Santa Paula Airport is a 20-minute flight from my home base, Whiteman Airport. The fuel there is $1.25 per gallon cheaper, however, so when I’m flying around the local area, I often stop at Santa Paula to refuel. The precise economics of fuel tourism are an SAT-level problem, but if I’m over Santa Paula anyway, I figure the extra landing and takeoff can’t cost me more than 10 bucks.
Living Vicariously—and Safely
Key Takeaways:
- The author encountered an unexpected engine runaway at high power due to a slipping throttle butterfly shaft, a problem quickly diagnosed and fixed by a mechanic after initial misdiagnosis.
- He reflected on having ignored subtle, preceding symptoms (throttle lag) for months, rationalizing them away, highlighting a human tendency to avoid confronting ambiguous problems.
- The incident demonstrated the value of vicarious learning, as a friend's past story about a similar throttle issue allowed the author to react immediately and calmly by using the mixture control.
- This personal experience underscored the purpose of his "Aftermath" column: to provide pilots with vicarious knowledge from others' incidents to help them make safer decisions in potentially dangerous situations.
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