Over the years, I’ve had my share of urgent situations, events that were abnormal and required ending a flight in a fashion other than was planned or performing a checklist from the flight manual’s emergencies section. These events never really turned into full-fledged emergencies, but “emergency” is defined by the person experiencing it. Most of us have experienced such episodes—peaking oil temperature, a rough-running engine, an unsafe landing gear indication. The outcome is more likely to be frustrated phone calls from unfamiliar airports, plus unscheduled underwear changes, than an accident report.
