Focus on Recovery

[pelmet]

Strange things do happen with student involved in accidents and I usually don't post anything here as my conclusion for learning something was that it was a student pilot. But I did find this one interesting. Focus was taken away from potentially preventing an accident to advise that one was about to happen.......


"C-GSWM, a Cessna 150L aeroplane operated by the Regina Flying Club, was conducting touch
and go circuits during a solo Air Cadet student flight at Regina Intl. (CYQR), SK. On the third
circuit, the aircraft landed hard and bounced resulting in a harder second touchdown and bounce.
The student declared a partial MAYDAY advising ATC that a crash was imminent. During the final
impact with the runway, the nose landing gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded nose down 50 to
75 feet to a stop. Airport emergency services were activated and the student was able to exit the
aircraft uninjured. The aircraft sustained damage to the nose landing gear, propeller, engine,
engine mount and cowling. A small amount of fuel leaked onto the runway. There was no fire. The
DND Directorate of Flight Safety (DFS) is investigating."

[CpnCrunch]

These kinds of accidents always make me wonder whether the instructor forgot to teach the required bounce recovery technique, or if the student just forgot about it.

[Squaretail]

The fact that the student pilot apparently attempted a mayday call between bounces suggests a poor prioritization of instructional techniques.

[digits_]

The fact that the student pilot apparently attempted a mayday call between bounces suggests a poor prioritization of instructional techniques.

*That* is the part that you think suggests poor instruction?

[Squaretail]

The fact that the student pilot apparently attempted a mayday call between bounces suggests a poor prioritization of instructional techniques.

*That* is the part that you think suggests poor instruction?

There’s a lot to be said there, it’s really the tip of the iceberg. I mean obviously if one is bouncing , it probably a too fast approach (as usual) trying to desperately drive the poor thing onto the runway. But the instinct in the student to get on the radio, means that in their training in addition to poor technique, there’s probably a communicate first priority to the training. Which leads to the poor learning of skill, and probably the absence of a recovery technique being taught. The root cause as it were. I would wager that if we were to see the entire approach phase in detail, the student was prioritizing how their downwind call was made and their final call over any precise flying of the airplane.

It’s unfortunately all to common to see pilots lose control of the airplane and situational awareness the moment they stab the mike button or hear another transmission.

[TG]

Well... To make a radio com between bounces or even remotely thinking about doing one, he wasn't flying the thing anymore that's for sure!

[PilotDAR]

To make a radio com between bounces or even remotely thinking about doing one, he wasn't flying the thing anymore that's for sure!

Perhaps it was still in the student's mind that someone else could recover the situation for him. His mind had not adapted to the reality that now he was solo, and the required resolution of the problem was his alone. At the least, the student had not been taught to purposefully reduce workload in a high stress situation by focusing solely on the most immediate problem, and ignoring everything else which was no essential until that problem was under control.

Instead of ignoring non essentials, he created another one, by even thinking about the radio, let alone using it, and presumably awaiting a response!

[Meatservo]

On several occasions I have seen a licensed commercial pilot, during initial type-specific training, bounce or porpoise and then let go of the controls and yell "you've got it!!" at the apogee of the bounce. Once, embarrassingly, I had just finished training a new pilot and signed them off on the company's little runabout Cessna. Their first flight was to take the company owner to another airport for a meeting. They bounced and yelled "you've got it!" just as the aircraft was nosing over for its second attempt to land nosewheel-first. This little scene was related to me in slow and excruciating detail BY the owner when he got home, none too pleased.

Over the years I have witnessed this phenomenon several times during training of initial hires. Usually they are people who received Canada's now rather cursory training on some small, low-powered machine and then are inadequately prepared for how quickly a much larger and more powerful machine (which includes literally any aeroplane that is large enough to be useful in a commercial context) will lash out and bite when it is mishandled. The two types I have seen this the most are the Cessna 185 and the Twin Otter, specifically Twin Otters equipped with CAP floats. Both by reputation are easygoing, lumbering aircraft but also have a mean streak when mishandled. Obviously, as all aeroplanes do.

I have sympathy for this cadet. Having a Canadian Forces cadet scholarship awarded when you are a teenager is one of the most exciting things that can happen. But the training is on a timeline. And it's awarded to the highest-achieving cadets. In his book "David and Goliath", Malcolm Gladwell explains some unanticipated pitfalls of being a member of a high-achieving cadre. You are used to being recognized as a very clever and capable person in your home unit or primary school. You get accepted into an Ivy-League school, or in this specific case a summer squadron of high-achieving cadets of relatively high (cadet) rank, and suddenly you are under a lot of pressure to succeed. It might sound blissful to have your training paid for, and it is indeed a massive privilege, but you're now on someone else's dime and schedule. It's a job.

Not that any of this excuses what happened. My point it that I've seen commercial pilots give up at the worst possible moment. This was a child with (probably) less total flying time than I did at work yesterday. And this cadet will not simply be giving a statement to a TSB or Transport guy. There will be a military investigation, and the results will be published on the Canadian Forces website for all to see for a very long time. Pretty tough shaft for a kid who isn't even a full fledged CF Member and will likely now not receive his or her wings, which I'm sure many of us remember as a crowning and highly emotional moment of our little teenaged existences. I'm not casting aspersions where they don't belong, but flying is sometimes scary and sometimes difficult even for people who ought to be used to it. Some people were never meant to fly, and flight training is often where this is discovered. Conversely, perhaps the Cadet involved here will persevere and become a competent pilot, military member, or maybe both. It's simply "a thing that happened" and at the end of the day it signifies very little. I hope the cadet gets over it and perseveres. I would like to tell them "Focus on Recovery" in both ways that phrase can be interpreted. The Canadian Forces offers professional counselling services not just to serving members but to cadets and their families. If the cadet was reading this, I advise them to avail themselves of it if they are having trouble thinking about it, or are experiencing and aversion to resuming training.

[PilotDAR]

Great post Meatservo!

I have had many occasions to fly design approval test flying on a modified airplane with a company pilot in the other seat - usually for insurance. In early days, mostly resulting from my failing to entirely brief that pilot as to what to expect, there was not always cockpit harmony during unusual maneuvering (which might have been uncommon to the company pilot). So, I highlighted, during my briefing what we'd be doing, and that "I would continue to fly the plane no matter what happened - unless they said "I've got it" in which case, I would let go, and they would have it." No pilot ever said "I've got it" to me.

Memorably, while I was receiving intensive confined area training in the MD500, my awesome instructor, for the only time during our training together, "shadowed" the controls. He said: "don't be un nerved, but I just can't go from hands on lap to flying quick enough in here." No problem! He never actually touched the controls.

If you have chosen to fly the aircraft, get your head there, and fly it no matter what (unless a competent instructor says: "I've got it"). Keep your mind ahead of the aircraft, so nothing it does should be able to surprise you beyond your capacity. If you do not feel confident that you will fly no matter what, seek out more competent instruction.