Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

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Aero-Tips 07.24.06

One very helpful workload-reduction tool I employ in flight is what I call the Altitude Critical Area, or ACA. The idea for the ACA comes from the airline industry and most notably author Robert Sumwalt, who coined the term to describe the final portion of an instrument approach. I've adopted the term but expanded on the concept greatly in teaching single-pilot resource management (SPRM).

An Altitude Critical Area is any range of altitude --

• within 1000 feet of the ground, and/or
• within 1000 feet of a level-off altitude (whether on climb or descent) until established and trimmed on that altitude.

The idea is to reduce workload by limiting nonessential tasks when in an ACA. Don't be calling ahead to the FBO for a fuel load or a rental car when flying in an ACA. Avoid pulling out charts or briefing yourself for an approach or programming the GPS when in an ACA. In almost all cases these sorts of tasks can wait until you're established and trimmed on level flight, or you land or fly out of an ACA. Evoke a "sterile cockpit" when inside an ACA, after first briefing your passengers on what a sterile cockpit means, and how and when you'll declare sterile cockpit rules to be effective on board your aircraft.

Pilot workload is high enough on takeoff, on approach and landing, and during intermediate and final level-offs without adding the distractions of passenger conversation and extraneous, non-time-sensitive tasks.

Aero-tip of the day: VFR or IFR, observe Altitude Critical Areas to reduce workload and increase safety.

FMI: Aero-Tips