Know your aircraft

As a flight instructor I have a small library of how-to-fly type publications. It gets added to on occasion. I also have something in the order of over two metres of flight manuals, owner’s manuals, information manuals and pilot’s operating handbooks. The titles were changed over time. The early ones were slim and the later ones much thicker. Some are paperback format while others are in A4 size. 

The one for the Piper Cub is all of 30 pages. A Beech A36 FM is a hefty book size.

Now some of the manuals are pertinent to the aircraft that I fly or have flown. Others are for aircraft that I plan to fly while others again are simply manuals that I tripped over and acquired with the aircraft type being on my wish list. 

The manuals come from all sources. Pilot shops, second hand book sales and of course vendors that sell aircraft manuals or copies, typically via the internet. 

When I expect to fly a new aircraft make or model I am keen to know as much as I can about the aircraft before I step into it. I will go on the ‘net and see if I can acquire a copy of the FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet. The TCDS may give me information about an aircraft that may not be in the aircraft flight manual. Then there is the actual aircraft flight manual itself or whatever is the name given to it at the time the model first took to the air. One thing that a manual is good for is to get to know the systems. The electrical system, the hydraulic system, the W&B, the fuel system and of course, if a retract, the undercart system. In particular how to get the gear up and down normally and in an emergency. For the fuel system how many drain points are there? I always chuckle when I recall the Ag pilot with over 16,000 hours in a Cessna Agwagon who had an engine failure on take-off.  Water in the fuel. When asked did he check the reservoir drain he said he did not know there was one there. For any complex aircraft, for example a retract, it is vital to have the aircraft manual close at hand in case one has a problem and needs to know more. It makes no difference if the aircraft is a GA type or an airliner. 

‘It is vital to have the aircraft manual close at hand.’

In addition to the aircraft manual collection I also have a collection of manuals that cover such things as trouble shooting, engines, avionics, weather, aviation medicine, CASA publications, GPS, etc. 

A PILOT WILL NEVER STOP LEARNING UP TO WHEN HE CLOSES OFF HIS LOG BOOK.

For most aircraft that I fly or have flown I make up an information card and hold it in a semi-rigid clear plastic holder. On that I record such things as the V speeds and the usable fuel. On the reverse face I note things of interest about the aircraft model, things that do not get mentioned in the aircraft manual and are the sort of things that one learns from flying the type or from a quality endorsement or checkout of that model aircraft. 

For example in a Piper retract the gear lights may be very dim to non-existent during daytime with the panel lights on. In a Cessna 210-5 30 degree flaps is better to use than 40 degrees due to the high sink rate. Beware the mid windscreen mounted compass that can rake your head in a P.68 as you clamber into the pilot’s seat. In a low wing aircraft you expect airframe buffet at the stall as the turbulent air over the wings spills over the tailplane. In a high wing Cessna you can also get airframe buffet with the flaps full down as the airflow spills off the flap trailing edge and over the tailplane. In a Cessna 172 the left tank fuel level typically goes down at a faster rate than the right tank. The left tank air vent directs air into that tank only. In a PA22 Tripacer the master switch is under the left seat. 

These self-made information cards are great to refresh what I need to know about an aircraft. I get involved in ferry flights across Australia. For planning purposes it is vital to know typical cruise speeds, fuel burn rate and useable fuel quantities. Another question is do I need flaps or the fuel pump on for take-off?

Having the information card when I do not have access to the paperwork in the aircraft is just good forward planning. I usually hold the information card in my flight bag when I fly a particular model. 

In the flying game it is said that no pilot can know all there is to know about flying. No one can have flown all the way from J2 Cub to an A380 in all locations and weather, day and night. A good tech library will help expand a pilot’s knowledge.

Contact Dave by email: [email protected]