Things My Instructor Never Taught Me
Out of Control
After you read this story you will probably say to yourself... “I’ve been there.” Fly long enough and you will find yourself climbing into an airplane with a pilot you hardly know and he or she will do something that will just scare the hell out of you. You may find yourself wondering about both the safety of the flight and your personal safety all in the same thought. As an instructor I can tell you, I have most certainly been there.
A friend of mine came to me and told me the story of a trip with his boss. The boss was a non-instrument rated pilot. The weather was scattered at 4,000 and visibility in excess of 15 miles. My friend suggested to the boss that rather than bang around the cockpit below the condensation level, that a climb to 6,500 or higher would yield a better (read smoother) ride. The boss refused, opting to slug it out below the clouds. My friend went on to tell me that his boss had trouble holding heading and altitude, and appeared to be lost from time to time. The crosswind at the destination airport was distinct though not beyond the capability of the average pilot, but the boss expressed concern about his ability to land in it. My buddy was sweating bullets as the plane turned final. The thought of “taking over the aircraft” was running through his head.
So what do you do, if you find yourself in a similar situation? This is something my flight instructor never told me. Here is my advice; First of all, try not to blow things out of proportion. Keep things in perspective. If the weather presents a 4,000 ft. ceiling and 15 mile visibility, that doesn’t sound very life threatening to me. In my friend’s case, his boss’s reluctance to operate “on top” is understandable. A lot of pilots are fearful of going "on top" because they are afraid of getting trapped, or worse.....getting lost. Remaining in ground contact visually is natural for a non-instrument rated, low time pilot. It would be fair to say, in my friend’s case anyway, that at least during cruise, other than the turbulence, he was in no particular danger. That is, the turbulence wasn’t dangerous per se, just uncomfortable.
As for your legal or regulatory position on the subject...... there is none except in a case where a pilot is physically unable to perform his/her duties as PIC. In a single pilot situation, there can be only one pilot. There is no provision to allow you to supersede your judgment over the judgment of another.As for landing from the right seat; There are more than a few documented cases where non-pilots have safely landed small planes after the pilot became incapacitated, including an 88 year old woman who went flying with her 50 something son. He succumbed to CO poisoning and she landed the aircraft, with ATC help. So for anyone holding a private pilot’s certificate, a right seat landing would likely be a non- event. As for being there in the first place; I do fly for money, and I can tell you that I live and fly by the credo..... you can fire me but you can’t kill me! I will not let money make a safety decision for me. Commercial pilots are under that pressure all the time. Too bad, it comes with the job. But private pilots can just say no. Once you accept, as in the situation my friend found himself in, you have to make the personal decision.
Is this situation really life threatening or am I just allowing my subconscious- control freak to roar in my ear? We all have it. You can’t be a pilot if you don’t possess the desire to be in control of a situation. THEN YOU MUST DECIDE; is the money going to make the decision for me? Yes or no. Do you know this person? Is he or she reckless in life? Do you like their judgment on other subjects? Or is this a total stranger?
If you are willing to give up your job (as you should if your life is truly at stake) then demand that the pilot land the airplane right now, at the nearest airfield. Get a rent a car, or call your wife to come get you. While you are standing on the ramp, kissing your income stream good-by as the airplane flies away, reflect on the situation. Be comfortable that you made a good decision and did not succumb to paranoia driven by lack of experience. Do you feel the need to get that kind of experience? Becoming a flight instructor will certainly cure you of all of that. I have come within a fraction of a second of balling up a half-million dollar airplane and ruining a 20 plus year perfect safety record, while flying as an instructor. As an instructor, you have to let the students make the mistakes or they won’t learn. Just how far you can let the mistake go, is a function of experience that comes from years and years of doing it.
My friend had a feeling that there might be a problem when he queried his boss about his BFR, which he had apparently just taken. He said it had taken a lot of time. That sounds like a red flag to ask more questions. But for the record, there is precious little guidance given to instructors on that subject. In the BFR story in the previous chapter, I explained how I tailor the BFR to the type of flying that the individual does. Remember, it is a review. NOT A CHECK RIDE FOR A NEW RATING! As long as you perform within PRIVATE PILOT MINIMUMS, (or whatever rating you hold) you will pass. Instructors are all different. I train to a maximum performance standard, not a minimum published standard. Minimums are not good enough for me. But some guys will seek out low time or "easy" instructors, who, for what ever reason, lack of knowledge or the opportunity to make an easy buck, and will sign you off with minimum demonstrated competency. It is the pilot’s fault as much as the instructor for looking for the easy way out, instead of admitting that he/she needs more work. Of course, more work usually means more money, and in the minds of some, good enough is ok.
My friend is a rated pilot. The boss knew his limits (to some degree) since they chose to do this trip on an absolutely CAVU day. I’m sure he figured he could handle CAVU.
In any event..... there is no precedent for taking over command, that is to supersede the PIC's judgment with your own. In the case of a CFI or an ATP..... the fact is that in the event of an incident or accident, it is usually the higher time/rated pilot that is at risk for certificate action, though again not always. All you can do is be selective with whom you fly with and take the time to discuss this exact situation with your prospective pilot beforehand on future flights. I used to have a buddy who owned a little Grumman. He was an excellent pilot. We flew together a lot. But he was a rotten passenger. The moment someone else was in control of the aircraft, he became very uneasy. If he ever sat in the back seat (only once with me) he would throw up, even on a perfectly nice cool smooth day. He would get all queasy and turn green. The moment he put his hands back on the controls, he was absolutely fine. Nothing was wrong. Obviously, he had some deep-seated control issues. I'm not a shrink, I'm a pilot, but you didn’t need to have a PhD to figure that out.
Though I was a nervous passenger when I started to fly, 20 something years has fixed that. To me, the best compliment one of my fellow airmen can give me is to go to sleep in the plane while I'm flying. To me, that is like saying, "I trust you with my life." There are a few pilots I will close my eyes on. In 20 plus years of flying and 14 years of teaching, I have only had to physically take control from a pilot once. I was teaching Acro in my A-150 Aerobat. The student, a private pilot, was a professional fireman and built like the Incredible Hulk. It was a tight fit in that little Cessna. I was showing him how to push forward gently when inverted in a roll to keep the nose from falling through the horizon.
When it became his turn, he pushed yoke all the way to the instrument panel and kept it there. He also removed all aileron input. So there we hung, about 20 degrees nose up, inverted. "Release the back pressure and return the aileron to the stop", I said softly into the headset. Nothing. Frozen solid. A moment later the engine quit, because there are no inverted fuel systems on an Aerobat. I repeated myself, this time with a little more urgency, knowing we were going to stall. Still nothing. I pulled on the yoke, but he had it straight armed, locked full forward. Finally, in an attempt to get him to let go, I smacked him in the face with my aluminum kneeboard, which I was holding, and he released the controls. The nose fell, and we split S-ed out of the botched maneuver. I told him to return to the airport. Sweat was pouring off of him and he was angry that I had hit him. He could have easily ripped my throat out, but we went back to the airport in silence. I didn’t charge him for the lesson, and I told him not to come back.
I had always wondered what would have happened if he didn't let go when I hit him in the face. I was wearing a parachute, and I suppose if you’re not willing to use it you shouldn’t teach acro in the first place. I probably would have bailed on him. I certainly wasn’t going to let him take me into the ground with him. I guess we’ll never know. The point is, that was a life-threatening situation. I had anticipated that it could happen, and came to terms with what I would have to do if it did. You need to do the same thing.
By Michael Leighton a 4,900+ N.A.F.I. certified Master CFIIMEI-ATP, A&P mechanic and former F.A.A. Accident Prevention Counselor. You can reach him via e-mail at av8tor0414@aol.com, To order the book please go to www.tmfintm.com.