Flight to Las Vegas Pirep -- Part I

Don't take this personally but it has the sound of a narrative that
could have ended in multiple fatalities.

I suppose -- but you can say that about every flight.

It was a rough flight, to be sure, and we broke a part in the landing gear
on touchdown, true enough. But if we had been in a fixed-gear aircraft
like Atlas, nothing would have broken -- and, quite frankly, that bolt is
designed (like a "shear pin" in a snow blower) to be the first thing to
break. By breaking first it prevents other, more expensive, parts from
breaking.

Of course, we didn't know that at the time -- thus, the narrative.

The air sickness was unnerving, and awful for those afflicted, but Jim was
an iron man throughout. The only other time I've seen anyone tough out
motion sickness like that was on a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip. It
was very rough, everyone was sick (except, again, for me), and this guy --
an old Huey door gunner from Viet Nam -- was no different. He upchucked
over the side, reached for a beer, cracked it and smiled, saying
"Ahhh...it's Miller time!" He then proceeded to chug that beer.

I almost lost it right then and there, just watching him.

Jim truly won the "Iron Man" award for this flight. Through it all he
never skipped a beat, never missed a radio call -- and got us down safely in
a friggin' "inland hurricane". His professionalism and skill in the face
of truly awful conditions got us through a bad situation safely, and Mary
and I would fly that trip -- with our kids -- with him again tomorrow.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I would think that when you are flying IFR and you are worried that the IFR
rated pilot is about to be incapacitated and the co-pilot is VFR only, it's
time to call it a day. Breaking the landing gear is just confirmation that
this flight should have been cancelled earlier.

Mike Schumann

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:k0zUf.636324$084.461970@attbi_s22...
Don't take this personally but it has the sound of a narrative that
could have ended in multiple fatalities.

I suppose -- but you can say that about every flight.

It was a rough flight, to be sure, and we broke a part in the landing gear
on touchdown, true enough. But if we had been in a fixed-gear aircraft
like Atlas, nothing would have broken -- and, quite frankly, that bolt is
designed (like a "shear pin" in a snow blower) to be the first thing to
break. By breaking first it prevents other, more expensive, parts from
breaking.

Of course, we didn't know that at the time -- thus, the narrative.

The air sickness was unnerving, and awful for those afflicted, but Jim was
an iron man throughout. The only other time I've seen anyone tough out
motion sickness like that was on a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip. It
was very rough, everyone was sick (except, again, for me), and this guy --
an old Huey door gunner from Viet Nam -- was no different. He upchucked
over the side, reached for a beer, cracked it and smiled, saying
"Ahhh...it's Miller time!" He then proceeded to chug that beer.

I almost lost it right then and there, just watching him.

Jim truly won the "Iron Man" award for this flight. Through it all he
never skipped a beat, never missed a radio call -- and got us down safely
in a friggin' "inland hurricane". His professionalism and skill in the
face of truly awful conditions got us through a bad situation safely, and
Mary and I would fly that trip -- with our kids -- with him again
tomorrow.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

........I suppose -- but you can say that about every flight.....

No. You can't.

If you bothered enough to get a briefing before you left it's amazing that you lacked the judgement to scrap the flight. To subject your passengers to that abuse and then brag about it is what worries me. You're an accident just waiting to happen.

Karl
ATP CFI ETC

I would think that when you are flying IFR and you are worried that the IFR
rated pilot is about to be incapacitated and the co-pilot is VFR only, it's
time to call it a day. Breaking the landing gear is just confirmation that
this flight should have been cancelled earlier.

After Hutchinson, we were flying IFR in VFR conditions. We had a $20K,
altitude holding, S-tec autopilot, and, as a 1000+ hour pilot, I've been
very close to taking my instrument check-ride. I'm confident that, had the
pilot keeled over, I would have been able to land the Aztec. I was keeping a
close eye on conditions -- as should any co-pilot -- but that turned out to
be unnecessary -- Jim never skipped a beat.

There was no bad judgment here, and to imply otherwise is a misreading of
the situation. Had Jim felt like he was in any danger of becoming
incapacitated, we would not have departed Hutchinson. There were three
pilots on that airplane, and we all got back in that plane at Hutchinson
without a second thought. If any of us had felt threatened or endangered,
we would have spoken up.

Should we have spent the night in HUT? With 20/20 hindsight, sure -- but
for comfort reasons, not aviation safety reasons. Conditions were severe
clear VFR, and we knew we could stop at any of half a dozen airports along
the way -- but none of us knew that the turbulence would be unrelenting.
The fact that the wind came up higher than predicted was just bad luck, and
Jim's skill salvaged what might have been a far worse situation.

We would do that flight again today, under the identical conditions. Mary
and I have analyzed the flight from every angle, and at every step of the
way Jim's flight planning and decision-making process was sound. At no
point was there an obvious "no-go" condition that we missed, nor was there
any pressure to actually get anywhere in particular that day -- a fact I
think I made clear. "Get-there-itis" was NOT a factor at all.

It was just an exciting flight, which is something that occasionally happens
if you actually use GA aircraft for long cross-country flights.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

It was just an exciting flight, which is something that occasionally happens
if you actually use GA aircraft for long cross-country flights.

I'm not judging; I wasn't there and wouldn't presume.

However, some time ago you posted about some "idiot" who landed at your
airport in a snowstorm after what must have also been an exciting
flight. There was no end to the reaming he got here. He himself however
thought he did fine, and demonstrated superior skill.

Suppose that somebody =else= (who's stomach and ability were unproven to
you) were making this flight, and posting as he went. You read leg one,
leg two, leg three, and then you read about it in the newspapers. I
don't think he would get much of a defense here.

You are right, if you fly enough you =are= going to have exiting
flights. Maybe that's all this was. But the writeup suggests it could
have been much more.

Jose
--
Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

In article ,
Jose wrote:

You are right, if you fly enough you =are= going to have exiting
flights.

"LET ME OUT!!! LET ME OUT!!! :-))

However, some time ago you posted about some "idiot" who landed at your
airport in a snowstorm after what must have also been an exciting flight.
There was no end to the reaming he got here. He himself however thought he
did fine, and demonstrated superior skill.

We don't know if he, himself, thought he did fine. I think it's more likely
that he considers himself lucky to have survived. A snowstorm is not
comparable to a windy day in any way -- but I get your drift. (No pun
intended... :-)

This angle points up several problems inherent with writing about our flying
adventures in this forum:

1. Interesting writing is, by definition, creative. Within the limits of
the facts, one must build tension -- and release it -- in order to maintain
interest. Otherwise, it's a travelogue, and we all know how interesting
those are.

On this flight there was no need for embellishment or exaggeration -- it was
exciting enough! -- but some people apparently read more into my words than
are actually there. Within the confines of truth, I endeavor to make my
writing as interesting as possible, which some people may read as hyperbole
or bluster. In this case, anyway, it wasn't.

2. Writing about transcontinental flying in Spam Cans opens one up to
criticism and back-seat flying of all kinds, simply because so few people
actually do it. Most of the pilots on our field -- and, probably, here --
never fly beyond the confines of their $100 hamburger flights, ever, and
probably regard attempting a flight of this magnitude as foolhardy.

3. My threshold for danger may be different than yours. Some folks might
regard what we did as foolhardy -- but many people regard flying Spam Cans
at all as insane. At no point on this trip did I feel threatened, out of
control, or in danger -- but I will allow that this fact may be a product of
our many cross-country (not cross-state) flights over the years. In other
words, I've flown in worse conditions than this flight, and may therefore be
more immune to a sense of danger than others.

4. It's impossible to include every shred of information about the
decision-making process that goes into a flight of this length in a
descriptive narrative. By necessity, some details simply must be left out,
and in any story I always concentrate on action, not deliberation. This may
make parts of the flight look more like a "hip shot" than they really were.
As Jim outlined in his excellent post, his flight planning was detailed,
extensive and cautious -- but conditions simply weren't as predicted.

So, long story short, I understand what you're saying, but -- in this case,
anyway -- I feel that it doesn't apply.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
1. Interesting writing is, by definition, creative. Within the limits of
the facts, one must build tension -- and release it -- in order to
maintain interest. Otherwise, it's a travelogue, and we all know how
interesting those are.


From the OP:
"A few ideas were bandied about, but Las Vegas kept coming up as a fun
option. Cheap food, abundant sunshine, and ample entertainment beckoned us
westward. The fact that none of us gambled didn't seem to matter much -- we
just wanted to see something other than snow, ice, and mud! So, Vegas
became the destination of choice -- but how to get there?"


"...and ample entertainment beckoned us westward."

That slays me! :-)


Montblackjack

[...] 4. It's impossible to include every shred of information about the
decision-making process that goes into a flight of this length in a
descriptive narrative. By necessity, some details simply must be left out,
and in any story I always concentrate on action, not deliberation. This may
make parts of the flight look more like a "hip shot" than they really were.
As Jim outlined in his excellent post, his flight planning was detailed,
extensive and cautious -- but conditions simply weren't as predicted.

So, long story short, I understand what you're saying, but -- in this case,
anyway -- I feel that it doesn't apply.

Fair enough. As I said, I was not judging, but my eyebrows did arch a
bit.

Jose
--
Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

In article qIzUf.879212$xm3.440468@attbi_s21,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

We would do that flight again today, under the identical conditions. Mary
and I have analyzed the flight from every angle, and at every step of the
way Jim's flight planning and decision-making process was sound. At no
point was there an obvious "no-go" condition that we missed, nor was there
any pressure to actually get anywhere in particular that day -- a fact I
think I made clear. "Get-there-itis" was NOT a factor at all.

Not having looked at the winds aloft for your trip, I would be courious
to know what altitude was selected and why? Was an altitude change
condsidered to find smoother air?