Page 42 - Volume 15 Number 12

The same executive editorialized: “I never cease to be amazed at the creative ways people can damage their aircraft while taxiing. The most common general reason appears to be that people are in too much of a hurry to be careful.”Speed vs. PrecisionOne of the reasons we fly business-type airplanes is to savetime. But like other activities in our professional and personal lives, there are times when we need to slow down to do tasks completely and get things right.The seemingly ancient flying axiom that the priority is to “aviate, navigate, communicate” holds true on the taxiway as well. In this application “aviate” meansanything related to actual control of the movement of the airplane... in other words, taxiing the aircraft, eyes focused outside the aircraft. “Navigate” is to maintain awareness of your current location and your aircraft’s progress toward the runway. Programming the avionics is really a form of “communication,” your very lowest priority while the airplane is in motion.The same goes with the bad corporate pilot habit of accomplishing Before Takeoff checklist items during taxi. I’ve ridden in the back of multiengine piston airplanes whose pilots did engine run-up and magneto checks “on the roll” toward the active runway—commenting later that the pilot could be focusing on taxiing the airplane or interpreting the tachometer and EGT indications when selecting each magneto and the “both” position in turn, but could not possibly be devoting the attention needed to both taxi and check the engines at the same time.Checking the operation of systems and configuring the aircraft for takeoff requires concentration a single pilot cannot adequately provide while “aviating” and “navigating” on the ground. Even in multi-pilot airplanes it is good practice for the crew to use challenge-and-response techniques to ensure checklists are accomplished correctly.According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the most deadly single-survivor air carrier accident in U.S. history, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 at Detroit, Michigan in August 1987, occurred because of “the flightcrew’s failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the absence of electrical power to the airplane takeoff warning system, which thus did not warn the flightcrew that the airplane was not configured properly for takeoff. The reasonTaxi DiagramsAny time you’re landing or departing from an unfamiliar airport, or taxiway closures or unusual runway-in-use conditions cause you to deviate from your usual taxi routes, it’s a very good idea to have a copy of the airport diagram on your lap or displayed on a cockpit reader or Multifunction Display (MFD).Just as programming a GPS or FMS is an aeronautical equivalent of texting, so also are taxi diagrams and multifunction displays a lot like using an automobile’s GPS. They are a great aid to situational awareness, but they must be viewed in very quick scans, not “read” by focusing on the display. In other words, just like you can’t safely stare at a car’s GPS to read an upcoming highway number while traveling at highway speeds, you also cannot spend time looking at the taxi diagram to figure out taxiway identifiers or routes to and from the runway. You still need to study the diagram and plan your route before engine start or before you land the airplane, and then use the electronic or paper diagram as a cross-reference to confirm your location is proceeding accord- ing to your plan.40 • TWIN & TURBINEDECEMBER 2011