Lucky I have a built-in time and motion meter, hey? "
Post No.8 got me thinking about premonitions. In this case the resting F27 captain who on hearing the engines throttled back for the descent into Bali thought to himself "hmm..a bit early maybe we had a good tailwind." And thus saved a certain CFIT.
It reminded me of a similar feeling or premonition that happened to the captain (Centaurus) of an RAAF Avro Lincoln four engine bomber during a long distance flight from Darwin to Townsville via Cape York peninsula on 9 December 1959. The Lincoln departed Darwin at night and was scheduled to at Townsville about 0600 next day. Flight time was nine hours of which 30 minutes was day. There was a crew of nine aboard including two pilots and a navigator.
Some time after the aircraft turned the corner at Cape York for the southbound track off the coast towards Townsville, the captain gave control to the co-pilot and put him in the captain's seat and slipped down the back for a quick kip behind the main spar. He asked the navigator whose position was in a compartment immediately behind the pilot station, to keep an eye on the new co-pilot and to wake the captain when 30 minutes out of Townsville. Cruise altitude was 1500 feet over water. After all the crew were supposed to log all shipping they may see on the way
Some indeterminate time later the captain woke up with a start and quickly made his way back to the cockpit only to discover the navigator slumped asleep over his charts. Worse still, the co-pilot was also sound asleep and the aircraft was on autopilot.
In the Lincoln the co-pilot seat was a fold down type and when not in use was secured against the fuselage wall. This allowed crew members to walk or crawl into the nose compartment. On arrival at the cockpit the captain saw the altimeter showing 1500 ft and that the aircraft was in low cloud. There was no time to wake the co-pilot and get him out of the captain's seat. Although standing up in the aisle-way he disengaged the autopilot and applying full throttle to all engines pulled back the control column.
Within seconds the aircraft came out of cloud into clear air at 2000ft with dawn coming up on the left horizon. Dead ahead at 12 miles with only the summit poking clear of cloud, was Mount Bentley at 1798 feet elevation the highest peak of Palm island. If the captain had not woken sensing something was not quite right the aircraft would have flown into the hill within a couple of minutes.