My revelation came on a cool fall evening in 2000. I had recently checked out in a brand-new Cessna 172R. While planning a crosscountry with my wife and daughter for the next day, I ran the weight and balance numbers—the first time I’d done so for the airplane with full fuel, three passengers, and bags.
The result surprised me: With full tanks, I could launch with two passengers— but no weight remained for luggage.
What happened? My growing preteen daughter had gained nearly 20 pounds since I last updated her fl ight-plan weight. However, the airplane itself had put on quite a few pounds. The new Cessna's payload with full fuel was 100 pounds less than that of the 1979 172N I was accustomed to (compare the 172R's payload to that of some other earlier Skyhawks, and the difference is even more dramatic).
Why did it happen? This wasn't just a case of a design gaining weight over time— as new features or options are added to a certified airplane, the maximum gross takeoff weight usually stays the same, so useful load gets smaller and smaller (there are "six-passenger" airplanes that, practically speaking, can carry only three).
Older Cessna 172s were certified under Part 3 of the Civil Aviation Regulations. However, Cessna halted piston-aircraft production in 1986 because of product liability concerns. After Congress legislated relief, Cessna resumed production with the 172R in 1996, and the new model meets the updated standards of FAR Part 23—which includes a 26-G crashworthiness requirement. The new seats, designed to help meet those standards, are more comfortable, fully articulating, and more substantial, but there's a weight penalty. (The updated Skyhawk includes a number of other safety enhancements, as well.)
I could have launched with less than full fuel tanks—but leaving fuel behind would have ensured a fuel stop en route. I was current in a larger, faster Cessna 182 with plenty of load-carrying capability, so we took it instead.
SEATBELT AIR BAGS. Aircraft certifi cation regulations don't change often, but when they do, they generally seek to improve safety—and often foster innovation. In 1988 the FAA issued regulations requiring that any new commercial transport aircraft model entering passenger service be designed so that passengers could survive a 16-G impact (the previous requirement was 9 Gs), and by October 27, 2009, all production commercial aircraft in the United States had to be certified for 16 Gs, said Joe Smith, general manager of AmSafe. The company makes seatbelt air bags based on automotive air bag technology.
Airliners have trouble meeting those requirements in front-row seats, exit-row seats, and some crew seats, he said. That created an opportunity for AmSafe, which also looks at head-injury criteria. "Primarily what you see in crashes is you get hit on the head, you're knocked unconscious, and can't get out of the airplane," Smith said.
After finding success in the commercial market, "we started looking at the GA market. Cessna was the first major OEM to adopt it" when seatbelt air bags were offered as standard equipment in the 172, 182, and 206 beginning in January 2005. "Midland College in Texas got some of the first air bag deliveries," he said. "From Cessna we went to Mooney; Cirrus started making it standard in the Cirrus SR20 and 22 for the front seats."
These air bags also can be retrofi tted on many popular older models. And they're not heavy; installing a kit for two seats typically results in a total aircraft weight increase of between 2.5 to 4 pounds. "I think if we look at the whole fleet of aircraft flying out there, we're probably pushing close to 30-percent coverage," Smith said.
Most people don't notice that they have that protection, he added. Unlike in your car, where the air bag is in the dash— or steering wheel—an aircraft air bag is typically on your lap. "The system has an electronics module that senses the crash and determines if it's actually an accident." If it is, an electrical trigger is sent to the gas storage device, and inert gas fills the bag. "All of this happens within 40 to 50 milliseconds. It's all within the blink of an eye.
"We've had quite a few saves to date where we believe they made a difference in survivability, or reducing the injury they would have experienced," Smith said.
AMAZING SAVES. Ricki Halling, a student pilot in the Phoenix area, found herself just before Mother's Day 2010 where no pilot wants to be—in an accident. "I was practicing slow flight, steep turns, and that kind of thing," she recalled. When she returned to the airport to land there was some crosswind shear, and she decided to go around. "This where I'm not sure exactly what happened. My husband thinks it was one of those dust devils," but without dust, it would have been invisible. The NTSB states the accident's probable cause as "the student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during a go-around, resulting in a stall/mush."
"I flipped, clipped my wing, and skidded," the 42-hour student pilot recalled. The Piper Cherokee 235 was upside down and on fire, but the fire extinguished itself as she decelerated. "My plane was completely demolished. No one knows how I got out." Her only injury was a scratched knee. "I really think the air bags were the only reason I got out so easily. I was liter-air bag deploy, but it didn't even hurt."
Halling said she'll never have another airplane without air bags. "The salvage man that came to pick it up said he'd never seen a crash of this magnitude that didn't involve fatalities."
Kevin Black, a part-time flight instructor in the Nashville area, worked for a Florida school and was on a training flight with two students in a Cirrus SR20 near Jacksonville in November 2008. The student flying reduced power to descend, "then he went to add throttle, and it wouldn't move forward at all. I tried it and it was stuck. I immediately made a U-turn, because we had just passed over a private airstrip." Black thought about pulling the Cirrus' parachute but strong winds would have pushed them over a swamp. "I said, 'I'm going to try to make a glide to that airstrip.' We came up about a quarter-mile short."
After skimming the top of some hundred-foot-tall pine trees, the airplane hit the ground, slid about 100 feet, "then it flipped over upside down and came to a stop." After they climbed out through a window, Black used his cell phone to call for help, which arrived in about 45 minutes via four-wheelers. The airplane had AmSafe air bags on all four seats, he said, and they all deployed. "Nobody was hurt, everybody was fine. I didn't even realize that those air bags had deployed," he said.
PARACHUTES. How about a parachute— for the entire airplane? Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS), now a unit of BRS Aerospace, produced its first rocket-launched, full-airframe parachute for the ultralight market in 1982. The chute isn't automatic; the pilot deploys it by pulling a handle in the cockpit.
The company tested the certified aircraft market in 1993, and today its ballistic parachute systems are standard on all Cirrus aircraft, as well as the Flight Design CT series. Systems are available as aftermarket equipment for a variety of aircraft, including the Cessna 172 and 182—and Diamond Aircraft plans to off er the system on its D-Jet, currently under development; it could become the first very light jet with an airframe parachute.
BRS has shipped more than 30,000 units to date. Do they work? As of early July 2011, the company's website documented 240 lives saved by BRS parachutes.
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. Are you training in an airplane with a Garmin G1000, Avidyne Entegra, or other glass cockpit? The information that these products can provide—including near-real-time weather, traffic advisories, airport taxi diagrams, and terrain and obstruction warnings—provides pilots enhanced situational awareness that, properly applied, contributes significantly to general aviation safety.
Today, glass displays can be retrofitted to many airplanes. And you don't need a full glass panel to get the most useful information. Aspen Avionics' modular approach lets you buy the display(s) you need; and even a single Garmin GNS430 or 530, combined with datalink, offers appreciable benefits.
Don't own an airplane? Renter pilots can consider portable solutions. Combined with a satellite-data subscription, Garmin's compact aera 560 (list price, $1,799) and tablet-sized GPSMAP 696 ($3,295 list) will display weather radar and terrain data, in addition to helping you find your destination. A variety of other products provide similar capabilities.
Portable traffic-warning devices also are available. The most basic and least expensive are passive systems, usually mounted on the glareshield, that receive and display other aircrafts' transponder returns when they're interrogated by ground-based radar. Manufacturers including Monroy, R5, and Zaon off er collision avoidance systems that range in price from about $500 to $1,500.
AVOIDANCE IS THE BEST DEFENSE. UND Aerospace, which operates the University of North Dakota's flight-training program, insists on special-ordering skylights in the cockpit roofs of its new Cessna 172s—the only customer to do so. But school officials feel strongly that the additional visibility, especially while turning or in the traffic pattern, is a significant safety benefit.
UND Aerospace's highly structured, professional flight-training program also employs a Safety Policies and Procedures Manual that's similar to what students will use later, flying the line for an air carrier or corporate operator. It addresses a variety of issues, from operating procedures to weather limitations, even including a prohibition against using cell phones on the ramp. The manual offers a clear reminder that avoiding an accident is always the best course, despite the features designed into our aircraft to protect us from one.
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