It was a crisp and clear December day in Pennsylvania. I was a bright-eyed 17-year-old excited for my first cross-country solo and ready for an adventure. The weather was great, the plane was put through the startup checklist, and I had my map and all my frequencies ready to go. As I taxied out to the runway, I gave one last look and wave to the ground crew and my instructor, and then it was time to focus on my take-off.
The departure was nice and smooth, with good speed, good rotation, and good climb. I was around 400 feet or so off the ground when the flight got a little too smooth…and quiet. Gone was the vibration of the engine as I looked out over the nose and saw the propeller windmilling. Needless to say, the flight plan changed significantly at that moment. There was a tree line beyond the end of my local runway that had claimed a few aircraft during unsuccessful take-offs and landings, and being only a few hundred feet off the ground limited the option of turning back around to the airport. I began scanning for a suitable field while watching my airspeed and attempting to restart the engine. Then I made the call:
“Two-One-Four to Tower,”
The mechanic and my instructor quickly ran me through the restart procedures again, but the engine decided it was going to sleep-in a bit longer and refused to wake up. I found my field, adjusted my flight path, and radioed back, “I’ll see you on the ground.”
Pennsylvania is fairly generous when it comes to fields, but it’s not exactly the flattest state in the US. That, and the size of the fields are often defined by how much forest you can cut away, meaning there’s usually a tree line at the end of them. I touched down with a little hop and got the aircraft under control quickly, but then I had to slow it down. I’ve seen enough pictures of planes going face-first into fields and was determined not to be the next photo-op, so it was just a matter of feathering the brakes until I came to a full stop while still facing right-side up. It was a success, but I had used up the whole field. On top of that, the edge of the field was a downhill slope leading straight into the tree line. I was on the brakes to keep the plane from rolling into the trees, but the parking brake was stuck so I had to stay put until help arrived. The next few minutes consisted of guiding Civil Air Patrol to my location since they couldn’t see the aircraft under the tree cover, so that they could direct the response personnel to my location.
It was determined that the carburetor froze shortly after takeoff, leading to my loss of power. Thankfully, the carb had thawed out enough, and the aircraft was still in good enough condition for my instructor to fly it out of there while I stayed behind to speak to and thank the fire chief for coming out with the local department.
So why the long story about flying on a compliance website? Well first of all because I love aviation, but more importantly because in our industry we often learn valuable lessons through incidents. When we are handed a near-miss or any incident that doesn’t result in an injury or a fatality, it’s a gift and we should take those opportunities to learn what we can to prevent a worse outcome.
This speaks to why we should have a compliance program in place. Aside from the obvious “the government said so” answer, it’s a system of safeties that should prevent a disaster from occurring. System is a keyword here, as you should always be more than one step from failure. In my incident, I had the training and procedures practiced to allow me to work quickly and clearly to bring the aircarft to the ground safely. The preflight checks were completed limiting the number of systems that could go wrong. I understood the equipment I was using and knew its limitations, such as the glide speed of the aircraft. None of these concepts are unique to aviation, and I’m sure you can think of a few parallels to your facility right now. Had fewer of those checks been in place, I could have easily ended up a crater on the evening news. There are many more topics that can be expanded on from this incident alone, but the big takeaway I would hope you get from this is to always be a few steps ahead of the disaster, especially as a refrigeration technician. The situation can change in an instant, so being prepared and keeping possible failures in the back of your head will give you the clarity and awareness to keep yourself safe, or even better avoid the incident entirely.
