As on all major holidays, July 4, 2015, was a day to take my beloved Grumman Yankee out to stretch her legs and keep my flying skills proficient. Never did I expect that this would be a day of reckoning and facing up to my first inflight mechanical failure in more than 36 years of flying.
I Learned About Flying from That: Learning to Breathe the Hard Way
Key Takeaways:
- A pilot experienced an inflight mechanical failure with a stuck throttle, leading him to declare an emergency and initially consider returning to his home airport despite a closer, safer option.
- He successfully landed his plane at Van Nuys Airport after a "Guardian Angel" pilot advised him to use its longer runway, and he ingeniously discovered he could control engine power via the mixture control.
- The incident underscored the importance of consistent practice, the dangers of "get-home-itis," and the need to consciously slow down, breathe, and thoroughly assess an emergency situation for alternative solutions.
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