Emergency Procedures
The only way to eliminate risk is not to go flying. Since that's not an option for most of us let's try and mitigate the risk on the ground. Not just today or until you don’t have a problem and forget about it, EVER SINGLE FLIGHT FOREVER.
Fast is Slow and Slow is Fast
If you want to go Fast, slow way down. I can almost guarantee that you're doing emergency procedures as fast as possible because, well, the ground is coming and the sudden stop at the bottom tends to hurt (if you're lucky enough for it to be soft enough to hurt). Every student I've had who rushes their procedures on normal a flight (i.e. checklists) has tried to kill me when we get to emergencies because the word emergency somehow means go as fast as possible or you’ll die, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Two Sips of Coffee
Every airline has a pretty common saying that is something close to "Is this a 1 sip of coffee emergency or a 2 sip of coffee emergency?" The reason is they have a plan for EVERY emergency as should you. After the moment you decide you are taking that mechanical bird in the air absolutely NOTHING can be a surprise. It is GOING to fail, that rope WILL break, that engine WILL fail or that tow plane is GOING to lose power. Whatever can happen will happen every single time until it doesn't.
Always Have a Plan
I should clarify, that I don’t mean get the timer out and take more time (the ground crew will snatch you out of the cockpit and strangle you). There are 2 things you need to do to go fast by slowing down.
1. Be more deliberate in your actions. If you get to the point where full and abrupt control input is necessary you screwed up something in the past few seconds or minutes and you're on your own since you didn’t do number 2.
2. Make a plan, have a plan, and constantly be changing that plan with the new information. What I mean by this is, 5 seconds ago you were going to turn around to the left and land but the tow plane starts a right turn, you're probably better off going right. If your entire plan is to "turn around" more than likely you will go right...no.......left....good...no as your adrenaline-filled mind slams left and right doing fast movements but slowing the glider down.
Plan on an Emergency
If you have a plan you know what to do because you planned on doing it. None of you take off and then think “OH S@#!, I didn’t plan on flying”. So if you plan on having that emergency when it happens, your body and mind go cool. This is what is supposed to be going on, and you slowly but deliberately do what you planned on doing. To illustrate this point, see the video above of Aryanna Valdovinos (with permission) experiencing an actual rope break while giving her FIRST ride to her brother after getting her license. This is the sequence of emergency events:
- Realized the rope broke.
- Had time to take a sip of coffee (watch, she really does)
- Made a decision to land straight ahead
- Pulled spoilers
- Added slip for her target landing area
- Landed successfully
This is what having a plan looks like. Try to be more like this newly licensed pilot, no matter how many hours or ratings you have.
Banner Photo by Sean Franke
Boyd Willat is the younger flight instructor and much cooler brother of Garret Willat. He grew up on the Sky Sailing Airport and has been flying longer than he can remember. Has built more than 10,000 hours flying everything from gliders to jets and pretty much everything in between. Boyd is a 4 time US team pilot, Airshow pilot, former Airline Captain, Skydiver and doer of various other stupid activities, and current Air Attack Pilot for CalFire/DynCorp.