Some decisions we make while flying take little thought. Like whether to put the gear down for a normal landing. Others, such as which runway to use, leave us with some options. On a recent flight, I got to ponder the runway question twice.
“Love ground, November three nine six delta mike is at Signature south with Alpha taxi,” I transmitted.
“Six delta mike, Love ground, runway three one right is closed for about ten minutes for inspection. We can have you taxi across the airport for three one left or you can hold there if you like.”
Dallas Love runways were under significant construction, and moving across the airport would take at least 10 minutes maneuvering around the Southwest Airlines gates and past numerous closed taxiways.
“Six delta mike, will just hold here for a few minutes,” I replied. A couple of minutes later, I was cleared for takeoff from three one right. My decision turned out well.
Two hours later, it was not as easy.
“Love field information Echo, time one seven five three zulu, wind three zero zero at one one, sky conditions, few clouds at one zero thousand, temperature one two, dew point zero two, altimeter three zero one one, simultaneous visual approaches runway three one right, three one left in use, advise you have Echo.”
I checked in with approach and advised I had Echo. “Three nine six delta mike, expect three one left,” came the curt reply from the busy controller. I replied and asked for three one right if traffic permitted. The FBO was a one-minute taxi from the right side versus the previously described ten-minute trek from the left.
“Roger, I will try to work that out,” came the welcome reply.
After intercepting the localizer for three one left, the controller advised I could have the right side. Excellent, I thought. I win again.
Handed off to tower, I was following a 737 for the right side. “Southwest 2240, ground ops is looking for a coyote reported on the grass off three one right. Would you like to sidestep to the left?” asked the tower. “Sure, that would work for us,” replied the airline crew.
I began to realize that I was going to be asked the same question. I started to rationalize why I didn’t want to make that 10-minute taxi through the construction across the busy airport. “Coyotes run away from loud airplanes, don’t they? Maybe he ran away. Maybe he’s not even there anymore,” I tried to persuade myself.
“November three nine six delta mike, I can offer you the same sidestep for the left side or we can have the ops crew vacate the area and you can have three one right,” offered the tower.
More multiple choices. Will I have adequate wake turbulence separation from the 737 if I sidestep behind them, I wondered. What would you do in this situation? I bought some time to think.
“Six delta mike would like to continue for three one right,” I said. The tower told the ops crew to vacate the runway. Within five seconds they responded, “Tower, Ops one, we lost the coyote and are terminating the search.”
I landed on three one right and never saw the coyote. And I’m still not sure I made the safest choice.
Fly safe.
I would have made the same choice. The wake turbulence probability is a more serious, known hazard vs just a “maybe” of a coyote on the airfield somewhere.