Unintended Consequences

Having begun my pilot training with more than a few gray hairs, I spent almost the same number of hours in my 172, trying to perfect the important-to-me skill of smooth landings. Michigans weather exposed me to continuous crosswinds, along with a generous sprinkling of snow and ice-covered runways along the way. My Midwest landing and takeoff experience was rounded out in the summer by incorporating grass and short-field training from those with grayer (or less) hair. As the years and hours accumulated in the fickle, "occasional" cloud-covered Michigan skies, the next confidence builder was to obtain an instrument rating. Hours spent in a simulator, along with hood time and, eventually, a few flights in actual following the glideslope to the runway added to my confidence that landings could be routine.

Key Takeaways:

• A pilot experienced complete blinding glare from the setting sun during a final approach to landing, despite using a sunshade and sunglasses.
• This incident, an unforeseen "what-if" scenario, resulted in loss of direct runway visibility and a bounced landing within the runway boundaries.
• The key lesson learned was that sunset landings are safest when performed on an easterly heading to avoid direct sun glare, and an instrument go-around should be considered in such situations.

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