NorthPilot06 has contributed to 1 posts out of 1193 total posts
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20 Most recent posts:
Well it happened. Just like you've heard, just like your instructor said it might, just like you've been drilled.
VFR flight turns IFR in an instant. I was 6 miles or less from my home field flying back from Toronto when the weather, which had been fine went south. Overcast day, went from 6 miles vis, to 3-4 to 1 to oh my god i'm in the soup.
A little background...I have 15 hours of instrument on top of my private, a multi-rating and a night rating.(In Canada that's separate.)
It was almost surreal, as I'm sure you can imagine because it happened so fast that for the first number of seconds I was almost in denial that anything was going wrong. I had just remarked to my passenger that this was the type of weather I'd never fly in if I didn't know the area, and that was when I had 6 miles vis...all of a sudden, the crap was closing in and then before I knew it I was in trouble.
I start to make a rate one turn and then here's where I think I saved my life. Everything we've been taught that could go wrong all went wrong almost immediately.
A)I started banking 30-35 degrees
B)Climbed from 2000-2450
C)Turn and bank was pinned.
D)Airspeed was bleeding off.My heart was racing and my mouth was dry but I think of all that stuff snapped me into action. I started to correct things, lower the nose, airspeed up, straighten the wings, start an instrument scan and most importantly I began to feel in control of the plane/situation.
At this point I switched back to Toronto Terminal and explained my situation. I could tell the controller was freaked because I'm sure he could hear the nervousness in my voice.(my passenger later told me how cool he thought I handled things, but trust me it s the Pucker-Factor was VERY HIGH!)
The controller asked about my IFR experience and then gave me vectors back to my field and stayed with me for the 3 or 4 more minutes I was in the junk.
When I broke through at 17 hundred feet and finally saw the runway it was an amazing feeling. I thanked the controller and switched over to the unicom and just like that it was over.
I'm sorry for the length of this post but I wanted to pass on to you GA peeps that today i was incredibly lucky. This s**t is real and when it goes bad it goes bad quick. I wasn't careless, the weather was reported fine and I had been flying for an hour in VFR conditions, but in a matter of seconds my life was in peril.
You never know how your going to react in a real emergency situation. I don't know about you all but I had been wondering for a while. I called and thanked both of my instructors for teaching me so well. I just did what they told me and got my self out okay.
I hope that you do the same if God forbid this ever happens to you.
FlySafe Always,
[This message has been edited by lowhours (edited 11-05-2005).]
[This message has been edited by lowhours (edited 11-05-2005).]
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