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The crash of the Spanair MD-82 on the 20th of August is before all a human tragedy. As all airline accident, it carries a strong emotional wave. My thoughts go first to the survivors that fight for their lives, and to the families and relatives of the victims.

But my thoughts also go to all the Spanair staff, and particularly to the maintenance guys who released the aircraft as fit for flight. I don’t know about the exact circumstances, nor about what hapened in the hours immediately before the accident, except that the aircraft had to be inspected by maintenance.

Several media jumped on this opportunity, and rapidly concluded that because of some financial problems, the Spanair maintenance was under pressure, and released the plane despite known problems. This is pure speculation, and there is no evidence supporting this pseudo-conclusion.

This case is similar to the accident of the Air-France Concorde in Gonesse, shortly after taking-off from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport. The landing gear had been replaced before the flight. Journalists immediately concluded that the new wheel was defective, or that the team who mounted it was under pressure and did not worked correctly.

Even if they knew they did they job well, these guys probably had a couple of sleepless nights. When the investigation report got published, it concluded that a piece of metal left on the runway by a previous flight was the cause of the accident. Nothing to do with the previous maintenance operation.

Needless to say, no media ever corrected nor apologized for publishing wrong “conclusions” in the days after the accidents. Never forget that media business is to sell as many copies as possible. Dot.

As after any accident, the sole responsible attitude is to wait for definitive conclusions. Yes, the plane was released by maintenance. Yes, Spanair is under financial pressure, like all airlines. BUT (noticed how large this but is ?) until a link between these facts and the accident is demonstrated, they are no contributing factors.

All what I’m saying is that we have to wait for the end of the investigation. Only at this moment, discussing the causes will be possible. Until then, I’ll add this accident to the list of investigation reports I’m waiting for. Be sure that I’ll write more when the report will be published.

My flying week in England and Switzerland taught me a lot about flying, about my skills, and about local usages.

Local procedures
Before that week, I flew VFR in Switerland, France, and Germany (only once…). When flying to controlled airports, the procedures are always similar, but they vary on uncontrolled airfields. The main difference comes from the way to join the circuit pattern.

In Switzerland we tend to join it in downwind, with a 90° turn. French pilots are used to join using a 270° turn, to get a better view of other traffics. In England, I discovered the overhead join with descent on the dead side. This starts with by passing over the airport, then overfly the cirtuit at higher altitude, then descend on the other side of the runway (dead side) to finally join downind.

This is not trivial, nor complex to fly, but it requires a good orientation, and some preparation, particularly if you’re not used to it. Using other joining procedure could be hazardous, as local pilots won’t know what you’re doing.

US readers can probably say more about the 45° joins. It is important to know such local procedures to smoothly integrate the pattern. Flying a couple of hours with an instructor to discover and practice them is definetly worth.

IFR vs. VFR
Here again, flying IFR makes life easier. IFR procedures and phraseology are much more standard than their VFR counterparts. VFR navigation in Switzerland is super easy. Mountains and lakes with typical and easy to spot shapes make perfect landmarks.

England and France are not the same… at all. No mountains, no significant lakes, only roads and towns… most of them fitted with castles and churches. Navigating using only map, compass and clock is much more challenging. VFR pilots can use GPS and radio-navigation to make it easier.

IFR navigation and procedures are the same everywhere. As soon as you can track a radial, fly a reversal procedure and a holding, you’re done with it. No need to find ambiguous landmarks. The simplicity of IFR is not new to me, but this flying week confirmed it one more time.

One never forget
Many rules define the minimum flight hours required over the last period of time by a pilot to be “current”. It is also part of the pilot responsibilities to know his own limits, and not fly without appropriate recency. As I stopped flying five months before that flying week, I was well beyond my personal limits, and the limit to carry passengers.

I flew all the time with a friend of mine, who is also instructor. The first flight was to regain currency, and he acted as safety pilot on the other legs. On the second day, I had to fly IMC, and manually - the autopilot was unable to maintain altitude within 100 feet.

This is one the advantages of flying in England: low level clouds, but no icing, and no high grounds - the perfect conditions for flying IMC. My last IMC time was probably something like one year away, and the ability to fly with sole reference to the instruments is the hardest part of IFR.

I was however positively surprised: my flying skills were much better than I expected, and this from the very first seconds spent in IMC. The good old principles I learned came back nearly instantly: take decisions on the instruments, implement them on the horizon, monitor the instruments.

I can not seriously advise anyone to start an IFR flight alone with no recent experience, that would be foolish. But the time required to regain comfort is much shorter than I expected.

Weather and plans
Light aviation plans are always weather dependent. The conditions I got in both England and Switzerland were perfect for what I wanted to practice. Flying VFR only would probably have been possible, but in marginal conditions.

I would probably have fly anyway, except in cases of CB’s, because training in adverse conditions is the best way to keep or regain sharp skills.

Long lasting and new friends
The last lesson I learned is a human one. No human factors this time, but about friendship. While I was in Geneva, I met old friends, some of which I did not see for months or even years. This is one of the best part of light aviation: we talked like if I never went away. Mostly about flying, but not only.

I also met new people, with different backgrounds, speaking different languages, but all sharing the same passion for aviation. Discussions started instantly. The same thing probably exist around different fields of activity, but this is one of the thing I appreciate the most in the flying community: it is a strong community.

Boredom is probably the second reason for which private pilots stop flying, after price increase. I can’t do anything against price increase, but I have many ideas to fight boredom. This of today is simple: try something new !

There is a phase, usually a couple of years after getting their license, where private pilots feel like they have done everything in range. This feels like flying always to the same airports with the same planes, and the question about continuing or not pops-out…

If you’re in such a phase, my tip is simple: try something new ! Flying light aircraft is a very multi-sided activity, and unless you’ve been doing that for many many years, I’m sure you did not explore all of them. Here is a short list of possibilities, to give you new ideas…

Complex aircraft training
If you ever flew in PA-28 or C172, why not try to get an upgrade ? Retractable gear, variable pitch prop, modern avionics, more speed… Moving to a more complex type of aircraft is a rewarding challenge, and it usually makes more options available, because of the extra speed. Where a PA28 cruises at 120 knots, a PA32 can fly up to 160…

If your budget allows, you can also think of going multi-engine. The training is not that long, the major issue being then to find a twin for rent.

New ratings
There are a couple of ratings you can obtain on top of your PPL. The most common is probably the night VFR rating. Flying at night is a truly different experience, everything gets more tricky, classical (non-radio, non-GPS) navigation is a real challenge. Needless to say, the view out of the cockpit has nothing to do with what you know by day.

The next one if obviously the instrument flying rating. This requires more time and money, but it will also change your pilot life. I already talked a lot about it on this blog, so I’ll keep it short in this post. If you fly in the UK, you can also get your IMC rating, which will allow you in some clouds as well.

If you like G’s and adrenaline, why not undergo an aerobatics course ? I’m personally not G or extreme attitudes friendly, but I know many pilots who love loops, barrels and spins. This is big step forward in controlling an airplane. As most aerobatic planes are tail-wheel, you’ll also have to get through the tail-wheel endorsement.

Some countries (sadly not a lot in Europe…) still offer the possibility to get a seaplane rating. I flew seaplane only once, as passenger, and must admit that it’s an amazing thing. Whether you do that in Australia, or on the lakes of Canada, it also requires to learn more and develop new skills.

Fly in foreign countries
Don’t forget that your license is valid worldwide. If you have a US license, you can fly in all parts of the states, and easily get a validation in foreign countries. If you’re an European pilot, your JAA license is valid everywhere in Europe, and getting a validation is also relatively easy.

So why putting a part of your flying budget aside, and plan some flying during your next vacation trip ? All what you will need is to be signed-off by a local instructor, and here you go ! You will not only discover new places, but possibly new kind of flying. Come to central Europe, and you’ll be given a chance to fly through the Alps. If you learned in a flat country, this will be a real change. However, be careful with mountains…

Another option, at least in France, is to get some site qualifications, in places like Courchevel. It might seem useless if you live far away, but getting the training will be the opportunity to see something different, and to improve your flying skills.

Flying with instructors you don’t know can also be refreshing, and as each instructor has his or her own techniques and favorite topics, there’s still a lot to learn.

Add your own
You probably have some other tips, and if you went through this boredom phase, I’d be interested to know in what it resulted. Did you stop ? Did you change your flying ? Did you try something new, and if so, what was it ?