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One of the most challenging things a pilot can do is get back into the air after they’ve had an accident or incident. This is particularly true if the event happened during a dual instructional flight.
Problems during an instructional flight are rare as most CFIs have their guard up. The experienced instructors are prepared for anything, from an unexpected mechanical issue, like a loss of oil pressure or the oil cap door popping open during the run-up, to the learner doing something silly and potentially dangerous because they don’t know any better—like trying to steer with the yoke on the ground and stomping on the rudder like it is the brake of a car.
There’s a certain level of safety (or there should be) when you’re flying with a CFI, and if something goes wrong, it can be awfully hard to get back into training—for both you and the instructor.
According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association Air Safety Institute’s Richard G. McSpadden Report (formerly the Joseph T. Nall Report), which presents users with near real-time accident analysis updated on a rolling 30-day cycle, a great many accidents happen in training during takeoff and landing.
- READ MORE: What to Expect Your First Five Hours as a Student Pilot
- READ MORE: Even Instructors Must Stay in the Learner’s Seat
You do a lot of these in training, likely two or three or more per lesson. There may be some days when you spend an hour or more in the pattern. The lack of piloting experience and the number of takeoffs and landings per lesson stack the deck against the learner, even if the CFI is very experienced.
Recently, a CFI of my acquaintance, who has significantly more certificates and ratings than I and in excess of 15,000 hours of flight time, much of that tailwheel, shared a story about a landing that went sideways—literally—while training a private pilot applicant in a 1940s tandem tailwheel-equipped aircraft. The winds were light and variable that day, and the learner was doing very well as they practiced three-point takeoffs and landings on a paved runway that measures 5,000 by 100 feet.
Teaching in a tandem aircraft can be a challenge because you can’t really see over or around the learner to see what the aircraft is heading toward.
The lesson was going well until it wasn’t. The landing was fine, but during the rollout the wind shifted and increased, resulting in a strong tailwind that got under a wing and pushed the aircraft to the left.
All the experience in the world could not change the laws of physics. The aircraft went off the pavement before the CFI could react. It would have been nothing more than a roll through the grass had the left landing gear not struck a runway distance remaining sign. The landing gear collapsed, and the aircraft pitched forward but did not go over on its back. There were no injuries, but it was a frightening and jarring experience for both the learner and CFI.
The CFI coached the learner through the aircraft securing checklist, and they climbed out of the aircraft as a Cessna 150 that had been on approach behind them went around. According to the instructor, a look at the windsock indicated the winds had changed considerably. The Cessna 150 that had been following them was now on go-around was now fighting a strong tailwind.
The pilot of the C-150 was a CFI with 60 years of experience. He initiated a go-around when he saw the aircraft go off the runway and described the winds as being “rougher than a cob,” saying the normally benign Cessna 150 put up a bit of a fight during climbout.
For all pilots, especially CFIs, there is going to be a certain amount of guilt when there is an accident, as the instructor is responsible for the safety of the flight. The CFI may wonder, “Could I have prevented this from happening? Was there a link in the chain I missed?”
After the Accident
The aircraft was secured, and the accident CFI made sure the student got home OK and then filled out the required paperwork for both the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA.
In the following weeks there was the task of getting the learner back into the aircraft both physically and mentally. The taildragger was damaged but repairable—and the lesson that day turned into managing the psychology of the event.
To the instructors and learners reading this, the accident CFI offers this sage advice: “Just because there is a startling event, we cannot stop managing the airplane, and pilots—especially CFIs—have to be prepared to psychologically manage themselves when there is such an event. But that can be easier said than done. There are some things you cannot control—like the weather, in particular the winds.”
Several weeks after the event, the aircraft was repaired and training resumed. The CFI proudly reports the learner’s muscle memory is still intact, and the events of that day turned into lessons learned. They provide these final words of wisdom: “Accept it, take responsibility, go forward…and put it in the past.”
