So what did we learn from the 2010 season? Did we learn that flying is fun? Did we learn that flying bites? Did we learn how we make decisions on the ground effects if we live or die in the sky?
If anything this season I learned that flying is not important, it’s of no particular significance to our family's or mankind. Its remains a blast, a thrill and a wonderful experience, its liberating and exhilarating. However it does not make the Top Ten things I must doo before I die or die trying to do! An example might be to climb to an Everest base camp, fight injustice, build a close group of friends, love our families, or even listen to our elders and what they learned in their lives. Is flying worth the potential cost? And if not why would any Pilot take additional risk?
I did not make France this week on two counts ((I should say tooth counts)), firstly the trip never really gained momentum, fragmented commitment, fragmented timings, when Richard called to say he stuffed it in Hereford while canoeing and camping on the river Wye it was easy for me to say, actually I have tooth ache and so it was not wise not to go either, truth was I was grappling with how to say I would not be attending Blois this year for different reasons.
So that leads into waking on Sunday at Bolt Head Airfield in Devon, the alternative to the French trip, I woke with all the friends who suffered the same losses this season, we woke to scud cloud at 200 ft AGL and secondary layers at 7/8 octaves at 2000 foot with banks of mist in between, and very poor lateral viz.
These are similar conditions that killed Martin in January.
What beggars belief is that we acted like Pilots that had not learned any lessons from Martins experience, we packed up and with all that get home "itis", loaded up at 1015hrs and took to the air.
Back on the deck at 1035hrs we conclude that
- The lower cloud was lower than the legal minima
- There was a gap below the higher and lower layers
- That gap was filled with mist
- The coast skimming was doable, but not wise as the cloud was on top of the cliff at 400 foot, and with no real alternatives in an emergency.
Returning as a group we decided to leave it to the PM to fly, the forecast was for these conditions to clear in the afternoon. We booked a taxi and anticipating breakfast in Salcombe and a few hours sightseeing.
A dear friend then said "I am going to fly the coast and not go for breakfast" this hit me like a ton of bricks, how can we forget so easily? As he flew he text to say that the cloud was on the cliff tops and that after 30 miles it was lifting and he was meeting his minima, and he made it home.
I will share with you that although the outcome was positive, the "get home today itis" was well formed and so strong in his mind, that he would not see that 6 others had turned back might be an indication of a sensible decision. Get home at any cost may well have cost us another close friend, a decision that seemed too me a selfish and unnecessary, and unlearned. But how can we level criticism, he got home he made it, surely he is a hero? A devilish daring doo?
I was witness to the worst Piloting Decision I have seen. Nothing learned from then death of our friend and nothing "logical" about the take off, and nothing legal too. Its difficult to critique a flight that ended well, but I am not talking about the outcome, I am talking about how the decision to go was made, in much the same way it was made under pressure to go or to get home, and not made in the best interest of the pilot, or others he may have bumped into on the way home.
So I did have the where withal to let him know how these thoughts before he left, which was little compensation for my mind as I watched his pre-flight from the back of a taxi taking us to our rendezvous with an F.E.B.
What did I learn from this experience.....as my American Brothers would say.... "Go Figure"
Oh, and I should add that we took off early afternoon in legal viz and flew home.
