A Question of When

My timed out Continental 0-200 engine coughed after throttling on a power off stall  over the practice area northwest of Brigham City Airport on Friday, March 11 of this year. At 3000′ AGL I wasn’t the least bit worried.  ‘No problem’,  I thought because I rarely lost even 50′ if that,  in these maneuvers anyway.

But it scared the bejabers out of me when the engine sputtered again.  I  trimmed the airplane for a best glide speed of 70 mph, turned back to the airstrip while looking for a place to land and then made a routine  radio call on the frequency stating I was ‘inbound for landing’ like I had done a hundred times before.  At this point in my training I had logged close to 160 hours and over 600 touch and go’s.

I suspected the carburetor. The Marvel Shebler carburetor had performed well since I had torn it apart and cleaned it maybe 25 hours into my training.

The 1962 Cessna B, although ancient in airplane years, is aerodynamically superior to later model 150 Cessna’s. Rather than having the omni vision rear window, it sweeps back like a fastback and is a lighter airplane too. I settled down and tried to calculate if I could make it back to the airport. The rule of thumb is that you can glide 1 mile for every 1000′ loss of altitude. ‘Let’s see, I know I’m at least 5 miles out and that means I would need to be 5000′ AGL (above ground level) to make it back. My altimeter reads 7000′- the airport elevation is 4200’.  I’m at 3000′ AGL. I’m not going to make it back. I’ll have to make a forced landing.’

‘Funny’, I thought, how calm I was in an emergency situation. I knew in reality that I had been training for this moment from the first time I flew and every time thereafter and I was willing to take the inherent risk. I loathed to make an emergency call but was realizing it may be inevitable when the engine caught and that’s when I got nervous again. I flew straight for the downwind leg of runway 35 and thought if I get this thing down… I’ll…  never go up again… but the closer I got and by the time I landed it I thought simply… ‘I’ll…  have to take another look at the carburetor’.

For most pilots its not a question of flying again- its a question of when.

 

 

 

-to be continued-

Airplane Owners and Horse Traders

There have been few times in my life when I felt alive and vibrant- a happy piece in the puzzle of this big universe. When I say times I don’t mean a day or two here and there, I mean a path, a course, a direction that I have pursued where doubt is not part of the equation, where uncertainty has been cast aside.

I wish to live breathlessly, be a part of something really wonderful, to live in constant amazement.  I don’t want reality to dictate otherwise, but my rational mind says, ‘okay you will have those moments, but mostly you will have days, weeks, months, years of prudent and persistent living.’

So while I know reality I can still wish for something more…  at the same time staying grounded, truthful, and authentic.

Anyway,  here’s the trouble I got into when I tried to change things up and pursue a new and different course.

I’m probably the only guy on the planet that would buy a beat up, timed out, old airplane based on this assessment from the owner Bill Helber after using ether to start it and a 7 minute flight around the pattern at LGU (Logan), ‘ see… it flies’.  It sort of reminds me of the one-eyed roping horse I bought back in ’92’ because ‘it puts you spot on’, but I’ll save that story for another day.

Anyway, airplane owners are kind of like horse traders. They have no conscience.