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 Return to Free Articles & Tools Index Ice, Rocks, and Airplanes March 2008 I had a conversation with someone last week about the value of being prepared and was reminded of something that happened to me a few years ago. I used to travel every week and also was a pilot so flew many business trips myself. I was headed to Montana with a colleague and our first stop was to be Missoula. We had a clear day in Colorado and most of Wyoming and had a great view of the Grand Tetons as we approached Jackson Hole. While my colleague admired the view on the east side of the mountains, I was focused on the wall of clouds to the west and north, where we were headed. One of the significant problems with winter flying is picking up ice in the clouds. The plane I was flying was certified to fly in known-ice conditions, but trust me you don’t want to spend much time there. Ice can bring down even large aircraft when enough accumulates. As we chugged along in the clouds and picked up a bit of ice, I noticed that the radio had been particularly quite, so I tried a radio check with air traffic control with no results. “Center, Baron 2059Papa, radio check”… No response. In my best airline captain voice, I tried again. Nothing. This is not terribly unusual in mountainous terrain so I went back to my conversation with my companion. After about 15 minutes, I tried again, “Hello Center, Baron 2059Papa, radio check”. No response. This was heading downhill rather rapidly as we had continued to encounter ice and now turbulence. However, as we got closer to Missoula, the radios seemed to kick back in and I was told by the controller to turn off course as there was a United jet departing ahead. Now I need to explain what the approach into Missoula looks like. The airport has mountains all around it. We would be landing to the west but there were mountains to the north and south. When the controller turned me off course, he had me fly south and start to descend for the approach. The altitude that he asked me to descend to was below the peaks of the mountains to the south and we were in the clouds, but he would vector me back on course quickly. After about 30 seconds, I had this awful thought and tried a radio check. No response. Now I was descending towards a mountain I couldn’t see, I was still picking up ice and I had a very nervous guy sitting next to me—not to mention the guy in my seat! My best airline captain voice now sounded more like Pee Wee Herman! As I don’t have a ghost writer, I was obviously able to find my way to the runway without hitting anything hard. Without some situational awareness and a backup plan, we’d probably be impaled into the side of a peak in Montana right now. It is not much different in a tough business situation. You need to assess the situation, use what tools you have, calm yourself and those around you—or in my case, feign confidence—and take action. |
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