Safety Through Information

1
Safety Through Information

• Getting the information you need to fly safely
  even when youre in new territory

By Grant McHerron
2
Youve all heard these, right?

• Praemonitus, praemunitus
• (Fore-warned is Forearmed)
•  
• Be prepared  
• Baden-Powell the Boy Scouts
•  
• Knowledge is Power
• Sir Francis Bacon
• Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's
  ignorance.
• Confucius
• No Campaign plan survives first contact with the
  enemy
• Carl von Clausewitz
•  
• Planning is everything, the plan is nothing
• Dwight Eisenhower

3
Pilots Have Known This For Almost 100 Years

• "The success or otherwise of the airway is in
  the hands of the people who do the work the
  pilots. In their hands rests everything. No man
  can be born a fully-trained pilot no pilot can
  ever be fully trained. All pilots should ever be
  learning, ever striving to increase their own
  efficiency. Efficiency begets confidence, and
  thus safety. So aim at being safe"

Captain Travis W. Shortridge "Blind Bad Weather
Flying" Slipstream Magazine, 1930 (pilot of the
ill-fated Southern Cloud)
4
Legally, you must be prepared!

• CAO 95.54 4.2                CAR 233             
        CAR 239
• The pilot in command (that's you) has to
•  
• Plan the flight for the route to be followed and
  any aerodromes to be used (and any alternates),
  covering
• Current weather reports forecasts
• Airways facilities available their conditions
• Conditions of any aerodromes their suitability
  to your aircraft
• Air Traffic Control rules procedures pertaining
  to the flight
• Carry (with easy access to) the information you
  need during the flight, including
• Maps covering the proposed area of operation
  showing aerodromes, controlled airspace,
  prohibited, restricted and danger areas along the
  likely flight path
• Any other information instructions required

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Today may not be like Yesterday

• You must have current information available to
  you
•  
• You need this information in your home area as
  well as when you go to a new area
•  
• Never assume you know what's going on because you
  flew here yesterday - always look for what's
  changed, new info, etc

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What's stopping you?

• "Who's got the time? The weather is right now!"
•  
• "I don't need the latest maps - my parts don't
  really change."
•  
• "I just fly where I know and don't go elsewhere."
• "It's too hard to stay up to date."
• "It's not like I'm flying at an airport and can
  just drop by the pilot's shop."
• "We're recreational fly under their radar."

7
Sources of Knowledge

• Government Sources
• ERSA, AIP, VFR Guide
• NOTAMs
• Maps
• VNC, VTC, ERC Low,TAC, PCA
• Geoscience,LIC NSW, VICMAP, etc
•  
• BoM
•  TAFs, METARS, etc
• ABF
• Pilot Training Manual, Operations Manual
• Website

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Save the Trees!

• ERSA, AIP, etc
• http//www.airservices.gov.au/flying/default.asp
•  
• CASR, CAR, CAO, etc
• http//casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMSSTANDARDp
  cPC_90902 
•  
• Briefing Services
• http//www.airservicesaustralia.com/brief/
• http//www.airservicesaustralia.com/NOTAMMAPS/INDE
  X.ASP 
• http//www.airservices.gov.au/Brief/areabrf.asp
•  
• TAFs, METARs NOTAMs
• http//reg.bom.gov.au/reguser/by_prod/aviation/
• http//www.airservices.gov.au/brief/html.asp?/cgi-
  bin/avreq?area30
•  
• ABF
• http//abf.net.au/links.htm 
• http//www.abf.net.au/SZ.htm
•  

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It's all Geek to me!

• How to read a TAF
• AIP GEN 3.5 - 25
• http//www.canberragliding.org/jforum/posts/list/7
  3.page
•  
• Decoding NOTAMs
• http//www.flyingineurope.be/notam_decode.htm 
• Understanding NOTAMs - Part 1 Part 2
• http//bathursted.ccnb.nb.ca/vatcan/fir/moncton/We
  eklyTopics/Archives/20040404/CurrentTopic.html 
• http//bathursted.ccnb.nb.ca/vatcan/fir/moncton/We
  eklyTopics/Archives/20040411/CurrentTopic.html
•  
• VFR Guide
• http//www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMSSTANDAR
  DpcPC_90008
• Airspace Regulations Summary
• http//www.recreationalflying.net/tutorials/naviga
  tion/airspace.html

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Flying Somewhere New?

• Look for charts (aviation topographical) -
  start assessing airspace boundaires, what
  airports/airstrips/ALAs are in the area, what
  Area Forecast zone is it in
•  
• Go to the ABF site and start checking for PZs,
  SZs Hazards
•  
• Use the ABF member directory to find people in
  the area and CALL THEM to learn which land
  holders can be relied on for launch/landing plus
  any transient or seasonal problems that may not
  be on the ABF site (crops being sown/harvested,
  livestock, etc)
•  
• Check ERSA entries for all airports in the area
• Start building up a mental image of the 3D
  picture of the space you'll be flying in
  (landscape, boundaries, hazards, etc) and do some
  "what if" thinking of how you'd fly for various
  wind conditions - what you'd watch out for, etc.
•  
• Mark up your maps reference cards (cheat
  sheets) with information so it's easy to find all
  you need when you're in the air

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A Few Days Before

• Watch the weather forecasts, synoptic charts
  trends
• Check for NOTAMs
•  
• Check ABF site again and give balloonists with
  local knowledge a call

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Let's go fly near Mildura

• Check out the ABF site for info about the area
•  
• Look at the Planning Chart of Australia - find
  it's in area 30 on WAC 3458
•  
• Get the maps for the area (WAC, ERC LOW 2,
  VICMAP topographicals - Meringur Merrinee)
•  
• Look up Mildura in the ERSA to get code (YMIA),
  frequencies notes
•  
• Look up AirServices web site for TAF/METAR and
  NOTAM info
•  
• Start reading/viewing thinking
• Get ABF member directory and start finding people
  in Mildura to call

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Here's a TAF/METAR

• MILDURA (YMIA)
• RAIM GPS RAIM PREDICTION 151401
• YMIA
• TSO-C129 (AND EQUIVALENT)
• FAULT DETECTION
• NO GPS RAIM FD OUTAGES FOR NPA
• TSO-C146A (AND EQUIVALENT)
• FAULT DETECTION
• NO GPS RAIM FD OUTAGES FOR NPA
• FAULT DETECTION AND EXCLUSION
• 10160308 TIL 10160337
• 10161007 TIL 10161016
• 10161036 TIL 10161053
• 10170306 TIL 10170333
• 10171003 TIL 10171011
• 10171032 TIL 10171049
• 10180305 TIL 10180329
• 10180959 TIL 10181007

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Here's some NOTAMS

• MILDURA (YMIA)
• 
  C0048/09
• RWY 18/36 DECLARED DISTANCE CHANGES
• RWY ASDA
• 18 1139
• 36 1139
• FROM 09 140455 TO PERM
• 
  C0022/10
• RWY DECLARED DIST AND GRADIENT CHANGES
• RWY TODA
• 09 1950(2.18)
• 27 1980(1.62)
• RWY 09/27 TRANSITION SFC INFRINGED.
• 18 1199(2.36)
• 36 1199(2.39)

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Be Willing to help

• Provide information to the ABF so the website can
  be updated
• PZs, SZs, hazards, etc
• Help make that section of the site something of
  benefit to all of us
•  
• Be available for calls from other balloonatics
  who are going to fly in your area
•  
• Online forums (downwind.com.au? Aunty Monkey?)
•  
• Social experiences with other pilots ("Hangar
  flying")

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It's all about Airmanship

• Somehow airmanship, which is not just flying,
  but is everything flying means, is a very
  neglected subject If only young pilots would
  forget that a joy stick is in many ways only a
  secondary consideration, that circuits and
  landings do not make a pilot, that they never
  will learn all that the air can teach them, and
  that advice from old hands should never be
  disregarded well, lots of young pilots would
  still be pilots!

Captain Travis W. Shortridge "Blind Bad Weather
Flying" Slipstream Magazine, 1930 (pilot of the
ill-fated Southern Cloud)
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Thanks for making it to the end

• Grant McHerron
•  
• mcherron_at_gmail.com
•  
• 0422 914 949
• www.flymefriendly.com
• www.planecrazydownunder.com