Operational Procedures
This domain tests the routine and the abnormal: pre-flight discipline, aerodrome operations, emergencies, and the procedures Oman expects in its airspace.
Pre-flight and aerodrome
- Check notams, AIP supplements, weather, mass and balance, fuel, and aircraft documents. Oman airfields frequently require prior permission (PPR) and many are military or joint-use - confirm before departure.
- Passenger briefing covers seat belts, doors, smoking, and the use of oxygen where fitted.
- Hot, high, dusty conditions demand leaning for taxi, care with carburettor heat, and a longer take-off run.
Wake turbulence
- Vortices sink and drift with the wind; they are strongest from heavy, clean, slow aircraft.
- Land after the preceding heavier aircraft has touched down, and plan to touch down beyond its touchdown point. Take off before the preceding aircraft's rotation point and climb above its flight path.
- Typical ICAO time separations between a heavy and a light aircraft are 2 to 3 minutes; follow the aerodrome instructions.
Emergencies
- Engine failure after take-off: establish the glide, select a landing area ahead, do not turn back below a safe height.
- Fire in flight: close the fuel, use the extinguisher, and land as soon as possible.
- ELT: 406 MHz beacons are registered to the aircraft; test only in the first five minutes of the hour and only as permitted.
- Radio failure in VMC: continue VMC, land at the nearest suitable aerodrome, and report arrival by telephone. Watch for light signals: steady green clears landing, red tells you to give way.
Worked example
On downwind at 1,000 ft AGL the engine loses power. Pitch for the best glide speed immediately, pick a field within gliding range ahead, run the cause checks, and transmit a MAYDAY only after the aircraft is under control. Turning back to the runway from below 500 ft is tempting and has killed many pilots.
Traps
Squawking 7600 when it should be 7700; forgetting that a forced landing field should be chosen into wind and upslope.