Learning Experiences

After an IFR flight of nearly four hours, my wife and I approached a north central U.S. airport in our Mooney. We had descended below the 6000-foot overcast to find excellent visibility. My wife handled the communications while I flew; her first call to the tower, from more than 10 miles out, was met with the question, “Are you IFR or VFR?” She responded that we had canceled our IFR flight plan and were VFR with the field in sight. We were advised to enter a left downwind for the east-west runway.

As an aeronautical engineer, I knew the theoretical stuff about flying. But as a student pilot, I found that theory and practice need some correlation to have real meaning. For example, I knew about sailplanes using updrafts associated with cumulus clouds to gain altitude. But I hadnt correlated that knowledge to the real world.

Just a few weeks after I received my Private certificate, I was using a C172 for pattern work at my home airport, just north of Detroits Class B. As I reported on the downwind leg, I heard a Bonanza reporting two miles west. “Okay,” I thought, “Ill be on base shortly; hell be number two behind me.” Reporting base, and declaring myself “number one” for the runway, I was not too surprised to hear the Bonanza pilot report downwind behind me.

Have you encountered a situation or hazardous condition that yielded lessons on how to better manage the risks involved in flying? Do you have an experience to share with Aviation Safetys readers about an occasion that taught you something significant about ways to conduct safer flight operations? If so, we want to hear about it.

As a kid, I was obsessed with flying: I rode my Schwinn Stingray to the John Wayne/Orange County Airport (SNA) every day after school to “hang out” near the bulletin board at the north tiedowns. I would wash planes for the chance of a ride. It was a different world then: no security fencing, no paranoia, just camaraderie and fun. To no ones great surprise, I earned my Private as soon as the law allowed.

Have you encountered a situation or hazardous condition that yielded lessons on how to better manage the risks involved in flying? Do you have an experience to share with Aviation Safetys readers about an occasion that taught you something significant about ways to conduct safer flight operations? If so, we want to hear about it.

In the early 1970s, I took my daughter on a flight from Orange County to Oakland in an American AA-1. A headwind required us to make a fuel stop. I decided Bakersfield would be a good place to refuel, relax and have a bite to eat. The tower cleared me to land on two-mile long Runway 30R, but then asked me to switch to the shorter 30L because a heavy military transport was arriving. “No problem,” I thought.

It was a beautiful clear day for my VFR flight in a DiamondStar DA40. Approximately 15 minutes into the flight, level at 7500 feet and still monitoring CTAF and Ft. Wayne (Ind.) Approach simultaneously, one of my passengers spotted an airliner in the distance at my 10 oclock position.

Paul Bertorellis insightful analysis of the Cirrus accident involving Cory Lidle in the December issue highlighted the importance of speed control in maneuvering for obstacle clearance. While hopefully few of us will stumble into a box canyon of mountains or buildings, effective speed control is also important in a far more routine aspect of our daily flight approach to landing.

I am actively involved in an organization offering introductory flights to youngsters. I have flown about 75 kids over the last few years, and enjoy seeing their thrill and excitement of flight. However, I had a situation happen recently that had me learning lessons from start to finish.For the first flight of the morning this day, I had one boy in the copilots seat and another behind him. The boy in the copilots seat was rather…