"Out of fuel, out of hope: 'Help, I'm in the water'"

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
Sounds like the grace of God to me... Well placed bit of turbulence my
ass.... Somone was looking out for you...


Maybe...but I was over the eastern slope of the Rockies, so turbulence is
rather common that time of day. Even at 10,500 I was only about 2000 feet
AGL when roused from my slumber.


There are loads of stories about pilots that fell asleep and wound up in
farmers fields. Usually, they were several hundred miles from their
destinations when they ran out of fuel and woke up in time to deadstick it
in.

I also recall pilots that dozed off and flew out over the ocean, only to run
out far from shore. I recall one that woke up when he was maybe 300 miles
out over the Atlantic and when he woke he had enough fuel left for about 100
miles (not sure of the numbers, but a similar ratio). Even though he was in
contact with ATC for quite a few minutes, and they got a good triangulation
on him, they never found the wreckage.

I wonder how many CFIT crashes were pilots falling asleep.

OTOH, our family doctor (Dr. Shad was his name...funny the things you
remember) when I was a kid (maybe 8 or so) had a plane and disappeared over
Lake Michigan near Chicago while returning from somewhere back east. That
was the early 60's.


Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201

Gene Seibel wrote:
That's one I haven't done. Came close to sleeping when Sue was flying
the other day, but even that is difficult for me. That well placed bit
of turbulence was certainly a good thing for you.


A "Lifesaver" you could say! :~)


--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

I appreciate you telling the story... I have certainly read several jsut
like yours.. They are make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Thanks for sharing Matt.

Jon Kraus

Matt Barrow wrote:

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...

Sounds like the grace of God to me... Well placed bit of turbulence my
ass.... Somone was looking out for you...



Maybe...but I was over the eastern slope of the Rockies, so turbulence is
rather common that time of day. Even at 10,500 I was only about 2000 feet
AGL when roused from my slumber.


There are loads of stories about pilots that fell asleep and wound up in
farmers fields. Usually, they were several hundred miles from their
destinations when they ran out of fuel and woke up in time to deadstick it
in.

I also recall pilots that dozed off and flew out over the ocean, only to run
out far from shore. I recall one that woke up when he was maybe 300 miles
out over the Atlantic and when he woke he had enough fuel left for about 100
miles (not sure of the numbers, but a similar ratio). Even though he was in
contact with ATC for quite a few minutes, and they got a good triangulation
on him, they never found the wreckage.

I wonder how many CFIT crashes were pilots falling asleep.

OTOH, our family doctor (Dr. Shad was his name...funny the things you
remember) when I was a kid (maybe 8 or so) had a plane and disappeared over
Lake Michigan near Chicago while returning from somewhere back east. That
was the early 60's.



Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201

Gene Seibel wrote:

That's one I haven't done. Came close to sleeping when Sue was flying
the other day, but even that is difficult for me. That well placed bit
of turbulence was certainly a good thing for you.



A "Lifesaver" you could say! :~)



--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

("Matt Barrow" wrote)
[snip]
If that turbulence had not awakened my, I would have hit somewhere around
Blanca Peak at the 10,500 foot mark. Later, I plotted my poistion and
route
on the sections to set exactly what my situation had been. If not quite
there, Blanca Peak is surrounded by three other peaks that soar above the
14,000 foot mark. If had been more extreme, it might have caused and upset
that I could not have recoverd from coming out of a state of sleep.
Passibly, the sun in my eyes also kicked me a bit.


On the plus side, we would have had a lively discussion here on the
newsgroups as to what might have happened. g

Glad it worked out for you - understatement!

Have done something similar (years ago in a friend's Geo Metro) - heading
east into the morning sun after an all-night drive ...yawning ...then snow
piling up over the hood. I put it in the grass (deep snow) median between
freeway lanes on I-94 in Wisconsin. 500 more feet and I would have hit
something possibly unsurvivable.

Falling asleep and veering off the shoulder, to the right, would have been
very bad - steep bank. I "tobogganed" that Geo in at the only possible place
on that stretch of road where it wouldn't damage the car, or me. Tow truck
yanked it out and I continued my journey, WIDE AWAKE with a healthy shot of
....Doh!

Sometimes it seems as if luck has some added help, doesn't it?


Montblack