Monday 8 July 2013

Commitment issues.

Today's forced approach sucked. Big time. Despite the fact that I made the field OK. So what was the problem? As usual, me. I was totally and utterly spoilt for choice field wise. So many to choose from that I simply couldn’t commit to one field. My brain was flitting from one to the next going, maybe this one, maybe that one, ooh look there’s another potential site!

Because I couldn’t commit to one, I couldn’t get past stage three of any forced approach. Stage one is trim for 65 knots(best glide speed), stage two : pick a field, stage three : plan the approach. I ended up sort of meandering about aimlessly at 65 knots for a while before picking a field that was directly below me. Thus leading to an awful hybrid approach, semi 360 degree approach, semi high/low key approach. It wasn’t fantastic by any stretch of the imagination. Luckily the winds were light so that didn’t screw me over too much.  I made the field, just, by some judicious use of slipping. What I didn’t do was any of the “ancillary stuff”, the cause check, the simulated mayday call, the cabin briefing. All my mental energy spent because I couldn’t pick a damn field out of a list of about 50 potential candidates. Like a kid in a candy store with too many choices.
Still I can do something about this, time to sit down, write out my flow chart with the steps on it, memorise and visualise. I wonder if they people sitting next to me on the TTC realise that I’m actually planning what to do if my engine should quit and my plane fall out of the sky?

Probably best if they don’t

3 comments:

  1. Indecision can be a killer, but so can failing to look for the best possible option at all times. I learned this one day when my instructor cut the throttle on me. I selected what I thought was a great looking paddock out the left window and was happily in the process of running through the verbal checks when he said, "what about this airfield over here?"

    At the stage you are in your training, selecting a landing area early is probably a good idea in that you can then organize yourself and your aircraft appropriately. But I would see nothing wrong in setting up for an approach where you can choose the actual field a bit later on in order to select the best one available instead of committing to a field with that water trough in the middle or that power line on the approach that you didn't pick up on the first scan.

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    Replies
    1. in some respects you are correct I think but what happened out there was that I was faced with 10s of suitable choices all equally good and failed to pick any of them!and the whole thing suffered as a result
      I believe on my skills test I'm expected to point out the field I'm aiming for and am judged on whether I make it or not. The only exception is if it becomes obvious that the field is unsuitable.

      in real life I think your method has merit but I need to hammer out the stuff I might need to pass my test

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  2. I couldn't agree more. Forget I said anything. :-)

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