By Kevin "Hognose" O'Brien
Upset is not how we like things to be. Upset
is bad for you, whether we're talking about your spouse, your
stomach, or your airplane. Now, though an upset spouse or upset
stomach can usually be tamed, an upset airplane might leave your
relatives with no options for a chat with you, short of an Ouija
board. But while most training focuses on keeping you far away from
the edges of the performance envelope where upsets can happen, some
increasingly-popular training takes you there deliberately -- and
shows you how to come back. In upset recovery training, as offered
by Aviation Safety Training (AST) of Houston (TX), pilots are
trained to bring the plane back to straight and level flight with
minimum loss of altitude and minimum distress to the passengers
(not to mention the plane). Upset recovery training isn't
aerobatics; it's emergency maneuvers training.
At AOPA Expo 2003,
AST's Rick Gillenwaters (right) explained the need for (and
principles behind) upset training to an enthusiastic crowd. Rick is
a former military pilot, as are many AST instructors; he flew F-15s
in the USAF. He's now a civilian 737 pilot, but still retains that
fighter-pilot confidence. This broad experience makes him a good
spokesman for AST. The company brings effective training
techniques, honed over decades by the military, to the civilian
pilot.
Many operators offer an upset training syllabus. AST's
particular program is called AMP (c), which stands for Advanced
Maneuvering Program. Its objective: to train the pilot to recognize
an upset and react correctly, instinctively, to one.
Task: recover from upsets/unusual
attitudes
Conditions: given a T-34, standing in for
anyplane; an instructor; and training
Standards: minimum altitude loss/minimum distress
to those on board
When Do You Know You're Upset?
An upset is an unexpected departure from normal flight
attitudes. Some favor a definition based on more objective
criteria; one often cited is:
- more than 25 degrees pitch up
- more than 10 degrees pitch-down, or
- more than 45 degrees bank angle.
Many things can lead to an upset, including wake turbulence,
mechanical failure, storm conditions, icing, and unusual winds
(i.e., mountain rotors, downbursts).
What Do You Do When It's Brown Over Blue?
Underpinning the training is the philosophy that, in a sudden
upset, a pilot will do what is instinctive. Since his natural
instinct (We're headed down -- pull back, pull back!) is incorrect
(now he's headed down, and stalled), AST supplants those
bad instincts with new ones, inculcated by practice, drill,
repetition. The technique will be familiar to anyone who ever
served in the military (or played on a sports team). The point is
to get the recovery sequence ingrained to the point where it is all
but a reflex -- or as Rick put it, until it's stored in "muscle
memory."
The basic recovery technique in AMP is called the
"mantra," a term they've trademarked.
MANTRA: push... power... rudder... roll
Another phrase is sort of a mantra of its own: step on
the sky
Here's what those words mean:
- PUSH
This is to unload the aircraft, to reduce G-forces, and most
especially to reduce angle of attack and prevent stall. This runs
contrary to normal instinct, which is to pull back on the stick or
yoke when the aircraft is pointed downhill, and pull back harder in
proportion to how steep the nose-down attitude is (even if the
plane is nose-down, but stalled). Such is the normal instinct, but
it's wrong.
- POWER
Add power. The power is added for the same reason you pushed -- to
prevent stall. Again, this is counterintuitive for the usual 1G
pilot. His normal reaction would be to cut power when pointed
down.
- RUDDER
Use rudder to raise the nose towards the horizon. Because this is
for some a hard abstraction to visualize, Don Wylie, founder
(president and chief pilot of AST) adapted the sub-mantra STEP ON
THE SKY. This also produces top rudder, but is easier to remember.
The purpose of this is to prevent loss of altitude or overspeed.
This is neither intuitive nor counterintuitive.
- ROLL
With the dangers of stall and overspeed prevented, the pilot can
roll the machine back to wings-level.
These steps are learned as a matter of drill, through
repetition, to make the student internalize this procedure.
However, in practice, the steps are executed rapidly, even
simultaneously. For instance, the PUSH need not (and should not) be
held indefinitely; instead it's all but momentary.
The point of the thing is getting the lift vector oriented so as
to move you away from danger (i.e. terrain). In an upset, the lift
vector is often moving you closer to danger.
The Laundry List of Subjects Covered
Aerodynamics review |
Application: |
Causes of "Upsets" |
AST MANTRA(tm) |
AST Lift Demonstration ALD(tm) |
AST Lift Vector Management LVM(tm) |
"G" Demonstration |
Establishing Muscle Memory(tm) |
Physiological and aircraft effects |
Uncommanded excursions (Upsets) |
Flight physiology |
Runaway trim/hard-over rudder |
|
Yaw dampener malfunction, etc. |
Human Factors |
Wake turbulence and windshear |
Temporal distortion
Hypervigilance-Kinesthetics |
Accelerated stalls(recognition and recovery) |
Unusual attitude recoveries |
Spins (recognition and recovery) |
|
Wake turbulence demonstration |
That's quite a lot to
pack into a rather few hours of training, but with the techniques
developed by Don Wylie (right) and others at AST, it's certainly
do-able.
The Underlying Science
The course doesn't kick right into those muscle-memory
exercises. It begins with an aerodynamic review or refresher --
although sometimes, to Rick's chagrin, it seems more like 'Intro to
Aerodynamics.' To military pilots, managing angle of attack and
lift vectors is second nature; to civilian pilots, even very
experienced ones, these terms are much less well-understood. The
lift vector is, as every private student learns, a product of angle
of attack and speed. But what private students don't really
internalize is that because the lift vector is a function of these
things, it's completely independent of pitch.
That's not the only part where current training practices leave,
in Rick Gillenwaters's opinion, students unprepared. Nowadays,
steep turns aren't even being flown at 60 degrees. As a result, an
entire generation of pilots has been brought up without
experiencing even 2G flight. (One of the training drills rectifies
this deficiency. The pilots find it surprisingly difficult to raise
their feet off the floor of the machine to put them on the rudder
bars, under constant 2G).
This is the latest salvo in a decades-old philosophical battle
between those that believe that training should teach the pilot to
always stay in the comfortable dead center of the plane's safe
performance envelope, and those that believe that pilots should be
taught to respect the edges, but be ready to operate within the
whole envelope. Philosophical fights like this never end, but most
everyone takes a side. Right now, the FAA seems to believe in the
risk-reduction by using 'narrowing the band' theory, and aims to
reduce exposure, while the upset-recovery instructors like AST, and
their students, and most of the airlines, and the insurers, seem to
believe in the 'grow-the-pilot' theory, and aim to increase
exposure.
The Adminis-trivia
The two-day initial AMP course takes place at D.W. Hooks
Memorial Airport (KDWH) just outside Houston. The class has a half
day of academics in the morning, and the first of two training
flights after lunch. [Lunch helps settle your stomach;
paradoxically, you are more likely to lose your lunch if you
haven't eaten lunch --KO.] Pilots will log about 1:15 to 1:30 that
day, then debrief. The next day, there are no academics. A second
flight of about the same duration, with a couple more techniques
and reinforcement of the first ones. Again, this flight is followed
by a debrief.
The debriefings are enhanced by video; the planes have several
video cameras installed. (You can see some of the resulting videos
at the AST website).
The pilot gets to take home a video of his flights, along with a
Certificate of Completion (no doubt suitable for framing) and his
training records. In addition, the student gets his Spin
Endorsement and BFR.
Why a T-34?
One is tempted to say that they chose T-34s because they already
had them; AST is a subsidiary of "Texas Air Aces," a
warbird-adventure outfit that primarily caters to nonpilots seeking
to scratch a Walter Mitty itch: would-be aces tangle in T-34s
equipped with laser target-scoring systems and smoke generators.
Rick admits that it's handy to have planes available that can do
double duty, but he continues, in quotes that sound quite like this
material from the company website, "These aircraft are uniquely
suited for this mission in that they closely approximate the
performance... of the general aviation, corporate and airline
fleet." By 'performance,' they mean "maneuverability,
power-to-weight ratios, wing loading and roll/pitch/yaw rates."
Another factor is that the machines can stay up long enough to
conduct the training in two longer, more-efficient flights, rather
than suffer the multiple takeoffs, landings and climbs to safe
maneuvering altitude that a shorter-legged machine would
require.
AST doesn't like competitive acro planes for this type of
training because, to put it simply, they don't fly like the
transport or GA planes that clients usually fly. They also don't
have enough fuel to complete all the training without more flights
-- lots of time-wasting climbing and descending.
These technical differences are stated by AST as: "much higher
wing loading and power-to-weight ratios" and "roll, pitch and yaw
rates as much as 8 times higher then that of the aircraft
operated by our clients. "
But... What About the Spars?
As many Aero-News readers know, the T-34 had a
near-death experience after the FAA reacted to a fatal accident
involving a "warbird-adventure" type school, Sky Warriors, in
Atlanta on April 19th, 1999. The spar failed under significant G
loads and the wing separated from the aircraft in flight; both men
on board were fatally injured. On May 28th the FAA issued an
incredibly onerous inspection AD (AD 2001-13-18), which also
drastically reduced the flight envelope for the machine. This rapid
action (for the FAA) indicates how seriously they viewed the
problem. Later, they updated and modified this guidance in
SAIB 02-38. A new update is probably
going to be issued soon.
Raytheon, which owns the type certificate for the T-34 (and
presumably any liability still attendant thereto) was bashed in the
T-34 community as trying to eliminate the machine, and the T-34
owners and maintainers worked to develop alternate means of
compliance with the AD. One of these reinforces the spar with a
doubler, and cold-works the rivet holes. A second adds a strap.
Aviation Safety Training takes another approach, and replaces
the spars completely with Baron spars. (This spar is actually a
"common spar" used in several Beechcraft designs.) This is called
the "Nogle Common Spar Alternate Means of Compliance." Any of these
mods satisfies the AD and, to the satisfaction of the FAA and the
pilots that fly them, restores at least some of the strength of the
T-34. The mod used by AST is arguably the best, but also one of the
most expensive, at $60,000+ per plane. But it restores the full
aerobatic capability of this retired veteran.
Do it in Your Own Plane?
Yes, AST will train you in your own plane, within the boundaries
fixed by the plane's operating limitations and the FARs. The T-34s
are aerobatic, and stressed for +6 Gs; most client planes aren't.
"We had one guy come here in his King Air," Rick recounted, "and he
didn't think the T-34 training would transfer." He wanted to do it
in his plane. After he did the maneuvers in the T-34, he did it in
his own machine. "We did the same maneuvers, or as nearly as we
could do legally, in his plane," Rick remembered. While the
skeptical pilot and another AST instructor did the maneuvers, Rick
flew chase in a T-34, and shot video. "Except for the limitations
imposed by the TC and regs, the flight looked the same. I put the
video [of the pilot's King Air upset-recovery] on one side of the
screen, and the video from his T-34 [upset training] on the
other."
Price?
Depending on how you look at it, AST's AMP could be the most
expensive hours you ever logged -- or the cheapest way you ever
saved your life. The initial AMP course is $2,995. (You also have
to figure the cost of travel and an overnight stay in Houston). A
1-day refresher is also available, at $1,495, and according to
Rick, it's popular. They also have an abbreviated "Introductory"
Upset Recovery Training Course, which is (the website says): "a
$1495 course consisting of 3 to 4 hours ground training addressing
the aerodynamics of 'accelerated' flight and one flight of approx.
1.5 hours duration."
Flight departments that are interested in this training can
contact AST to talk about tailored training. Company spokesmen
indicate that they'll come to you, if it makes financial sense to
do so. (Given the large number of accidents of transport and
business type aircraft resulting from in-flight loss of control,
many flight departments are sending all their aircrews. The pilots,
who usually enjoy the training, often consider it a non-taxable
benefit.)
It's our turn, now.
This is the first time that AST ever presented the program to a
Part 91, price-sensitive audience; they usually promote themselves
to corporate and airline flight departments. As a result, they
usually don't run into price complaints. The airlines and corporate
G-IV and Lear 45 operators think this is money well spent. The
airlines, in particular, are reputed to be tight-fisted with
training dollars. [But they buy this program. You might want to
think about that.]
You can also get a substantial discount from some insurers for
taking this course. The insurance certification is included in the
bag of goodies you take home. Depending on your insurer, the AMP
program may meet their requirements for recurrent training.
What to do if you're interested:
Aviation Safety Training has an excellent website. You can also
reach them at (800) 544-2237 or (281) 379-2237.
There are other vendors offering similar training; we're sure
that Rick and Don would encourage you to check them all out before
selecting one that meets your needs. After all, over 2,000 pilots
did, and selected Aviation Safety Training.