Page 16 - Volume 18 Number 9

my surprise, the termination of the glidepath shiftedfarther and farther downfield from the touchdown zone.Into the flare with idle power, runway passed by underthe wheels until we finally touched down, halfway alongthe strip. The airplane was finally halted in the overrunarea, safely but humbly, to say the least. A perimeter windindicator showed the reason for the delayed touchdown– an outflow of air from the storms on the other side ofmatch the pilot, aircraft and environment. Not always is your physical state, or the aircraft’s condition, adequate for a difficult situation. The only thing that keeps you from plunging forward into loss-of-control or flight-into- terrain is your ability to stay humble.I like to play “what if” frequently, both to myself andto a pilot in training. What options are available if anemergency descent was needed right now? How muchthe city had caused a reversal of wind direction, just intime to affect my landing.This was an early lesson in paying attention to theairplane’s reaction to the operating environment.The signs were all there; an approach that becameunstabilized, excessive float in the landing flare, windcones that were rotating to different directions. I ignoredthe communication being sent my way, focusing onmore landing fuel would we have if we pulled power back, or what would the effect of pushing it up to max-cruise? If the expected approach isn’t available, what other methods of arrival does the airport have? I might request a newly- designated approach just to fly it under test conditions, preparing for the day when I’ll need it for real.A realistic approach to flying demands that we remainVolunteer Pilots NeededVolunteers flying for the environment since 1979.conducting a landing instead of considering the entire humble enough to watch for changes in the aircraft’spicture. If I had reacted properly to the first indication operation, along with being skeptical of weather forecasts,of a long landing, there would have been ample time to projected fuel burns and reported airport conditions.Phone: 307-332-3242 • www.lighthawk.orggo around, resequence for the other runway and thereby Just because it worked last time doesn’t mean we canavoid rolling off into the safety area.Set Your Own Minimumsrelax our attention this time. As I’ve said quite often,confidence is a necessary ingredient of successfulpiloting. Overconfidence, however, is detrimental to longevity. Stay humble, learn what the airplane, and the system, has to teach you,•and you’ll avoid that heightened sense of confidence that spending many years in aviation tends to bring. T&TTrue professionalism means carrying a humble attitude into low-weather operations, not just sticking with legal limits. This is particularly important in single-pilot operations. Raise your takeoff and landing minima toVolunteer Pilots Needed6th HorizontalVolunteer Pilots NeededVolunteers flying for the environment since 1979.Phone: 307-332-3242 www.lighthawk.orgVolunteers flying for the environment since 1979.Phone: 307-332-3242 www.lighthawk.org14 • TWIN & TURBINESEPTEMBER 2014Quarter