AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020 - 100

P&E 

NEVER AGAIN

Deadly decisions
First day on the job
B Y G A R Y D EC K

IT WAS JANUARY 1974. I had just completed
my formal education after returning from
Vietnam only 22 months earlier. I was
ready and anxious to land a job flying for
American, Delta, Eastern, or United.
My timing couldn't have been worse.
The country was in what we were calling a
"fuel crisis." The airlines were not expanding. With no immediate job prospects, I
decided to pursue my airline transport
rating (later airline transport pilot). RaleighDurham Aviation offered ATP training and
was also a Cessna dealer, so I trained in a
brand-new Cessna 310Q. Immediately after
my checkride, the airplane was sold to a
business in Richlands, Virginia.
A day or two later the salesman who
sold the 310 called and asked me if I would
be interested in a job flying a Beech Baron
for a business also based in Richlands. The
pilot currently flying the Baron was going
to work for the company that had just
bought the 310.

100 | AOPA PILOT September 2020

I said I was interested, so he told me
to catch an early flight the next day to TriCities Airport in Tennessee, where the
pilot leaving the job flying the Baron would
meet me. The pilot was a nice guy a couple of years older than me. He had come to
the United States to attend flight school and
build flight experience with plans to return
to Denmark and fly for the country's airline.
We departed Tri-Cities with me at the
controls and headed for Richlands. I had not
taken the time to familiarize myself with the
area, so I simply followed his instructions.
Arriving over Richlands a short time
later, he advised me to begin my descent
and start a teardrop turn to the right. He
explained that we had just passed over the
town of Richlands. He knew that because he
had tuned in the AM radio station located in
downtown Richlands on the ADF.
He said to maintain a 750-feet-per-minute descent while turning. As we entered the
clouds he told me to tighten the turn. I was

already in a standard-rate turn, but I complied, and we soon broke out of the clouds
at about 1,000 feet above the ground with
the small town of Richlands in front of us.
That's when it dawned on me: We had
just descended between two ridgelines and
into a valley. I asked the pilot if he regularly
flew into and out of Richlands using this
method and he said he did. He told me it was
no big deal: Just cross the AM radio station
on a heading of 030 degrees and descend at
a rate of 750 feet per minute while making
a teardrop turn to the right. "At greater than
standard rate. Right?" I asked.
I learned the owner of the Baron had
grown accustomed to operating out of
Richlands even at night as long as ceilings
were at least 1,000 feet. Not me.
Once on the ground, the pilot wished me
luck and departed. Around 5 p.m. the lobby
erupted. Two men and two women entered
walking fast, with the guy in the lead talking loudly. He said, "File for Merritt Island,
Florida, and let's get going"
I filed an IFR flight plan and we were
soon off the ground. The owner sat up front
with me, which was fine until he reached
up and retarded the throttles right after
breaking ground. I put my hand up to stop
him, but he had already pulled them back to
climb power. He informed me the engines
would last longer if we didn't keep them at
full power so long. I told him I had learned
most engine failures occur at the first power
reduction so I preferred to wait until reaching a couple of hundred feet before reducing
power. It was a debatable point and it was
his airplane, so nothing else was said.
We landed in Merritt Island around 8:30
p.m. I was looking forward to getting to a
hotel. But it was not to be. While taxing in
to the FBO, the owner said, "OK, go back to
Richlands and pick up three guys that will be
waiting for you and bring them down here."
I was stunned. It was at that moment I
decided I would not be taking this job.
I thought I would do as he asked, knowing this would be the last time I would
be subjected to him. I refueled the airplane; filed an IFR flight plan for Bluefield,
West Virginia; and took off heading north.
Bluefield was the closest airport to Richlands
with an instrument approach. The weather
at Richlands wasn't too bad, but it would
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020

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