Page 17 - Volume 18 Number 6

thrust levers, we slowly taxi to the ramp, to find it covered with two inches of glare ice, backed by a mound of hard frozen snow ten feet high. The ramp area adjacent to the terminal looks like it has been sanded, but the local commuter airline has dibs on all that space, so we head the airplane to transient parking, some 200 yards away. With the significant residual thrust from the Garrett TFE 731s, the airplane just wants to keep moving, no matter what we do with the brakes. We shut down the right engine and swing the airplane into a right turn. As soon as the turn is completed, we shut down the left engine and gradually slide to a halt. We open the door and see that our way to the terminal will be over a sheet of ice that would make a NHL hockey rink owner proud. Getting ourselves, and our passengers, safely from the airplane to the terminal is the tricky part.
Three hours and a hamburger later, we slip and slide our way back to the airplane and repeat the whole sequence in reverse. We ar•rive back at KBVS by 1830 and everyone goes home for dinner. Nice trip. T&T
Kevin Ware is an ATP who also holds CFI, MEII and helicopter ratings, and is typed in several business jets. He has been flying for a living on and off since he was 20, and currently works as a contract pilot for several corporations in the Seattle area. When not working as a pilot, he is employed part-time as an emergency and urgent care phy- sician for a large clinic in the Seattle area.
JUNE 2014
TWIN & TURBINE • 15