Pilots: “Engine Temp & Pressure green”? Found an issue by looking more closely
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- The lesson I learned on this flight will stay with me - I’ll be much more vigilant in future!
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FLIGHT CHOPS DISCLAIMER:
I am a "weekend warrior" private pilot, I fly for fun with no intentions of going commercial. I have had my PPL for over 15 years, but still consider each flight a learning experience - I generally take detailed notes after each flight to remind myself what went well or what I could do to improve.... Having the GoPro cameras to record flights like this is invaluable. I find these self analysis videos very helpful in my constant quest to improve, and am happy to share. Feedback is invited; however, please keep it positive.
I, for one, like the "old school" Flight Chops. Your unblinking approach to the flight experience is encouraging to the rest of us who try and fail and try again. Keep 'em coming!
Just my personal opinion from the viewpoint of an A&P mechanic.
The second to last landing where you knew something was screwy with the oil system but the landing was unsatisfactory. You should not have ever left the ground again from that point. You were ending on a good note, the ship was safely on the ground with a mechanical issue. *_Never_* compromise safety of flight. The safety of all souls onboard and the safety of the plane. Stopping there would be ending on a good note. Don't let stubbornness or ego, etc, override factual data. An undiagnosed problem in the oil system could be disastrous. Not grinding my axe here or trying to kick sand on you Steve, just want to see you safe & sound!
BooM HeadshoT : I'd rather be an old pilot than a bold pilot. ;)
I’m not a pilot but a buddy of mine was taking me up in his plane...and right before lift off one of our landing gear suspension gave out and we kind of jumped off the runway. He immediately took us down and everything was okay. He basically said the same thing, instead of just chalking it up as a bad runway or just “ehh, whatever” he was super professional about the whole thing as well...
I go offshore fishing all the time and have started taking some of the mental notes about fuel pressure. Oil. Pressure...and if at anytime things start looking off - I immediately head back for shore. No reason to stay in a dangerous place if I am loosing confidence in my boats performance. Plus, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the day.
I think most people can really achieve more things if they processed things as pilots do...
Would the lower temperature oil cause issues due to the thicker viscosity at lower temperatures, mixed with the high pressure created by these engines? I assume there's a reason they installed a device to restrict the flow of oil, allowing it to maintain a certain temperature. Am I right? I work on Automobiles, never aviation engines, so just curious. I assume if you go full throttle with colder oil all types of bad would result, just like any device that requires oil for lubrication.
@@yippdogg9250 Essentially yes, the engines have recommended temperatures that are optimal for a given state of operation. Most piston aero engines are cooled via air and oil and the oil has big impact on the temperature. Running outside of the recommended parameters could cause things like bearing clearance issues or the jugs being too tight on the pistons. Any number of internal clearance problems. In this case, the issue was essentially an oil system thermostat was defective. The oik system needs this thermostat to regulate the oil temperatures because without it the temperature would be all over the place and the engine needs a uniform temperature. Up where the high performance warbirds can go it can be -30/-40°F and up where the jets fly -60°F is normal. Control over your engine temperature regulation is imperative.
I guess Im quite randomly asking but does anybody know of a good site to stream newly released movies online?
When u keep going I can hear Paul Bertorelli narrating this video in my head.
Haha - yeah I can see that
That Super Cub video is my favorite, it is poetic flying. This is very informative even for a non pilot soon to be trainee. I like your comment, it's important to know where your gauges normally operate. As a trucker, you get used to sounds and knowing your levels in your truck. In an instant you can hear the slightest variance, and only a regular flyer or driver would pick up on it. Thanks FC!
Flight Chops was the inspiration for me carrying GoPros on every flight lesson (10 hours to date) and using ForeFlight and CloudAhoy to debrief. Last night my instructor said I improved more in three weeks of NOT flying than many of his students that fly every week. He’s now thinking about using the same tools for all his students. Big thanks for all your videos!
Yup, the cameras don't forget!
You say your videos aren’t instructional, yet every time I watch one I learn something, or at least am prompted to reflect on my own flying. As so it with this one. It made me think back (and review footage of) a flight a couple of weeks ago in a PA38. Out over an endless horizon of suburbs, I noticed my fuel pressure was bottom of green. My return to the airport was expedited, with the electric pump on all the way.
As it turned out, it was a gauge issue, not a pump issue. But your video made me think of two key things: know your aircraft (and what’s normal), and REALLY look at your gauges, as opposed to ‘airspeed alive, Ts and Ps in the green’.
Keep up the great work mate. From your antipodean Commonwealth friend!
These type of humble videos are by far the best ones you produce. Your honesty in talking and debriefing mistakes may very well keep another pilot from making an even bigger mistake one day.
My cockpit decision-making philosophy is simple. If I even ask myself if something is safe, the answer is automatically no. Better to troubleshoot a problem on the ground than in the air. Trust your instincts.
Exactly
Finally a classic FlightChops video! Love the stories, but these are the reason I signed up for the channel in the first place (and started taking lessons)! Thank you!
Steve this was an awesome video, and I really respect how real and honest you are on TH-cam. I sometimes question the truthfulness of some youtubers who I suspect probably hide their mistakes in editing. These kinds of videos really give me the confidence to know as a private pilot student to just be patient with myself and not beat myself up over little mistakes, but to learn and grow from them. Thank you for being so honest and open about your journey and I cannot wait to see the continuation of the journey!
There's real risk in publishing your mistakes so I wouldn't necessarily chalk the editing done by others up to dishonesty - many youtubers are concerned about impact to their present/future career and possible aviation-authority inquiry if their mistakes are broadcast. FlightChops puts it all out there in his videos, but he's not making a career as a pilot and he's careful to always note that his videos are not for training purposes. And I imagine even Chops has some things that have happened over the years which have not made it into publicly shared videos but were important learning moments for him.
i.b. hemp I understand all of this, but it doesn’t change my opinion.
First off, thanks for the brutal personal honesty in your videos. I have a grand total of 4.5 hours right now but these mistakes that you're owning up to are lessons that I'll take to heart. You're making better pilots among the rest of us.
Great analysis about extremely important topic. Memorizing oil pressure and temperature minimums, maximums, and normal operating ranges is something I do before flying any airplane, its the life line of the engine! My instructor always harped on checking "P's and T's" (Engine oil Px. and Temp.) during every cruise check and 15 minute checks during cruise with an emphasis on their trend! Thanks Chops
Your humble approach to such complicated tasks are something every pilot should aspire to and your videos are inspiring to current and future pilots. Keep up the incredible work Steve!!!
An excellent debrief. So many areas to cover and critique. This helps define several areas;
* Distractions - one area of concern can/will cause you to deviate from the necessary actions in other areas
* Mechanical aptitude/knowledge - having a solid grasp/understanding of systems, gauges, and where the system interacts with the gauge is key to understanding the meaning behind the reading
* A, N, C - It just can not be emphasized enough - you have to aviate, navigate, and then communicate. Look throughout the video how the aviate got distracted. Critical phase of flight changes that require specific system settings (flaps, props, mixtures, etc.) with an apparent deviation of a reading caused an "abandonment" of the aviate portion of what you were doing.
* Doubt will kill you - Doubt on the ground, not in the air. Your competence needs to always exceed your confidence. A lack of one will create a deficit in the other. The key is to always keep your competence (knowledge, skill, ability) at a higher level that your confidence. But, the disparity between the two can need exceed your ability to connect the two to allow you to command the plane.
* CRM - Crew Resource Management - A highly important topic in the cockpit. Many times discussed in the crew setting of multiple crew members on the flight deck but I believe that CRM is key in any cockpit crew arrangement. It will affect your ability to not task saturate and to remain focused on flight and systems management beyond the fixation of any one effected system. Just because one is not within range means we abandon the others.
Steve, I applaud your raw openness about your experience here. You are better for it. I love the connection you make to your emotion and the technical side. Just remember to always be your best cheerleader and not allow your doubt to overcome your skill to the detriment of the mission. Become a systems proficient pilot and utilize a flow that is backed up by a checklist.
I love these episodes that are a true debrief, I learn a lot. I like how Steve is realistic about items that need improvement without over reacting, helps remind me to keep the right attitude as a pilot. Proficiency with constant improvement is the goal, and making mistakes is something all pilots do.
My primary instructor taught me to talk out-loud EVERYTHING. His goal at the time was so that the examiner, when that day actually came, would always know what I was thinking as well as doing. Interestingly, talking out the whole flight immediately improved my flying at all stages in the flight. I still do it all the time.
Thank you for posting a real life video. It's nice to see someone admit their mistakes and own up to them. We all do it, but most "edit" it out.
This is why I subscribe to this channel. I love learning from the mistakes of others. It sounds like you had already committed yourself to the last takeoff even before you set power, which may have influenced you and caused you to second guess your own instruments.
I feel a little unqualified to comment but I have a rule that I follow. And that is the safest place for me is on the ground if I get flustered or have a bad landing or something un nerves me. I am not experienced enough to be a new pilot with a problem! Thaks for sharing this REAL experience! Cheers.
This really does re-enforce the fact that every flight should never be treated as routine. I'm early in my lessons, and look forward to becoming a pilot that can be depended on to be safe and reliable. This video really does show that knowing your aircraft, and paying attention to everything, not fixating on any one thing, is a multi-tasking skill that needs to be mastered.
Videos like this are why I subbed to begin with! Thanks for sharing your mistakes so we can all learn. I know I would probably be too ashamed to share so I appreciate the courage to put this out there for all to see, Steve.
This, and Elliot Saguin's emergency at Reno video are awesome. Videos like are a fantastic addition to the accumulation of knowledge and experience available. Keep it up!
Great learning video. It’s so refreshing to see a pilot willingly showing the bad bits as well as the good Well done
I really appreciate this second video. Your emphasis on safety is much appreciated and hopefully will save someone some heartache somewhere down the line. Thanks again for sharing your experiences in this wonderful old war bird.
Great follow up, Steve. This tells me I've found the right guy to watch fly on TH-cam - you care enough to post an entirely separate video focusing solely on the gauge discrepancy, and things you may have done wrong. You've got a great moral compass - that's an attribute that all my close friends have. 😊 There's alot of guys that wouldn't have the "balls", for lack of a better word, to post their mistakes so that others may learn from them. A big THANKS for all you do on your channel! Glad I found it! 👍
I've been in the same frame of mind driving a car many times, where my focus is not 100% on driving - I can completely see how this can lead to bigger problems while piloting aircraft. illustrates why training, and practice, are very important regarding aviation. You can't "pull over" in the sky!
One thing I just want to clarify, as I heard you mention oil pressure with regards to oil level. A low oil level will not necessarily cause low oil pressure - if it does, it is FAR TOO LOW! Low oil pressure due to low oil level, means the oil pump is cavitating with air - VERY bad news, as air does a terrible job of lubricating and cooling engine internals. The level has to be VERY low to reach this stage. While most engines will survive this briefly, it can cause severe engine damage at worst, and at best, shorten the life of the engine. Conversely, a high oil level cannot cause high oil pressure. Pressure is resistance to the flow of oil - bearing clearances and oil passageways provide this resistance. Every engine has it's sweet spot where the oil pressure runs when the engine is fully warmed - as you know, this can vary from engine to engine. Oil level has no effect on this whatsoever, aside from when it gets dangerously low. I just wanted to be sure you and anyone else out there understands this, so that they don't get a false sense of security by skipping the dipstick check, since the oil pressure looks "good". I'm not a pilot, nor am I an aviation mechanic, but I have built, run, and repaired all kinds of engines from weedwhackers (string trimmer) to V8 trucks. Whether it's flying, or mowing, the basic principles are the same. 😊
Thanks for such detailed insights on how oil pressure works!
No problem brother. It's the least I can do for all the stuff you've taught me through your videos over the past year or so. 🍻
Steve, you let things add up like this away from the airport, That's how shit gets real. Thanks again for a transparent, honest vid.
Great work Steve. Had a rejected takeoff while getting my private. Had an RPM with full throttle at 2050 vs 2450. You did the right thing specially after realizing it was consuming your attention.
Yes. More of these old school vids please!
Great video! The problem too is once you get that instrument fixation its like tunnel vision and the mind can miss some other stuff around you. Very informative video.
I’m a devotee of the “flow” method backed up by the “killer” items on the checklist. I migrated to electronic checklists a couple of years ago and agree they are much better than paper for not losing track if you get interrupted. As well, you can update them a lot easier than making a new paper one.
As for the engine gauges, I do an engine gauges check on the initial power up for takeoff. And then make it part of my scan, especially if I am departing IFR and headed into the soup. This has gotten easier for me when I updated the factory gauges to a JPI 900 that has an idiot light and is also connect into my AV-17 audio alert system. I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. We all miss stuff. Learn from it and move on. Hope you enjoyed the Mooney Summit.
These kinds of videos are my favorite kind on this channel. Definitely learned a good amount.
I've missed these "old school" type episodes and I appreciate very much the honest debriefings...great content and inspiration! It's one of the reasons I started following and became a Patreon supporter. Keep up the great work, Steve! You're well on your way to the Spitfire and we all look forward to following along with you. Cheers!
Nothing to add, you wrote everything 👍🏼
I was just reviewing the comments on this one and I can't believe I missed replying to this one - So I wanted to be sure you knew I appreciated both this comment - and the support with the channel!
I had a similar low oil pressure /temp scare in my 1960 Debonair (IO-470N). I was climbing into the high Rockies. I 180ed and RTBed. The culprit was a small piece of what appeared to be Helicoil jammed into the oil cooler valve. I hope it taught me to better anticipate/deconstruct error chains. If something feels wrong, listen to that voice! Because I had something similar happen to me I was watching the pressure gauge and
wasn't surprised by the outcome.
Best video in a while. This is personally the kind of stuff I want to see on this channel.
I’m no warbird pilot but I thought you did fine considering you haven’t taken the Harvard up in 49 days. Amazing how much can be learned from your filming. Valuable debriefing tool is an understatement. Thanks for sharing your lessons learned !
Thank you Steve for bringing content like this, definitely a big reminder for every pilot on how is crucial to monitor your engine instruments and trust them.
Quality video as usual. Your honest debriefing on your flight was great, signs of a quality pilot if you ask me.
I've had a few like this, but never had the explanation from maintenance after. Two that stand out were in fuel-injected C-172s, both at night. One was solo, at the home field, and I had a momentary drop of about 200RPM on climb out. Definitely a full stop, no question. The other was the same problem, but 20mi from home, with my CFI and a passenger. The CFI made the call, and we landed away from home, and had the school send a ride to pick us up. I have no doubts about either decision, though I wonder if I had been solo, just 20mi from home if I would have made the same choice.
Colin - Food for thought.
Man I loved those Super Cub videos. That's what got me hooked on FlightChops all those years ago!
Lots of very candid stuff here... trim; flaps; audible call outs; even the checklist stuff. This kind of honesty in debriefing provides a lot of benefits, including reinforcing personal integrity and teaching lessons about flying that will help keep you alive. Now that I'm starting to feel like I might be back on my way to being a halfway decent pilot again, I want to gain the same kind of disciplines. Diving deeper into Jason Miller's book Setting the Standard, learning lessons from every instructor I work with, and doing my best to make sure my mind is staying on the right track when I fly. Not always easy... but I want to do this right. Sure, I fly for fun... but making mistakes isn't fun, so the better I get at not making mistakes, the more fun it gets.
Oh... and another thing... somehow, that ending was... perfect.
I learned quite a bit from this video. It feels like the old FlightChops is back. I’ll be paying more attention to my T’s and P’s next time I go flying. Great work.
Fifi was in Nashua, NH recently. It was pretty amazing to see one locally.
Love those videos where we can see everything
Nice job on the video. Excellent lessons, Mr Chops!
Great lessons here for all of us. I have had something as simple as a Alternator failure in perfect VMC distract me from routine activities. Like were always taught, fly the plane first. Thanks Steve!
This is a very good video. It's great that you debrief publicly and set a good example for the rest of us. We all continue to learn, if we have an attitude of being open to learn.
Thumbs up!
Awesome video as always. As a student pilot your videos never fail to be inspiring, educational and entertaining. Keep up the good work.
Steve, some important lessons and your timing is perfect. Just returned from a ferry trip within the UK and was reviewing my flights (and mistakes); looking but not seeing, not verbalising, fixation, wx (fog) etc. etc. Always lots to learn, thanks for sharing, always valuable.
I too miss your "old-school" vids, like this one. I learned a lot and applied many of your tips/debrief items in my flying as well. I use two cameras and debrief every flight, though I don't edit like you do. It's HARD and very time consuming. Someday though... Some time ago, while on a student solo and doing maneuvers, I eventually noticed that my oil pressure was low, but the temp was normal. Got really nervous and headed toward the closest airport, but didn't declare an emergency even though I was asked. I noticed in my video that the pressure had slowly diminished from the time I'd take off - I never noticed until I was well into my maneuvers. Stupid mistake that I've since corrected - I monitor much more closely. Thanks for the vid! BTW, it turned out to be a bit of paper towel that had got wrapped around the temp bulb. Some idiot at the flight school hadn't used the supplied oil rag to wipe the dip stick.
Corrected: "Some dip stick at the flight school hadn't used the supplied oil rag to wipe the dip stick."
Nice long video. Another pilot I watched yesterday said.... It takes about a year to learn how to fly, but it takes forever to learn when not to fly.
Maybe its been brought up, but this reminds me a bit of the issues on Air Transat 236. The initial sign there was a fuel leak was low oil temperature and high oil pressure. The increase in oil pressure due to the lower temperature oil going through the system, the oil was cooled by the fuel flow...and due to leak really high fuel flow. As with your video, underlies importance of knowing how the systems work, and that seemingly benign things could be masking serious dangers.
Good to see you go back to the retro format with this video. Like how you point-out and critique imperfections in your own performance.
But Hoover’s the best part of this video. Love his name 👍🏻👏🏻. More Hoover! Steve, CHAA’s going to have to get a yellow tandem seat Mustang for you to take Hoover up in 😉
In the wise words of FlightChops when speaking to Elliot...
"It was a case of how many 'Hey mans...' do you want before you realize there's an issue?"
Great lesson to be had here. Individual airplanes have personalities and characteristics that have to be learned. A departure from the normal characteristics should be noted whenever even slight ones occur. Good on you Steve for noticing that and calling it quits. I can see where the desire to remain current with good landings could cause you to want to continue though.
Also, love the old school style. I originally subscribed when you made videos like the "How to lean" video and your almost VFR into IMC flight. Love that style. Be sure to sprinkle some of these old school videos in for us old timers. ;)
Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely continue to sprinkle more of this style video into the publishing line up!
And it's funny - that experience with Elliot was a direct result of this one - I had actually done this flight just a couple days before departing for Reno - that was part of the "get-there-itis" to have a good recurrency flight; If I didn't complete this one, I'd have been well over 60 days before I got the chance to fly it again. And I definitely debriefed myself regarding trying to gloss over a thing, that I kinda knew was a deal breaker for continuing the flight.
So when I was talking to Elliot after his emergency, what I had learned on this flight was fresh in my mind.
I find in instances, when I'm fixated and my attention is not what it should be, I back off and evaluate the situation at hand. Situational awareness comes with experience, we can chalk it up to that! Not to put you in the hot seat, I'm sure your instructors and peers are in observation mode. I'm not a pilot myself, but I have a lot of respect for how you're handling yourself. I'm learning a lot just watching your channel and videos👍👍😎
Checking engine instruments is something that got driven home in my primary training. I wasn't really looking properly, so my instructor pulled the breaker and caught me on it. Never did that again! Lol
Thank you for an honest look into a "routine" flight. Because of this video pilots like myself will take a second longer to consider what it actually means to say "engine and oil in the green" on take-off, and that it's OK to abort. As they say, I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was up in the air rather than in the air wishing I was on the ground.
Very good watch. I need to get back in the air.
God I love a centrifugal starter. I think the P-36 Peashooter has the best sounding one I've ever heard.
Chops have us a learning nugget and chops doggo gave us a different nugget
Thank you for sharing these simple easy to make mistakes with us! Flaps pulled a houdini! Reversed take off trims. 😀. You took it all in stride. Landing was nose up but nice! Thanks again.
Instead of GUMP I used PUFF, being propellor, undercarriage, fuel, flaps. The fuel procedure in the puff check covers both fuel levels just in case of a go around and mixture going full rich
So glad you re-edited this. And thanks for taking us along on all four landings. Having watched all your T-6 clips, I'm gradually getting less terrified of that machine. (On video, anyway. Real life? Not so much :-)
They're not as hard to fly as he makes it out to be. I have about 100 hours in my grandfather's and they're pretty gentle once you're used to it.
Very interesting video! Love the different camera angles and explanations. Have never had the opportunity to fly a war bird, but through your video it gives me an idea of what’s its like. Great job👌🏻
So awesome to see an old school flight chops video. This was an awesome overview. It was hard for me to troubleshoot and I am on the ground just watching :)
We've all gotten distracted or tried to out-think that gut feeling that something isn't quite right -- kudos to you for the courage it takes to share this publicly. This type of open dialog and self reflection makes us all better pilots. Maybe I've had overly excited passengers, full to the brim fuel, on a hot day and wondered why takeoff performance seemed even worse than it should have been - on climb out, while second guessing my w&b calcs, I decided to close the window :(
I have a "cup of tea" philosophy. As soon as something starts to feel wrong to me about a flight I make the statement "right, time for a cup of tea" - which is my decision to land with no ifs, buts or maybes. It's kind of my personal limitations telling me that I'm done. Oh, and I love seeing "old school" flight chops. I'll be casting an extra eye over the temperatures and pressures from now on.
Finding Zen is still one of my favourite videos Steve!
Love this one too; kudos for reminding us that you’re still just a regular pilot despite being a legit SkyGod :)
Old School FlightChops episode? Yessshhh!!
It's amazing how well I can relate to these types of videos. I am a low hour ppl and am constantly talking to myself on each flight on how to improve. I use a different flight app but I am also tweaking the checklists to match the real-world ones. Great work it realyl is good content.
You were right to take the time to make this edit, it has a great debriefing value.
What's interesting is the fact that you went for another circuit because you weren't sure if there was an actual issue or not. I'm not blaming you in any way, and I'm sure everyone would have done exactly the same in your situation, myself included.
I'm gonna add some stuff to it here for everyone:
First, you wouldn't believe how many qualified and experienced pilots I trap during their currency flight by pulling the flaps breaker when they're not looking. (Spoiler alert, it's around 80% of them.) You caught the mistake early enough, so that's a good point.
Most of them are like "Uh, the airplane feels weird, I can't slow down enough with the usual power setting"... And keep on going like this. Sometimes all the way to the landing with the stall warning beeping randomly.
So lesson 1: If it doesn't feel right or behaves differently than it normal does, check everything. Don't just admit the new situation as "normal for some unknown reason".
Second, the "tunnel vision effect". Well demonstrated here when you instinctively took time to focus on what seemed to be wrong and were late reducing the power. It's a human psychological phenomenon which takes training to avoid as much as possible.
Third, the unusual oil temperature. An above/below the red line parameter will guide the pilot way faster to a definitive and confident decision, unlike one that's within the limits but not at its typical value like the temperature was here. When we're confronted with such a problem, we have to take time to fully analyse the situation and try to understand if this is an actual issue that needs action, which is what you did here. (T/O power and lower temperature => not logical)
Finally, the psychological side of it. As a low experienced pilot on an aircraft type, when you detect a potential problem, part of your brain always wonders if this isn't just a normal situation that you've never encountered before and not an actual issue. We always lack a bit of confidence in the first few hours of flying an aircraft type that's very different from what we're used to. Moreover sometimes some of us worry a bit about their pride if they stop the flight and it turns out it wasn't for a real problem. But then again, there never is place for pride in a flying aircraft.
Here you relied on facts to analyse the situation and shape your decision which was obviously the good one.
Anyway that was my point of view on the matter, thank you very much once again for sharing this with us!
If anyone has anything to add to this or don't agree, they're very much welcome to do so. I'm a flight instructor but I'm very far from perfect. :)
I also notice that you mentioned the video I was talking about in my comment on the previous one. That was the one that got me hooked to your channel if I'm honest. :)
Sorry for the long comment, and keep'em sharp!
Thanks for the thorough insights!
@flightchops What have you changed in this video, new camera gear? New editing? Video Quality in the first opening scene on this one is absolutely amazing!!!
Absolutely amazing debrief, and vital for others.
I admire your honesty.
Great video. I was thinking about scenarios only last night about how I'd handle unusual oil temp and pressure readings, having had one flight where the oil pressure gauge red-lined, and I wanted to get down ASAP. Turned out to be a faulty sensor, but you can't be too careful. I also like how you verbalise checklist instructions. I do that sometimes and feel like a fool for talking to myself, but I think I will keep doing it.
Keep up the great work.
Great video and debrief!! It's great that you don't let your ego get in the way of sharing your mistakes to hundreds of thousands of people to help them learn. I do have a helpful critic though, if I may. After you were airborne from the last stop and go with the temp much lower than normal, I would have gotten on the radio and advised tower of the problem, even though not an emergency but just so they are aware and can handle you accordingly. And if you really felt uncomfortable with how things were going, ask tower if you could cut the pattern short and come in on runway 30. Just something to consider, again great video can' wait to see the next!!!!!
Great episode Steve!
I've had that same instrument fail on me in my PZL Wilga. Oil pressure. Which I was running high so I blew open a bunch of seals on my 400hp M-14PF. Caused me to have a teardown and IRAN inspection. What a bummer! Replaced it with a custom gauge and adapted senders from UMA... Which was the best thing in the world!
GREAT Video!
Flight chops= cool guy
Nice to see you back on Steve as it has been a while or i have not noticed you posting.As to this one i have had one or two like this where you fixate on a situation to the detriment of the operation in general.BTW i have justt been to see Spectrum as i plan to do some training there next year sometime.Bes regards, Seán a UK & canadian licence holder as well as one of your longtIme YT viewers.
Low oil pressure and low temperature doesn’t seem to jive, unless bad thermostatic valve diverted more oil to cooler which starved the engine and oil pressure gauge. Very good lesson to all pilots to look beyond go/no go on instruments
Totally enjoyable this style of presentation. When it doesn't feel right you should trust you gut. Personally I stopped my flight training because of a gut feeling, at 16yo I did my first solo bound to be a commercial aviator... a change of instructor, aircraft and flight school had me flying a C152 that had " unusual flight characteristics " according to the new instructor. A very few lessons later, I decided I did not like this plane but had a good relationship with the instructor and was told " it was his plane, and if I'd like to continue that this would be our aircraft" I stopped flying from then. Some time later, the flight school was investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority after failing a COA. This aircraft had been rebuilt, poorly, from three different aircraft. How it got to fly, let alone in a flight school is beyond my knowledge. I am now 43, and have never been PIC again. Get on the ground safe...consider options. Love living vicariously through your current and back catalog, my how technology and cameras have changed.
Love it. Thank you for being so candid and real. That's awesome! It's what made your channel (IMHO anyway). "The supercub on grass not that long ago?" It wasn't!!!! 🙂 Always have loved these learning type videos even more than all the fancy go-fast ones. Don't begrudge you a minute of all the great opportunities that come your way these days. Super cool for sure. But I love "old Steve" getting it done and sharing from the heart more than anything. No doubt you've helped to form many a new pilot's attitudes about safety and training (old pilots too!) and thereby contributed to the safety of old the whole flying community! Thanks for that!!!!!!
Thanks for your honesty
as a non-pilot. I love these videos as well mate! Great work!
also, lol I remember just recently commenting about that supercub video where you got invited to bbq
Another great video Steve, thanks for sharing. Warbirds are awesome. Got a big grin when I heard the ‘caution wake turbulence from
The Dash 8’ - I’m flying her over here in Europe. You canadians know how to make planes. Would be cool to watch you get involved with airlines, maybe do a day together with line pilots? (Ideally on the dash). Safe flights.
A good practice is to point. If you point at every instrument when checked you direct your attention to it. This helps prevent any ritual "checks" that are no check at all.
I put sticky labels with the normal and min/max values next to each gauge. Einstein said never commit to memory that which you can look up. My engine oil P & T gauges are smack in the center of my panel, so command a much greater priority during my scan than when flying previous planes. After renting planes for the past 35 years and now an owner for the past year, I've found that owning my own plane has made me VASTLY more aware of potential problems with aircraft systems. If I don't spot a fault and have it fixed, nobody else will. Owning is a whole 'nuther learning curve.
Great to see these posts. I appreciate your honesty. Sounds like the little voice in my head saying sometimes, hmmm is that what it looks like, normally?
Awesome, love these types of old videos
Very nice analysis.
Great videos! Keep it up!
Steve, if you ever want or need a passenger let me know - I'm just across the river. Great stuff. I also found it really fun to see you flying out of Traverse City - that's where I grew up and still have both my I and my wife's family. Everywhere you were flying around up there was familiar to me, so that was really fun to see.
Thanks for sharing! My school ban the use of gopro inflight due to some close call with students. It was such a wonderful tools for me personally to go back to see what mistake I made on the flight. Again thanks for sharing!!
All of those thoughts and second guessing are normal. Same thing happened to me when I had the oil temp rise and pressure drop on a flight this summer in the Citabria. It ended up not being a loss of oil, it had just gotten that hot. When I checked it on the ground it had the consistency of water. But I second guessed the readings on that too for a second. I had another instance in a 182 with the same issue in Texas. Oddly enough, both situations were compounded by an additional problem. Both of them turned into precautionary landings. I learned a lot from them. Like I quoted my Chief Pilot on the last video: Gut feelings keep us alive. Great video my friend, and great to see Hoover again!
Great video! The amount of detail was very useful. Much appreciated
Thanks for yet another great video! Love this 'old school' debriefing. And for a bloddy beginner it feels also comforting to see you go through almost the same emotions and thought pattern I do. When things are not like they are supposed to be, getting a little fuzzy with checklists. I'm glad you realized the retracted flaps in time. That could have been an ugly one. And also not to make the descision right away to stay on the ground as indications just felt a bit 'in the grey'. I think the Gethereities is strong in us all. It's easy to watch the video and say, yeah, should have ended the flight right there. Something was clearly not right. But you are in a different mindset up there. I would have done probably exactly the same. Just one more round, what can it hurt? It's probably nothing at all. ...
What I really liked - the verbalizing of checklists. I think I gonna start doing that too.
Excellent video. You touch on a very common brain state and we all suffer from it. I can't remember the term but it is to do with expectancy and how that is processed by the brain.
I've had 1 incidents in my life on my bicycle where this has happened. Pure luck I didn't got run over. My case was coming to a cross road in city area , have driven there for years, but this time on a new bike and was focused on the bike and just drove into to middle of the road, to see a taxi on my right....what saved me was road i was crossing was short, so taxi was at slow speed and braked for me. Had this crossing road been long, 50 kph and 20 meters and reaction time of taxi , i would be hurt or worse.
It scared the shit out of me, as I would never cross without looking. I broke it down to, that I was focussing on the wrong thing and in a known area. Had I been a new town or place, my guess is that would not have happened.
So I told my brain it was ok to focus at the wrong thing, and mr. brain does what you tell him to do.
Complacency kills and it is not always at conscience fault, that is the scary part.
So in this case ...one could argue that you told your brain that things were in the right place, and you accept that input from your brain and process it as correct, while real life shows it was not even close (full flaps vs. down flaps).
Best analogy from a brain expert "shoe laze is untied ? " "who do you know ?" "well i look and see" nope you felt a less pressure from the shoe laze and your brain told you to look and confirm.
Brain training and understanding will go miles for safety. We have all seen crash investigation were in the aftermath it is clear what went wrong. Most times it is human error, not to say the actual human is bad, but a lot is going on, that needs severe training. We could learn a lot from the flying community, as this is a required skills to pilot an aircraft.
Had flightchops gone with his mental checklist alone, he in my mind, would have never checked the flaps, cause he said to his brain, that he had done it right. This case he knew from good training , that this airplane feel might be flap related and rechecked it.
God forbid a crash, but had he crashed flaps up, many would say duh idiot!! but there is more to it than that. The idiot sayers only go with the top of the iceberg.
So brain mismatch is a real thing and are to be taking very seriously in all parts of life :)
Expectation bias! Very very dangerous, happened to me once really bad and my instructor chewed me out big time but rightfully so. I descended to an altitude I'm used to being cleared to when in reality I was cleared to a higher one because of traffic there.
Boy did my instructor lay into me, no excuse other than that I was expecting things to go as I planned them in my head. Not how flying works.
www.aviationpros.com/article/10796523/expectation-bias
Wow! That is big. Loved the video. Thanks.
My Cherokee recently had a cracked cylinder that would only intermittently produce partial power loss, and not by much. I took it to Mtx a few times, each time finding different things suspected of causing the problem. After each time, in the shop, it happened to work okay right after. I even managed to conduct a long XC. I kept having rough run-ups, but they were somewhat normal to me considering the problem existed from day 1. I could seemingly correct the issue during run-up and then have an uneventful flight. But on three occasions (the occasions that brought me into mtx), I would have engine rpm fluctuations of about 100rpm immediately after takeoff. It was small enough of a change that I was often very tempted to continue the flight and see if it smoothed out. But I've had engine failure emergencies and never want to put myself in that situation again, so each time I requested precautionary landing and got priority handling (did not declare emergency, but notified twr of what was happening and they fit me in front of others to do a short-approach). It took removal of the whole cylinder and an outside specialist to identify the root of the problem (cracked cylinder 3). Additional factors included damaged exhaust valve, valve guide, and valve spring. It is suspected that the valve issue was likely causing the biggest problem as that's actually where the majority of pressure was leaking. But it would occasionally seat itself correctly and seal up, which is why it was so hard to diagnose without tearing the cylinder apart. Ultimately, not too expensive to fix and I never pushed it with safety. I've had numerous situations in my career where a very minor abnormality could have led to a catastrophic failure. The worst incident I ever had ironically had no prior warning whatsoever. I lost 4 plugs after liftoff in a 152 only 200ft agl with barely enough runway remaining. Took controls from student, dropped the nose, declared an emergency (twr had someone landing behind us), and brought it back onto the runway. Managed to touch down and stop with about 1500ft remaining.
Thank you for the videos!