Preventing Loss of Control Accidents, with Randy Brooks

Pilot's Discretion Podcast, episode 87

New technology has made flying safer over the last two decades, but it hasn’t done much to prevent loss of control accidents. These are still the number one cause of fatalities in aviation, and according to upset prevention instructor Randy Brooks the only answer is better pilot training. He explains why upset training is different from aerobatics, why your first instinct should be to push, and why simulators aren’t a replacement for pulling Gs. Randy is also a longtime airshow pilot, so in the Ready to Copy segment he talks about flying formation aerobatics, what it’s like to perform an airshow in a glider, and flying the L-39 jet trainer.

  

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Quotes:

  • The threat: “Loss of control in-flight has been the number one cause of fatalities for over a quarter of a century now.”
  • Why technology can’t solve LOC-I: “Loss of control in-flight is pilot-centric.”
  • Training for stressful situations: “As your heart rate goes up, your IQ goes down. We have to prepare pilots with a degree of intensity they’re going to see in the real world.”
  • Does the airplane you train in matter? “Upset prevention and recovery training, done correctly, should be transferable.”
  • Stalls are overlooked: “We as an industry have convinced ourselves that stalls aren’t a problem. The data… suggest that’s not true.”
  • Pursuing a career as a UPRT instructor: “For the right person, there is nothing more rewarding than the job I get paid for.”
  • Most pilots’ reaction to an upset: “All of a sudden, it opens up their brain that there is stuff in flying that they may have never seen before.”
  • The value of ground school: “It’s not just about our hands and feet, it’s also about our brain.”
  • What flying really means: “The primary responsibility of every pilot is to manage their flight path.”
  • Flying airshows in gliders: “In the glider world, there were no two shows that were exactly alike.”
  • Preventing ground loops in taildraggers: “Don’t wait until you have a deviation—look at your nose and stop the deviation.”

 

Links:

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Video of a UPRT flight

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