Page 4 - Volume 15 Number 6

editor’sbriefing
Confidence: A belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; a feeling of self-assurance.
A little over a month ago, I lost something. It’s called confidence.
In the predawn of this particular Friday morning, I was flight- planning a trip from Florida back home to Wichita, Kan. Looking over the weather, I knew that it
would be a long trip. Flying westbound in the spring, you can count on some hefty headwinds, and they weren’t going to disappoint today. That meant a fuel stop somewhere in between.
Secondly, if you’ve been watching the news over the last month, you’re probably aware of the active weather pattern that’s affected the Midwest and southeast portions of our country. This trip coincided with the beginnings of this pattern that would sweep severe storms and devastating tornadoes through Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and points east. On this particular day, I was guaranteed to encounter some weather over Arkansas.
My daughters were along for the trip, with my 15-year-old student pilot providing excellent assistance with the radios, traffic spotting and managing the flight plan in the G1000. The first leg of the trip went smoothly, ending in an instrument approach at my planned fuel stop. I was IMC for much of the second leg, until breaking out in eastern Oklahoma. However, on my descent into the Wichita area, the visibility was practically nil, thanks to heavy smoke emanating from the range-burning activities on the Kansas prairie. (They do that every spring.)
Unable to get a visual on the airport through the smoke and haze, I was resigned to accept the GPS 17 approach, which would end with a circle-to-land to the north.
As I was being vectored to the outbound course, I spotted the airport through the thick haze at my 8 o’clock and about one mile. I contemplated continuing with the approach but reasoned, hey I’m already tired, so let’s get this thing on the ground. I cancelled IFR and swung around for a tight downwind. The gusty east winds by this time were bouncing us around pretty well, and it was getting worse as we descended. I told the girls to put away loose items and strap in. While working
through the landing checklist I mentally prepared for a sporty crosswind landing.
Growing up in Missouri with prevailing southerly winds, I think I learned to fly on one of the few airports with a single east-west runway. K07 was a tiny field scraped into the top of a hill surrounded by trees. One end sat in a hole with trees enveloping it, realistically making the usable runway for landing about 2,500 feet. Oh, and don’t forget the dog food plant on the south side of the field that created an interesting burble on short final. If you wanted to avoid that, you landed a bit longer.
Learning to fly in my family’s Cessna 172, I was taught crosswind landings from my first hour of instruction. I had grown up intently watching my parents do it for years. If you wanted to fly, you learned to land with the ever-present crosswind. A 15-knot direct crosswind? Bring it on.
This landing in Kansas, however, had more challenges than just a crosswind. I was physically and mentally exhausted from a long day of flying, which followed a less-than-restful night’s sleep. But like many of us do, I resolved to suck it up and focus.
Everything went as planned until I crossed the numbers. I think I must have mentally relaxed, because the next gust banged the airplane hard and then was gone as quickly as it came. I reacted too late, and was rewarded with a formidable “prong.”
As I silently swore at myself on rollout, my daughter smiled at me and said charitably, “Well, at least we’re on the ground!”
Yes, we were, but I left my confidence about 20 feet over the runway.
After we buttoned up the airplane and loaded the car, I stopped by to check on our family Cessna 172, the one in which I learned crosswind landings years earlier. I patted her orange cowling and I told her that we had some work to do.
I recently read this little nugget: “Confidence can be a self- fulfilling prophecy. Those without it may fail or not try because they lack it. Those with it may succeed because they have it, rather than because of an innate ability.”
I may have lost it that day, but I know just the plane that can help me find it again.
Lost and Found
Bring it on.
Dianne White Editor
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E JUNE 2011
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