Safety day at Dole

On 22 February 20, the Dole-Tavaux Aero Club hosted a Safety Day organised by the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Microlight Committee, with Francis Berthelet, Secretary General of FFPLUM, helping with logistics.

Roland GIRARD, aeroplane instructor and microlight instructor at the Dole aero club, covered human factors. Starting from a simple car accident, he showed how chains of small errors coincide to lead to an aeronautical incident with no consequences, or one responsible for tragedy with destruction of the aircraft and the death of its occupants. With clarity, Roland helped the audience understand the importance of flight preparation, both of the pilot's physical condition and of the mechanics. The psychological behaviour of the pilot was also covered at length: ego, minimal or maximal experience, tunnel vision. In short: know your machine, respect it, “know thyself”, be aware of your limits without trying to rival the Gods.

In the afternoon, François LESCURE - aeroplane pilot since 1982, 3-axis microlight pilot since 2001, professional pilot since 1988 – AIR FRANCE, more than 15000 hours on aeroplanes of which about 3000 hours instructing. Airbus A320 TRI/TRE, about 1000 hours on microlights, now B777 captain… and an aviator with a J-class aircraft (mainly SF260) and microlights, took the audience, with disarming simplicity, through the maze of zones in our sweet France, north or south, from the surface to FL 150. For radio phraseology, one word: simplicity and brevity. Make contact, think before you transmit your message, speak clearly, no more than three pieces of information at a time. If you make a mistake, have a doubt or lose contact, contact a controller rather than say nothing. This will avoid a collision, or an alert or a search being launched. Finally, the Go, No Go questions were developed. After 2 hours of presentation, the questions flew. The meeting ended a little after 5 pm, the audience reassured and ready to undertake happy and safe flights.