AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2012 - 26

WAYPOINTS

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Roundabout to an arrival

ith the Adam A500 twin established on final to Lakeland Linder Regional’s Runway 9R, I selected gear down and surveyed the airport

me with an urgent command to “Go around.” Throttles up, pitch up, and away we went, the A500 strutting its stuff. Fortunately, the tailwheel airplane sustained minimal damage, and no one was hurt. Meanwhile we headed for Lake Parker, the holding pattern for use when Sun ’n Fun arrivals get backed up. There, we mixed it up with all manner of aircraft while things got sorted out back on the ground. It’s not the first time I found myself circling a lake while waiting to land at a big airshow. Years complex before me. Normally Runway 9R is simearlier, I was on the famous (some might say infaply Runway 9, but during the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In mous) arrival to AirVenture—only then it was Editor in Chief Tom Haines has been called the EAA Convention—at Oshkosh. Our the parallel taxiway becomes Runway 9L. Lighter covering the Piper Saratoga was stuffed top to bottom with airplanes arriving and departing use the taxiway. general aviation people and gear, and it was my first landing at Heavier airplanes and—back when this occurred— industry for more demonstration airplanes use the “real” runway. Oshkosh during the show. The procedure was to than 25 years. Ahead of me was the beehive of activity that makes head single-file to the town of Ripon and then turn up the largest aviation show in the Southeast. toward Fisk, another point en route to the airport. Sun ’n Fun is just that—sun and fun; a welcome break from However, things were getting a little busy on the procedure as winter and a great deal of fun, as well as a remarkable way to I followed a Cessna 182. About then a controller called “Big kick off the flying season each spring. Piper behind the Cessna, make a left and circle the lake.” In As we descended toward this aviation Mecca, I prepared for this case, Green Lake was the holding pattern, and so around my first landing in the Experimental centerline-thrust twin. we started—so close yet so far to that aviation Mecca. In the years since, I’ve flown into dozens of aviation events, When arriving at busy aviation shows where multiple airplanes are landing and taking off down the length of the pavement, frequently flying in the vicinity of airplanes with quite differyou have to be prepared for anything, so I was spring loaded ent capabilities—some slower, some faster—but all needing to for a go around, but even as prepared as I thought I was, it took safely arrive on the same strip of pavement. The trick is your me a moment to comprehend what was happening before me. ability to fly your airplane safely near the edge of its limits, espeA tailwheel airplane (I was too busy to notice what type it was) cially at the slow end of the flight envelope, while also carefully that had landed just ahead of me—ever so slowly, as if it were looking out for other airplanes and following a written procein slow motion—pitched forward and to the right, the right dure. Here is where a second set of eyes is of immense help, and wing tip catching the pavement in a perfect demonstration of almost required equipment. Besides, who wants to experience a ground loop. With that, the airplane spun around and people the fun and excitement of flying to one of these events all alone? started running toward it. Another important skill is listening. Too frequently, pilots As I was just beginning to grasp all of this, the tower called ignore the instructions in most procedures to simply monitor the frequency and listen for instructions from spotters on the ground. They instead attempt to “check in,” which frequently overwhelms the frequency and leads to confusion. As the flying season kicks off, nab a flight instructor and practice some slow flight and short-field takeoffs and landings. Spend a little time perusing the Air Safety Institute’s long list of interactive courses for subjects related to knocking off the rust (there are many), and you’ll emerge more confident and capable as you experience one of the best uses of a GA airplane—flying to one of the big airshows. I’ll look forward to seeing you there.
A field of airplanes at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.

Email the author at thomas.haines@aopa.org; follow on twitter.com/tomhaines29.

AOPA PILOT •

26 • MAY 2012

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2012

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