AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2017 - 98

P&E

98 | 

ON INSTRUMENTS

report: Dulles' ceiling was 200 feet overcast. Now the heat was on. Here I was,
weather at minimums, night, no autopilot, and a panel with only a dual nav/
com for guidance. If I had had GPS and
a moving-map display, I would have seen
agonizingly slow progress while being
vectored.
Finally, I reached the outer marker
for 1R, and Dulles tower cleared me to
land. Down came the gear and flaps, and
I proceeded to fly one of the best ILS
approaches of my life. Eventually, I saw
the sequenced flashing lights and other
approach lights, and prepared to land.
Then came another twist. It was the tower
controller, who up to that time had given
me the red-carpet treatment: "Six-TwoSeven-Three-Romeo, go around, there's
a 737 following you on the ILS. Climb to
2,000 feet, right turn 090."
And like a moron, I did as I was told. I
should have just gone ahead and landed.
After all, I had been cleared to land. Why
not make the 737 do a missed approach?

But there was no time for emotion at this
point. I was too consumed with flying the
airplane and making the best of it while
being vectored downwind, then to a heading that would intercept the ILS-again.
Once more I shot another exemplary
ILS, if I must say so myself. But approaching
minimums I could tell that the ceiling and
visibility were worse than the last time. And
the runway was now covered in fresh snow.
Landing was a big relief, of course, but
braking and steering were certainly no
piece of cake. I had to pump the brakes to
keep from sliding in the snow-four inches
of it! Tower said, "Let us know when you're
off the runway. We can't see you." Well,
that's OK, I couldn't see them either-or
any more than maybe 20 yards around me.
I'd been based out of Dulles before, so
I knew the taxiways, made a turnoff, and
called Tower. "Proceed to southeast parking," they said, and that's where we went,
going very slowly. (Southeast parking, by
the way, is no more. Its place has since been
claimed by a huge midfield terminal.)

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Once I got to a tiedown spot, the tower
made a broadcast: "Attention all aircraft,
Dulles airport is closed." I was the last
flight in.
The rest of the story is sort of humorous. Pushing the airplane back and tying it
down in the snow; watching the snowfall,
then seeing lightning strike a pole in the
Dulles parking lot; thunder snow-very
rare, except when you have an especially
aggressive snow event; waiting for a van
from the Page FBO to pick us up-it didn't
come, so we walked there. Somehow we
got a rental car. Thompson drove us home,
doing a couple of handbrake turns for
kicks along the way. Me, I was glad to be
in the right seat for a change.
So, see any lessons here? I sure do. A
more conservative view of the weather situation? Stay at Newport News? Do a 180
while en route? Get-home-itis? Should
have landed out of the first approach? Yep,
all that, and probably more.
AOPA
EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org
http://aopa.org/flightplanning
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2017
