(Acknowledgements:
Adrian Ryan; AIR FACTS)
This is the latest article in series called “I Can’t Believe I Did
That,” where pilots confess mistakes they’ve made but lived to tell
about!
I book the aircraft and drive to
Larnaca. I look at the skies and notice some dark stuff over the Troodos
mountains, but it is fine and sunny and the weather report seems OK; so I file
a flight plan, check out the aircraft and depart. At 3000′ I make a gentle left
turn for my exit point, Mosfiloti. I look around and notice it’s getting a
little murky, and there’s some dark clouds way over there to the west.
The Angel on
my right shoulder whispers, “This is not the time for you
to be doing this, look at those clouds!” but the Devil on
my left shoulder
says, “Aw c’mon! You’re only going for a
short flight, you’ve got to be able to fly in this, what’s stopping you?” I
press the PTT switch, “Larnaca Tower, Five Lima Oscar, request exit clearance”,
which I receive. I turn for my next waypoint, and start my stopwatch. Sure
enough, the large radio mast south of Tseri appears on time, and I’m feeling
rather pleased with myself that things are going so well. The Devil
on my left shoulder
says, “See! What’d I tell you? Piece of
cake!”
I orbit the radio tower, turn onto the
heading for my entry point at Alampra and start the stopwatch. Within a short
time there’s Alampra! I check my stop watch and think, “Wow,
that was quick!”, ignoring the small warning bells that are
beginning to sound.
Still feeling chuffed, I decide to head
back to the radio mast and do this again; I come around to the reciprocal
heading and level off. It seems to take forever to get back to the mast, and it’s now
getting rather dark. I still don’t appreciate what’s happening, and I loop
around the mast and find myself scudding through really dark clouds, with rain lashing
at the windscreen! Time I wasn’t here, so I start to make a run back for Alampra!
Warning signs – all missed!
The turbulence is such that I’m having
to fight the aircraft just to stay level. I can’t even reach the radio button
to change the frequency. Another hole in the air, and I drop 300′. I’m close to
panic at this point, I can’t see a thing, the rain is lashing at the
windscreen, and I’m being thrown around.
Then I seem to hear my instructor’s
voice, “Adrian! Don’t ever panic! Fly the damn plane,
you’ve got plenty of fuel, you know how to maintain straight and level, don’t
chase airspeed or altitude.” And I calm down.
During a lull in the turbulence I call
ATC: “Larnaca Tower, Five Bravo Charlie Lima Oscar, Alampra at three thousand,
request immediate return to Larnaca, experiencing severe turbulence and heavy
rain, Five Bravo Charlie Lima Oscar.” “Five Lima Oscar, you are cleared to
enter controlled airspace. Standard VFR route, maintain three thousand. Can you
see the ground?” “Not very well, Five Lima Oscar.” “Five Lima Oscar, next
report, Mosfiloti.” “Report at Mosfiloti, Five Lima Oscar.”
I’m at 3000′ in heavy rain, and it’s
really dark. I’m frantically scanning what little ground I can see looking for
the village, but I can’t really see a thing.
ATC calls: “Five Lima Oscar, report
position.” “Five Lima Oscar, Mosfiloti at three thousand.” “Negative, radar has
you five miles south of Mosfiloti. Can you see the ground?” “Negative. Five
Lima Oscar.” “Five Lima Oscar, maintain present heading, and report passing the
coastline.” “Maintaining present heading, will report over the coast, Five Lima
Oscar.”
It’s really murky, and I realise now
that I’m far from where I thought I was. The storm starts to abate, and it
begins to clear. I think I’m well to the north east of the airport, and
suddenly, there’s the coastline in front of me. You can imagine my relief!
“Larnaca Tower, Five Lima Oscar, now
over the coast line.” “Five Lima Oscar turn left onto heading zero four zero,
and report field in sight.” Now that’s a surprise! I was convinced I
would have to turn right to head for the field. “Tower, confirm left hand turn? Five Lima Oscar.” “Affirm, turn left
now onto heading zero four zero.” “Roger that, Five Lima Oscar.”
I start a gentle left hand turn onto the
requested heading. The clouds have cleared, the rain has stopped, and the sun
is shining, and there in the distance is the welcome sight of Larnaca airport.
Feeling very chastened, I obtain clearance for a straight in approach to runway
zero four, and make a normal landing.
I learned a lot from that, especially to
really listen to the voice of the Angel on my right shoulder.
FLY SAFE!
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