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This week’s LESSONS: There is a second “controls check” that applies to a great many airplanes, but that I consistently find pilots know very little about and almost never accomplish.
Before we begin, let me remind reader of the critical need to complete a Controls: Free and Correct check before every takeoff. Not just on the ramp before you taxi (although that’s a good idea too), but at the end of the runway too…including each time you prepare to add power for takeoff, even on multiple trips around the pattern and stop-and-goes on a long runway. It’s the “C,” the vital first item in the old CIGARTIPS pretakeoff check mnemonic.
In the May 2016 FLYING LESSONS we discussed the pretakeoff flight controls check, including:
The purpose of the control check is twofold:
1. To determine that the controls move freely throughout their entire range of motion, without restriction or “snags”—the free part of the check; and
2. To confirm that the controls have been connected properly, so they move as expected when the cockpit controls are moved—the correct part of the test.
We reviewed the crash of a military transport that was the result of locked controls; my experience with a wide variety of students who either ignore the controls check or give the yoke only a slight wiggle, thinking they have eliminated control obstructions; the need to check for quality of movement, i.e., no “hard spots” or places where the controls “hang up” in their travel; and the proper procedure for completing a controls box check in both yoke- and stick-equipped airplanes. Check out FLYING LESSONS for May 19, 2016 for the full report. See: www.mastery-flight-training.com/control-check.html http://www.mastery-flight-training.com/20160519-flying-lessons.pdf A few months later the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) published the results of a cockpit controls check compliance study using data from large business aircraft that record flight control position and control inputs—part of “black box” monitoring (yes, I know the boxes are really high-visibility orange). NBAA’s study, undertaken at the recommendation of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) following the highly publicized takeoff crash of a Gulfstream jet blamed on control lock engagement, found that nearly one in five professionally-flown
business jets took off without a proper Controls—Free and Correct check. If professional crews using challenge-and-response checklists and tasked specifically with watching each other to ensure compliance with procedures are omitting the controls check with such frequency, what are the chances that pilots of single-pilot airplanes without the in-cockpit quality control of a Pilot Monitoring (PM) are remembering to do a Controls—Free and Correct check every time? See: www.nbaa.org https://www.nbaa.org/ops/safety/flight-control-checks/nbaa-report-business-aviation-compliance-with-manufacturer-required-flight-control-checks-before-takeoff.pdf www.ntsb.gov There is suggestion that the recent, widely published takeoff loss of control and crash of a Beech King Air into a shopping mall in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) may have been influenced by a flight control issue. Despite early reports that the big turboprop suffered an engine failure that presumably led to the pilot’s loss of control, preliminary information from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is now that both engines appear to have been operating all the way to the point of impact. It’s far from “known” yet, but I suspect ATSB has and will be looking at the free and correct operation of that airplane’s flight controls as the investigation progresses. See: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-29/atsb-preliminary-report-essendon-plane-crash/8395820 www.atsb.gov.au But there is even another, second controls check that must be done before takeoff in many, many airplanes. Yet my experience is that almost no one routinely does these checks, knows where to find the procedure, or even knows these critical, lifesaving checks exist. What am I talking about? Autopilot and electric trim system checks.
The autopilot is an autonomous flight control system, and as such it can command changes in airplane attitude before you can even detect them. To have a reasonable expectation the system will work as expected you must do a preflight performance check of the autopilot and the trim system it uses to move the flight controls. The autopilot check will almost certainly not be in the Aircraft Flight Manual (AFM) or Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH). Autopilots are usually added as options; hence their operation and checks are included in an autopilot supplement to the AFM/POH…you know, one of those supplements that is required to be carried in the airplane as part of airworthiness.
Bendix/King KFC Pilot’s Guide: Similar to but not the actual POH Supplement for this once-ubiquitous autopilot/flight director system
Buried deep in the Supplement you’ll find all kinds of information including, applicable to this week’s LESSONS, the Preflight Check. This is usually done as part of the Before Takeoff
checklist, itself containing the engine run-up (where applicable) and usually done out at a remote run-up pad somewhere between tie-down and takeoff. In the KFC200 Pilot’s Guide the preflight check is way back on page 27…and it’s in narrative, not in checklist form. The POH Supplement has a somewhat more “checklisty” checklist, but still strong on narrative, and as I recall (I don’t have one handy as I write this), back on about page 24 of the little booklet jammed into the POH ring binder on many a 80s-vintage high performance single and light twin.
I have created my own pocket checklist for this particular device since I see it so often in the flight instruction I provide. It goes something like this:
1. Autopilot Test button – PRESS and release 2. Autopilot tone – BEEPS 3. Indications - CHECKED
If autopilot passes the self test, the tone beeps five to seven times and stops, and the annunciator flashes five to seven times and extinguishes. If autopilot fails the self test, the tone beeps 12 times and stops, and the annunciator flashes 12 times and remains illuminated. In this condition the flight director and autopilot will not engage. Operational test
1. Flight controls – CENTERED 2. Heading bug – CENTERED on current heading 3. Flight Director button – ENGAGED. 4. Flight Director command bars – APPEAR, level attitude/wings level 5. FD annunciator – ILLUMINATED 6. HEADING and ALTITUDE modes – ENGAGE 7. HDG and ALT annunciators – ILLUMINATED 8. Autopilot – ENGAGE 9. Autopilot annunciator - ILLUMINATED 10. Heading bug – LEFT of centered 11. AP/FD command bars – INDICATE LEFT TURN 12. Heading bug – RIGHT of centered 13. AP/FD command bars – INDICATE RIGHT TURN 14. Heading bug – CENTERED 15. AP/FD command bars – CENTERED 16. UP/DN altitude change rocker switch – PUSH and HOLD in either position 17. Command bars – INDICATE CLIMB or DESCENT as appropriate 18. Electric trim – After about three seconds, RUNS IN THE NOSE UP or DOWN DIRECTION as
appropriate 19. Controls – MOVE LEFT AND RIGHT, FORE AND AFT. Confirm ability to manually override the
autopilot. 20. Autopilot - DISENGAGE
Trim system test
1. Split trim switch – MOVE LEFT SIDE FORE AND AFT. Trim will not run
2. Split trim switch – MOVE RIGHT SIDE FORE AND AFT. Trim will not run
3. Split trim switch – MOVE BOTH SIDES SIMULTANEOUSLY FORWARD, then AFT. Trim will run in the appropriate directions.
While running the trim in either direction:
4. Manual trim wheel – HOLD to confirm ability to manually override electric trim system
5. Autopilot disconnect/trim interrupt switch – DEPRESS and HOLD.
6. Autopilot – DISCONNECTS. Disconnect tone sounds approximately five times, and autopilot annunciator flashes approximately five times then extinguishes.
7. Flight director command bars – REMAIN ENGAGED
8. Electric trim – STOPS for as long as the interrupt switch is held
9. Trim switches and disconnect switch – RELEASE
10. Flight director button – PRESS. Flight director command bars retract
Look for and employ the full autopilot/trim check that applies to any aircraft you fly. Knowing the KFC200 check very well, it takes only a couple of minutes (if that) to check operation and review procedures for the use of the second control system before every flight.
Once your autopilot and trim system check is completed successfully, return to the standard POH checklist. This is usually where you do the “usual” Controls—Free and Correct check, and set the trim for takeoff (since its position has moved multiple times during your autopilot/trim check).
That’s a lot to do for a second control check, the autopilot supplement procedure. Most systems will not activate without passing some sort of self-test, so most pilots know about the first, short part of the check. More (but far from most) pilots seem to know about the trim check, in my experience. And very few seem to have an inkling about the full test that makes up the bulk of the second control check. But it’s this detailed check that tells you the true operational condition of your airplane.
Was a preflight autopilot test done by the single pilot of a Citation jet that fatally crashed in Georgia this week? According to preliminary information, the NTSB reported that the pilot radioed during the accident flight that he was having problem with his autopilot. See https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20170324-0
Would including the full autopilot/trim check during initial transition and recurrent training in autopilot-equipped airplanes make a pilot more familiar with the system, to avoid horrible and preventable events like this A36 Bonanza over Florida, only four miles from the departure airport in very good, visual conditions, in which the NTSB relates:
…the pilot advised the controller that the flight was at 1,800 feet and descending…the pilot indicated he was…unable to disengage the autopilot. The pilot then informed the controller that he needed to get the airplane on the ground and requested assistance. The pilot was provided a vector to return to ORL, and about 1121:52, he informed the controller that he had to use full force and asked on the frequency if anybody knew how to turn off the autopilot. An unknown voice instructed him to pull the circuit breaker. The controller asked the pilot if he was able to descend, to which he replied he was pushing as hard as he could on the control yoke. An unidentified voice on the frequency instructed the pilot to pull the autopilot circuit breaker, to which he replied he had but the airplane was porpoising. Witnesses reported seeing the airplane bank, then observed it descend in a nose-low attitude into the lake.
See https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20151120X31605&key=1
And although it is not part of the Supplement preflight check, it’s vital to remain proficient and ready to disengage the autopilot and the electric trim system in the event of a trim runaway—a personal experience I related way back in the May 19, 2011 FLYING LESSONS Weekly. See https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/library/documents/2011/May/54237/FLYING%20LESSONS%20110519.pdf
We don’t all have autopilots. But many of us do. And a new wave of low-cost, capable autopilot systems will likely soon add this level of automation to a much larger number of light airplanes, including many types that traditionally have never had the option of an autopilot installation.
If you have an autopilot, you must have an autopilot supplement…and it almost certainly contains an autopilot preflight check. Even if it doesn’t, it’s a very good idea to run through its modes at least on the first flight of a day, to ensure it and the trim system it drives is working properly.
For the pilots of currently-equipped airplanes, and those who some day may find themselves flying with autopilot capability, remember that after the manual Controls—Free and Correct test (which itself requires good checklist discipline and practice to do correctly), there is also a second controls check: the Autopilot and Electric Trim System check, found in the autopilot supplement to the specific aircraft’s AFM or POH. Comments? Questions? Criticism? Let us learn from you, at [email protected]
See http://www.pilotworkshop.com/tip/estimating-crosswinds/turner
Debrief: Readers write about recent FLYING LESSONS:
Responding to last week’s LESSONS about runway slope, and the week before’s addressing tailwinds for takeoff and landing (the Crash of Convenience series), Ron Apfelbaum writes:
Hi Tom. I continue to enjoy your work and find it educationally valuable. In regard to the recent Flying Lessons Weekly discussion on downwind takeoffs I offer these comments:
There may be other factors to consider in regard to direction of takeoff. Johnson Creek (3U2) is a beautiful Idaho State Recreational Airport at which, although 3500 foot long and 150 feet wide of well-maintained turf, it is strongly recommended to be treated as a one-way strip for departures. Landings are usually to the south but landing to the north is acceptable “should conditions warrant.” However, departures to the south are “strongly discouraged”, to quote the Idaho State Aeronautical Directory. Along with rising terrain, there are some tall trees, probably 100' tall, at the south end [that] some pilots have become intimately familiar with. They "knew" their plane would take off in a shorter distance into the wind, and "knew” they would be airborne soon enough on this relatively long backcountry runway and had the climb performance that made the trees a non-issue, so with a strong south wind they choose to take off to the south.
But the factor missing in this equation is that, with the south wind, the airmass itself was not only moving northward but descending. The airport is at an elevation of 4933' MSL, 17 miles to south Landmark airstrip (0U0) is at 6662', so the airmass is running downhill when flowing from the south. Both are in the same valley bordered on each side by significantly higher terrain (8500 to ~9200'). Aloft in this sinking air some pilots have found that they did not have the climb performance required. One such aircraft a few years ago was a new Cessna 182 with 4 people on board that was totaled, fortunately without loss of life. Others have not been so fortunate.
At this airport the recommendation is that if you don't feel you have the performance to takeoff downwind, don't depart until the conditions improve. I realize that this is a special issue related to mountain flying and will usually not be applicable in most cases, but it again points to the need to obtain “local” info for unfamiliar airports and consider the big picture.
You’re absolutely correct, Ron. It almost never makes sense to take off or land with a tailwind, or take off up a sloping runway or land down one. But almost never means it may make sense in some special cases. You example is one. Ultimately the LESSON should be a reminder to actually calculate takeoff and landing performance using as much information as possibly available. Most POHs do not provide conversion factors for runway slope, and few have much data for tailwind departures and arrivals. In those cases you must very conservatively apply the general rules I outlined in the Crash of Convenience articles. THEN, you must take any local conditions into account. As you wisely stated, this means actually talking to local pilots…and avoiding the area until you have the chance to do so. Thank you very much for adding your experience to the discussion! See: http://www.mastery-flight-training.com/20170323-flying-lessons.pdf http://www.mastery-flight-training.com/20170316-flying-lessons.pdf
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Thomas P. Turner, M.S. Aviation Safety Flight Instructor Hall of Fame 2010 National FAA Safety Team Representative of the Year 2008 FAA Central Region CFI of the Year Three-time Master CFI
