Flying Training
Lesson 33: Precautionary Search and Landing
Sunday 20 August 2006, 2.30pm with Kerry Scott in Citabria VH-MWY
Weather: clear, wind WSW 5-10kt
Crosswinds this morning died away by the afternoon so it was plan B. I arrived early to find that Kerry's previous lesson had been cancelled, so we had time for a leisurely briefing and preflight. During the preflight I found that the landing light wasn't working, but as we weren't planning to fly at night this wasn't a showstopper.
I'd read Kerry's briefing for this lesson where she made the point that in most circumstances there were good reasons not to go through the full precautionary search and landing procedure. For example, if fuel or light is low, a forced landing may be more appropriate. You don't want to have the engine stop while flying a low-level circuit in unfamiliar territory!
So the emphasis was on landing at an Authorised Landing Area (ALA), where you've planned a landing into an unfamiliar field, and you want to make sure that it's long enough, the surface and conditions are suitable and there are adequate underrun and overrun areas.
After a couple of lessons in the Warrior it felt good to strap on a Citabria again, and MWY has a nice simple panel; in fact the radio is even simpler than RRW. I started up (remember stick back!) checked the ATIS (runway 24, code Golf) and taxiied to the runup bay. Finding an aircraft already occupying the nearest bay (slightly inconsiderate) we had to taxi behind him. This meant holding down the aileron closest to him in case he chose to do a full-power run-up as we passed him, and using left rudder to make a little detour to maximise the spacing between us. I chose the far bay.
Kerry was keen to have me work out the appropriate radio call, so she just said, "Take me to Warragamba Dam." This was where I found I'd left my VTC in the office, and I needed it to work out whether we were looking at an upwind or crosswind departure. Actually I knew it would be crosswind, but it's also important to fly outbound avoiding the inbound tracks. The call was, "Camden Tower, Citabria Mike Whisky Yankee, ready runway 24 for crosswind departure to the training area, with Golf."
Takeoff was fine (though I could probaby have lifted off a little sooner) and we turned north at 800' and set course for a large green feedlot between the Mayfield and Bringelly inbound tracks. The tower had said, "Cancel climb restriction," so we were able to climb to 4000' without waiting till the 2nm boundary (parallel to Oran Park). Kerry suggested 4000' to keep us well above any inbound traffic. We had a couple of other aircraft nearby, but they were never going to match the Citabria's rate of climb.
Once at 4000' and trimmed I set course for the ALA by the water pipeline. It stands out clearly because of the almost-white gravel surface.
(Incomplete)
Photos
After the lesson I took a wander around the airfield and looked at aircraft old and new. In fact I hung around so long I ended up helping to put the aircraft back in the hangar.
 Pitts |
%20takes%20Doug%20out%20for%20a%20spin%20in%20the%20Pitts.&date=Sunday%2020%20August%202006&sizes=lmst) Pitts |
 Pitts |
 Cherokee (1) |
 Cherokee (2) |
 Cherokee (3) |
 Glider |
 Tiger Moth |
%20taxies%20in%20after%20landing%2C%20as%20the%20Pitts%20takes%20off%20behind.&date=Sunday%2020%20August%202006&sizes=lmst) Canard |
 Canard |
 Dak wings |
 Centre section |
 Retraction jack |
 Landing light |
 Blimp |
 Blimp |
 Tiger Moth |
%20strap%20on%20the%20Tiger%20Moth%20for%20a%20tailwheel%20checkout%20flight.&date=Sunday%2020%20August%202006&sizes=lmst) Tiger Moth |
 Tiger Moth |
Lessons Learned
Remember VTC and licence when flying in the training area.
P.S. When taxiing an aircraft to the hangar at the end of the day, do not swing it round so the propwash blasts back into the hangar. And mind those wingtips.