Why Should You Fly with a Safety Pilot?

As pilots, we have several diverse reasons for general aviation flying. Maybe your dream has been to fly for a living, and you are training to become a professional pilot. Perhaps you are already working as a CFI or a career pilot looking to keep your skills sharp. Maybe you fly as a hobby and look forward to interacting with other pilots wherever you go.

Regardless of your motivation, having a safety pilot join you can help you maintain proficiency, lighten the workload, share costs, and enjoy each flight that much more.

What is a Safety Pilot?

A safety pilot, as the name implies, is responsible for the safety of the flight. In the Federal regulations, 14 CFR 61.109 (c) states that when an aircraft is being operated under simulated instrument flight, a control seat must be occupied by a safety pilot with at least a private pilot certificate in that category and class.

When a pilot is using a view limiting device, “under the hood” as we call it, an extra set of eyes is legally required because the flight is being conducted in VFR conditions. The safety pilot’s responsibility is to watch for traffic, potentially hazardous terrain, and weather during the flight while the other pilot is distracted and has no visual information off which to base decisions.

Is Your Safety Pilot “The One”?

Before you get into the plane with just any safety pilot, you will want to make sure your flying experience with them will be as productive and stress-free as possible.

Obviously, you want to make sure you have a good relationship with your safety pilot. The inside of an airplane makes for tight quarters, and that space seems even smaller when you are butting heads, so to speak, with the individual in the pilot’s seat. Take some time to get to know one another while on the ground.

Things to consider when getting to know a safety pilot include how they communicate in the plane. Are they chatty while you are more subdued? Does their vernacular about things like traffic or navigation align with the terminology you typically use? Are you comfortable handing over to the safety pilot duties like radio communication or adjusting the GPS? After all, pilots love to push buttons. Just make sure your safety pilot will not push your buttons as you strive to become better pilots.

We learn from others’ experiences, and pilots can learn from what other pilots have learned in the air. Safety pilots can sharpen each other’s skills in the feedback and assistance they give. Part of your pre-flight planning with your safety pilot should include an agreement on what each pilot will do for one another.

Do you want your safety pilot to look for traffic and obstacles outside the plane while you focus on what is occurring inside the aircraft? Would you prefer they enjoy the ride while you practice managing what is happening both inside and outside your aircraft? Are you open to constructive criticism and tips from your safety pilot? The latter question is especially important if your safety pilot is more experienced than you.

Helping keep another pilot safe is a noble cause, but there are many other benefits to serving as a safety pilot.

Building Hours

The most obvious benefit to being or having a safety pilot is splitting the rental or operating cost of the aircraft. Because the safety pilot is a required crewmember, both pilots can log flight time. Make sure you log your safety time correctly. Only the sole manipulator of the controls — the pilot flying and under the hood — can log cross country time. The safety pilot may only log pilot-in-command total time. Either way, logging time is beneficial when you are building time toward a commercial certificate or airline minimums.

Building Experience

You have found a safety pilot with whom to fly. Use this opportunity to gain experience, push the limits of your comfort zone, and improve as a pilot.

Most of your training to this point may have been out of an uncontrolled field with little jet traffic and of course, no control tower. You might have always wanted to take long-distance flights to other states or regions to which you have never flown with your instructor. Perhaps you want to go into busier airspace around metropolitan areas and large airports. The thought of this may seem daunting and anxiety-inducing. Having another set of eyes and ears will aid greatly.

Flying with a safety pilot is a perfect time to practice CRM (Crew Resource Management). If the pilot flying is becoming overwhelmed or task saturated, the safety pilot could handle the radios and aid with checklist usage. The pilot flying can then focus on maintaining positive control during a stressful situation.

Flying Approaches

It is important to pick up a VFR flight following while en route to your destination. It is also easy to fall into the trap of flying somewhere direct, canceling radar services once you have the airport in sight, and proceeding visually as you normally would while flying VFR.

Flying straight and level while wearing a view limiting device for extended periods of time while en route will only go so far in developing your instrument proficiency. However, flying with a safety pilot is the perfect opportunity to perform practice instrument approaches and hone in on your instrument flying skills. Ask ATC for a practice instrument approach, and they more than likely will be able to accommodate you.

Treat this as if you were in actual instrument meteorological conditions. Practice briefing and flying the approach every time you go somewhere. By the time you have reached the instrument rating hour requirements and are nearing the checkride, you will have that much more real-world experience to help you feel ready.

A safety pilot needs to be extra cautious while flying a practice approach in VFR conditions into an uncontrolled field, as there will likely be other VFR traffic in the area and ATC will not be able to protect the airspace.

Having Fun

Learning should be fun. You absorb information better when you are having a good time and are actively engaged in what you are doing. Being a good safety pilot is not only about watching for traffic, but also being personable. Although your goal may be to progress as a pilot or build flight time, there is no reason you and your safety pilot cannot have fun while doing it. In fact, it is in your best interest to do so.

Plan a flight that will both challenge your skills and provide you some sort of reward. Make a day of it: Go somewhere with an airport restaurant or grab a crew car from an FBO and get lunch or explore the area. A trip to the beach is the most common and arguably the most enjoyable flight you can make.

When you look at the amount of time you need to build toward a certain goal, the numbers can seem daunting. By serving as a safety pilot, you can make the time pass in a fun, educational way. Even if you are not building hours, flying with and as a safety pilot keeps your skills sharp and proficient, which is the goal of every pilot.

What Difference Does It Make? Why Differences Training Should Be Part of Every Pilot’s Training Plan

Have you ever wondered why your flight school has you do a checkout in each plane you fly, or why the insurance company insists you recently fly make and model? A Cessna is a Cessna, and a Piper is Piper, right?

Not so fast. There are 22 different models of the Cessna 172. Piper has made 18 different models of the PA-28. Forty different models of TWO airplanes! Add in the multitude of options for avionics and you have hundreds of variations of the two most popular training airplanes. How do you keep all this straight and ensure you are comfortable and knowledgeable in the airplane you are flying? Differences training.

A Case Study

You went straight through your private pilot certificate and instrument rating in the same Piper Archer II. Now you are ready to start renting and going places with your family. You have an amazing beach weekend planned. You log in to schedule your favorite plane, and it is already scheduled for training. But, aha! The Archer III is available all weekend. You make the reservation and cannot wait to make this trip.

Friday afternoon finally arrives, and after loading the family and luggage on board, you hop in and…. where is the key? The dispatcher could not have forgotten to give it to you. You run back into the office and ask for the key. The response: That airplane does not have keys; it is a push-button starter. You sheepishly walk back across the ramp, return to the pilot’s seat, and stare at the panel until you finally spot the starter switch.

You decide to sit for a while longer and familiarize yourself with the panel. You think to yourself, “Can I handle this?” You decide an Archer is an Archer and taxi to the runway. It is a nice VFR day, and it is forecast to stay that way throughout the weekend. Albeit behind schedule, you are airborne and on your way with the sun setting quickly behind you.

About 30 minutes later, something is amiss. The GPS and radio have gone black. The panel lights are off. Uh-oh. Electrical failure. At night. What do you do now? After convincing your family all will be okay, you manage to have your kid dig your flashlight out of your flight bag and pass it to the front. Your iPad or tablet with an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) saves you this time. You divert to the closest airport for a safe landing.

Of course, the FBO is closed, and the maintenance shop is closed for the day. Your great weekend getaway turned into an Uber ride to a crummy motel in the middle of nowhere. What happened? The following morning you get your flight instructor on the phone. Their first question is “Did you turn the alternator on?” The Archer III has a separate switch for the alternator, unlike the Archer II, which has a combined battery/alternator switch.

Differences training could have saved your weekend, not to mention embarrassment at the flight school. (Do not worry: You are not the first and you will not be the last.) Differences training can be anything from learning where the switches are to learning how a completely new make and model of aircraft.

More Reasons for Differences Training

The FAA requires a pilot to hold a specific type rating for each turbo-jet-powered airplane they fly. The same “rule” does not apply to our common single-engine airplanes, although you may need complex, high-performance, or tailwheel endorsements. If we take the same approach to small single-engine planes that jet pilots take when it comes to training, we will no doubt eliminate situations like the failed weekend getaway.

The amount of time you need to spend on a differences course will depend on the jump you are trying to make. For example, jumping from a Cessna 172N to a Cessna 172S is a short process. You will learn a few different systems, such as fuel injection, but the airplane is pretty much the same. Going from a Piper Warrior to a Cessna Turbo 182 requires a much more involved transition course.

You may think taking the time and effort to learn different aircraft is “wasteful,” but you never know when and under what circumstance it could be helpful. Obviously, if you plan to fly different makes and models, differences training is necessary.

If you get into the routine of only flying the same airplane for every flight, you may find yourself turning down some opportunities. Maybe your favorite safety pilot has decided to move into a faster plane. Maybe the plane in which you train is in the paint shop for a new look, and you do not want to wait for it to come back before you fly again.

If you want to be more efficient with your aviation training dollars, why not turn your differences checkout into a flight review at the same time? You will be doing most of the same maneuvers and procedures anyway. Training for a new certificate or rating is also a good opportunity for differences training. If you trained for your private pilot certificate in an Archer, for instance, consider switching to a 172 for your instrument rating.

Differences training has its cost benefits and relieves some inconveniences of scheduling aircraft. More importantly, it can make you a more skilled, well-rounded pilot overall.

Have You Earned Your Wings? Why Every Pilot Should Join the WINGS Program

It is hard to believe 24 months have passed so quickly, but now you are ready for your flight review. You could always call your flight school and schedule your flight review. You could also participate in activities that expand your knowledge, challenge your skills, connect you with other pilots, and are just plain fun.

The activities to which I am referring are part of the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) WINGS program. WINGS is a pilot proficiency program that addresses accident-causing factors in the general aviation community. The WINGS program is simple to join and incredibly beneficial if you want to be a safe and proficient pilot.

What is WINGS?

In the general aviation community, we often hear about accidents that could have and should have been prevented had the pilots remained proficient. In aviation, we often refer to the “Swiss cheese model,” in which a sequence of events occur that together can be catastrophic and lead to accidents. If we can break the chain of events, we can prevent accidents. Preventing accidents and promoting aviation safety is the FAASTeam's focus. As its motto says, “Safer skies through education.”

Through the WINGS pilot proficiency program, the FAASTeam hopes to reduce the number of accidents each year. It accomplishes this by providing the necessary resources to pilots to promote aviation safety. These resources also improve our skills as pilots and increase our knowledge within the industry.

Not only does the WINGS program promote safety, but it is also proven to produce safer pilots. A 2011 FAASTeam study found that pilots who participate in the WINGS program had fewer accidents than pilots who did not participate.

How Does WINGS Work?

The WINGS program has three basic phases: Basic, Advanced, and Master. Each phase has specific requirements to fulfill, which are usually three knowledge credits and three flight activities. The aviation community is diverse not only in age and geographic location, but also in the diverse types of flying pilots may do. Therefore, you can customize your credits by completing tasks that will benefit you the most based on your specific needs.

The WINGS program provides you access to many beneficial resources, including webinars, seminars, videos, and activities. Seminars are available both in-person and virtual. Aviation insurer Avemco sponsors a lapel pin program in which you can earn lapel pins based on the credits you earn in the WINGS program. When you complete any phase of WINGS, you satisfy the requirements for a flight review. More importantly, you can connect with other pilots, learn from their experiences, do some networking, and perhaps find a safety pilot.

Need even more incentive? The WINGS Industry Advisory Committee (WIAC) awards $10,000 in cash prizes to those who participate in the WINGS program.

My experience with the WINGS pilot proficiency program started when I was a private pilot. I wanted to become more proficient and exercise safer practices while flying. I also wanted to increase my involvement in the general aviation community by participating in local seminars and completing various online courses and activities. As a Certified Flight Instructor and a FAASTeam Representative, I look forward to consolidating both roles by encouraging current and future pilots to benefit from the great WINGS resources.

Who Can Join the WINGS Program?

The short answer to who can join the WINGS program is every pilot, even if you are a student just beginning your flight training. In fact, becoming part of WINGS as a student is a tremendous boost to your training due to the sheer number of resources at your disposal.

If you are a flight instructor, you can offer WINGS credit to students. You can cover certain safety-related topics as a standalone lesson or as part of your flight school’s syllabus or training program. Not only does this make your students safer pilots, but it also establishes you as an authority on aviation safety.

Aircraft mechanics can also participate in the WINGS program even if they are not pilots. The WINGS program offers several training opportunities and awards for certified aviation mechanics.

You can join the FAASTeam as a Member, which demonstrates your commitment to promoting safety throughout our industry. You can take your membership one step further and apply to become a Representative, as I have done. This means you go through special training to help further promote safety among the pilots in your community.

How Do I Register for WINGS?

Registration for the WINGS program is easy if you follow these four steps:

Step 1: Visit the FAASafety.gov website and create your account.

Step 2: Log into your account.

Step 3: Click on the Activities, Courses, Seminars & Webinars Tab to view all the available resources.

Step 4: Click on the Pilots tab and navigate to My WINGS.

Next, you will see suggested knowledge and flight activities with an opportunity to enroll in these activities. If you prefer other activities, the Alternate Activities option leads you to other activities or courses to satisfy the requirements

Make sure you ask your CFI about validating your flight activities. If you are still in training, you might qualify for some flight credits.

I hope you will take the initiative to continue to promote safety and proficiency in our community by taking part in this great resource.

Want to learn more about WINGS? Check out this video, “FAA WINGS in 57 Seconds.”

Ismail Dakrouri's passion for aviation began when a friend of his father introduced him to aviation when Ismail was five years old. Like many people who are introduced to aviation, Ismail's early introduction to aviation led to a life-long love of the industry. Learn more about Ismail and the rest of the Elon Aviation staff at www.elonaviation.com.

Can You Recover From Accidental IMC?

Your cross-country flight is perfect. Smooth flight, little traffic, magnificent views below — you could not ask for a better day. This is why you learned to fly. Suddenly, your dream flight turns into a nightmare as you fly into an endless bank of clouds. You cannot see where you are going. You cannot see below. Panicked, you search your mind for the instrument knowledge you gained during your private pilot training.

Have you ever encountered a situation like this? Visual Flight Rules (VFR) into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) is a significant source of accidents in general aviation and is the leading cause of fatal accidents each year. Many pilots fall into this common trap despite numerous studies conducted to reduce this type of accident.

However, flight into accidental IMC can have a less bleak outcome with a proactive approach. Arm yourself by gathering all information available before you take off on your next cross-country flight. You can never have too much information. Weather reports and forecasts, NOTAMS, runway lengths, and alternatives are all essential information you need to know for your trip. Once you decide to take off, things can change with little to no advance warning.

Risk Factors

Four key risk factors contribute to accidental flight into IMC.

Passengers

Having people in the airplane with you adds to the pressure of completing a flight as planned. Their expectations to arrive at the planned destination make pilots more likely to press on once the weather begins to worsen. Although you did your homework before the flight, the weather can change quickly. Consider briefing your passengers that the itinerary may change if weather conditions pose a problem.

Night Flying

VFR flying at night can be challenging in and of itself. Marginal weather, including decreasing visibility and cloud ceilings that continue to lower contribute to unintentionally flight into IMC. Flying at night forces us to rely more on our instruments in the absence of reliable ground references. Although little general aviation flying happens at night, approximately one-third of VFR into IMC happens at nighttime.

Terrain

Mountains cause their own set of challenges. Continuing a flight into IMC with obstacles around only increases the chance of flying into the ground. The terrain and weather that can form around mountains are leading factors in accidents. The mountainous terrain makes finding alternative landing sites more challenging. When clouds or upslope fog forms around mountains, this increases your likelihood of spatial disorientation.

Longer Flights

As you have likely experienced yourself, the longer the cross-country flight is, the more likely the weather will have changed since takeoff. Weather forecasts provide a valuable tool for planning purposes, but the actual conditions we encounter can vary greatly from the original forecast. For example, your destination may have indicated clear skies before takeoff three hours ago. In that three-hour range, there is plenty of opportunity for visible moisture to form along your route or near your destination.

Preventative Measures

The good news is you can always mitigate risk by being proactive in avoiding accidental IMC. Completing thorough preflight briefings and setting predetermined minimums you are willing to accept are effective ways to avoid being a statistic.

Preflight Briefings

Getting a preflight briefing is important, but go beyond that. It is easy to look at the weather and attempt to justify the conditions to pursue your desired plan. Instead, you should make your flight plans around the weather. Rather than looking at current conditions based on the METARS, consider the big picture. Consult forecast maps and note the locations of fronts and low-pressure systems. Examine graphical forecasts and review multiple radar images. By incorporating these different elements, you gain a more accurate interpretation of the weather along your flight and at your destination.

Setting Predetermined Minimums

You must have limitations that you will not exceed while flying. You can set your personal minimums in a few ways. One way is to decide how much ceiling and visibility you are comfortable with encountering along your route. If the conditions go below your minimums, it should automatically force you to safely respond. Another minimum to consider is if you must descend or slow down more than a certain number of times, it is unsafe to continue the route. At this point, you must consider alternatives including turning around.

Recovery From Accidental IMC

Even if you gather thorough briefings and abide by your personal minimums, you are still likely to find yourself unintentionally in IMC at some point. You must make sure you know how to extract yourself from such situations.

Thankfully, you have access to advanced technology today to assist you in these scenarios, such as autopilot, synthetic vision, and GPS equipment. An ADS-B receiver can provide you with near-real-time weather radar. These tools allow you to maintain aircraft control and situational awareness throughout deteriorating conditions.

Another recovery method is using the tried-and-true saying, “Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.” By trusting your flight instruments, you increase your ability to maintain control of the aircraft. While this may seem simple in concept, it becomes more challenging when you lose your outside references. You can safely navigate back to better conditions. At this point, you can then communicate with Air Traffic Control (ATC) to request further assistance.

Preventing and recovering from accidental IMC requires proper training in advance. Work with your flight instructor to develop the decision-making and aeronautical skills to decrease your likelihood of experiencing accidental IMC or increasing your likelihood of having a positive outcome if you do encounter accidental IMC. To make the training more realistic, fly with a flight instructor in marginal weather to practice a similar scenario you may encounter on a solo flight.

Research published articles about past IMC-related incidents to increase your awareness of pitfalls other pilots have made. Ensure that your initial instruction and your flight reviews incorporate accidental IMC training to result in the best possible outcome with these encounters. Finally, do a little “hangar flying:” discuss flight into IMC with other pilots and learn from each other’s experiences.

Remember our opening scenario? If you have planned extensively and can use all the available tools, you can turn your panic into calm, guiding your plane out of accidental IMC deftly and safely.

To enhance your training, watch the linked video showing accidental IMC recovery. 

What is an Emergency?

What is an emergency? It seems like an easy question to answer, and for the most part, it is. You might have already thought of a few examples. Most of us define emergency by the training standards. But you should add high levels of aeronautical decision making (ADM) to the definition.

Distress v. Urgency

According to AIM 6-1-2, an emergency is classified either as a distress or urgency condition. Distress is further defined as a condition of being threatened by serious and/or imminent danger and of requiring immediate assistance. Urgency is defined as a condition of being concerned about safety and of requiring timely but not immediate assistance. Examples of urgent conditions include mechanical malfunction, electrical failure, weather, or a sick passenger.

During distress conditions, you are facing something threatening life onboard that needs to be addressed as soon as possible, such as an inflight fire, engine failure, mechanical failure of a vital component, severe structural damage, critically low fuel, or a passenger requiring immediate medical attention. Bear in mind an urgency condition may not be unchanging, but it may very quickly evolve into a distress situation. These definitions are a great starting point, but they leave room for interpretation determined by the pilot, location, aircraft, weather, passenger situation, and other factors.

Emergency Scenario 1: Flap Failure

If you encounter a flap extension failure in a Cessna 172, it is far from an emergency. It means you must adjust your final approach speed and may not be able to land on your friend’s 2,500-foot strip. The pilot of a corporate jet or airliner might have a different point of view. Their landing speed may need to increase so much that the 6,400-foot runway at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (KBUY) is suddenly a whole lot shorter or is no longer an option.

For example, the CRJ’s no flap landing speed is 172 KIAS. For perspective, the max ground speed for the tires is 182 knots. A landing speed of 172 knots is fast — one football field per second fast! That means the pilot is severely restricted to the places they can land. If there is not a long enough runway within range, the emergency went from urgent to distress. It would be completely reasonable for the pilot to declare an emergency to get help in finding an airport and summoning emergency equipment on standby.

Emergency Scenario 2: Engine Failure

Here is a situation for my multi-engine-rated pilots. An engine failure is certainly a serious situation but is it always an emergency? That depends on the pilot, plane, and present flying conditions. A Piper Seminole pilot on a summer day in Denver is declaring an emergency and looking for a field because they know they are not staying in the air in that high-density altitude environment in a plane with two archers strapped to the wings.

A Baron pilot in Burlington, N.C., in the middle of winter shows no concern because they know their single-engine service ceiling is well over 5,000 feet. This does not mean it is fine for the Baron pilot to continue the trip to Key West on one engine. But it does not mean they have to land at the first possible landing spot either. It all comes down to the situation currently present.

Emergency Scenario 3: Lost Comms

Here is a final scenario for my fellow IFR pilots: a lost comms scenario. We are taught in instrument training that the loss of two-way radio communications it is not necessarily an emergency. We should squawk 7600 and follow the acronym AVE-F-MEA, found in 14 CFR 91.185. Imagine you just took off from KBUY on an IFR flight to Nashville, Tenn. You are in IMC, and it is forecasted to be that way the entire flight. Shortly after initial contact with Greensboro approach, you suddenly lose radio communication. Your training kicks in and you turn to 91.185.

Can you deviate from this regulation should your comms failure be a sign of a more serious electrical issue and thus an emergency? Yes, according to 14 CFR 91.3 (b), which states, “In an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot in command may deviate from any rule of this part to the extent required to meet that emergency.”

When confronted by a situation not covered in the regulations, pilots are expected to exercise good judgment in whatever action they elect to take. In fact, AIM 6-4-1(a) states that it is impossible for the FAA to provide regulations and procedures applicable to all possible situations associated with two-way radio communications failure.

To Declare or Not to Declare?

Overall, a pilot should never hesitate to declare an emergency and take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the safety of the flight. Do not hesitate to declare an emergency when you are faced with distress conditions such as fire, mechanical failure, structural damage, or any of the situations I mentioned.

You might be reluctant to report an urgency condition when you encounter situations that may not be immediately perilous but are potentially catastrophic. If you are like most pilots, you are hesitant to declare an emergency because of the paperwork that might be involved. An informal survey of pilots who have declared an emergency, however, indicates that none had to file paperwork or encounter red tape. In every emergency, the tower has given the pilot priority handling. In every emergency, the FAA’s greatest concern is keeping you safe.

An aircraft is in at least an urgency condition the moment the pilot becomes doubtful about their situation, whether that is their position, fuel endurance, weather, or any other condition that could adversely affect flight safety. It is completely possible for a situation to deteriorate to a more threatening one. That is the time to ask for help, not after the situation has developed into a distress condition. And never forget the most important rule when flying: Aviate, Navigate, and Communicate.