It was a lousy day to begin with: Gusty winds, steady rain and low ceilings covered the entire area. I departed home plate at 0700 in our Navajo Chieftain for Louisville-Bowman Field. After flying the GPS WAAS Runway 24 approach down to minimums, I taxied to the ramp where my four passengers were waiting. The mission was carrying the governors economic development group to different potential sites across the state. Within minutes, we were off again, headed to our first destination, Hopkinsville, Ky. After another approach to near-minimums and taxiing to the ramp, I was thinking 288
This Is Not A Drill
It was a lousy day to begin with: Gusty winds, steady rain and low ceilings covered the entire area. I departed home plate at 0700 in our Navajo Chieftain for Louisville-Bowman Field. After flying the GPS WAAS Runway 24 approach down to minimums, I taxied to the ramp where my four passengers were waiting. The mission was carrying the governors economic development group to different potential sites across the state. Within minutes, we were off again, headed to our first destination, Hopkinsville, Ky. After another approach to near-minimums and taxiing to the ramp, I was thinking this was going to be a long day, given the amount of airports on their agenda and the weather.
Key Takeaways:
- A pilot successfully navigated a real-life instrument failure (lost vacuum pump) during a challenging flight, directly attributing the positive outcome to recent recurrent simulator training.
- Further simulator training demonstrated how rapidly a single instrument failure, such as an attitude indicator, can lead to loss of control and dangerous situations.
- The article emphasizes the critical importance of continuous and serious recurrent training for pilots to stay sharp on techniques for handling rare but life-threatening instrument failures.
Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->
See a mistake? Contact us.
