Agwaggon,
I have to admit that when I started this thread I didn't expect much support for the P chart idea. Its just something we've never done as ag-pilots. However, I also have a background in helicopters and from time to time it makes sense to pull out the manual to get an idea what departure weight at S.L is going to need 100%Tq to hover at 5000'. Having done the calculation a few times you get a better instinct for whats going to work and whats not the next time you face something similar. So maybe I'm just not as reluctant to look at the graphs as some others may be. (Sure hope that doesn't come across as Fig Jam!)
Personally, I'd just like to have enough information to be able to say "well, I've got 5 kts of tailwind, 600 litres fuel, the temps going to 30C today and this strip is 800 m long with a fence at the end. How many Ha's worth should the mixer pour in the vat?" And be confident that I've got a pretty accurate answer.
An 'at risk' pilot could be someone as Currawong pointed out who simply lacks ability, has poor airmanship. But he could also be someone who just hasn't flown that particular type for a while, has only flown off the big home runway for months, who's tired or distracted (in otherwords 'human'). If we assume that we can't identify 'at risk' pilots until AFTER an accident, and they can't be forced out beforehand, what minimum procedures could we ALL adopt to see that it doesn't happen. Another way to put it is, what should the basics be? Because whenever any of us finds ourselves in an overwhelming situation we should know to go back to 'the basics' We run through the checklists we were taught at the beginning of our training. Adding "How much runway do I have?" and "How much runway do I need?" to our basic checklist and knowing how to get the answers would go a long way to solving this problem.(Just MY opinion.)
If doing a quick weight calculation and a P check is unreasonable/ impractical, what else would have the desired impact on the stats'?
To answer your question about having to do the calculation again as the day heats up. That would obviously depend on how much 'fat' there was in the first calculation. If the agronomist tells you he wants you to pull up at 32 C, you'd only need to do a calculation at full fuel and 32 C to work out your safe load. Obviously then anything cooler and your performance will be more than adequate. Do you think thats being too conservative? Do you think we should be carrying bigger loads while its cooler and/or our fuel load is down? Maybe you're right. Thats your decision to make but when you do, you erode your margin. We've all done it but if the margin is there to give a bit of buffer against all those 'holes lining up', the way things are going with insurance companies black listing accident affected pilots, do we really need to do that anymore?
Agwaggon,
Yeah we do. Take-off accidents in turbines accounted for the majority of losses since September \'04. I believe there were 5.
Last edited by Lowlevldevl; 25th Sep 2005 at 10:37.