It was a lousy day to begin with: Gusty winds, steady rain and low ceilings covered the entire area. I departed home plate at 0700 in our Navajo Chieftain for Louisville-Bowman Field. After flying the GPS WAAS Runway 24 approach down to minimums, I taxied to the ramp where my four passengers were waiting. The mission was carrying the governors economic development group to different potential sites across the state. Within minutes, we were off again, headed to our first destination, Hopkinsville, Ky. After another approach to near-minimums and taxiing to the ramp, I was thinking 288
This Is Not A Drill
It was a lousy day to begin with: Gusty winds, steady rain and low ceilings covered the entire area. I departed home plate at 0700 in our Navajo Chieftain for Louisville-Bowman Field. After flying the GPS WAAS Runway 24 approach down to minimums, I taxied to the ramp where my four passengers were waiting. The mission was carrying the governors economic development group to different potential sites across the state. Within minutes, we were off again, headed to our first destination, Hopkinsville, Ky. After another approach to near-minimums and taxiing to the ramp, I was thinking this was going to be a long day, given the amount of airports on their agenda and the weather.
Key Takeaways:
- A pilot experienced a vacuum pump failure during a challenging multi-leg flight in poor weather, successfully diverting and landing, attributing his proficiency to recent recurrent simulator training.
- Subsequent simulator experiences powerfully demonstrated how quickly a partial panel failure, such as an attitude indicator loss, can lead to loss of control, reinforcing the critical need for continuous emergency training.
- The article emphasizes the vital importance of taking recurrent training seriously and staying proficient in handling rare but dangerous instrument failures, ideally learning these lessons in a simulator.
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