AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2023 - 26

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
Resist temptation
Fly with confidence in your own judgement
BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN / Senior Vice President, AOPA
Air Safety Institute / AOPA Foundation Legacy Society member
I DEPART BIG CREEK, IDAHO, in my 150-horsepower Super Cub
and immediately notice the gray overcast hanging lower than I
anticipated over mountains north of Big Creek. I'm following
a friend in a 200-horsepower Aviat Husky a couple of miles
ahead. The weather is inbound from the west, a poorly defined
system running southwest to northeast. We're headed to Glacier
National Park, about 200 miles northeast, but the clouds along
our route are hanging too low over the Bitterroots to squeeze
between them and the peaks. My Super Cub isn't IFR certified,
and we'd likely encounter icing in the clouds anyway.
Silence on the radio while my friend and I study our satellite
weather graphics, independently assessing options as we edge
closer to the ominous gray ahead. The Husky pilot reports seeing
lighter skies to the west and what looks like an alley working
north. Painting them on ADS-B, I watch them start the left turn.
Their plan, if they need more vertical room, is to turn left and
escape down the South Fork Salmon Valley until they can work
west and north.
I study the weather graphics on my iPad, then look outside
and to the west, where the Husky is headed. I don't see the
lighter skies and I cannot visualize the plan. I've got a few
minutes to make my decision, so I decide to continue north
and keep assessing. I've learned to use all the time available
to me, constantly reassessing and always keeping a " bailout "
available. A bailout direction is the area that's open, available,
and the direction I will go if I'm surprised or options run out.
When flying in low IFR, near forecast icing, or in a region of
thunderstorms, I always plan a bailout direction, and if I don't
have one, that's a no-go decision for me.
The Husky is 30 percent faster than my Super Cub and has
more climb power and a better avionics stack. All of that gives
my friend more options. After a few more minutes, with gray
clouds drooping toward me, I advise the Husky pilot I have a
different plan. I'm turning east to make a run for the Bitterroot
Valley. If I can get ahead of the system and make the valley, I'll
gain another 4,000 feet or so of vertical room and drop down
for a comfortable cruise. If not, I'll continue east to Butte or
turn all the way south to Salmon. Complicating the problem
is my limited fuel, resulting from a couple days exploring the
26
AOPA PILOT / April 2023
backcountry. The Bitterroot Valley has several good diversion
stops with fuel.
I head northeast toward the valley, but have to keep checking
east as the clouds creep left to right on my windscreen and the
Bitterroots rise. Every few minutes, another check to the east,
which puts me deeper into the Bitterroots and pointed farther
south of the Bitterroot Valley. If I keep check-turning, my course
will run southeast, and the weather will wall me off from the
valley. In a few minutes it will be decision time again. I can either
make the valley or not, and if not, based on fuel either turn all
the way south to Salmon or climb when possible and catch more
tailwind to make Butte.
Running east-southeast just approaching the front side of
the system and directly south of the valley, I see the west fork of
the Bitterroot River and realize I've possibly got room to make
it, then follow it north to where it opens into the Bitterroot
Valley. After a bit, I pass overhead West Fork lodge, then into
the Bitterroot Valley and begin a comforting descent down to a
relaxed cruise. The weather catches me and drifts overhead just
below the peaks, but I'm now several thousand feet below. A light
rain falls, but visibility remains decent, so I let nature rinse the
backcountry dust off the Super Cub and hopscotch my way past
diversion options all the way up to Missoula.
After fueling and reassessing weather, I made a scenic run up
the valley and along the side of Flathead Lake into Glacier Park
International (GPI). After a while, the Husky crew taxied in. They
didn't find the weather alley and had to run west and drop into
Idaho County, where they refueled, waited, and eventually got
an opening, finding a route north then east over to Glacier Park.
We made separate decisions that day in changing and
dynamic conditions that felt right for each of us, flying our
own airplanes dealing with our own proficiency and skill.
Decades of flying with mentors and watching skilled pilots
reveal confidence through the independence of their own
decisions taught me the invaluable lesson of resisting temptation
to follow the crowd and fly my
own airplane.
richard.mcspadden@aopa.org
SpadMcSpadden
PropBlast
RICHARD MCSPADDEN
leads the AOPA Air Safety
Institute.
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2023
