AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 24

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN
Executive Director
AOPA Air Safety Institute

Change of plans
Flying home safely means staying flexible

AOPA Air Safety
Institute Executive
Director RICHARD
MCSPADDEN is a
CFII and MEI, and
has logged over
1,000 hours of dual
instruction given.

LAST FALL I HELPED FERRY A NAVION from Boulder City,
Nevada, to Frederick, Maryland. The new owner of the
Navion hadn't flown GA in more than 20 years. Now, with
his work life in rhythm, and children launched on successful journeys of their own, he found time and resources to
rekindle an old flame: flying. He attended an AOPA Rusty
Pilots seminar, and decided to buy an airplane. He wanted
a comfortable traveling airplane with some legs, good
useful load, and decent speed-all on a budget. He discovered Navions and sought me out at the AOPA Fly-In at
Frederick. Serendipitously, my dad was at the fly-in, and,
well, if you express an interest in Navions around my dad,
you better have some time on your hands. Sure enough,
the rusty pilot was sold on Navions and spent the summer
searching for the right airplane. He found it in Boulder
City, and reached out to me for help flying it back.
We timed the trip to coincide with a business meeting I had in Las Vegas, which would allow me to fly GA
back to Frederick, a much preferred option over airline
travel. I had a four-day window before my next trip,
which gave us some flexibility on timing. We projected
the entire trip to take some 12 flying hours, which we
planned to accomplish over two days by flying two
three-hour hops each day. We'd overnight somewhere
near Wichita. We began watching the weather, and
specifically the winds, about a week out.
Our plan was to meet the current owner at the airplane in the afternoon, review logbooks, go through an
extensive preflight, and conduct a check flight before
launching the following morning. The fall weather out
West is typically good, although high winds can create havoc around the mountains. Passing through the
Rockies dominated our route planning and timing for the
first day. We wanted to do it either in the early morning
hours or early evening hours when winds are the lightest.
I have a general posture that when pilot, airplane,
and weather align, you fly! When you have a specific
mission to accomplish, such as training a student or
delivering an airplane, then proactive flexibility-being
prepared to go when conditions are optimal-enhances
safety. As our departure day neared, it appeared weather
and winds were ideal on the day of our scheduled handoff with the previous owner. I called the rusty pilot and
asked him to accelerate the hand-off to the morning
so we could depart that afternoon. Although we were
perched and ready, the winds in the afternoon grew

24 | AOPA PILOT February 2020

higher than forecast. We didn't want to fly at night with
an airplane new to us, so we couldn't wait for the winds
to subside and depart later. We decided to launch the
following morning. I learned in the U.S. Air Force that
flexibility is a key to air power. I've learned in GA that
flexibility is a key to safety.
We launched at sun up and climbed east through a
spectacularly clear Nevada sky toward our first stop,
Double Eagle Airport (AEG) near Albuquerque, New
Mexico. The new Navion owner/rusty pilot took the
left seat. What better way to accomplish his flight
review and regain his pilot privileges than flying his
own airplane across the country, with no autopilot?
He'd hand fly the entire trip. His insurance required
10 hours of dual instruction and 15 landings. We'd
accomplish that on our trip, including the landings, if
conditions and timing allowed.
About 90 minutes into the first leg we experienced
an alternator failure. We were on flight following with
Albuquerque Center, alerted them to our problem, and
briefed them on our plan to divert into Gallup, New
Mexico, some 30 minutes away. We reduced the electrical load to a minimum and arrived in the pattern just
as battery power drained, then landed uneventfully.
Fortunately, the rusty pilot just happens to be an A&P.
The previous owner had supplied him with a box of spare
parts, and in it was a spare alternator belt. A couple of
hours later, we were back in business and with low forecast winds, resumed our trip and crossed the Rockies.
We altered our route a few more times on the journey because of winds and weather, and we arrived in
Frederick within a couple of hours of our pre-trip projection. We actually didn't stop at any of the fields we'd
selected in our preflight planning. The trip was an excellent refresher for a rusty pilot to relearn the importance
of flight planning, systems knowledge, and the inherent
need for flexibility in GA travel plans. While acquainting himself with all the advances we've made in aviation
that enable good decision making, he was able to sit for
consecutive hours in the left seat, honing his scan and
learning the nuances of this-his-airplane.
Go fly. Oh, and if you're helping a rusty pilot ferry
a newly acquired airplane across the country, it's quite
helpful if she or he happens to be an A&P.
AOPA
EMAIL richard.mcspadden@aopa.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020

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