Page 34 - March 2015 Volume 19 Number 3

SPECIAL CITATION JET OWNERS SECTION!
It was a particularly unpleasant winter morning in New York City. The wind howled out of the east, with blowing, drifting snow. After a pause at the hold point for JFK’s runway 4L, we were cleared to line up and wait.
It was 400 overcast, 1⁄2 mile, temperature and dewpoint -1° C. Light-to-moderate icing was forecast. Though the weather was frightful, the Citationjet 525 had bleed air heat for wings, inlets, and windscreen, and boots for the horizontal stabilizer.
It was my turn to fly; Chief pilot KK Harvey assumed the copilot spot. Clearance was the Bette 3 Departure, right turn to 100 degrees after takeoff, maintain 5,000 feet.
With a final check of the annunciators, I applied full power. KK called out “airspeed alive” and “70 knots crosscheck”, “V1”, “V-rotate”, and then “positive rate” as I lifted the gear handle. Poof, into
• • • •TWIN & TURBINE
clouds we flew. Then, suddenly: BANG! A tremendous noise from the tail. The annunciator panel flashed red and yellow while the mechanized voice screamed, “Right engine fire! Right engine fire!” “Holy crap, we’re on fire!” I yelled.
The airplane listed to the right as airspeed decreased. “Fly V2!” KK yelled. I lowered the nose. Deterioration slowed, but not enough. Meanwhile, the turn was increasing, despite full left rudder. “Get that nose down!” KK insisted. I lowered the nose further. At 89 knots, the stick-shaker activated. We were just short of stalling, descending in a steep right turn, our options rapidly diminishing. With only 400 feet left, pointing the nose down more to gain speed would leave no margin to recover. “Terrain, pull up! Terrain, pull up!” screeched the voice, piling urgency atop the machine and human-generated imperatives. I couldn’t, wouldn’t give up. Trying to recover from an
By Adam Alpert
unrecoverable situation, I wrestled
the controls and watched altitude deteriorate.
Then, suddenly, mercifully: Silence.
Ok, we didn’t actually crash. But we would have, if CAE Simuflite Instructor Bill McDowell hadn’t ended the scenario. “Adam,” he said, “that didn’t go very well. Shall we try it again?”
It was Simulator Day #2, my first in-flight emergency, just one of many humblings as I pursued a Type Rating in the CE 525.
Pursuing The Rating
Months earlier, to create a flight department for our company, we selected Cessna’s CitationJet for its comfort, reliable performance and relatively low operating costs. Because it’s certified for single-pilot and crew operation, we planned to have one professional full-time pilot and me. The key to a great single- pilot flight department is finding a
MARCH 2015