When I earned my private ticket in 1960, jet aircraft were still rather rare, even in the San Fernando Valley. My home field, Whiteman Air Park in Pacoima, California, was near Van Nuys and Lockheed airports, both of which were busy commercial fields.
I Learned about Flying from That: Close Call
Key Takeaways:
- The article describes the historical challenges of integrating slower piston aircraft with faster commercial jets in busy airport traffic patterns, necessitating increased pilot awareness and specific techniques to avoid hazards like wake turbulence.
- The author vividly recounts a harrowing near-miss incident where his small plane nearly collided with a rapidly climbing Air Force C-141 Starlifter over the Mojave Desert, forcing a drastic evasive maneuver.
- This close call, set against the backdrop of a prior fatal civilian-military mid-air collision in the same region, profoundly reinforced the author's lifelong commitment to extreme vigilance outside the cockpit, a practice he attributes to preventing numerous other incidents during his 50-year flying career.
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