Safe Flight Factors
Competency to handle emergencies requires that the flight instructor control the practice conditions to reduce the risk. A competency program should exceed the FAR requirements that are expected to prepare pilots for reasonable expectations
Weather
Notams, PIREPS, temperatures, winds, spread, problems
Route
Terrain, obstacles, landing sites, navaids, airspace considerations
Aircraft
Condition, fuel, performance,
Pilot
Personal minimums, condition
If you do not practice skills, they will deteriorate.

VFR into IFR
Legal holds no guarantee of safety and less than safe can be legal. Less than safe would be what we call marginal VFR. Recognizably less than safe conditions can become safer if the pilot has the terrain and obstacle knowledge, procedure familiarity situational awareness, and flying skills to proceed safely.

In any flying situation the skilled pilot has anticipated the variations of circumstance the may shut the door to preferred options. The pilot always keeps an escape option open but this does not come with the same guarantee offered by getting on the ground.

Statute of Repose
The 18-year period begins all over again every time a new part is added to an airplane but only for that part. If a part fails that is over 18 years in use there is no damage liability.

Liability
In flying you are subject to two different liabilities--civil and regulatory. Civil usually means you have wronged another person and can expect to pay damages. Break an FAR and you can expect an FAA enforcement action. The facts of a given situation determine the potential liability and accountability.

Holding
There are rules about what angles radials are used to intercept at intersections.. When procedures are designed, the protected airspace takes into account things like fix uncertainty due to poor navaid geometry.

Learning to Recognize
Two sets of eyes have not proven to be better than one set as recorded by accident data. One fourth of mid air accidents have occurred with an active instructor in the cockpit. The instructor is then PIC and the responsible party. Result is the student relies on the lookout scan of the instructor. A student who has spent considerable time on a simulator is not likely to have a proficient exterior scan.

It has been suggested that instructors ask students what they saw during a maneuver as a means of bringing to their attention the need to look for aircraft as well as the horizon. I have written elsewhere about the levels of recognition that goes through the stages of looking, seeing, and finally to recognition.

The instructor who becomes engrossed in the student performance as shown on the instrument panel is leaving himself vulnerable to a mid-air. For this reason, I do not do such maneuvering unless under the additional eyes of radar or in an area very unlikely to have aircraft. One of my favorite playgrounds is within 3000 feet of the surface and only 500 feet below a Class Bravo shelf. Another time in marginal VFR conditions I chose to do maneuvers in the top 500 feet of a Class Delta airspace with the approval of the tower. By monitoring the tower frequency I could be made aware of any intruding traffic.

I never let a student make a turn without verbalizing and visually clearing the airspace being entered. A big part of seeing aircraft is knowing 'where' to look. 'Airways' are not just limited to those on charts. The little things that I use to avoid aircraft are deeply ingrained in my instruction. Just today I had two students depart the airport by climbing in the pattern. Low visibility made this a desirable way to get into the better VFR above 3000'.

From the student's viewpoint there is not enough available attention devoted to flying to spend much looking for airplanes. Yet looking for and finding airplanes is a skill that can be taught and developed. A student can be taught that the most likely mid-air has several focal areas. Uncontrolled airports, final approach, unorthodox departures, VORs, specific numbers below 3000 AGL, reliance on radar, relative speeds and a mix of aircraft types. See and avoid; see and be seen; look and look out; whatever will never take the place of reality and probability. Staying away from other planes has a great deal to do with where you decide to put yourself.

See and Be Seen
The basic FAR for traffic avoidance requires the pilot to be responsible for looking outside the aircraft to see other aircraft. You can look without seeing; see without recognition; recognize without reacting, and react inappropriately by instinct.

The physiology of the eye is such that it is able to focus at a distance only for a short period over a 15-degree arc of the horizon. If something is not brought into focus the eye will adjust to about a 20-food focal distance. Motion and attitude are best noted by peripheral vision. Peripheral vision will not accurately detect apparent motion the more distant it is from the fovea or focal center. At 25-degrees, 97% of motion is detectable while at 70-degrees it falls to 67%. The more motion involved the better something can be seen. If it moves you are more likely to see it. You are even more likely to see it if you can bring your visual focus to within 25 degrees of the motion. This means you must keep your eyes and head moving.

It is difficult to see an airplane ahead of you that is moving in the same direction. You can see things that move but the relative motion of an aircraft going ahead of you is hard to detect and will be even more difficult to see if it is below, as well. In a trainer this is not so much a problem as the fact that you may be the aircraft ahead and below. Be aware that following aircraft may not see you. Move your aircraft wings and change directions to help an aircraft behind you, find you.

Our brain senses the relative eye movement of each eye. As the eye focuses it provides the brain the data needed to provide depth or distance. A person with one eye can use relative sizes and familiarity to determine both depth and distance.

--We know that 'smaller means farther away when looking at objects of known relative size.

--Where one object blocks or obscures another we know this shows relative closeness.

--Parallel lines converge with distance. A runway on final forms a parallelogram that is narrower at far end.

-- As we fly to a runway or anything else there is a 'sweet' spot that does not move. Things inside the spot move toward us things beyond the spot move away. It is this relative motion that we learn to use in making our landing decisions. The approach is planned so the 'sweet' is the planned flare point over the runway.

--Your ability to discern distance is affected by how clear the view. Clear weather makes things closer and more colorful. Haze obscures the outlines and things appear farther away.

--We have learned to judge distance by observation of common objects such as people and automobiles. This same skill will cause a problem when judging distance of clouds. Clouds have no relative size or other characteristic that would allow judging distance.

--We can visually interpret shadows and lighted areas as relatively high or low.

The advantage of having two eyes for distance perception is limited to about twenty feet. At wingtip distances visual depth perception is not as reliable as the yellow line of a parking ramp. Even during landing we use visual cues all beyond the twenty foot range. One eye is just as good as two. Peripheral vision as the ground flows to each side of us is used to estimate height above the ground. A person with one eye loses 60% of this peripheral vision. All pilots should develop a 'swivel head' to extend their peripheral vision. Smokers even more so. Smokers have more car accidents, too.

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