Letters

Trim tab tips

I just finished reading " Airframe and Powerplant: Airframe Alignment" (May Pilot). Having flown many types of model airplanes for years before moving up to full-size aircraft, I learned early on the importance of having an aircraft properly aligned, rigged, and trimmed. This is especially true in competition where you want your loops to end on the same heading in which they began.

I do feel, however, that some very basic information was missing from the article. Before attempting to adjust the fixed tabs on any aircraft, the pilot needs to know that the tabs must be moved in the direction opposite the control input that is needed. For example, bending a rudder trim to the left applies right rudder.

I can't tell you the number of times I have flown an airplane that seemed out of trim, only to find that someone had bent the tab the wrong way. I have had more than one argument with another pilot and even with a flight instructor on which way to bend a tab. This is usually settled, however, with a quick demonstration where we rotate the elevator trim wheel inside the airplane up and the individual sees that the tab actually does move down. He can't believe it.

Glenn Robinson AOPA 1153895
Deerfield Beach, Florida

Hand-propping

Although I consider William Kershner the best of the how-to-fly writers, I would like to add a few comments relating to hand-propping (" Practice Area: Propeller Hazards," May Pilot). First, it is my experience with my own 180-horsepower Cessna Cardinal and with Cessna 152s that swinging a propeller is not necessary. All that is needed is to pull the prop through the small angle required to fire the plugs. Second: It is better to be behind the propeller, rather than in front. Some of the 152s at the flight school where I taught had handholds mounted aft of the cowling to aid in climbing to fuel the airplane. By holding the right-side handhold with your left hand and pulling the prop down with your right, there is never any danger of being hit by the prop. Third, use the term ignition off rather than switch off. Students can, and have, turned the master switch off and left the ignition switch on.

William J. Kane AOPA 433154
Alameda, California

Having read Kershner's article on hand-propping, I feel the need to put in my two cents' worth. I believe that any aircraft that was designed to start with an electric motor is unairworthy unless started in that fashion. Of the many pilots I know, few are qualified to determine whether it is the battery or the starter preventing the aircraft from starting. Flying an aircraft without a known good battery is a poor choice.

Starting your lawn mower by pulling on its blade is another poor choice. Leave hand-propping to those flying antiques. Hand-propping accidents result in more bad press for aviation, which is one more thing we can all live without.

John Schreiber AOPA 931476
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Not a laughing matter

Clinton's clowns are at it again — "Only airlines to pay for access." The supposed purpose, to reduce/control traffic, is an outright lie. Ninety-five percent of big-city traffic is airliners. Projections say that passenger volume will double over the next 15 years. The airlines must be profitable to survive. Most passengers fly to and from big cities with approach controls. FARs say that passenger flights must fly IFR under positive control when possible. It is very clear that the airlines will have to pay these fees.

Why do they support the new fees? The airlines get what they have wanted for 30 years — exclusive, subsidized use of large blocks of airspace and all major terminals.

And with the concept of "fee for service" firmly established, everybody gets to pay — lots and lots and lots and ....

When our flying world looks like Europe's, don't say that you weren't warned. That's the plan; I say again, that's the plan!

Bob Durr
Charlevoix, Michigan

Precision approaches

I thoroughly enjoyed Thomas A. Horne's " Instrument Insights: Precision Approaches" (May Pilot). I am an ag pilot (ASMEL, CFII), but I rarely get to do any IFR work unless I am teaching during the off-season, so I welcome articles like his. Good job.

Robert A. McCurdy AOPA 814328
Grenada, Mississippi

Playing doctor

Thomas Haines' " Waypoints: Playing Doctor," (May Pilot) is a well-written, timely reminder about the hazards of self-diagnosis and treatment for aviators. The excellent description of the hazards of ambient pressure changes clearly points out the risks of developing conditions that are painful, expensive, and even possibly grounding for extensive periods. One potentially fatal complication of flying with a "stuffy head" was not mentioned. The phenomenon of alternobaric vertigo occurs with changing pressures in an ear that cannot equalize. The pilot can be overcome by sudden incapacitating vertigo, complicated by the intense pain of an ear block. Although I have seen several cases in my career as an Air Force flight surgeon and aeromedical advisor to a pilots' union representing many airlines, fortunately no episodes occurred in a single-pilot aircraft. All pilots lived to vividly describe their surprising and complete incapacitation.

Recognizing that all of us have flown with "a little cold," a few steps will minimize the medical (and administrative) risks. First, if you elect to fly on over-the-counter (OTC) nonprescription medications, avoid the decongestant-antihistamine combinations. All OTC antihistamines have sedating properties, sometimes subtle, that last from eight to 24 hours. These include Actifed, Tavist-D, Bromfed, Tylenol Allergy Sinus, and many others. The FAA will not approve flying within two dosing intervals of the last dose. Prescription antihistamines without sedating properties are available for those who suffer allergies and hay fever, but they have no benefit for the common cold. The pure decongestants with the active ingredients phynylpropanolamine or pseudoephedrine are generally not sedating and are useful for common colds. They are safer choices for the pilot.

If a decongestant pill can't clear your head before you take off, better judgment dictates postponing the flight. FAR 61.53 reminds us stoic pilots that the FAA won't let us fly "with a known medical defect," tempting as it may be to enjoy the thrill of flight every chance we have. For questions on specific medications, consult your AME or see the Virtual Flight Surgeons Web site ( www.virtualfs.com/index2.htm).

Quay Snyder, M.D. AOPA 1295171
Monument, Colorado

Citabria's Adventure

Kudos on your review of the Citabria Adventure (" Adventure Makes Three," May Pilot). It was a pleasure to read and piqued my interest in the Citabria line. I have a question concerning your description of weathercock stability in which "The Adventure banked gently into the wind, stopped the turn, and assumed a comfortable descent rate." Since the aircraft is part and parcel of the moving air mass in which it is flying, how does it know from which direction the wind is blowing? Perhaps the airplane turned because it was decelerating to a new trim speed and the angle of attack was changing, bringing into play gyroscopic and P-effect forces that quit when the new trim speed was stable.

James Arbuckle AOPA 306901
Bellevue, Nebraska

Runway incursions

As a pilot of 20 years and an air traffic controller at a very busy general aviation airport in San Diego, I felt compelled to comment on John Yodice's " Pilot Counsel: An Incursion Case" (May Pilot).

The first point that struck me was the controller's testifying that it is common practice to sometimes leave out the word to when issuing a taxi clearance in order to speed up transmissions. This is ludicrous. First, how much time can possibly be saved? The word is such an integral and meaningful part of the taxi clearance. When you receive a taxi clearance, if you have not heard the word to, then you should have been issued instructions to hold short at some point along the taxi route. If you have not, you should question the controller.

Second, it is not the controller's prerogative to decide when to drop certain words in prescribed phraseology. The air traffic control manual is very clear that prescribed phraseology is to be used first, then nonstandard phraseology may be used if necessary to ensure that the message is understood.

The manual goes on to say that good judgment shall be exercised when using nonstandard phraseology, to avoid incidents like this. What we all want from ATC is a safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of traffic. Proper phraseology from both controllers and pilots is extremely important in accomplishing these goals.

Matthew R. Morter AOPA 701616
San Diego, California

One for the Web

Almost exactly a year ago, I bought Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 and flew endlessly around the virtual world. One sunny afternoon while I was searching Yahoo's Web site for more information about Flight Simulator, I accidentally hit AOPA's Web site. One of the first buttons on the first page was (and still is today) " Learn to Fly."

I read the whole thing that afternoon. For the first time in my life I knew that I could be a pilot even though I wore glasses. On the following Saturday I picked up the phone and called the first flight school I found in the local Yellow Pages. The rest is history. I have been a private pilot for five months, finished the instrument knowledge test, and am only a checkride away from my instrument rating.

Without AOPA's fantastic Web site (www.aopa.org), I may never have discovered the joy and excitement of flying. Knowing what life has become after I earned my wings, what a dark and boring life it would be without flying! Thank you for putting up such a great Web site.

Mike Wei AOPA 1337527
Kearny, New Jersey

Pitch or power?

I, too, found Barry Schiff's " Proficient Pilot: Power and Pitch" (March Pilot) to be well done. However, Rodney G. Phipps' analysis that "A pilot won't end up on the back side of the power curve sinking or spinning into the ground [if pitch is used to control the approach path]" (" Letters," May Pilot) is dangerously flawed.

It is precisely because pilots pitch up for altitude, up to correct a low approach profile, that they end up stalling and spinning. Pitching to hold the nose up during a skidding base-to-final turn is a catalyst for the classic stall/spin accident. Pitching up to hold altitude while attempting to turn back to the runway following an engine failure literally pulls the airplane into an accelerated stall. Pitching up when attempting to stretch a glide or in a futile attempt to correct a low, slow, dragged-in approach is the catalyst for an inadvertent stall on final.

Eleven years of emergency maneuver and aerobatic instruction given — including more than 10,000 spins — has driven home to me the importance of pitching for airspeed, especially during critical flight operations. It is the only way to ensure positive control of an airplane during an emergency.

Barry Schiff is right on target: pitch primarily for airspeed; power primarily for altitude.

Richard Stowell AOPA 863347
Santa Paula, California

We welcome your comments. Address your letters to: Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701. Send e-mail to [email protected]. Include your full name, address, and AOPA member number on all correspondence, including e-mail. Letters will be edited for style and length.