AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2021 - 96

P&E

PROFICIENCY

Lessons from
a CFI
When things don't go exactly as planned
B Y C AT H E R I N E C AVAG N A R O

" WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE becom-

96 | AOPA PILOT March 2021

to get their flight instructor certificates in
order to build time for other endeavors in
aviation. Since the flight instructor certificate was my end goal, I continued with my
training and passed my CFI practical exam
just a few weeks later. Still, Bob's point
wasn't lost on me. I'll share a few experiences I've had since then from flights that
didn't exactly go as planned.
On the evening before my CFII practical exam, I returned to land at the
Sewanee-Franklin County Airport
around dusk. As I started the flare, I
caught sight of a deer feeding on grass just
to the right of the runway. Deer, like squirrels, tend to run the wrong way, so I input
full power and pitched up to start the goaround procedure. My heart sank when I
felt a powerful thump.
After gaining some altitude, I looked
around the Piper Cherokee but couldn't
see any damage. If the landing gear had
been compromised, it would be helpful
to know which part before I attempted to

CATHERINE CAVAGNARO

ing a flight instructor? " The question
caught me off guard and with my instrument hood on, I couldn't look at Bob in the
right seat to see if he was kidding. " Sorry? "
I replied. Hearing the same question again
with the same tone left no doubt that he
was serious. " I enjoy teaching and I love
flying, so I would like to share that joy
with others. " He continued, " Well, have
you ever been scared in an airplane? " " No,
I can't say that I have, " I replied. " Then
what experiences can you possibly share
with your students? "
Although the delivery was a bit harsh,
I got Bob's point. He takes pride in his own
flight instructor certificate and has more
than half a century of experiences to share
with his students. Sometimes it seems that
aviation has it backward. For example, my
job as professor at the university came after
several years working toward a doctorate
in mathematics and it wouldn't have happened without it. But it's common for pilots

land again. So I grabbed my cellphone and
called the Sewanee Police Department to
see if one of their officers could come out
to the airport while I performed a fly-by. As
night fell, I circled the airport until I saw
the searchlight coming from the airport
ramp. After I completed two low passes,
the officers reported that the gear appeared
intact but they could not tell if there was
any damage. After what turned out to be
a smooth and uneventful landing, I exited
the aircraft to find that my right flap was
bent and the passenger step, along with the
sheet metal to which it was attached, had
been pulled away from the fuselage leaving
a gaping hole there. When I got back home,
I called Bob to report that I had finally been
scared in an airplane. I let him know how
much I valued what he shared with me on
the flight two years earlier.
Last summer I flew my Beechcraft
Bonanza to Murfreesboro Municipal
Airport (MBT), possibly the busiest nontowered airport in Tennessee. As I entered
the 45 for the downwind leg to land on
Runway 18, my windscreen filled with
black and a streak of red. I turned onto the
downwind leg as the realization of what
just happened sank in.
I performed a right 360-degree turn
off the downwind so I could weigh my
options. I would land soonest by rejoining
the downwind but the pattern was teeming
with aircraft and here I was with a reduced
capacity to see them. I could also fly back to
Sewanee where I was almost guaranteed to
have the pattern to myself, but that would
require more time behind my newly modified windscreen. In the real world there is
often no one right answer, and this was certainly one of those cases. After I determined
the remaining windscreen was sufficiently
secure, I pulled her manifold pressure
back to 15 inches, made my way home, and
tucked the Bonanza back in her hangar.
Lest you think the moral of these stories is to warn of the dangers of deer or
birds, I'll share an experience that has
nothing to do with wildlife. My home airport has no instrument approaches so I am
conservative when I choose to fly. Mostly,
I only depart when I'm virtually certain
to be able to return in visual conditions.
On a rare day, I found myself with few
AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2021

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