AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2018 - 104

P&E

104 | 

NEVER AGAIN

the sky until I am down safely; I will have
all the help I need; and I'm much more
immune to receiving a pilot deviation for
not following a clearance. Along with those
positives, I have also watched plenty of
AOPA Air Safety Institute case studies in
which pilots get into trouble much worse
than this and hesitate to declare an emergency. Many of those pilots don't make it. I
told the controller, "We will go ahead and
declare an emergency."
Once the emergency was declared, the
controller said he would be issuing no-gyro
turn instructions. This involves the controller telling a pilot in real time when to
start and stop standard rate turns, and in
which direction. The controller proceeded
with protocol, asking for souls on board
and fuel remaining. I maintained 3,400 feet
while doing the turns the controller issued.
We got back on an angle to intercept the
ILS, and as the needle started to center,
I turned inbound. The controller said we
were doing great and transferred us over
to the St. Paul control tower. Meanwhile,
I had instructed two passengers who had

many flights in general aviation aircraft
to look ahead for a runway, while I was
focused on maintaining the localizer and
glideslope. After breaking out at 600 feet
above ground level, an uneventful landing
ended the emergency.
I learned a few things from this experience. First, instrument failures are not
like training when your instructor covers
the instruments and deems them "failed."
They are very unexpected. Keep sharp on
partial-panel instrument flying.
Second, have situational awareness
and use all available resources. ATC was
a valuable resource, but I also had georeferenced approach plates, GPS direction
track, and experienced passengers to look
for a runway while on the approach.
Last, don't be afraid to declare an
emergency. It's better to have any and
all assistance available than to regret it
later. The time between declaring the
emergency and landing was about 15
minutes. Any extra time spent in the air
is time for something to go wrong. The
only action the FAA took following the

incident was to give me a call the next
day to gather details. The flight standards
district office inspector reiterated that
most pilots don't declare an emergency
when they should.
Thank you to all the air traffic controllers who helped us out of a stressful
situation on that day.
One of the biggest contributing factors
to a positive outcome is the lessons learned
from other pilots' stories. I highly recommend reading NTSB reports and watching
AOPA Air Safety Institute videos. To continue improving accident/incident statistics
within aviation, our learning needs to continue long after the checkride ends. AOPA
AUSTIN KALLEMEYN is a flight instructor for

Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, Iowa.
DIGITAL EXTRA Hear this and

other original "Never Again"
stories as podcasts every month
on iTunes and download audio
files free (www.aopa.org/
never_again).
http://www.aopa.org/never_again http://www.aopa.org/never_again http://aeapilotsguide.net
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2018

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