AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2013 - 94

P&E

NEVER AGAIN

us. The fear began to come back. I couldn’t
simply sit and wait, so I decided to see if I
could use just enough power to drag us on
to Fort Polk. I hit the starter to get the prop
windmilling.
The results of that attempt got my complete attention. The vibration was worse
than I remembered, and I was certain that
if I allowed it to continue, the engine mounts
would fail and the engine would separate
from the airframe. I felt that it was going to
be better to go in under control rather than
out of control. I was back to the routine of
stall and spin recovery to get the vibration
stopped, but this time under 1,000 feet.
In the midst of the second prop-stopping, stall/spin recovery exercise, I saw
something I couldn’t believe. We were over
the end of the runway.
I called tower and told them that we
had the airport in range. The airplane was
directly over the threshold with the runway heading 90 degrees off to the right.
I made a steep left turn to get in a good
position to start the final approach, then

another 180 to head back toward the runway on a short final. I called tower and
asked for the length of the lighted runway.
There was no answer.
Something was wrong. This was not
Fort Polk. It was simply a runway, and a
very short one at that. I was almost at the
threshold of a runway that was 2,700 feet
long, and still at almost 500 feet of altitude.
Years of glider flying began paying off.
I put the Grumman into a full slip, and it
came down like a brick. Touchdown was
at about the one-third mark, and we came
to a stop 700 feet later. I picked up the mic.
“Is there anyone on this frequency that can
relay a message to Fort Polk tower?” There
was a pause and the deep, measured voice
of a professional pilot came out of the dark.
He guessed, correctly as it turned out, that

we had landed at Leesville Airport, 10
miles short of the goal center had set for us.
I had been challenged to use many of
my skills that until this point had only been
practiced to improve general pilot proficiency. That night, knowledge and skills
with stalls, spins, slips, dead-stick landings,
stopping the prop—and even radio procedures—prevented one of “those nights”
from becoming a fatal evening.
If you are a new pilot, think about it
when you are out in the practice area. If
you are an “experienced” pilot, ask yourself
how long has it been since you practiced
some of those old skills.
AOPA
Beverly Howard lives in Austin, Texas.
He has more than 9,000 hours, including
approximately 4,500 hours in gliders.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2013

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