HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR BREAKING POINT ?
HI all. Back again and I hope you are all enjoying the start of a New Year.
I had been thinking about how we pilots multitask. I know that the lady pilots amongst us can do this bcuase it is built into their genes, and is something we mere males lack. Well according to them we do, so it crossed my mind to ask at what level do we as pilots find things are getting out of hand.
There must be many times when for one reason or another a perfectly normal flight has taken us near to the limits of our abilities.
OK this is a snealy way of inviting respoders to tell us about their own scary bits. But to carry on.
I remember one time wile we were waiting at the fuel pumps at an airfield we were visiting one day, to refill our tanks. The pumps were near to the end of the runway that was in use at the time. So while waiting our turn as there was a plane in fornt of us, we watched as several gliders that had been launched earlier were taking it in turns to land.
If memory serves a couple did and floated away into the distance, but then I saw the next one doing the downwind leg, but I was sure he was much lower than the previous two.
Obviously the pilot suddenly realised this and tried to turn in short. He almost made it but stalled in the turn and crashed right in front of us.
We lept out of our plane and dashed to help. I was thinking that we would find a deader in the wreck, but NO. He was well strapped in and was very dazed, but in the end nothing was broken except the glider was in need of some major repair work.
The problem then was that the couple of remaining gliders still in the air had to land some how. No engines to get them away. In the end they just turned in a bit early and landed well to the side and further. down the field. A very neat bit of flying. Their stress levels must have rocketted.
Later I looked at the glider instructions for the field and saw that there were points printed where you had to be no lower than heights stated. The usual minima on approach charts.
So what has this to do with my tale.
It was as I was nearing the final stages of my IR training and was doing a trip into Birmingham. The flight had gone OK, but the workload was heavy as there was a lot going on. Scanning, height just so, instruments all OK. And don't forget the 'Ice check' call. every few minutes. Solid cloud and vectroing to the ILS. Steer exaactly on the radar heading. I was about to turn on towards the loclaiser when over the radio came the instruction to break off and fly AWAY on such and such a heading until recalled as bigger and faster commercial stuff was being given priority.
To this day I am not sure if this was an 'arranged' call as I had experienced this before, ie to see if I was aware of the wrong cleaence I had been given or not. As it happened I had caught that so earned some Brownie Points.
But now, this new twist added another level of stress. I flew out, but this heading now put me onto an entirely different way to rejoin the racetrack. I would have to wait my turn there as well. As I levelled out on the return heading I reached my limit. I just said to the instructor, ''I can't do this''. His reply was to the effect that I was on my own.... think.
You barsteward I thought, but seconds later the answer came to me and from that point of all went well. Spatial awareness is the key.
Sitting quietly later, and going over the flight mentally I wondered if he was trying to find out (1) Where was my breaking point, and (2) Could I cope with it.
Seems he found out both. It did help later when doing an NDB letdown for real through cloud when ATC called me to ask what the weather was doing. I really sweated that one. They got a two word reply, and it is not the ones you are thinkng of...Just Busy. Later.
So it appears that, yes, we males are very capable of multitasking after all.
Cheers
Drew,