Jean-Claude was in the left seat. He was senior to me, but I was flying. We were near the equator, where Mermoz and Guillaumet had once flown — but they, poor fellows, had not been at 35,000 feet! We entered the clouds at what looked like a soft spot in a squall line. At first it wasn’t bad, but then the turbulence came, and with it lightning that never stopped, as if ogres with lanterns were laughing around us.
This Did Not Happen
Key Takeaways:
- A flight crew encountered severe in-flight turbulence and pitot tube icing, leading to critical instrument failure, autopilot disconnection, and an uncommanded stall.
- The narrator's initial reaction, pitching up due to misleading airspeed indications, worsened the stall, causing a rapid descent and confusion among the pilots.
- An exceptionally experienced senior captain, "Old Dubois," intervened, intuitively understood the underlying aerodynamic problem despite the confusing instruments, and successfully recovered the aircraft by pushing the nose down to regain airflow.
- The incident highlights the critical value of seasoned pilot judgment, intuition, and fundamental flying skills in navigating complex, unforeseen aviation emergencies, a quality the narrator believes is increasingly rare.
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