109. A Pilot's Swiss Cheese Moment
In I Learned About Flying from That, Episode 109, host Rob Ryder features experienced pilot Mark Brooke, who recounts a harrowing incident from August 1979 during his air taxi days, when a seemingly easy flight from a grass field near London to Leeds became a "nailbiter". Mark, then an instructor building hours for his commercial license, faced a series of converging "holes in the Swiss cheese lined up scenarios". His predicament stemmed from fuel mismanagement – opting not to take on more fuel initially and later skipping refueling at Leeds due to cost and a belief he had enough for the return trip. This was compounded by deteriorating weather, including a warm front with a dropping cloud base and persistent rain that Mark initially underestimated, changing winds that created a strong headwind on the return flight, and a late departure causing darkness to set in quicker than expected. Low on fuel, in worsening weather, and unable to get radar assistance from a closed air force base, Mark found himself "boxed in" with no easy diversion options, lacking an "out". The tense situation culminated in an emergency landing at White Waltham Field, a World War II-era grass airfield with no lighting, where a dedicated club member, Paul, arranged for cars to light the runway with their headlights. Mark's critical takeaways from this experience include the importance of never passing on an opportunity to take on fuel ("with fuel you got time and with time you got options"), being aware of the "dangerous time" for PPL accidents around 500 hours where pilots can become overconfident, always respecting the weather, and crucially, always leaving yourself an out in airmanship.
This episode is sponsored by Avemco Insurance
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