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By Robert Ezell
There is no doubt
your world is moving fast and furious if you hear the
question, “How many souls on board?” It will only be
asked if you’re flying and have an emergency situation.
If we’re lucky as a pilot, we will never have (Air Traffic
Control) ATC ask that question. Over 20 years of flying
has passed under my prop and I have yet to be ask it. I
did heard, “Do you want to declare an emergency?” Once,
to which I quickly responded an emphatic, “NO!”
I had almost three
hundred hours at the time and was taking a friend’s
daughter back to college after a weekend visit home. The
first three-quarters of the flight was a beautiful smooth
ride, all of a sudden the engine began to vibrate and
shake wildly at cruise rpm. It felt like the engine would
come off the plane. I throttled back and discovered that
the vibration continued but with less enthusiasm.
Maintaining level flight at a slower speed and rpm made me
optimistic that I could make it to an airport. I was
about twenty miles from my destination airport when the
vibration first appeared. My altitude had dropped from
6,500 feet to 2,700 feet. At least, I could keep it in
the air and not shake the plane apart. From that point, I
knew we would make it to the closest airport and live to
fly another day.
My mind had been
preoccupied with the problem on board and not to the radio
and ATC. I nudged the plane to about eight miles west of
the airport and called ATC again requesting landing
information and traffic. I make this statement, “I am
having some engine roughness and would like to have
landing information.” To which ATC replied, “Do you want
to declare an emergency?” “Of course not!!! Just give me
the information,” I thought. I did want them to
understand that my needs were important and that holding
was out of the question. Fire trucks were not needed, so
I was quick to tone down the “roughness” thing. “Just let
me get down quickly,” I said to myself.
The landing was
uneventful. I dropped off the college student and checked
out the engine with a run up. All was normal. A
smoothing of the vibration seemed to happen on left
downwind. It was about an hour till sunset and I was over
a hundred miles away from home. The choices were to leave
the plane there or fly it back as it was. Since this
plane and I had a lot of time together and stuck valves
were a normal situation, I decided to fly it back home.
If I left soon, I could be home just at sunset. As long
as I can see where to land, I had no problem with making
an emergency landing in a field, if necessary. I would
rather take a chance that the engine would make it back,
than to have to spend the night over or get it worked on
the next day at a strange airport.
This is what will
kill a “bold” pilot. That urgent need to return to home
or get to one’s appointed destination at all cost has been
fatal to many over the years. Today was not going to be
that day for me. As I said, this plane and I had flown
before with a stuck valve before. The valve would usually
be stuck when the engine was started, then cleared as I
rotated. This was different. The valve stuck in the air
and not on the ground. It was the complete opposite of
what I had been experiencing. My thoughts were, “If it
feels like a stuck valve, if it smells like a stuck valve,
then it must be a stuck valve.” This old Cessna 175 had
so many problems that I was used to a stuck valve,
disintegrating rings, chewed up pistons, and more.
Nothing surprised me anymore with this plane.
My decision was that
the valve would stick again. If it did, I could land and
walk home. At least I would be some closer. I departed
the airport and headed home with fingers crossed. I knew
that it took about forty five minutes for it to stick the
first time. After thirty minutes passed…. I felt
comfortable. As we passed the forty-five minute time, I
felt even better. I had just passed over an airport and
at fifty minutes the engine went crazy. Just like
before. I made a quick turn and headed back to the
airport I had flown over. I knew that I could make it. I
had altitude, speed, and the engine was acting just like
before. I was more comfortable than I had been earlier.
I arrived back over
the airport and throttled back to lose the excess
altitude. After a few minutes of throttle back, the
engine smoothed out. Just like before, but it happened
quicker. It was decision time again…. Land here, spend
the night, drive home, or keep flying. The sun was
getting terribly closed to the horizon. “What would be
the decision?” I asked out loud.
Perhaps another
stupid decision was made on the merits of, “I don’t want
to call anyone to come and get me. I would just have to
drive back over tomorrow to get the plane. I am only
forty minutes from home by air or an hour and a half by
car.” I did what most “bold” pilots would have done.
Throttle forward and away I go! Perhaps this type of
action is the reason we often quote the wise old saying,
“There are no – Old, Bold Pilots!!!”
This engine problem
was different to the Cessna’s past problem, but similar.
My decision was made. My crippled plane and I were
homeward bound. The engine just purred as I scanned the
ground for landing sites. The sun hit the horizon as I
clocked ten miles from my home airport. When I arrived at
my home airport, it was just after sunset and during the
twilight hour of the day. There were fewer and fewer
landing sites as I closed in on my mountainous homeland.
I didn’t need them. The engine never faulted again. I
had “Cheated Death Again”. My knowledge of the operating
mechanics of the Cessna allowed me to make those decisions
and do so without a fear of death. My instructor had
prepared me for any emergency landing that might arise.
During each one of my lessons, as he prepared me for my
Check Ride, I was instructed to perform simulated
emergency landings. I felt comfortable with my decisions
and I knew I would live to fly another day.
Am I an Old, Bold
Pilot? Not really! I am a pilot that believes in knowing
everything there is to know about my plane. I am a pilot
who believes in learning everything there is about flying
any airplane. It is important that every pilot know
everything relevant about each flight. I would like to
think I an “Old, safe pilot.”
Always be prepared
for that question, “How many souls on board?” If it ever
gets asked of you, know that you have all the ability to
make that plane come to the ground, safely. If you
remember the Boy Scouts motto, “Be Prepared” you will
never end up as a fatal statistic on the NTSB website.
Join the “Wings Program”, fly with an instructor
regularly, keep abreast of the new rules, know where
you’re going and where the airports are that your will
pass over, make sure the engine and plane are full of gas
and oil, and file a flight plan. Not one of those items
cost anything, but any one of them could cost you your
life if you don’t do it. Fly aware and safely…. Live to
be an old, safe pilot!
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