TRIBUTE TO THE LATE COL. (Rtd) ZAKARIA SALLEH

The late Col. Zakaria Salleh (whom everyone called Zak) was a small-built pilot but his aerial exploits and the significant contributions he made to general aviation in Southeast Asia was legendary.

I first met Zak when he was teaching several of us to fly the Quicksilver ultralight during his spare time. We were flying at various open spaces which were pending development and as soon as construction work started at these sites, we had to move like nomads to new flying sites. At that time Zak held the rank of Flying Officer in the air force and was flying F5 jet fighters. I then lost touch with him as I progressed to Cessnas and flew at proper airfields.

Several years later, Zak started instructing at the Royal Selangor Flying Club where I was regularly flying from. He was ater elected the Club Captain and was responsible for all flying activities of the club. In this role he organised regular fly-ins, open days, flying competitions and air shows. I enjoyed participating in most of these events which took us to various airports and airstrips not only within Malaysia but also in the neighbouring countries.




A FLY-IN TO PESTA LUMUT IN 1991
Zak is circled  The writer is second from left.

Subsequently Zak retired from the air force with the rank of Colonel and having flown various fighter types like the CL-41G Tutor, Northrop F5 and A4 Skyhawk. He then flew target tugs and later several bizjets for a living. His flying and organising skills were recognised and he was subsequently elected as President of the Malaysian Sports Aviation Federation which is the umbrella organisation for all sports aviation related bodies in the country.

Zak loved aerobatics and formation flying and would put on impressive flying maneouvres at various air shows in the region. He was most famous for leading the Eagle 150 Aerobatic Team which regularly took part in the country's Independence Day parade flypasts and in air shows overseas. On occasions where the Eagle aircraft were not available, he would call up several pilots from various flying clubs and still put on a commendable performance. I was glad to join in and fly on some of these events.



PILOTS AFTER A FORMATION FLIGHT
(Zak is circled. The writer is second from right)

The Eagle 150 was a highly aerobatic aircraft and in the hands of someone like Zak, it was capable of some magnificient stunts that never failed to impress crowds. Zak, however, yearned for more. He went out and bought a dedicated aerobatic aircraft, the Christen Eagle, from the US. This was the aircraft he loved and with it he went on to mesmerise the crowds with his superb flying skills.



A CHRISTEN EAGLE AEROBATIC AIRCRAFT
(Wikipedia)

On June 23, 2011, while performing aerobatics in front of an air show crowd in Padang, Indonesia, his Christen Eagle slid down from a vertical climb and crashed to the ground. His wife, Leila, was watching from the stands. Zak passed away in hospital shortly after.



ZAK LEADING HIS EAGLE 150 OUT OF A HANGAR IN PEKANBARU AIRPORT

To Leila and the family, I send my deepest condolence. Zak was a good friend and helpful at all times especially in my flying activities. He is well-known in the flying fraternity in Malaysia as well as in the neghbouring countries. We shall always remember him.

A Vulcan Bombed Port Stanley Airport

Just saw a video on YouTube about the bombing of Port Stanley airport in the Falklands by a single Avro Vulcan V-bomber during the British-Argentinian war over the islands in 1982. The Americans would have turned it into a Hollywood blockbuster but the British just made it into a TV documentary but it sure had all the elements of a thriller such as the longest bombing run in history, a return-to-base by a back-up bomber due to loss of pressurisation, a fuel shortfall that meant being unable to reach home, mid-air refeelling in a thunderstorm, a 300ft AGL approach towards the target area and lots more.

The crew members of the mission were the "actors" and most of the shots were actual scenes during the war. It is heartwarming to see the survivors recalling the moments 30 years after the event.

Of course, what grab me are the live shots of the Vulcans and Victors which I have written about in another post (RAAF Butterworth) in this blog.

Go to XM607 - Falklands' Most Daring Raid and enjoy the show.

RAAF Butterworth

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base in the town of Butterworth, Malaysia was a military airbase run by the RAAF and is currently a Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) Station after it was handed back to the Malaysian government in 1988. The history of the base goes back to 1941 when the  British colonial government set up the Royal Air Force (RAF) Station there to defend the then British Peninsular Malaya from the looming threat of invasion by the Japanese Imperial Forces at the advent of WWII.

THE BUS RIDE

My interest in that airfield was ignited from a bus ride which I took as a young boy from Kangar, Perlis back home to Butterworth in the mid-50's. At that time the airfield's only runway ran from the west starting from the beach facing Penang Island to the east overlooking the lush padi fields of Sungai Dua. The north-south road from Kangar in the north to the town of Butterworth crossed the airfield's runway about half a kilometer from the beach. So when an aircraft took off or landed, traffic on the road was stopped on both sides of the runway giving the bus passengers a grand view of all the aircraft movements on the runway. 

STOPPING NORTH OF RUNWAY (circa 1950's)

Photo by James Justice

I knew nothing about planes then, so it is now impossible for me to  say for certain what those jets were. The jets had taxied from my left, crossed the road we were on, made a U-turn at the runway end on my right and either proceeded to take off to the left or entered their dispersal area in that direction. The jet sound was loud and whiny typical of early generation jets, the markings were bold and colourful, the aircraft's base colour was metallic blue, the aircraft sat low on the ground and there were two pilots in flight overalls and flying helmets in each aircraft. They looked like the T37 "Tweetie Birds" one sees in the web pages and could have been the De Havilland Venoms. The image and the sound are still fresh in my mind today after more than 57 years!

A SCHOOL BESIDE AN AIRBASE

In 1959 I entered secondary school and it was a brand new school with me as one of its first students ever. There was a new runway being used (36/18) which was much longer than the west-east runway that I saw some years before. That former runway was put out of use after the new runway was completed. Situated less than a kilometer southwest of this new runway's 36 end, we had a good view of the threshold through the coconut palms that surrounded that part of the airfield. I presume that most of the flights started from that end as I was yet to see aircraft taking off in the direction of my school. With the jet nozzles pointing south towards my school, each takeoff is an aural experience hard to forget and the teacher had to stop speaking while all eyes would be on the runway until all the aircraft had taken off. We got used to the jet blasts after a while and no longer deemed them a nuisance.

TUDM STATION BUTTERWORTH

Google Earth Image

SABRES
From our playing field, we would see the Sabres (actually Rolls Royce-powered Commonwealth CA27 Sabres) making their rectangular left-handed circuits by first passing between us and the Runway 36 on our right, turning crosswind in front of us, then downwind to our left and curving behind us to land back to our right. The Sabres would usually fly in a right echelon of four with each one peeling off after another to enter crosswind.

CA27 SABRE

Wikipedia

Looking south from our classroom we would see the Sabres one by one curving in to land, each one filling up almost a third of our glass-louvred classroom window. The speed brakes and landing gear would be already extended and sometimes the bubble canopy would be pushed back slightly to let some fresh air in (imagine one being fully clothed and helmeted with the oxygen mask covering most of one's face and the baking sun piercing the clear canopy). More often than not, the pilot would add in a bit of power to reduce his descent rate right in front of our class window and we just loved hearing the sweet hiss-whine-roar of the turbines spooling up. That scene is certainly unforgettable and we got to see it every school day.

CANBERRAS

The next most common aircraft were the English Electric Canberras which I noticed were of two types - the reconnaisance version (PR7) with a clear perspex nose and the bomber version (B1) without it. I remember that there was a red lightning logo on the tail which could well be the squadron emblem. The Canberra had two of the Sabre's engines, so even without looking up I could always tell whether it was the Sabre or the Canberra that was flying up there. Being bulkier and a bomber at that, the Canberra was never seen doing circuits but perhaps they did do circuits. Maybe the circuit legs were too far out for us kids to see.

CANBERRA B2

Wikipedia

TRANSPORTS

Among the cargo/passenger aircraft operating from the base were some DC3 Dakotas, the wide bellied Vickers Valettas (one can be seen in the first photo above) and a later addition, the Lockheed C130 Hercules (which marked the end of the radial engined aircraft like the DC3s and Valettas). While the DC3 and Valetta's huge engines shook the ground and shattered the air with their deep throated exhaust sounds, the C130's four turbines emitted equally loud whines which blended with the sound-barrier-breaking propeller tips' blasts to rattle the ground.

HELICOPTERS

Here again I witnessed the transition from piston to turboshaft engines. In the late 50's there were the Westland S55 Whirlwinds which were later replaced by the Bristol Sycamores. Both types had piston engines and were probably RAF rather than RAAF (though I may be wrong here).  They were all completely yellow, which I believe was the colour of search and rescue (SAR) aircraft. I was told that some Whirlwinds were also based atop Penang Hill. The Whirlwind was what I believed a helicopter should look like but the Sycamore when squatting on the ground looked like someone had bent its tail down in anger.

WESTLAND WHIRLWIND
Wikipedia

BRISTOL SYCAMORE
aviastar.org

In the early 60's I began to see the RAAF Bell UH-1 Iroquois replacing the Sycamores. The UH-1 was the iconic helicopter used in the Vietnam war where it was called "Huey". Using a powerful turboshaft engine and a two-blade rotor, the aircraft was painted a dark brown making it look vicious.  The whine and roar from the engine was typical of turbine engines but there were another two sounds to it that make this my favourite helicopter sound. One was the deep motorcycle-like throb and the other the "whupp, whupp" of the long rotor blades as they cut through the air.

RAAF BELL UH-1

pacificaces.0catch.com

OTHER RESIDENTS

Until the early 60's I could see both RAF and RAAF aircraft stationed there. The Valettas were certainly British as well as a few of the DC3s and C130s. Other resident aircraft that were probably used for currency checks for desk-bound pilots included the De Havilland Vampire and the Bell 47 helicopter.

VAMPIRE

www.whiteplanes.com

 BELL 47

Wikipedia

VISITORS

From the late 50's to the early 60's I had the privilege of seeing various visiting aircraft to the base. They either flew in from foreign bases of the RAF, from RAAF's Australian bases or from aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy that quite frequently sailed through the Malacca Straits. Some would stay for just a week or two while some would remain for a few months. 

From the RAF, there were the Gloster Meteors, the Gloster Javelins, the long-nosed Armstrong-Whitworth Meteor night fighters and the V-Bombers. The Meteor was good-looking with oversized engine nacelles and a rounded tailfin/rudder assembly. The Rolls Royce Derwent engines produced a pleasant high-pitched "groan" that was softer than the ghostly sound of the Vampire's single Goblin engine. The long-nosed Meteor, resembling the Canadian CF100 Canuck, had night radar equipment housed in its nose and looked quite different from the day fighter version though it used the same engines. They were later replaced by the delta-winged Gloster Javelin all-weather interceptors, each powered by two loud Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire engines that pounded the runway on takeoffs.

GLOSTER JAVELIN

Wikipedia

The V-Bombers were huge but shapely jet bombers and were all-white in colour though in the later years they sported camouflaged upper surfaces. Their designs were ahead of their time, the Valiant being swept-winged, the Victor crescent-winged and the Vulcan delta-winged.

AVRO VULCAN, VICKERS VALIANT AND HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR

(from bottom to top)

www.probuspontivyfr.org

They were based in Butterworth during the Indonesian Confrontation period (1962-1966) and could have been significant players in keeping the Indonesia forces at bay. During one of our school's conducted tours of the base, I had a close look at the Victor and managed to catch a glimpse of the inside of its cockpit as its door was open. It was very impressive indeed.

Two other interesting visitors from the RAF were the really huge four-engined Blackburn Beverly and the dual-rotored Westland Belvedere helicopter. The Beverly had 18-cylinder radial piston engines that were absolutely loud and the top of its tail was a couple of stories high..

The Royal Navy aircraft were spectacular to say the least. My first view of a carrier-based fighter was of the De Havilland Sea Venom which probably flew in from the carrier "Ark Royal" that frequented Penang a few times in those days. It resembled the Vampire in shape but was slightly larger, had a crew of two and was powered by a De Havilland Ghost engine. My classmates and I used to wait among the bushes fringing the runway's 18 end immediately after school just to watch the Venoms land from the 36 end, made U-turns and taxied back in front of us to their dispersal. The crews would open their canopies and wave to us as they taxied by.

Another spectacular naval aircraft was the Supermarine Scimitar which always approached with an unusually high angle of attack looking like it was standing on its tail. This of course required a high power setting, the two Rolls Royce Avons producing a very loud blast that was audible a couple of miles away.

SUPERMARINE SCIMITARS

Wikipedia

One interesting visitor from a carrier was the Fairey Gannet antisubmarine aircraft. A fat-bodied fairly large aircraft, it had a set of two contra rotating propellers mounted on a single shaft that extended in front of its twin turboprop Hawker Siddeley Double Mamba engines producing a unique whine and roar. Another of its unique features was the huge radome under the nose which probably housed its sonar and radar equipment.

FAIRY GANNET

Gatwick Aviation Museum

There were two aircraft types that were used by the RAF during that period which I never got to see flying, even though at least one type was actually based in neighbouring Singapore. They were the sleek and beautiful Hawker Hunter and the ultrafast English Electric Lightning. However I did manage to get a close look at the Lightning seven years later at the Farborough Air Show and the Hunter at one of the museums somewhere else.

The Vietnam War was at its peak in the 60's and a few US military aircraft did make visits to Butterworth, apparently moving casualties out of the war zone. I saw some C74 Globemasters which were huge four-engined turboprop transports and to my delight some F105 Thunderchiefs which were fast and awesome looking fighter-bombers that liked to fly low above the airfield (one of them did an impressive vertical climb right in front of my eyes). One aircraft which I would have liked to see was the CH-47 Chinook dual-rotor helicopter.

BASE VISITS & AIR SHOWS

For a couple of years the RAF and RAAF opened their doors annually to visitors with static and flying displays of their aircraft. These had a big influence on me and made me want to be a fighter pilot. The RAAF had an aerobatic team of Sabres which performed quite impressively at these shows. Our school also had close links with the base authorities and we used to go and swim at the base pool every Wednesday morning.  There was also an occasion when we kids were taken on a conducted tour of the base. Besides walking around a Victor strategic bomber and a Vampire, I also had a chance to inspect the cockpit of a Sabre jet.

REPLACEMENTS

After 1963, I had to move away from Butterworth and lost touch with the movement of aircraft at the base. However, I knew that the Sabres and Canberras had been replaced with the RAAF's Dassault Mirage IIIs.

In the mid-70's I was posted to Penang and by coincidence handled the banking account of the RAAF Butterworth. Once a week I would travel to the base to attend to their banking needs. Once I was driven within sight of the long row of Mirages parked to the left of Runway 36. That was the first time I saw the aircraft. There were a few people I dealt with then and I remember some of the civilian officers as Jim Sweeney and a certain Mr Prowse. There was also a handsome Squadron Leader by the name of Jim Dickson. In fact they even had me in their homes during Christmas.

On one occasion, I saw a visiting RAAF F-111 Aardvark swing-wing bomber beating the base up at just above the flagpole that stood near the main gate of the base. The pole actually swung from the downwash off the aircraft's extended wings.

By that time, the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) was already sharing the base with the RAAF and was operating the Northprop F5E twin-engined jet fighters as well as some of the former RAAF Sabres donated by the Australian government. The RAF had completely evacuated some time earlier. Today the base is solely occupied by the TUDM as a station and is the home of its BAE Hawks, Aermacchi MB339s. Sikorsky S61s, Northrop F5Es and Boeing F/A-18D Hornets.

P.S. A sad development reported in The Sun on 6 February 2014:

Crosswind Landings and A Surprise 35-knot Headwind

WEATHER

Malaysia is considered a mild climate country as there is no extreme temperature. Most of the time it lies between 28C to 33C in the afternoon with a drop of about 3C in the early morning in the lowlands where most people live. Similarly winds in Malaysia rarely reach above 20 knots, so pilots generally have little experience in handling strong crosswinds during landing. For mild crosswinds, some training in crabbing and sideslipping techniques for landing is usually made mandatory  .

LANDING TECHNIQUES

In the former, the nose of the aircraft is deliberately pointed at an angle into the wind to counteract the otherwise sideways drift leewards. So, instead of pointing straight towards the runway, the aircraft is "crabbed" towards it. Moments before the wheels touch the runway, the nose is swung back to align with the centreline on the runway so that the wheels will roll forward as normal and not be dragged sideways causing the aircraft to skip or even topple on its side.

The latter technique involves lowering the windward wing while keeping the nose pointed straight towards the runway. The resulting sideways lift of the wings will counteract the otherwise leeward drift. The disadvantage of this technique is that the plane will sink faster towards the ground as the wings' vertical lift is now reduced by its sideways component which was created by banking the wings windward. The advantage of this technique, however, is that one can come in higher than normal and still be able to land on the threshold (a spot just after the edge of the runway marked with white stripes nicknamed "piano keys").

I have occasionally used both techniques over the course of my flying years but there was one instance when I could not use them and had to quickly devise my own technique. This was because this time the wind was coming from the front at about a 15-degree tangence  but the wind speed was 35 knots!

THUNDERSTORM

Here is how it all started. It was a bright day and I thought I would put in a half-hour to one-hour flight within the training area called R218. This area is a reasonably wide corridor that lies roughly between Kajang (2 minutes away from Sempang, our home airfield) and Semenyih. It has an upper limit of 2,500 feet and is used for training purposes as well as a transit lane for flights to and from the south. I scanned the sky before preflighting the aircraft and noted some rain clouds in the distance over Subang 6 miles away. They did not look threatening at all.

After obtaining Air Traffic Control (ATC) clearances, I took off and practised some manoeuvres within the training area. After about 30 minutes, ATC radioed me that the weather was closing in on the airfield and I was advised to return to base. As I neared Bukit Besi overlooking the airfield, there was a huge dark cloud hanging right on top of the runway and ATC advised that I was cleared to land with the surface wind indicating 200 degrees at 35 knots. Never had I heard such a strong wind from any ATC before but I believed it because that huge cumulonimbus cloud had a base at only around 2,000 feet. I could see the trees around the airfield swaying wildly. ATC then came on with a polite question "Do you need any assistance?" which they always say when they think a pilot or an aircraft might be in trouble.

LANDING

I assessed the situation as I turned right to join downwind at 1,000 feet for a left-handed pattern for Runway 22. With the wind almost head on at 35 knots and my normal final approach speed at 60 knots, my airspeed would show 95 knots when I touch down but the ground speed would be just 60 knots. This could not be the usual landing using flaps anymore as the flap limiting speed is only 80 knots and an airspeed of 95 knots might just rip them off. A flapless approach at an airspeed of 105 knots (normal flapless approach is at 70 knots) would just do the job, so I told ATC "Final, no flaps" which he acknowledged. By that time the sky had opened up and heavy rain was pouring on the aircraft and the airfield. It was a totally new experience for me to see the Airspeed Indicator (ASI) showing more than 100 knots as I touched down smoothly without flaps. All my previous no-flap landings over the years had not more than 70 knots or thereabouts on the ASI, so it was hard to believe that I was doing what I did as I descended the last 300 feet onto the runway and rolled out. The arithmetic has once again been proven - 105 knots on the ASI with a 35-knot headwind is equal to a 70-knot landing.

PARKING IN THE WATER

I thanked the ATC as I taxied into the ramp and stopped the aircraft. Another problem had however just cropped up. There was no umbrella in the plane and there was no way I could run into the hangar without getting drenched to the skin. So I waited it out in the cockpit for about half an hour before the rain finally eased. By then the aircraft's wheels were totally submerged in water. I removed my shoes and socks, rolled up my pant legs and waded to the hangar. So much for the Malaysian weather, a short flight in a bright sky can turn into a freaking thunderstorm and flooding in less than 45 minutes.

The Annual Haze (meaning Smoke)

Every year during the dry season West Peninsular Malaysia is covered with a blanket of smoke which the press strangely calls haze. This affects air traffic especially the smaller aircraft which do not have sophisticated navigation equipment. However the worst effect of the smoke is on health with many asthmatic and other lung ailment sufferers heading to hospitals for treatment. The smoke gets worse if no rain occurs.

SMOKE ENGULFS KL'S GOLDEN TRIANGLE



What is the cause of the smoke?

Sometimes it is the palm oil mills within the country itself that burn palm oil husk as fuel to sterilize the fresh fruit bunches in the process of manufacturing crude palm oil. Having flown over many parts of the country at a few thousand feet above the ground, I have witnessed extensive pollution of the air from these mills especially on flights between KL and Melaka and between KL and Ipoh. In Melaka especially, the airport can hardly be seen when one is just 5 miles away. It gets pretty dangerous as there are many aircraft from the flying training school flying around the airport and we can hardly see them. The smoke can be clearly seen streaming out of the mill chimney and spread around by the wind covering an area of perhaps 60 square miles.

A PALM OIL MILL IN OPERATION

The other source of the smoke is from Sumatra in Indonesia where forest is burned to cultivate oil palm. As palm oil is a major export for both Malaysia and Indonesia, much of the agricultural land is planted with oil palm. On satellite images, the "hotspots" where open burning occurs can clearly be pinpointed.

HOTSPOTS ON 14 AUGUST 2012

Courtesy of NOAA and Malaysian Meteorological Department

Yet another important source of the smoke is peat soil burning where the burning may occur deep underground after being ignited on the surface. Swamps generate peat which is used as fuel in many countries because it has high carbon content.

In one of my flights to Pekanbaru in Sumatra, I experienced thick smoke all the way. It was difficult for me to discern if the smoke came from deliberate burning of land for cultivation or accidental burning of peat land.

DUMAI AIRPORT EN ROUTE TO PEKANBARU



SEARCHING FOR PEKANBARU AIRPORT

AIRPORT VISIBLE IN THE SMOKE

FOR MORE PICTURES VISIT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21898801@N03/sets/72157618604392914/

Mysterious Incident In Good Weather

One incident that occurred while I was flying remains a mystery to me until today. It was during a flight home from Tioman Island to KL (Tioman being the island I fly to most often for reasons the reader will ultimately find out as he or she continues to read my blogs).

The weather was simply beautiful at that time which was around six in the evening and we were flying at 2,500 feet. When we were roughly abeam Genting Highlands on our right I saw the RPM Indicator suddenly reading 2,450 rpm (which for the C172 means that the propeller was turning at that speed). Normal cruise setting is usually 2,200 to 2,300 rpm during level flight.

I automatically assumed that the plane was diving because only when a plane is diving will the RPM increase by itself ( a result of gravity pulling the plane down and increasing its speed). So I pulled the control column back to maintain level flight and reduced the power by pulling the throttle lever back towards me. I managed to hold the nose level by pulling back hard on the control column and holding it there but the throttle lever was forcefully pulling itself back into the instrument panel. I pulled the throttle lever back again with all my strength but the engine responded by again pulling it back into the panel. The altimeter was showing that we were descending at about 100 feet per minute with my nose level which is not too alarming.

This tug of war between myself and the engine continued a few times and I was fearful that the throttle cable behind the panel would snap because the force that was pulling it back in was really great. If it had snapped, the engine would turn at maximum speed and, if prolonged, damage itself. Worse still I would then lose control of the delinquent aircraft. I looked at the Airspeed Indicator to see if the speed of the aircraft had increased correspondingly and it was up to about 100 knots, which is on the fast side but not yet in the danger zone. Probably by pulling hard on the control column I had managed to keep the plane's speed within limits (high speed can weaken the aircraft's structure).

There was nothing else I could do other than pray that the situation would not worsen. I had three passengers with me who had never flown in a small plane before this and I could not let them see that I was in trouble. I decided to descend a bit lower as we would soon be required by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to maintain 1,500 feet as we enter the KL control zone. This enabled me to reduce the pressure I was putting on the control column and I also would be able to test if the engine RPM would increase further as we descended. Just as suddenly as it started, the engine RPM normalised and became controllable again. I could pull the throttle lever back and forth without forcing it. Pressure on the control column was also relieved.

After changing the radio frequency from Lumpur Information's to Sempang Tower's, I was mighty glad to be able to speak to my home airport controllers again. What a satisfying feeling it was to land the aircraft as normal and without my passengers noticing any difference. It could have been a different story though.

I asked around but none of the pilots I spoke to had experienced it the way I did. I asked the engineer to check the plane thoroughly after the flight and he found nothing out of the normal. My guess is that I had entered an area of clear air turbulence (CAT) where there was a strong downdraft coming from the front of the aircraft. This would have increased both my propeller RPM and the airspeed while causing the plane to descend. However I still cannot believe the really strong force that was pulling the throttle lever back into the panel.

Does Flying Kill?

The answer is a definite yes. However there are precautions one can take to lessen the probability of that happening.

A. LOSS OF CONTROL

If the pilot is caught in a situation where he has lost control of the plane due to:

a) jammed or severed control links or

b) damaged or detached control surfaces

c) incapacitation

d) his seat has slipped and moved away from the controls for some reason and he is not able to reach them again

the plane will likely go down with the weight of the engine pulling the rest of the plane with it. Even if the engine is running perfectly, the inability of the pilot to maintain straight and level flight will mean gravity will take over and the plane will dive towards the ground with an increase in the rate of descent as it drops in altitude.

B. ENGINE FAILURE

If the plane is in perfect condition but all the engines fail, his survival depends on:

a) how near he is to a safe landing site and his altitude. He should not be too low as he needs to glide over that distance to the selected landing site or until he can make a midair restart.

Two famous incidents where the planes lost all power but managed to land with no loss of life are the US Airways Flight 1549 which landed on the Hudson River and British Airways Flight 38 which landed short of Heathrow Airport's runway.

b) If the plane has more than one engine and one fails, he is still able to fly to the nearest airport and land safely on the other engine(s) using asymmetric flying techniques.

C. RESPECT THE WEATHER


Many aircraft incidents (other than from pilot error) are due to weather:


a) a violent storm in a rain cloud may rip the aircraft apart

b) hailstones may damage parts of an aircraft such as the propellor or control surfaces

c) ice may build up in the engine and block air or fuel from reaching it

d) ice may also accumulate on the wings altering their shape and making them lose their aerodynamic lift as well as increasing drag

e) visibility in a cloud may be so poor that the pilot cannot see an obstacle ahead. A billowing cloud may be nice to look at from afar and on a bright and sunny day but it is a totally different scenario from inside it.

Very often a pilot begins his flight in good weather but later encounters bad weather on his route. While most airliners can fly higher to avoid weather, small aircraft may not be able to do so and the pilot must decide whether to continue, divert to a safer airport or even return to his airport of origin.His decision can be a matter of life or death.

I have been in situations where even turning back has to be ruled out because clouds have begun to move in behind me. One then has to fly lower so as to be below the cloud base. This situation often happens in hilly areas because the moist winds move up the slopes and cool as they rise. The moisture then turns into clouds. When faced with this situation,a pilot has to "scud run" meaning he has to weave along the bottom of the valleys. He just prays that there is no dead end or a huge obstacle at the next turn.

D. SKILL AND EXPERIENCE

A pilot needs to be skilled to survive. Besides being meticulously trained, he needs the experience to enable him to foresee problems before they crop up, to read the weather, to understand the locality in which he flies, to know the capabilities and limitations of his aircraft and to remain calm and disciplined when faced with an emergency. An experienced pilot can tell when there is something not right with his aircraft by the feel of the control column, the attitude (position in relation to the horizon), the sound and vibration of the engine, etc.

There are certain emergency situations that a pilot can practice for. These include engine failure, fire during flight or on the ground, wheel brake failure, landing gear failure, electrical failure and other system malfunctions. The steps and procedures to overcome these must be followed precisely and repeatedly until they become second nature to him. When an actual emergency arises, he will automatically carry out the procedure on reflex as there usualy is insufficient time to think anymore.

E. PREPARATION

All flights begin with preparation. The route must be drawn up with the required waypoints, altitudes, speeds and possible diversions (alternate airports) in case of weather changes or emergencies. Even the alternate airports have to be screened to ensure that they have the required runway length and facilities for refueling, etc. Weather forecasts for the length of the route have to be studied and the route modified accordingly.

The pilot himself must be in good condition with sufficient rest and food and appropriately clothed. If flying over water, life jackets must be carried. Survival equipment and first aid kit must also be on board. The aircraft must be in good flying condition with sufficient fuel including reserve in the tanks. The fuel must be checked for possible contamination.

A series of checks must be carried out before, during and after each flight. Comprehensive check lists are used to avoid missing anything. Missing a small check on the ground can mean a big problem in the air. If a fuel cap or baggage door is not secure, it may open in flight and there will be no volunteer to crawl out of the plane and re-secure it at a thousand feet above the ground. Similarly if one miscalculates the fuel quantity required, the aircraft may have to make an emergency landing on top of a tree.

F. A LESSON LEARNT

I had a not so funny experience once when flying with another pilot. It was a flight from KL to Tioman Island and back. I prepared the navlog (navigation log detailing the waypoints, compass headings, altitudes, leg times, etc.) for my outbound flight to Tioman and since the other pilot was to fly the return leg, I assumed that he had done the same for that leg. When we took off to return to KL, he asked me for the heading to fly. I mentally reversed all the compass directions from my navlog and gave him the first heading to follow. I had however absent mindedly given him the reverse of the first heading on my navlog, which was the KL-Kajang leg of 150 degrees, so reversing it resulted in 330 degrees.

It normally takes 34 minutes over the sea in a westerly direction to reach the next waypoint of Kuala Rompin. After thirty minutes out from Tioman we saw the coast some distance away to our left and sensed that something was not right. We nevertheless continued towards the coast and found ouselves over Kuantan,which is 100km to the north of where we were supposed to be. We had wasted some fuel by taking that diagonal track to the coast and now we had to take a longer route than planned to reach KL.

At that time the refueling facility at our home base in KL was unserviceable and all pilots were required to refuel at Subang airport nearby before returning, so we tracked for Subang. All this meant that we had to fly longer than our planned flight and our fuel was running low. At one point the engine sputtered for a number of seconds but then resumed running. We prayed that we really could reach Subang. This we miraculously did.

When the refueler looked into our tanks they were shocked to find no fuel inside. A failure to prepare a simple navlog could have spelt disaster for us. There were no GPSs those days (or they were too expensive then). Today, that incident would not have happened as a GPS will tell you exactly which heading to follow.

Perhaps another lesson learned from this episode is to always double check the information given you by another crew member. Even if one is told "the external checks have been completed", "we have 40 gallons of fuel", or "the minimum safety altitude is 2,500 feet", etc., it is wise to take a second independent look. In the above case, Kuala Rompin is directly to the west of Tioman, so a heading of 330 degrees should have made us question it. Sometimes when we are busy doing something else or in a hurry, simple things like that are missed.

DISCIPLINE

This is probably the greatest life saver to a pilot. Without it, a pilot's life may be short. As they say, there are no old bold pilots. As the captain of an aircraft, he must make decisions all the time concerning the safety of his aircraft and passengers. Should he refuse a flight if the weather is adverse or if a certain component of an aircraft is not functioning? Can he take a certain amount of risk and continue his flight? An inoperative fuel gauge may be acceptable if the tanks have been checked and found to be full but what if a leak develops during flight? He will have no way to check if there is still sufficient fuel on board. Similarly, should he carry more cargo and passengers and reduce his reserve fuel or should he upload more fuel than necessary to cater for diversions due to weather, wind conditions, traffic congestions, etc.? A disciplined pilot will take the minimum risk in all these matters but sometimes he has to relent when his employer insists on pushing the limits.

CONCLUSION

Yes, flying can kill but an aviator must fly (for whatever reason). As long as he is disciplined, puts in as much practice as possible and consciously carries out the recommended procedures, he probably can avoid getting into difficulties. As he logs more and more flying hours, he can only get better at it.