Page 9 - Sept 2015 Volume 19 Number 9

a ten-degree nose down attitude, I didn’t care whether I oversped the rotor or overboosted the engine.With an approximate climb attitude established, I reduced collective slightly and adjusted pedals to keep the tail straight behind. When I looked inside the cockpit, airspeed was 30 knots and increasing, a good sign. Manifold pressure was in the yellow but engine and rotor rpm were in the green. Since any change in pitch, power or antitorque would affect all the others, I determined not to change a thing. I checked my attitude relative to the water. Nothing but white. The Blob had me.Caught By The BlobThe limits of Plan B were obvious. How do I transition to instrument flight without any instruments? How do I stay right side up without even a turn-and-slip indicator? And how do I make a one-eighty to get out of this mess alive?Panic grabbed me by the throat! Suddenly, I was aware of nausea, ringing in my ears and tightening in my chest. Please, God, don’t let me die scared and stupid! I forced myself to think. My altimeter showed 70 feet and increasing slowly while the VVI indicated a slight climb.Hoping to clear the platform ahead, I resolved to freeze the controls right where they were.My instruments showed I’d established a 50-knot, 900-fpm climb. At that rate, I’d climb out of the fog in a minute or so, I thought. My whiskey compass had finally settled down on a southwesterly heading, near as I could tell. Now, if I could just hold those parameters. . . .The first indication I was losing it was the noise. I heard an increase in air rushing past, even before it showed on the indicator. When I looked, I saw 65 knots, increasing, and rate of climb was decreasingthrough 500 feet per minute. Thinking I might have inadvertently decreased pitch attitude, I increased cyclic backpressure. After a second, I saw no change in the trend. I felt like I was straight and level, but I knew I was in a bank. The question was, which way? The compassHartzell Engine Technologies LLC Half Page4/C AdSEPTEMBER 2015TWIN & TURBINE • 7