Page 41 - Volume 16 Number 5

your destination, they have the power to close your arrival airport. Along with “flow-control” and “metering”, these authorities are designed to allow proper spacing between IFR departures and arrivals and to manage controller workload. They have morphed into tools to regulate pilot judgment. Unfortunately, the pilot’s decision in Houston to launch into a thunderstorm is an example of the need to supplement the judgment of some of us.Now that I’ve trashed this poor captain, let me come to his defense. In my opinion, the change in ATC authority has negatively influenced the next generation of pilots’ decision-making ability. They now believe that if ATC clears you to do something, it must be not only safe and legal (remember the sugar, bacon, cigarettes and car exhaust things), but that you must comply. If it is unsafe, then surely ATC would stop us and close the field, just as they usually do. I promise you, ATC will not only clear you for things that are illegal (takeoff minimums come to mind), but for things that are unsafe.I’ve been cleared to cross the threshold of an active runway with an aircraft on 1⁄4 mile final, and I’ve been told to fly at .73 Mach at FL 370. A heavy MD-80 will not fly at that altitude/airspeed combination. ATC does this unknow ingly, because they are unaware of your and your aircraft’s limitations, and it’s certainly unintentional. This must be the reason the poor guy took off directly into a fully- developed, hail-and-windshear- producing, airplane-eating, people- killing monster: he thought ATC had his back. The next day, fifteen tornadoes ripped through DFW from the follow-on weather system. What if he had found a tornado with his tiny little RJ in that cell off the end of the runway? What if he had encountered a sixty-knot loss of airspeed (windshear) at 200 feet? I’m sure you can list another dozen what-if’s that could have harmed this ATC-reliant pilot.UnablePlease, my fellow aviators: you are the PIC. Always make the decision for yourself. Pretend like your radios have never worked the entire time you’ve owned your airplane. What would you do if you had no “direction” from ATC? And just because other pilots are doing it, or ATC says it’s okay, doesn’t mean it’s okay. Remember when you wanted to do something dumb, just because your friend or sibling did it, and Mom asked you: “Well, if they jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” Many pilots today have never told ATC: “Unable.” Don’t take the C in ATC so literally. It’s okay to say unable and you don’t have to explain why you are unable. If the controller gets “wound-around- the-axle” about your unable, tell them to give you a phone number and tell them that after you safely complete the flight you will call them. Have I ever said unable? Of course, probably a hundred times. Use your judgment and never use unable for something that you are indeed able – but simply don’t want – to do. Unable means unable, not unwilling or that it’s inconvenient.When ATC wants you to do something, verify that it’s safe and legal in your own aircraft. As an example of when I’ve said unable and refused an ATC clearance, I offer this quick story from a couple years ago. We were en route from DFW to MKE late at night. A line of strong, unforecast thunderstorms developed 200 miles short of MKE and continued to the MKE terminal area. ARTCC wanted to reroute us for traffic and spacing. After analyzing the proposed route, fuel and weather, I told them we were unable and needed to fly a route not only different from their clearance, but different from our filed route as well. Unlike the C in ATC, take the C in PIC literally. An ACARS message from my part 121 dispatcher came about ten minutes after I advised them of our new route:Attn Captain Dingman...Good thing you didn’t follow the ATC reroute. MKE is now experiencing 100 mph gusts with hail...The main cell should be passing thru prior to your arrival. Dispatch Desk 21.The Highest ComplimentThe main cell had indeed moved from the field prior to our arrival. After navigating around each cell in smooth air, we landed with lightning in all quadrants. Upon deplaning, the only comments from the passengers were queries about a hockey score; Vancouver Cunucks vs. Boston Bruins: 4-0. I wrote it down along with the message from dispatch for use in a future article....this one, as it turns out. You may be thinking that it would be disappointing to be underappreciated by the passengers for the airmanship and negotiation with ATC that it took to get smoothly to the destination. I was, at first, until I stopped to think about it. Their impression of the flight and lack of concern, in reality, was the highest compliment they could have given us. Our safe, smooth completion of the flight, while making it seem effortless, kept them from realizing how intense things really were....but, we knew; and we knew the hockey score – none of that out-of-control stuff on my shift. T&T•Kevin Dingman has been flying for 39 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737 and DC9 with 18,000 hours. A retired Air Force Major; he flew the F-16 then performed as a USAF Civil Air Patrol Liai- son Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian or- ganization Wings Of Mercy, is employed by a major airline, and owns and operates a Beech- craft Duke. Contact Kevin at Dinger10d@gmail.com.MAY 2012 TWIN & TURBINE • 39