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Chock to Chock by Dale Neilson
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2010
September
Stress, chronic and acute - We all have stress in our lives. Most of us need some stress to motivate us. Stress can (and does) build to a point where our performance, including our flying performance, is affected.
August
Heads up! Working around a propeller - It appears from some recent incidents we need reminding that it is dangerous to work around propellers.
July
Electrical failures put everyone at risk - There have been a recent rash of electrical failures that resulted in NORDO approaches which may have not been necessary.
June
Thunderstorms need to be respected - Thunderstorm season is back again, at least in BC. The cumulonimbus (CB) clouds that make thunderstorms carry a lot of power and fury and deserve a lot of respect. The following pilots did not show enough respect.
May
Bad landings - When things aren’t going well on the approach or during the early stages of landing it is often best to overshoot and try again. We tend to have a mindset that we are going to land and even though we see all sorts of clues that landing may not be a good idea, we try to do it anyway. The result is often not pretty.
April
Special VFR a little dicey, a little pricey - Flying in Special VFR conditions can be a little dicey and may be a little pricey. A Piper 28-160 departed the airport under special VFR conditions. The weather did not improve as he expected, so he began a turn back to the airport for landing. His right wing clipped a tree on a hill during the turn and he crash landed straight ahead in a field. The pilot was alone and received minor injuries.
March
Wildlife and runways - Our biggest wildlife hazard near airports is birds. We have hundreds of bird strikes and near misses every year in Canada (1,324 bird strikes in 2007 and 1,230 in 2008). We also have strikes, near misses and arrival and departure delays due to other wildlife.
February
Electrical fires do happen - Smoke in the cockpit could be the result of an electrical fire. The acrid smell of an electrical fire is very distinctive, but any smoke from the area of the instrument panel, circuit breaker panel or any panel with a number of electrical switches should be considered an electrical fire. An electrical fire is a critical emergency.
January
VFR over the top - There are days when VFR is marginal or not possible. VFR Over the Top (OTT) may be a viable choice on some of those days. The pilots in the following incidents pushed the weather over cloud and became trapped and lost.