Ag-Flying - WISHSTANDE?
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Oz. Mahgni
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Ag-Flying - WISHSTANDE?
As professional ag-pilots we all know how important it is to have effective checklists so we don't forget to think about all those things that need our attention while we're down low with heads outside.
Who uses WISHSTANDE?
Who uses something else?
Anybody use any particular strategies to keep wires at the front of your priority list? Share!
DB
Who uses WISHSTANDE?
Who uses something else?
Anybody use any particular strategies to keep wires at the front of your priority list? Share!
DB
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: USA
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I don't know what a wishstand is, but I still use gumps for landing, even in turbine equipment and even in fixed gear equipment, and I generally check fuel, flaps, trim, transponder, air, regardless of the type of aircraft I'm flying, for takeoff.
Wires...that's so ingrained I look for them when riding a bicycle, or driving a car. In flight, it's about as second nature as drawing a breath. I don't think about it, I just do it. I assume everything has a wire, anything straight has a fence or a line, and I look everything over very carefully to start, while doing, and on the way out for next time.
Wires...that's so ingrained I look for them when riding a bicycle, or driving a car. In flight, it's about as second nature as drawing a breath. I don't think about it, I just do it. I assume everything has a wire, anything straight has a fence or a line, and I look everything over very carefully to start, while doing, and on the way out for next time.
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Australia
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WISHSTANDE is a long winded and mostly useless checklist that is used in the Ag Pilot training curriculum in Australia. It covers a few of the essentials and many of the pointless or blaringly obvious things to check. It may be usefull for the brand new Ag pilot, but it is too cumbersome for most. It doesnt get used, and very few replace it with something short, sharp and usefull
The "I dont think about it, I just do it" approach to avoiding wires might work for some. But how exactly do we teach that?..
If we are doing something to conciously remember and concsiously look for wires then it is is very unlikely that they will be forgotten and/or not seen and hit.
What do you ACTIVLEY do to remember and look for wires?
If the answer is nothing or "I jus dont hit em" then you arent taking the damn things seriously enough.
The "I dont think about it, I just do it" approach to avoiding wires might work for some. But how exactly do we teach that?..
If we are doing something to conciously remember and concsiously look for wires then it is is very unlikely that they will be forgotten and/or not seen and hit.
What do you ACTIVLEY do to remember and look for wires?
If the answer is nothing or "I jus dont hit em" then you arent taking the damn things seriously enough.
Join Date: Oct 2005
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How do we teach looking out for wires? The same way we teach emergencies, preparation for engine failure, emergency dumps, and landings. Do you consciously think about stopping for the car in front of you when it puts on it's brakes, or do you merely do it? You merely do it...stopping is so obvious, and the consequences of failing to do so absolutely increadibly plain, that we do it without thought.
Wires are no different. Assume that wires are everywhere, all the time, and never stop looking, period. Drill that into students.
When I've been called to talk to groups in the past, I usually bring along the stick grip from an old Pawnee. I pass it around while I'm talking, and as it's getting passed, I allow that it was in the hand of a fellow ag pilot when he spun out of an ag turn over a field, and he was squeezing it when the pump brake was driven through his leg. I describe the flaggers wading through mud to reach him and carry him on their shoulders to a dyke where they could load him in the bed of a truck to get him to a place where the ambulance could reach him. I describe having to fly over and drop a hacksaw to cut the pump brake off to get him out of the aircraft. I have their attention.
Anyone who doesn't allow a student to be constantly focused with the same degree of attention has done the student a big disservice.
Wires, trees, standpipes, fences, equipment, obstacles, circle irrigation, it's all a hazard. But do you really need a checklist every time you re-enter the field to remember to look for it? I think not. It should be as second nature as drawing a breath. If it's not, it will eventually kill you.
Wires are no different. Assume that wires are everywhere, all the time, and never stop looking, period. Drill that into students.
When I've been called to talk to groups in the past, I usually bring along the stick grip from an old Pawnee. I pass it around while I'm talking, and as it's getting passed, I allow that it was in the hand of a fellow ag pilot when he spun out of an ag turn over a field, and he was squeezing it when the pump brake was driven through his leg. I describe the flaggers wading through mud to reach him and carry him on their shoulders to a dyke where they could load him in the bed of a truck to get him to a place where the ambulance could reach him. I describe having to fly over and drop a hacksaw to cut the pump brake off to get him out of the aircraft. I have their attention.
Anyone who doesn't allow a student to be constantly focused with the same degree of attention has done the student a big disservice.
Wires, trees, standpipes, fences, equipment, obstacles, circle irrigation, it's all a hazard. But do you really need a checklist every time you re-enter the field to remember to look for it? I think not. It should be as second nature as drawing a breath. If it's not, it will eventually kill you.
