The Superior Pilot

The Pilot Golfer

An epic dilemma on a day off: Do you hit the greens or the wild blue? To which I say, why choose if a course is located reasonably close to GA-friendly airports. Of course, there may be challenges getting from the home airport to the course, with weather delays and other vagaries of aviation that make you late for the tee time. All part of the fun, and the best golf destination isn’t merely accessible to the pilot-golfer, but for the pilot-golfer. And what destination says “Fly here and golf” more clearly than one that goes through the trouble of putting in a private airstrip? It’s the ultimate red carpet for private pilots. I have played at one of these but there are many courses accessible by courtesy car or inexpensive rental. Today we would be heading to one of those.

Lighter, smaller golf bags with less than the regular compliment of clubs were stashed in the back. The weather surrounding the destination advertised 10 mile plus visibility. Clear skies at the home drome but 2,500’ expected ceilings en route. The destination airport had lower ceilings listed in the metars but the surrounding airports were acceptable. It could be a faulty ASOS report. It’s happened before.

I really don’t need more challenge in my golf game or for that matter in my flying. Unfortunately, both activities are weather dependant. Mother Nature has a mind of her own and would make this golf outing as much fun as an alligator filled water hazard.

It was a VFR day. Although instrument rated, I didn’t carry the tools of the trade: Approach plates, en route charts or a plane with accurate nav radios and the Bendix GPS was inoperative. According to the forecast I wouldn’t need them. The initial part of the trip was great. Smooth air and good visibility but after the first hour, clouds appeared and ceilings began to get lower. We pressed on. We had a tee time to make.

A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid having to exercise his superior skill.

I don’t lay claim to either but I do know this excludes scud running. This is regarded as maintaining visual contact with the ground while avoiding physical contact with it. Conditions are usually low ceilings and visibility less than 3 miles. There was a time when scud-running was common place, but with the advent of instrument flight it is not legal to fly lower than 1,000 feet above ground in populated areas and less than 500 feet above structures in remote places. When the weather gets bad, you’re supposed to fly on instruments. Many an accident occurs when pilots continue visual flight into instrument conditions. The thing is, you never know when that’s going to happen. Not exactly. Sure, you get a full weather report from DUATS or a flight service station briefer, and updates from Flight Watch en route. But still, those are just forecasts. It can happen in seconds. Before you know it, you run out of visibility or altitude or options. My not so superior judgment came into play as visibility became worse. It was marginal visual flight rules (MVFR) and I could tell it was getting worse quickly. Without the ability to navigate to an airport I decided not to enter the clouds which also are prohibited without an instrument flight plan, in contact with ATC. I made a one eighty and diverted back to an alternate airport where we waited for conditions to improve. An hour an a half later we tried again. On the second attempt we made a lot of progress, now only 14 miles away and just cleared a series of tall hills. Visibility and ceilings appeared to be reduced up ahead but I couldn’t be sure. It was still MVFR. Should I press on and find out? We were within five minutes of our destination but I only had seconds to make the call. We had a tee time to make.

I turned around again.

Why? We were now at our lowest permissible altitude. There were tall radio towers, rising terrain and falling ceilings. This time I diverted to a major airport with passenger terminals. It was nice to be in contact with air traffic control who could call out if someone else was gooning it up in the murk, preventing a meeting in mid air. From here we rented a car and made a long drive to the course to make our fourth scheduled tee time. The golf was spectacular, the flight home terrific but it could have ended badly.

The Downside of Scud Running

By piecing together information from reports, we learn about another scud running pilot with a different outcome while flying through a mountain pass. On the far side is better weather and home. Behind is a tent, camp, cold and wet weather, and insufficient gas to go elsewhere. The pilot continues deeper into the pass, hoping conditions would improve. The ceiling steady, but the terrain is rising. He heads south, and winds are westerly at 20 knots, with gusts. The pilot hugs the right side of the pass for traffic.

Suddenly, clouds obscure the rising terrain, and it’s obvious he isn’t going to make it through the pass. It’s time to turn around, but the opposite canyon wall looks awfully close. The aircraft’s vertical fin is already in the clouds, and the surrounding terrain is much higher—climbing isn’t an option. Neither is a descent. From cruise configuration, the pilot initiates a hard left turn, banking 45 degrees. Unfortunately, the aircraft has just turned into a tailwind.

Two days later, searchers find the remains of the aircraft near the top of the pass. The wreckage pattern leads downhill, on a northerly heading. The NTSB accident database is littered with stories of pilots who failed to turn around in the space available to them. Pose this question to a dozen pilots, and you’ll hear as many answers. Some advocate a chandelle—a climbing turn at the conclusion of which you should be within a couple knots of stall speed. Risky to be close to stall speed in the hilly terrain and turbulence. Others suggest a diving turn. But there comes a point where you can no longer descend.

Lessons Learned

A couple of notes to self on the trip: First, if there is any question about visibility and ceilings it’s best to fly on an instrument flight plan. Although it is illegal to intentionally climb into IFR conditions without a clearance, such an option might be considerably safer than continuing in IMC at a low altitude but without charts and frequencies you may be relegated to declaring an emergency on 121.5. Second, it was the right decision to divert both times, actually about a minute late the first. Landing at alternate airports and waiting burned up much more time then if we used a car instead of a plane.

Another deposit into the bag of experience from the bag of luck. I learned about flying from that.

Moveable No Fly Zones

You arrive at the field ready to chase hamburgers, and the pre-flight goes well. Since you are only going a couple of cities over and the WX is clear and a million, you decide not to call for a weather briefing. That may be a problem. You can still take off but someday you may be spending quality time with law enforcement officials and the lawyer of your choice.

9-11 forever changed general and commercial aviation. One of the changes included the introduction of the temporary flight restriction (TFR) areas that can be activated with very little notification. They can be very confusing if you read the Notams in text format. Here is one for Washington D.C. Good luck with that. Since deadly force can be used if you violate a TFR the other options are a look at graphical TFR's which can be found in several places including AOPA or to call a flight service station. One thing you don't want to see is an F-15 out the side window which would oblige you to follow the intercept procedure. That would be the signal you flew into a moveable, prohibited, air space. Someone did today.

Two F-15s already in the airspace over the New York metropolitan area were sent to chase a plane that had wandered into a restricted flight area Monday, set up in connection with President Barack Obama's trip to New York City, an air defense official said… The aircraft left from the Central Jersey Airport in Hillsborough and returned to the airport before the jets reached it, he said.

Unfortunately, it gives all general aviation pilots a bad name when it happens.

Falling From Space

This is a view from a camera mounted on a rocket booster on the Space Shuttle Atlantis. All the way to splashdown. Makes a ride in the Extra look pretty tame.

glumbert - Falling from Space

The Reno Air Races

...are this week.

After a year of preparation and this week’s last days of practice and qualifying, the fastest motor sport on the planet goes at it in earnest through Sunday at Reno Stead Field. Few things are certain, and a lot will be decided on race day for each of the seven classes of this year’s 46th running of the Reno National Championship Air Races: Jet, Unlimited, Super Sport, Sport, Formula One, Biplane, and T-6 (in order of qualifying speed).

For EAA members you can log in to see the action from multiple cameras from the grandstand area including the 500 mph-plus Unlimiteds from the back side of the course. Also several in-cockpit cameras will be available, and shots from the pylons. Log in at Oshkosh365.
Cool!

Update- From the Reno Air Race Association: "We can coordinate your wedding or special event at the Air Races. Please contact our office for further information on options and pricing". Apparently they have.

Say Again?

Perhaps they didn't think it through. A second opinion might help before you actually name the airport. Skyscanner brings us the most unusual airport names. Eek; Wuhu and Dang? Are you landing there or expressing yourself?

A question to Chris or any of my Aussie friends: What are the origins of Wagga Wagga or Woodie Woodie? There must be a good reason for "Useless Loop"?

Canada has Black Tickle and Deception as well as the ever popular Asbestos Hill Airport.

I shouldn't be critical. Chicago is an Algonquian word meaning "onion field". Perhaps in another 300 years these airport names may not seem unusual

Eight Years After

Eight years have passed since the terrorist attacks on our nation. Eight pilots were killed. As a result, 2,900 more lost their lives. I can still recall feelings of shock, grief, anger and resolve. Americans knew that our country and the whole world had changed.

That day also forever changed the perception of aviation and the issues within aviation. I remember the empty skies following the tragedy. Flying was no longer that important to me. In fact, I logged the least amount of time ever in the months that followed. General Aviation had been viewed in a positive light to that point but thereafter, all things associated with flying and light airplanes were viewed with suspicion. There were bigger issues at stake.

As a nation we sought to rebuild and move on. Eventually, we returned to many of our routines. We have maintained the freedom to fly but it has brought about new restrictions and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The TSA was well intentioned but it has created a number of policies that hamper general aviation without improving security.

Today, I'm reminded of the tragedy, However, I also recall feelings of purpose and resolve during that time. As my friend Mr. Bibb said: “it cemented our common bond, rekindled our thirst for liberty, and found us marching shoulder to shoulder facing down evil with determined indignation”. We surely need more of that as we tackle the political and economic challenges ahead of us.

Ooops

The copilot did his best to go flying in this historic 1950's Handley Page Victor today. Since that was never the plan, the suprized pilot did his best to level the plane and bring her back to earth. Bob Prothero averted a disaster during "Cold War Jets Day" in England after the co-pilot hit throttle by mistake.

The crew was only supposed to taxi the aircraft on the runway closer to the crowd for photos when the co-pilot inadvertently firewalled the throttles and the bomber accelerated down the runway. The aircraft briefly lifted off and veered left, reaching as high as 150 feet, before retired RAF pilot Bob Prothero was able to nurse the barely flying bomber back down to a landing on the grass beyond the end of the runway.

It's probably a good idea to brief the controls with a non pilot. Made it a more exciting airshow though.