SAFETY

glennhake

glennhake

New member
Your club is participating in an initiative to improve safety. Part of this program will be to developed best practices for Cruisiar/Cruisemaster owners and instructors. We need your input!

• What aspects of your checkout or last flight review were informative and should be passed along?
• What have your learned since purchasing your Cruisiar/Cruisemaster that you wish was covered on the checkout or review?
• What systems knowledge was good (or lacking) and should be included on the next review?
• What techniques and practices were suggested on your last instrument proficiency check that improves safety?
• What is your opinion on the wings program?

Please chime in here with any suggestions to improve the safety of our classic airplanes!
 
Hey Glenn,
Before I owned the crate, I had a Cherokee for over 20 yrs. I flew it all the time and even did Lewis and Clark in it. I took it from Pittsburgh to Seattle. I then got my dream the crate. Let me say the Cherokee is a very forgiving airplane and the Bellanca is not! So here goes what I have learned in 12 yrs with the crate.She is a Jezebel. First is the landing gear. I check before I insert the key that the gear is In The Latch, next is the fuel I have the 4 position single knob so I check what tank it is on and Where The Fuel Switch is right tank and the switch is on the Right tank. I can't stress these two things enough as they will burn you. The only other thing that will cause you real trouble is the carb heat. The crate has two T handles next to one another. One is the carb heat and the other is the Parking brake. The crate was on it's back in 1959 with just over 100hrs because if you pull the carb heat and it is the parking brake it is over in a minute. I painted my T handle parking brake Yellow. I use the carb heat below freezing and just check it like a Cherokee above 40 degrees. Continental carb engines are notorious for carb ice. The worst are O-470s and O -200s. Like all tail wheel planes the 3 rules are KEEP IT STRAIGHT, KIS and KIS. My last Biannual was with my Spartan buddy and he is slick. We were all over the sky in the crate and I was always on top of it. So we set up to land and I was feeling pretty damn cockey, as the wheels kissed the grass he says GO AROUND NOW! That my friend was a real surprise and to this day he ribs me Power Flaps Trim Carb heat Gear and the whole time forward pushing on the yoke as the crate wants to loop. I am not to keen on the Wings program. I have been in in Maintenance and pilot side. Most guys are riding on your dime and want to fly your plane. No thanks.
Lynn loves his crate :shock:
 
My opinion:

Fuel is a concern in most low wings Bellancas because the majority of them have this rather convoluted fuel system (never mind if you are coming from most high-wing Cessnas), so:

Rules I live by:
1.- You only have the fuel that *YOU SEE*.
2.- *KNOW* where your fuel is.
3.- *HAVE* a 'fuel burn' plan.
4.- Sort it out on the ground!

Elaborating on those rules:
1.- You can't see inside of a Viking's rear tank, so you either top it off or *YOU KNOW UNAMBIGUOUSLY* how much fuel is left on it. Some wing tanks will have a 'lazy fill' (you fill them up and then they go half way a few minutes later), know the idiosyncrasies of your bird. Something to consider when you tell the line-boy 'top it off' (*BAD* habit...)
*LOOK* inside your tanks before you go!

2.- *NEVER* leave the ground without knowing where your fuel is. You just don't have the time to switch back and forth between 5-7 tanks when your engine quits on a long final.

3.- There is not much use at having 10 gallons of fuel, 2 on each of 5 tanks.
You need to decide how to burn your fuel before you go, change the tanks as planed and *WRITE DOWN* what tank you flew how long and how much fuel you think is left on it. Anytime I refuel after a long XC I declare how much fuel each tank will take. I am most always within +/- half a gallon of what I expected.

4.- Sort it out on the ground!
You are not flying a mission (valid for any GA aircraft)
Leave the mission to the military and the airlines, they have the money, the training, the need and the determination. If it smells funny, get to the ground and do your thinking on a lazy boy!
ET
 
Determining true short field landing procedures in a Cruisair is "interesting"
Using the Flying Handbook method of 1.3 Vso on final approach is a start.
A pilot new to the bird like me requires experienced counsel. Hopefully not the legal variety.
Only way to make up for the shortcomings of old manuals is to ask for help.

Make a Calibrated Dip Stick for your tanks, and use it at every pre-flight.
Your timer and your notes should jibe with what you measure.
Don't trust any fuel use calculation without that Stick !
Looking in the tank doesn't mean doodle squat. :oops: :mrgreen:


If you lose an item in the cockpit.. Find It !

All it takes is a ball point or set of keys to jam up important flight control cables..
elevator or ailerons.

After the second time I found my keys or a small screwdriver only after removing wing root fairings, or belly pan
I used Duct Tape to seal up any entry points from the cockpit. Check for loose/lost items !

Make an Pre-Flight Checklist Specific to Your Aircraft.
No general purpose checklist will remind you to match your fuel selector valve and your
gas gauge selector switch , start your elapsed timer, adjust your avionics correctly.

Check the Weather Before Every Flight.
The worst down drafts and turbulence I ever encountered were on a local joy ride
20 miles from the airport !

If something isn't right... find out why.
One of our members bought an airplane from an "old timer" who refused to get to the root of a nagging problem
through a little systematic investigation. The gear collapsed not long after he got it home.

Make copies of a Weight and Balance Work Sheet for your aircraft.
Have them in the aircraft.
Work up various loading scenarios.
Find out if anything you might typically do puts you outside the envelope.
I found I needed a few pounds in the baggage compartment to fly alone with full fuel - which I do often. :idea: :idea:

Who knew ??
 
all good suggestions... good for all aircraft.

but as to Bellanca specifics.. for post-war triple tails..

preflight - trim tab integrity, stab brace wires, and main gear cables. also, I've encountered a couple lately (including my own) with aileron balance weights that are loose..

once engine is running... check hydraulic pressure, cycle flaps. check pressure again on the runway and pre-landing.

up on jacks: get very familiar with procedure for emergency extension of the gear - you cant practice it in the air.

for those with dual fuel valves: be hyperaware that you should NOT have both open at the same time. Ya, if both are being fed with gas it's OK but if one goes dry, you'll be in for a surprise.. it's a bad habit. also, find some way to assure that your fuel gauge switch is on the same tank you're using.. personally, I'd either find a way to make it automatic, or add a gauge for each tank. that switch system is trouble waiting to happen.

I'm not all that familiar with the cruisairs, I'd think if one still has the mechanical gear ops, that would beg for some attention.
 
Sure Doc, for mechanical gear, you need to do arm exercises to build strength!
Regarding fuel selectors...the Cruisair two valve system is designed for errors! I think Grant and Tom Cross told me a while ago that before you switch tanks, make sure that you put your hand on the lower valve to ensure that you identify it (fuel shut off) and then lift your hand to switch tanks. I seem to recall that this came up in a discussion where I admitted years ago to shutting off my fuel, and sitting there fat dumb and not so happy while I inadvertently logged glider time. That was a very long 10 seconds. It was only once in 20+ years of owning/flying my Cruisair, but shows that even muscle memory still needs conscious thought when things don't go as planned.
Other issues are how current is your airplane weight. When was the last time it was weighed? I weighed mine a few years after I bought it, and it was almost 100 lbs heavier than the W&B that I got with the plane!
Do you really know what the best glide speed is for your plane? How about the minimum decent speed? Best angle and rate of climb...etc.
During an IPC, I have never been asked to DEMONSTRATE lost com...we talked about it, but it would be good to simulate, couple it with instrument failure.
I do the Wings program. I like it. I still have to fly with an instructor as part of it, but then I also do continued training courses/seminars etc. During the flight portions, I still discuss various things with the CFI, so while I don't do the "required" ground portion of a BFR, I still cover many of those things during the flight, and ask many questions. Again, I do a lot of on line courses during the year.
I'll add more as I think of them.
 
Please continue the excellent input. The next article will be on normal checklists. All information from here will be catalogued in a way to help current and future owners. I can also be contacted off-line at glennhake@hotmail.com if you prefer.
 
Cruisair: Yeah, grabbed the fuel shut off, instead of the tank selector at 2000 ft agl. Never again !

Minimum descent speed ? What's that ?

Anybody know the glide ratio ?

There are no performance charts for the Cruisair, which makes "block planning" hard.

I began collecting the data to make my own... with time to climb at 5000, 7500, 8500, 9500, and 11, 500
ditto climb rate and Vy which changes with altitude.

Cruise speeds at Full Throttle and "econo " rpm.
With corrections for pressure altitude and temp.

This will go in the "POH" I carry in the airplane, and in my planning programs.

Anybody got the fuel consumption rate during max climb ?
I figure about 17 gph for my 150 frank with aeromatic.
 
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