know my classmates and the teacher better and ultimately learn the knowledge necessary to pass the FAA oral exam. I expect to have fun in the class because of the people that are in it know how to have a good time and still learn. I'm looking forward to this class and this semester overall because i have all aviation classes! YEAHHYA.