There is a thought that engineers created performance charts just to drive pilots crazy. And, as if that were not enough, they had to include “notes,” “cautions,” and “warnings.” The pilots need to heed all those, too, just to keep from making a serious mistake–according to the engineers.<\/p>\n
Just to be clear, a “note” is something pertaining to the operation of the aircraft. For example, a note may be something as mundane as, “Add 10 percent of the total distance to the ground roll for takeoff in high, uncut grass on soft-surface runways.” What the pilots want to know is how in the world did the engineers come up with 10 percent?<\/p>\n
And how high does the grass actually have to be to require exactly 10 percent? One question pilots often ask is, “Can l get away with eight percent for moderately high<\/em> grass?”<\/p>\n Another question they have been known to ask (of the airport manager) is, “Dude, when are you gonna mow the runway?”<\/p>\n When the engineers discovered the pilots were not paying enough appropriate attention to their “notes,” they had to up the ante. This is how “cautions” came into existence.<\/p>\n According to the engineers, not paying attention to cautionary items could result in damage to the aircraft or a systems component. Pilots read this as, “If you don’t follow this rule, you may have to pay for the repair.”<\/p>\n This brings us to the most serious of the engineering terms: the “warning.”<\/p>\n Pilots are careful in disregarding the warnings. The description of the “warning” is that failure to heed the warning may result in serious injury–or death.\u00a0Words written in such strong terms have a tendency to grab pilots’ attention.<\/p>\n For the most part, pilots do a creditable job heeding the cautions and warnings; notes, occasionally not so much. The notes sometimes will surprise a pilot as in, “Wow, that took a long time to takeoff.” Or, “Whoa! It shouldn’t take that much<\/em> room to stop!”<\/p>\n On the serious side, notes are sometimes very difficult to read. Unlike cautions and warnings, which are typically printed on the page in a prominent manner, notes might be “hidden in plain sight.”<\/p>\n Consequently, this is what leads some pilots into trouble in their flying. They look at a performance chart, predict what their airplane will do, and either miss the note, misinterpret the note, or ignore it, thinking it does not pertain to their operation.<\/p>\n The only way pilots can avoid this is by becoming very familiar with the airplane–to include a thorough review of the performance charts. In becoming familiar with the charts and graphs, pilots need to highlight each note, caution, and warning and then they need to interpret and discuss each with other pilots flying the same make and model aircraft. Afterwards, it becomes a matter of applying the pertinent details of the information to the fight.<\/p>\n Then it only becomes a matter of being safe.<\/p>\n -30-<\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a thought that engineers created performance charts just to drive pilots crazy. And, as if that were not enough, they had to include “notes,” “cautions,” and “warnings.” The pilots need to heed all those, too, just to keep … Continue reading