AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010 - 110

NEVERAGAIN
just a few feet off the runway. This was our last opportunity to go around, but I don’t think aborting the landing attempt ever occurred to him. Just as the main gear touched the runway, we swerved hard to the left. We were still moving about 45 miles an hour on the ground and approaching the left side of the runway at about a 45-degree angle. Steve slammed the throttle forward and tried to yank the airplane off the ground, but we didn’t have enough lift. We sped off the pavement, smashing

our way across the open desert with the throttle still wide open. I could feel the landing gear striking small bushes, and it felt like we were in a horse-drawn carriage racing along a cobblestone street. Then the bumps stopped, and we were airborne again, a couple feet off the desert, climbing slowly. The whole event lasted about six seconds, but those six seconds felt like six lifetimes. I took a deep breath and asked Steve how he was able to remain so calm when I was sure we were about to crash. He said, “I was focused on trying to save our lives.”

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Once up to pattern altitude, Steve announced that he would go back and try landing on Runway 22 again. He seemed embarrassed that, with all of his flight experience, he wasn’t able to keep the airplane on the runway surface. I was stunned. We had just escaped a close call, and I didn’t want to repeat it. But Steve was determined to give it another try. Thankfully, about 15 feet off of the ground, he aborted the second attempt—the first good decision he’d made all day. On the flight back to Apple Valley I told him how scared I had been, and he tried to assure me it wasn’t as bad as it looked, but I knew better. The fact that he had said he’d been “trying to save our lives” was proof that he had put us in a situation where our lives needed to be saved. The next day, I had my third flight lesson. My instructor had a strange grin on his face when I walked into the FBO. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be back,” he told me. “I heard about your flight yesterday from Steve.” The chain of events leading up to our near-accident was based on a series of bad decisions. First, with around 340 perfect flying days each year at my home airport, there was no good reason to fly in that kind of wind. Deciding not to fly would have been the safest choice. Second, choosing a runway where the crosswind exceeded the airplane’s maximum demonstrated crosswind component of 20 mph was foolish. Steve’s ego had led him to ignore the obvious fact that the crosswind was more than his airplane and skills could handle. And finally, making a second attempt after the first had failed was ridiculous. In a later ground school lesson, I learned that pilots with about 500 hours of flying time are among the most dangerous because they willingly take chances that rookie pilots would avoid. I certainly hope my ego never inhibits me from making smart and safe decisions. Breven Clark, AOPA 6534362, is a private pilot with 200 total flight hours.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2010