Bonanza G36 Dual Bus System

About a month ago, I had an instance where a student of mine had an alternator failure in his G36 Bonanza at our destination.  We ultimately determined that the number one alternator needed to be repaired or overhauled, but not before a conversation with the mechanic ensued that caused me to raise an eyebrow. The mechanic, who was not totally familiar with the Bonanza, said to me that he wanted to take the number two alternator and swap it with the number one alternator just to see if it was an alternator issue. That was the red flag that caused me to realize that he didn't understand the electrical system and prompted me to think a about how I should explain the electrical system and some of the differences a pilot will need to consider when transitioning into the G36 Bonanza.  An article on this will appear in the November 2016 issue of the American Bonanza Society's magazine.

Garmin 430 and 530 basics

Some may find it hard to believe, but I still run across pilots that have no experience with the Garmin 430 and 530 equipment.  Not that everyone has experience with these systems, but with the proliferation of these units through the early 2000's, most pilots know what they are, and have likely been in an aircraft with one installed.

These pieces of equipment have been out for quite some time, but there are still pilots that are just starting to think about getting a GPS in their aircraft, and these units provide probably the lowest cost of entry these days that will allow a pilot to get a great moving map GPS that can be approved for IFR approaches.

I put together a quick cheat sheet for the first time pilot that wants to just fly their aircraft and get used to the functions of the GPS.

Communication Side----------------Navigation Side

Setup Navigation to an airport

• Press “Direct To” Button
• Use the knobs to enter the airport identifier
•  Each airport starts with a K
•  No “K” if the airport has a number in it. (ie. C09)
• The large knob moves the cursor
•  The small knob makes letters
• Press Enter TWICE

Find Nearest airports (In an emergency)

• Rotate the large knob on the right side - all the way to the right until you see NEAREST

Reset unit to default screen

• Press and hold the CLR button
• Rotate little knob on the right, one click to the right

Scheduler Function on Garmin 430/530

Ive been in enough aircraft to know that this function is starting to get a lot of attention, but there are still times where I fly with folks that have no idea what this is, or what it is about.

In the Garmin 430/530 navigators, there is a scheduler function that allows you to set up a recurring message (Alarm) that pops up at a certain interval. I love to use this function to help remind pilots to change tanks.  The Garmin 430 and 530 manual specifically uses this as an example when setting up scheduled tasks.  I know some pilots that use this to remind them of an oil change, transponder testing, and even BFR and medical!

Check out page 157 of the Garmin 430W manual. (Its PDF page 167 in the following download).
A copy of the manual can be found on the Garmin website, or here: http://www.takewinginc.com/documents/GNS430W_PilotGuideandReference.pdf

 

The castering nose-wheel

I do a lot of Beechcraft transition training - mostly in the Bonanza.  Over the past two years, I've had three pilots come to me for transition training where there previous aircraft had a castering nose wheel, such as the Cirrus or the Grumman American Tiger.

I've noticed that pilots transitioning from an aircraft with a castering nose wheel have a hard time breaking the habit of using differential braking for turning.  This can be caught by the instructor by keeping their toes on the pedals to determine whether they are being used for steering, or whether the brakes are being applied.  An experienced instructor will be able to tell this right away.  The thought is to save on brakes while taxiing.

Another item of interest is the use of brakes on take-off in a Cirrus or Grumman.  I see this happen all the time and I personally think this is bad technique.  Once you get rolling, you should have enough rudder authority to counteract the wind (to an extent) once you get rolling.  The Bonanza has very effective brakes - attempting to correct directional control while heading down the runway is a recipe for disaster.

Independent Instructors and the TSA

One day I received a letter from the TSA (Transportation and Security Administration). It seemed innocent enough - they wanted to have me call their offices to schedule an in person review of my flight instructor records. At first, I didn't really think anything of it since I keep pretty good records and had been instructing for quite a few years at the time, but for some reason something just didn't feel right, so I telephoned the AOPA legal services division to see if they had ever come across anyone receiving letters like this. They said that they have not, but they didnt think it would be anything to be concerned about since there have been rumors of Independent flight instructors being reviewed by the TSA.

Shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the TSA was formed and so were requirements for flight instructors.  Many of these requirements and procedures concern themselves with foreign citizens looking to get their pilot certificate or advanced ratings, however there are record-keeping requirements and a procedural nuance requiring all flight instructors to capture information from new students even as citizens of the United States.

I set up a date and time to meet with the TSA inspector at my local airport. There was a little bit of confusion, since I live in Indiana, but instruct out of Illinois based airports. The TSA agent said he was not able to come to an Illinois airport because it was out of his jurisdiction and we had to meet him in Indiana based airport, which I thought was strange, so I arranged to meet him at an airport in Indiana about 20 minutes from my home.

The meeting started off good.  He asked me if he could see my logbook to which I declined stating that I keep all of my records of students in a separate file. I showed him the file and the appropriate TSA sign-offs for all of my students.  He wanted to see the copies of my student's passports and I told him that I did not retain them since I didn’t want the liability if these records were lost or stolen.  He told me that it was required, but I challenged him to show me the requirement in the regulation.  He said he would get back to me, which he never did. He then asked to see my proof of my annual TSA training, so I did show him those, but I only had three past years of evidence. During the question and answer, one of the questions that he asked was on record-keeping requirements for the TSA, which I thought was 3 years, but that is actually for the FAA requirement for CFI record keeping, not TSA.... Which is 5 years.  He marked this in his ledger.  I told him that I had lost the other 2 years of evidence, but I certainly did take them and could probably provide evidence that I had paid for them through the American flyers program, which he had never heard of.  He also asked to see my initial training certificate which, luckily I had taped in the back page of my logbook many years ago when the TSA requirements started. I didn't think we needed to keep records of that, since the record keeping requirement was only 5 years for them.

The agent became a little agitated and proceeded to tell me that not complying with the TSA requirements could result in a $19k fine, but he was willing to let me off with a warning and that I needed to be reevaluated after 6 months. 

Six months came along with a phone call from the same TSA agent. I told him over the phone beforehand that I hadn't had any new students in the six months prior, but he wanted to meet anyway.  The second meeting was a waste of time. He asked for my logbook again and I declined again stating that I showed him all of my records already and they are still current.  I basically watched him fill out paperwork and we said our good bye, but not before he mentioned that he will be checking in with me in another 6 months. 

I then did some research and called the TSA offices downstate and was able to get a TSA Supervisor.  I politely mentioned to the TSA Supervisor that considering I do instruction for very few students that meet the requirements of 49 CFR 1552.3, I think the inspection requirements are a little unfounded.  The result of the conversation was that I submitted an affidavit to the TSA stating that I no longer provide any training as described in 49 CFR 1552.3 which includes training toward an initial pilot certificate, an instrument rating, or a multi-engine add on.

Admittedly, this was all done out of frustration, but in reality, I was at a point in my instructor career where I only had a few students that were going for ratings, and this gave me the opportunity to focus on specialized instruction and leave the instruction for ratings to the folks that do it all of the time and are likely a lot better than me at making sure all of the nuances of sending someone for a rating are met.  A fringe benefit was that I dropped student pilot training from my liability insurance and saw a drop in premiums.

The moral of this story is that the TSA is ramping up efforts to identify independent instructors and review their paperwork.  More often than not, I am sure the experience will be a good one, but for me it was a challenge.  The silver lining was that I was able to focus my efforts on a different side of instruction.

Com 3??

As an instructor, there are many times where you just want to mute the radios, or quickly shut off what's happening on the frequency. Most of the time with older radios your only option is to use the volume knob, or the switching panel to switch off the audio coming from the radios.

I've been using a new trick on some of the new Garmin switching panels, which is to press the COM3 button. Since most aircraft that I fly and don't have a COM3, the button is not wired to anything and it is a quick way to shut off all communications and all radios without messing with the volume knobs or the switching panel.

The Intermediate Fixes and Procedure Turns/Course reversals

I was asked about this IF business on approach charts.  Sometimes they are there and sometimes they arent.  Why bother putting them on the approach chart if they dont have any real significance?

I think that is precisely why they are on the chart - to denote them as a relatively insignificant point in space - and not to be confused with an IAF or FAF.

Take a look at the Kankakee RNAV 22 Approach (KIKK).  COYAP has both an IAF and IF depicted that way because COYAP has different functions depending upon where you start your approach.  If you use LUCIT for your IAF, COYAP becomes an IF (an Intermediate Fix is just a designation so that the pilot doesnt confuse it for a FAF, or IAF).  The LOC 36 into Lansing (KIGQ) gives a better depiction of when an IF is used.  In the Lansing example, your IAF is EON (Peotone), you have an IF of TOGOC (which is nothing more than a point that intersects the EON 065 Radial and the Localizer) and the FAF is WOKLA (Even though it says IAF on the chart, in the profile view, the Maltese cross signifies it as such).

Now, heading to COYAP from the north, we received a vector of something like 220 degrees, then direct COYAP a few moments later - which was like a 180 degree heading.  Do we really have to do the course reversal?  We are basically heading south and it is only about 20 degrees to get on course once you hit COYAP.  BUT, check out AIM 5-4-6 (e, 4) and AIM 5-4-9.  Basically, if there is a course reversal, or procedure turn depicted on the chart, you have to do it....  Unless... you are being radar vectored onto the final approach course (which probably wouldn't happen on the RNAV22 for IKK because there is no real extended center-line) OR it says No PT (and of course, the test question about timed approaches from a holding fix).  A lot of times, controllers give radar vectors to the ILS to get on the final approach course - that's why you can go straight in:  "Bonanza 1234, turn left heading 180, intercept the localizer, cleared for the approach".

If we started the approach from LUCIT, we wouldn't do the Procedure Turn.  If we started the Approach from EON (OR COYAP), we would.