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Reminder of Voluntary Noise Abatement for GBA
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You all have been doing really quite well in regards to flying respectfully in and around our flying area! I wanted to make sure everyone, especially our newer instructors, keeps that up. We don't want to saturate any single area with pattern or low altitude ops as that is what tends to get the non-aviators out there worked up. Remember that here at KRNO, GBA has some voluntary noise abatement procedures we'd like you to adhere to. Here is a reminder of what they are.
I also want to reshare an email I sent a while back with some thoughts on how you do pattern work. The whole idea was to keep lessons dynamic without getting too saturated in any one area. Here's the email:
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This email is coming after additional conversations with the noise analyst for the Airport Authority. I wanted to toss it out for you to consider in the hopes that one thing we can do to help our noise footprint is to consider how we teach landings. I will send out some abbreviated modifications to our procedures on WhatsApp but I also want you to consider how you teach landings. I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that landings are one of the most difficult tasks to master for new pilots.
Take a moment and dissect landings in your head. The pilot in training has to balance speed horizontally, speed vertically, engine power, spacing from other traffic, communicating on the radio, adjusting for wind, accuracy of touchdown point, anticipate possible unknowns, etc. Each sub-part is a complex task in itself but all together, whoa! How do we typically teach landings? Oftentimes, we go practice some of the sub-parts a few times then head to the pattern and start banging them out 1000 feet AGL and below in a high-workload, high-stress environment.
Often times we're going from Three Blind Mice to Flight of the Bumblebee without a lot of in-between. Educationally, we call that massed practice. I get it. We want students to make progress and there is a place for it. I'm suggesting we lean more on what is known as spaced practice - at least at first. Essentially in that, we divide up those sub-parts more and more expecting mastery with the sub-parts before stringing them altogether. We can practice those anywhere - even relatively low to the ground to gain comfort with ops at low altitudes.
If we push landings too hard, too often there will be a point of no return where learning stops and gains are minimal. When that happens, we end up going around and around in the pattern. Where that point of no return is varies by student but I have seen it in everyone. What I'd like to consider instead is something like this:
Take off Reno
For your enroute portion, consider working on navigation skills, VOR, hood time, etc.
Fly to SPZ and make a few landings (could be any airport)
Depart SPZ and head to the dry lake bed for a couple stalls, steeps, etc.
While enroute and at a low workload talk about the landings
Head to CXP for a few more landings (could be any airport)
Head back to RNO
If time at RNO, maybe a few more landings
What we've just done there is to break the lesson into parts keeping numerous skills alive but not to the point of overload. If prep is done efficiently, you can pack that much into a two-hour block. Now consider what we've just done to our impact to any single area. It might be a good way to enhance instruction at the same time as continuing our mission of being good stewards of aviation in the communities where we fly.
- always make safety and ATC compliance a priority
- avoid pattern work at KRNO before 8:00 AM or after 6:00 PM when possible
- at all times, minimize unnecessary pattern work at KRNO in general (if you need to do a few laps, fine, but keep it to a minimum - see my old email below)
- when 17 in use, extend departure leg past Rattlesnake Mountain if possible
- request right traffic for 17 from time to time
- maximize climb rate if safe while still over the airport and before turning away from the runway
- if you need to mass practice landings, try to do that at one of our satellite airports
I also want to reshare an email I sent a while back with some thoughts on how you do pattern work. The whole idea was to keep lessons dynamic without getting too saturated in any one area. Here's the email:
----------------------------
This email is coming after additional conversations with the noise analyst for the Airport Authority. I wanted to toss it out for you to consider in the hopes that one thing we can do to help our noise footprint is to consider how we teach landings. I will send out some abbreviated modifications to our procedures on WhatsApp but I also want you to consider how you teach landings. I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that landings are one of the most difficult tasks to master for new pilots.
Take a moment and dissect landings in your head. The pilot in training has to balance speed horizontally, speed vertically, engine power, spacing from other traffic, communicating on the radio, adjusting for wind, accuracy of touchdown point, anticipate possible unknowns, etc. Each sub-part is a complex task in itself but all together, whoa! How do we typically teach landings? Oftentimes, we go practice some of the sub-parts a few times then head to the pattern and start banging them out 1000 feet AGL and below in a high-workload, high-stress environment.
Often times we're going from Three Blind Mice to Flight of the Bumblebee without a lot of in-between. Educationally, we call that massed practice. I get it. We want students to make progress and there is a place for it. I'm suggesting we lean more on what is known as spaced practice - at least at first. Essentially in that, we divide up those sub-parts more and more expecting mastery with the sub-parts before stringing them altogether. We can practice those anywhere - even relatively low to the ground to gain comfort with ops at low altitudes.
If we push landings too hard, too often there will be a point of no return where learning stops and gains are minimal. When that happens, we end up going around and around in the pattern. Where that point of no return is varies by student but I have seen it in everyone. What I'd like to consider instead is something like this:
Take off Reno
For your enroute portion, consider working on navigation skills, VOR, hood time, etc.
Fly to SPZ and make a few landings (could be any airport)
Depart SPZ and head to the dry lake bed for a couple stalls, steeps, etc.
While enroute and at a low workload talk about the landings
Head to CXP for a few more landings (could be any airport)
Head back to RNO
If time at RNO, maybe a few more landings
What we've just done there is to break the lesson into parts keeping numerous skills alive but not to the point of overload. If prep is done efficiently, you can pack that much into a two-hour block. Now consider what we've just done to our impact to any single area. It might be a good way to enhance instruction at the same time as continuing our mission of being good stewards of aviation in the communities where we fly.
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