Waypoints

AOPA Pilot Editor in Chief Tom Haines flies a Beech Bonanza from Maryland's Frederick Municipal Airport.

It's as if Mother Nature has gathered her apron around her, coddling an arm full of angry clouds. The boiling masses march over the ridgeline like some army from Armageddon. Fast and furious the storm clears the Catoctin Mountains — the Appalachian's last hurrah before the Atlantic. Grasping for the stratosphere, the clouds release their fury. Like an army's rocket attack, lightning splits the evening air, followed seconds later by booming cracks of thunder.

In my mind's eye, this drama unfolds before me not from the perch of an airplane cockpit (I would be headed the other way!), but from the comfort of my front porch swing. Contemplating such summer attractions makes worthwhile the effort of the last few days as we have moved into a new house with a big front porch and an unencumbered view to the west. Next to flying on spectacularly clear days, one of my favorite pastimes is watching — safely from the ground — the theatrics of nature in the form of thunderstorms.

Switching houses is a lot like switching airplanes — it's the subtle differences that can get you. I reach the wrong way for the light switch in the laundry room. The silverware drawer is over there, not over here. Even the cat is confused. Used to going out through a patio door that slides from the left, she sits and waits patiently for it to open there at the new house. Here, though, it slides from the right.

Pilots switching between various older and newer models of Beech Bonanzas understand the nuance. Older Bonanzas and Barons have the flap switch to the left of the center control column and the gear switch to the right. Somewhere over the years, someone decided it should be the other way and most other manufacturers place the controls just the opposite. Beech gave in to convention in 1984 when it redesigned the panels for the 36-model Bonanzas and the model 58 Barons. The F33A soldiered on for a few years with the old style layout before being discontinued altogether.

The difference between the switch placements has caused many a gear-up accident for the Beeches and probably other models as well, as pilots of older Beech airplanes have migrated to models with the gear switch on the left and flaps on the right. Even my 1972 A36 fell victim to the trap a decade ago — by Beech service center personnel who should know better. Under a previous owner, the airplane was in for service. The Beech technicians took it up for test flight. Everything worked just fine — right up to the moment on the landing rollout where the pilot, used to flying newer models, reached over to put up the flaps. Only the switch he grabbed happened to be the gear switch. The landing gear did exactly as asked and neatly folded up under the airplane. The sickening sound of grinding aluminum must have been deafening and probably career limiting as well.

The damage to the belly was relatively minor. The flaps bore the brunt of the carnage. The newly installed three-blade propeller earned instant Q-Tip status. The incident demanded an engine teardown and the owner took the opportunity to upgrade the powerplant from the stock 285-horsepower IO-520 to the 300-hp IO-550. So, indirectly, I am the beneficiary on every flight of some careless technician's mistake.

Forever in fear of making the same error, I never touch anything on the panel until I'm stopped clear of the runway. At that point, I take a moment to clean up the cockpit, including reaching for the flap switch while saying, "These are the flaps," looking at the switch, and then putting it in the up position.

To further complicate things, I occasionally fly a newer model A36 with the gear and flap switches in the opposite positions. The habit of stopping and identifying the switches before moving them serves me well in that airplane. Likewise, anyone who flies my airplane gets the same instructions.

The Beech designers apparently originally put the flap switch nearer the pilot because it might be actuated a bit more often on each flight. Other manufacturers didn't buy into it and the standard became the reverse, dooming many a Bonanza and Baron to a short, sickening stop on the runway.

Mooney is the one manufacturer that got it right. The gear switch is big and obvious at the top center of the panel. The flap switch is smaller and located near the engine controls, where your hand will naturally be during takeoff and landing. It's easy to bump in a little more flaps at various points in the pattern to make the landing work out right.

The one time when I'll throw out the rule about not touching anything until clear of the runway is when flying a Mooney. You can dramatically improve the runway handling of a Mooney — particularly in a crosswind — by quickly removing the flaps just as the airplane touches down. The change dumps lift, shifting the weight to the main gear, decreasing the skittish nature of the airplane and allowing more aggressive braking on a short runway.

The consequences of a mistake are a bit greater than opening the wrong drawer in the kitchen, but flying a new type of airplane is nonetheless a highly rewarding experience. It also makes for great hangar flying as you sit on the porch watching Mother Nature's fireworks.

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