What Just Happened?

It was to be a more-or-less routine flight – except that I haven’t flown in about eight months.  If you read accident reports, you know that aircraft owners all too often ignore these dry spells, hop in for a “quick flight” and find out too late that their skills aren’t quite up to the task.  So it’s nice to have the excuse that I need an instructor checkout anyway for the rented plane, but I wouldn’t have thought I would push my luck like that.

Nonetheless, I had enough confidence that I thought I could take my kids up for a ride after the checkout, so invited them along.  I therefore put myself in the position of hundreds of other accident victims who face a flight with too many external pressures – the need to arrive somewhere on time, the expectations of family or friends, or the weather turning bad just at the wrong time.

In these and many other situations, pilots constantly evaluate the “Go / No-Go” decision.  Do I take this flight at all, do I keep going even as conditions change, and when do I need to make the final call that this just isn’t going to work out? 

My typical DA-20 panel

DA-20 with G500 panel - more info in different places

Today was in fact not a bad day for flying.  A little warm perhaps, but the winds were fairly light with only a minor crosswind.  I was flying with a different instructor, and he didn’t realize that I hadn’t flown a DA-20 with the G500 digital display before.  I had actually flown a similar setup in the Tecnam Eaglet, but I’ve grown accustomed to the round dials in the Diamond.  Again, faced with what is technically an unfamiliar aircraft, would most pilots hop in and figure it out later?  Perhaps.  But the NTSB files are filled with pilots going up in planes they have few hours in – leading to poor use of the resources at hand.  

With all this in mind, I took the high road.  As we began the preflight, I let the instructor know that I had never flown this particular model before.  I personally felt very comfortable with him in the right seat and had no problem taking this plane out for the checkout, but wanted to know if he’d be willing to switch it out if I had any doubts about the rest of the day.  That was it – a very good, honest conversation about the conditions and risks.  I valued the opportunity to get some experience with the G500 anyway – if this had been just a checkout flight and no more, it would have warranted not much more than a passing comment.  

But my plan for subsequent passenger flights changed the equation.  I needed to know what my options were and the instructor should be aware of what I’m planning on doing without him – how else could he evaluate whether I would be safe up there?  And, by the way, he was quite willing to leave it up to me.  If I wanted a different plane, being completely open to pulling another out of the hangar for me – that’s quality service right there and reinforces my choice to use this particular flight school.

The flight itself turned out not bad – at first.  We did some stalls and a couple of steep turns, some slow flight and …  Though my maneuvers weren’t as crisp as they once were, they were passable.  As usual, my radio calls impressed the instructor.  So we decided to call it a day and to a few runs through the pattern.

By now, the wind had picked up.

Keep in mind, these wind conditions should not be a factor for someone who flies regularly.  Maybe a few knots of crosswind and no significant gusts.  Flying-wise, a pretty benign day.

But those eight months had led to the expected skill-atrophy.

A crabbed approach to correct for crosswinds

My patterns, headings, turns, descents, and final approach were right on (despite being the more difficult right-traffic).  But the transition from a crabbed approach to flare and landing really weren’t that great.  My timing and sight picture were off.  Granted, the instructor never had to take over, and these weren’t terrible landings by any stretch, but they were just sloppy enough that it was apparent to both of us that I needed more practice – much more to be able to carry passengers in these conditions.

By the fourth trip around the pattern, the instructor said he’d be happy if I could get two smooth landings in.  But I said, “Look.  I’ve already prepared the kids that their ride is not a sure thing.  Even if I get two landings, it would be more luck than anything else.  They’ll be disappointed, but let’s just do one more and we’ll call it a day.”  He offered one more time, but I could tell I just wasn’t as far ahead of the plane as I wanted to be.  Compounding this is that by focusing so much on the flight, this was a more mentally (and physically0 taxing flight than if I had done the same thing with more practice.  Any further flying would be adding more stress and just didn’t serve a particularly urgent purpose.  

So we wrapped it up, and I gave the kids the bad news.  “But we’ve been waiting TWO HOURS!”. 

“I know,” I said.  “But I want to make sure I’m safe to take passengers, plus it’s hot and bumpy up there.  Let’s save it for another day.”

And that’s what we did.  I don’t know when my next flight will be, but it was still a good lesson.  Not just for myself, but for the kids who need to be aware that sometimes flying a light plane just isn’t the same as a regularly scheduled airliner.  Delays happen, trips don’t get done, and weather can always turn an otherwise fine flight into a dangerous situation.  It’s a tough decision, but it was clearly the right one.