October 9, 2011

General Arrival/Safety Briefing

Welcome to the 2011 Region X SAFECON hosted by Liberty University of Lynchburg, VA, and FranklinMunicipalAirport in Franklin, VA. This guide will provide you with some general and essential information for the SAFECON including the following:

  • Contact Information
  • Arrival/Departure procedures
  • Airport diagram
  • Pattern Altitude
  • Tie-down and parking requirements
  • General staging procedures
  • Renewed emphasis on safety and ramp checks
  • Landing penalties
  • Navigation penalties and link

A COPY OF THIS GUIDE SHALL BE KEPT IN EACH COMPETITION AIRPLANE AND COMPETITORS MAY BE ASKED QUESTIONSBY THE SAFETY JUDGES

ABOUT THE CONTENT.

Contact Information

Chief Judge:Dale Fowler (757)

Assoc. Chief Judge:Dan Green(757)

Safety JudgeBuz Rich(757)

Staging JudgeNick Jones(757)

Host LibertyErnie Rogers(434)

SAFECON Safety

OfficerJohn Marselus(434)

We are here to help make sure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable competition. If there is anything we can do, please do not hesitate to contact one of us.

Arrival/Departure Procedures

Franklin Municipal Airport (FKN) is a non-towered airport with standard left traffic to runways 9 and 27. The AWOS is 124.675 (757-562-8765). All NIFA aircraft will park on the ramp near the terminal. When inbound to land, call about 10 miles out from the airport using standard communication procedures.

Airport Diagram

An airport picture is provided at the end of this document. Check the Airport Facilities Directory and Airnav.com for other information. By the way, the picture on Airnav shows three runways – there is only 9/27. Please be sure to obtain the most current NOTAMs before departing to KFKN.

Pattern Altitude: 800 ft MSL

Tie-Down & Parking Requirements

  • Parking will be on the ramp near the terminal. Each school must bring appropriate tie downs and chocks. Some aircraft may be required to park in designated areas in the grass.

General Staging Procedures

  • Please make sure that each aircraft flying to Franklin has a tow bar in the airplane.
  • As always, all aircraft are to be towed from the NIFA parking areas to the hot box. Please use only 4 or 5 people to stage an aircraft. Once the aircraft is in the hot box, all non-essential personnel shall leave the area. ONLY the pilot and observer can be near the aircraft once the airplane is staged for the navigation event.Remember, ALL CELL PHONES MUST BE TURNED OFF BY THE PILOTS AND OBSERVERS AS WELL AS JUDGES AND AIRPLANE HANDLERS, IN THE VICINITY OF THE NAVIGATION AIRPLANES ONCE THE GPS UNITS ARE TURNED ON. CELL PHONES HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO INTERFERE WITH GPS RECEPTION AND HAVE CAUSED DUAL GPS FAILURES NOT ONLY AIRBORNE, BUT ON THE GROUND PRIOR TO TAXI. Once NIFA scheduled events begins, all aircraft will need to be cleared to start engines by the staging judge.
  • Please make certain your aircraft are fueled at night before leaving the airport. If you decide to have your aircraft fueled in the morning, allow ample time to accomplish this prior to your scheduled practice time, or prior to the morning briefing on the days of competition. Fueling at FKN is by truck and the normal hours of operation are 0800 – 1700 daily.
  • Make sure your aircraft, pilot, and keys are in the hot box no later than 20 minutes prior to your scheduled practice time for briefing. Your scheduled practice slot (practice schedule will be sent separately) is the time you should be taking off, not just getting to the hot box. If you are late, it will shorten the practice time for you and the rest of your heat, so please be considerate of the other schools and arrive on time. We will generally have you started and taxiing 5-10 minutes before your scheduled time. If you do not want to use your scheduled practice slots, please notify the staging judge as soon as possible so we can give those slots to other schools.
  • If you wish to depart KFKN for practice landings at another airport, or to fly a practice VFR Navigation route, see the staging judge for instructions on where to stage your aircraft and be certain to obtain clearance to start and taxi from the staging judge. After the opening ceremony and until the awards banquet is concluded there will be no flying by the team members from FKN except during the scheduled competition flight events. Exceptions to this no-fly rule shall be approved by the Chief Judge taking into account crew rest, weather and rationale for the flight(s). There is a NIFA 10 hour day maximum policy/rule that must be considered.
  • Please make certain you have adequate ground personnel immediately available to help recover the aircraft after shutting down in the designated shutdown area.
  • Diagrams of the Master Staging Plan will be sent by separate email.

Renewed Emphasis on Safety. Safety will continue to be a focus item. In an effort to improve the transparency of the safety judging, the following criteria will be used to aid the contestants and the safety judge in monitoring overall safety. The following list is a comprehensive, but not all-inclusive, list of criteria.

Ground Operations:

  • PIC has pilot certificate, picture ID and medical certificate readily available for the Safety and Staging Judge to view.
  • Airplane contains all required documents. Pilots should be able to know where the airplane identification tag is located on the airplane and be able to verify against airplane documents.
  • Airplane is trash free. Only equipment and supplies necessary for the operation of the aircraft, in a tidy condition, are present. A box or tote containing oil, paper towels, windscreen cleaner, etc is acceptable. No empty soda cans, food wrappers, discarded paper, or empty bottles present.
  • Proper weight and balance documents and evidence that a weight and balance has been calculated for all crew member configurations. This only has to be done once.
  • PIC does proper preflight planning. (takeoff distance, weather, reserve fuel, charts, NOTAMS, and diversion)
  • Contingency planning. (Knowledge of lost/recovery, diversion planning, etc…)
  • Missed preflight items. (low tires, missing screws, dirty windshield)
  • Attitude. (is pilot serious about his/her task)
  • Awareness of environment during engine start-up. (chocks, carts, fuel vehicles, other A/C, personnel)
  • Ramp safety practices of non-flying team members. No unnecessary team members on the ramp and around airplanes.
  • 4-5 persons required for moving airplanes. (two wing walkers, 1-2 pushers and a nose tow person)
  • Awareness of prop arc (even when not turning) and success at not violating it. Proper tow bar attachment to avoid prop arc.
  • Sign, or other readily identifiable means, that indicates to passers-by that:
  • Keys are out
  • Magnetos are off
  • Mixture is full lean
  • Pilots do a hot magneto check before shutdown if POH allows.
  • Once airplane is positioned in the hotbox all airplane movers remain clear.
  • Proper tie downs and chocks when airplane is stationary and not attended by airplane movers.

Taxi Operations:

  • Proper power, braking and airplane separation (approx. 2 plane lengths) while taxiing.
  • Proper run-up area alignment, separation and position. (10 ft minimum separation between wingtips)

Flight Operations:

  • Landing pattern spacing as not to create a hazard to an airplane in front or following in a non-landing event. Judges will examine landing cards for disqualifications in the landing event.
  • In a non-landing event, landings will be watched for safety-related good or poor performance.
  • Compliance with ATC procedures and good or poor safety-related performance will be noted.
  • Go-around Procedures. If go-around was because of close interval, clear view of runway or airplane ahead in sight.
  • Any flight event disqualification for safety item.
  • Team ATC arrival and departure procedures to the host airport in compliance with instructions.
  • Team member understanding and compliance with the safety briefing.

Penalties

  • Landing Penalties:
  • There has been changes to the landing penalties and highly recommend they be reviewed, discussed and practiced by all team members flying in the landings events. Your advisor should have a copy of the changes and they also can be found at
  • Google Earth pictures of the desired landing patterns can also be found at The yellow pattern lines are the maximum distances. Judges will be positioned around the pattern, so pilots flying outside these parameters can expect a penalty. Unsafe violations of interval and pattern parameters could result in a disqualification. Read and understand the disqualifications listed under each landing card. Most are safety related and were added because of the past experience of long-time NIFA judges, coaches and advisors. Consult the Chief Judge if you have a question about any of the penalties or disqualifications.
  • Navigation and Penalties:
  • Flight Planning: There will be 2 routes on the Washington Sectional with 4 check points each. Recommend contestants practice planning a route with 4 check points. 35 minutes will be allotted for the planning as opposed to the usual 30 minutes. This is to ensure safety. The plan will then be checked for accuracy. Remember, you must plot the check points within 2 nm.—and double check for reciprocal headings.
  • The area around FranklinAirport is flatbut there are a few tall communication towers. The routes are designed to have, at least 1000 ft clearance above all obstacles with a 10 mile buffer left and right of track. If you get way off track, you must pay attention to obstacles. If weather becomes a problem with flying the track and the altitudes assigned be safety conscious and do not reduce your altitude. Turn back if necessary.
  • Do not blindly follow a GPS track that doesn’t agree with your chart plotted plan. Compare your GPS track, once the lat/longs are inserted in the GPS, to your chart
  • Navigation penalties can be found in the Pocket Rule Book and at