Flight Training - April 2015 - 24

FLIGHT LESSON

By Mack McKinney
FLIGHT LESSON offers the
opportunity for pilots to learn
from the experiences of others.

IGNORE THE SECTIONAL

MIND THE CLOCK!

A

s a brand-new pilot with 50 hours under my belt, I decided to
fly my wife from Maryland to Orlando so we could attend
my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary in Florida. The
McKinney gang was scattered across the eastern United
States and seldom got together, so this would be a perfect excuse to
avoid the 18-hour drive in favor of a seven-hour flight. And I'd break it
into two days as well, spending the night in the Carolinas.

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the tanks. The plan was to refuel, spend
the night, and head on into Orlando the
next morning. The weather began to
deteriorate south of Richmond, and to stay
VFR I had to divert around some cells.
We were only 20 minutes from the
stop when a routine cross-check of the
instrument panel showed my fuel gauges
bouncing off the Empty pegs. How could
that be? I had flight planned this trip,
twice, and I should have an hour of fuel
left in those tanks. Heck, we had only been
flying for-good grief-we had already
been flying 45 minutes longer than this leg
should have taken, and we weren't there
yet! Those photo sessions in Maryland and
the crosswind really sucked the fuel.
Luckily I had leaned the engine to minimize-how can that be-the knob is still
set at full rich! My fighting the crosswind
distracted me from the "Lean the Engine"
step in the "Cruise Flight" checklist. OK,
this is not good. As I thought about my
options, a small airport appeared at my 10

SARAH HANSON

Within minutes after takeoff, at maybe
2,500 feet agl, I noticed that tracking
180 degrees required a heading of 195
degrees. But no warning bells went off in
my head. It was just a little wind from the
west. We overflew our house to take some
pictures and flew over Annapolis where
there was a sailing regatta, snapped some
pictures there, and headed south. I now
needed a 200-degree heading to track 180
degrees as I climbed up to 3,500 feet. Then
I needed 210 degrees followed by 220
degrees and, at about that time, the departure controller who was providing flight
following said, "Say intentions." I confidently said, "Will fly the VFR corridor
between the Dulles and National airports'
approach areas." He responded immediately with, "Well, then, do that. I show you
three miles inside National's airspace."
I glanced at the VOR needle and it was
pegged against the side of the instrument!
I had calculated we would arrive in the
Carolinas with 45 minutes of fuel left in

o'clock, in the middle of nowhere, and I
checked the sectional: a public airport. I
made a call on unicom and got no answer.
But I turned downwind, base, and final,
and eased onto the runway. I taxied to the
ramp to find a fuel truck, but there was
nobody around. It was getting late. If I
couldn't find someone to pump that fuel,
we'd be stuck here, spending the night
sleeping in the airplane. So I did what any
rookie flier would do, I left! My destination
was only 15 minutes away. How much fuel
could that require?
As I left the pattern, the engine
coughed. With fuel gauges on E that could
only mean very low fuel (the mechanics
would later say that I had "un-ported" as I
banked the airplane to leave the pattern).
I landed (again) at the deserted field. Back
at the same ramp, a closer look at the wall
next to the pay phone provided a home
phone number for the fuel truck driver. An
hour and 20 gallons of fuel later, I made
the final hop to our overnight airport stop.
Worsening weather and a flight service
person who said the weather would clear
"any minute" kept us on the ground the
next day-for so long that I couldn't even
drive to get to the folks' anniversary in
Florida in time, and we missed it. That has
bothered me for the 30 years that have
elapsed since then.
Lessons learned?
1. Beware plan continuation bias: This
is the tendency to stay with the current
plan long after alternatives should have
been implemented. Have alternative plans
that you develop before launching-on the
ground, not in the air!
2. Have checkpoints on the clock (not
the sectional) that trigger back-up plans.
Winds and excursions cost precious fuel. I
nearly ran an airplane out of fuel because
I measured progress by the sectional and
not the clock.
3. One of your alternates should always
be a rental car. Flying is just a transportation mode. Safety and family come before
everything else.
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Flight Training - April 2015

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