complacency.. a freight dog's enemy

[bluelake]

complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

this morning, I was flying into my home base empty (part 91) with 6 miles vis.

just as I intercepted the glideslope, the newest ATIS came out (2 and 1/2, 200 feet broken) and it kinda perked me up.

I continued down that same ol' approach like i was pulling into my own driveway and then.... all of a sudden, there I was at DH/DA with nothing to see!!!

MY FIRST bonafide MISSED APPROACH!!!

luckily, as soon as I popped above the fog, I cancelled and went VFR 6 miles nearby for some good greasy breakfast.

The lesson though is this. For all of the nasty wx we all might fly in, ya never know when it might not work out. Always be ready. Before this job, I used to have fears of that "Perfect Storm" that made me go missed... I never would have expected it on a lazy saturday morning in a thin layer of dissipating fog

Food for thought.

 

[MikeD]

Re: complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

I was going into Winslow, AZ one snowy winter day and penetrated via the VOR 11 IAP there. Popped out of the WX and low and behold, no airport.....just a big patch of white. As I spot a couple of roads at MDA and follow them, I see a Cessna Conquest parked in the middle of nowhere......that must be the airport ramp. I didn't feel like making a go around back into the WX and terrain wasn't a problem. So I climbed the few hundred feet to circling MDA and began an orbit around the airport to orient myself; so long as I remain at MDA and within 1.5 sm for Cat B, I'm golden. Took me 3 orbits to actually find what I thought was the runway layout (looked good enough) so I made my last orbit a quasi-overhead maneuver and circled to a full stop. Touchdown in the snow was uneventful with the exception of the rapid deceleration, and the tops of the runway lights were just barely sticking out of the snow. Stopped on the runway and had to open the left door in order to clear the front windscreen as well as get my bearings as to where the taxiway was in this snow covered mass. Spotted the terminal building and taxiied slowly down the runway and to where the taxiway was supposed to be and eventually rolled into my own made-up spot on the ramp.

Definately a new experience that day.

 

[SteveC]

Re: complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

That happens a lot up here in the winter. It can be *really* hard to find an airport covered with snow, especially in the daylight. It looks just like all the other fields and frozen lakes.

[hijack]That brings up a suggestion for the private students that are flying in the frozen north: when doing your cross-country flying in the winter, don't plan on using lakes as check points. They show up great in the summer, but lose all their distinctiveness in the winter when frozen and covered with snow.[/hijack]

Unplowed airports can be hazardous to your health, by the way. Snow drifts or ridges can easily cause loss of control, or if the snow is wet and heavy could potentially damage the gear at high speed. When in doubt, don't land. Call ahead before departure and talk to someone at the airport to get actual condition reports, don't rely on Notams. At uncontrolled fields call at least 10 minutes out on Unicom (or Operations) frequency to get updated information and to warn the snowplow drivers you're inbound. Make plenty of position reports.

We almost had an accident on our field last year. The snowplow driver was plowing the runway (and says he was monitoring Unicom) during a low vis day when all of a sudden he notices that the runway lights have been turned on. He decides to exit the runway just to be sure, and just as he does a business jet comes zooming by on its landing roll. Scary.

 

[Looking4Lower]

Re: complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

[ QUOTE ]
I continued down that same ol' approach like i was pulling into my own driveway and then.... all of a sudden, there I was.......Always be ready.
Food for thought.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good post. Something like that happened a couple months ago coming into CMH - vis was reported good, ceilings were OK and I was doing a Localizer approach that had a couple stepdown fixes (fully expecting to see the runway before the last stepdown). Well, the vis was quite crappier than reported by the time I was halfway to the MAP, and it took me a second to re-orient myself to that last stepdown fix/MDA. Descended to MDA just fine and landed safely..

My expectation of what would happen seemed to distract me slightly from concentrating on the complete published approach.

 

[bluelake]

Re: complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

MikeD and SteveC,

Great snow stories. And timely, as I just spent last wednesday freighting around northern Cali mtns (into Quincy and Susanville) and both of your observations are really on target.

One more winter issue to add to the list though, and it actually occurs AFTER the storm has passed, and it is this: melting snow by day = wet runways as those snow banks melt with nowhere to go. Return early next morning and those wet patches are black ice!!

 

[SnowHo]

Re: complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

What freight company do you fly for? I wish I could fly somewhere all the time and never go missed.

 

[bluelake]

Re: complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

Redding Aero Enterprises. I am really happy there.

The main reason I have only gone missed twice this year is that I routinely go below minimums so that I can get the job done. (Major sarcasm here of course).

Truthfully, we do adhere to the 135 rules in terms of launching IFR, and since our flight legs are pretty short... say 1/2 hour to an hour... its typical to be pretty sure your gonna get in when you launch.

 

[TallFlyer]

Re: complacency.. a freight dog\'s enemy

Oh yes, I've done run-ups while sliding down the taxi-way many a time.

Very similar to doing a run-up in the bush, which is usually done as part of the take-off roll or while back-taxiing.

Also, up here at least frozen lakes are fairly easy to spot. Of course, we have alot of trees up here. In the mountains it would be a different story. Whats probably more important to know is the probability of the ice supporting you if you have to make a forced landing.