Declaring An Emergency - Home Safely

[davidfreedman]

I have the itch to retrospect my emergency (or precautionary) depending how you look at it, from last weekend in order to process my lessons learned.  What better place to do it than here!

A Mooney flier a couple of hangars down from me and I had been toying with the idea of doing some instrument training together for a couple of months.  He felt a little rusty but was current and I had let my IR slip away from me a year ago when I completed my training and rescheduled my check ride a few times over as I had "gotten busy."  One week turned into one month and here I am without a ticket.

We agreed to fly this past Sunday in his Rocket (I fly a 201).  Our original intention had been to fly VMC so that we could both practive but it turned out to be IMC (600' ceiling and 4500' tops).  It still seems like a good opportunity for me to go through procedures mentally while he flew them.  We decided to fly TEC routes and land in OXR then SBA before we went back to VNY.  We flew the first leg and were in the soup the whole time.  The workload on the first leg was significant given that with was maybe a 15 minute flight.  I felt slightly anxious as I was not PIC and when I saw the plane get away from him a little here and there I think it was amplified in my head.  I got the leans a couple of times and I'm not sure if he did as well but it looked like it.  We had no agreed-to division of responsibilities, but I decided it would be helpful if I called out deviations..."you're climbing"...35 degree bank...etc.  When the workload got real heavy during setup for the ILS, I confirmed a few frequencies, etc.

We decided to land rather than touch and go so that he could give the brain a rest.  As we taxied back for our next leg I found that a highschool friend who I hadn't talked to in 15 years was working the tower that day.  He spent 10 years in the Navy and had been OXR tower about 6 months.  "Leo, is that you?"..."Dave, is that you?"..."Yep, right seat today"..."Welcome to my little slice of heaven."

We got our clearance for SBA and took off.  Ceiling was at about 600'.  At 2000' in the soup, we got a big BOOM from the engine.  HUGE adreniline rush and momentary subtle panic.  We reported to atc  that the engine was acting up and requested to divert back to VNY as the engine had smoothed out.  At 4500' we just began to clear the tops and we got a "ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug."  MORE adreniline.  The engine sounded like it was being starved.  Mixture full rich, check fuel selector against remaining fuel, throttle in, fuel flow on the EDM...everything looked good.  "ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug-ka-chug."  I looked at him and said "Declare emergency."  He did so immediately.  Controller cleared the aread and cleared us.  We requested vectors for the ILS.  They provided.  Pilot was working on setting up...head down to look at the plate...radio tune...instrument scan.  The plane was getting away from him, particularly on attitude and bank.  I called out "2000 foot per minute descent"..."40 degree right bank"...I found myself applying pressure to the yoke for correction.  He responed, I've got it.  When he corrected, I released.  Once on course, we were way low and about 1/2 mile left of course.  When we broke out at about 600' we were fishing for the runway.  Tower gave us some hints and we saw the lights and got on course.  We flew down under power.  We were welcomed by a runway full of fire trucks.  We got on the ground and thanked the firemen...also extended some humble apologies.  My old buddy called me from the tower and invited us up after a gentleman took some of the pilots info.

To be blunt, the possibility of death crossed my mind in a very real way on the way down and I didn't like it one bit...I've never experienced that before.  There were some things we did right, some things we did wrong and some new learnings.

Right

-Declared an emergency and got on the ground

-Both of us stayed fully engaged all the way down

-Two pilots when flying in challenging conditions

-I brought my 696...allowed me to get my own questions answered and be helpful without interfering with the pilots workflow

Wrong

-No honest conversation before we took off about whether we were both up for serious IMC when our intent was just a little practice.  We had never flown together before.

-No prior agreement on division of responsibilities.  I could and should have been communicating and perhaps splitting the navigation load during the emergency.  He should have been focused on aviating (though it's pretty intimiate with navigating under IFR)

-I did not familiarize myself with his panel beforehand which limited my utility during the emergency.

Observations

-You are a different pilot in an emergency...our little monkey brains get overwhelmed quickly.  It never occurred to me that I should do recurrent training that includes pushing me to saturation to make sure that THAT pilot is as sharp as the one who flies 400 mile cross countries in clear and a million conditions.

-Experienced pilots need it too.  My partner that day flies 150 hours/year and has about 25 years under his belt.  He got us on the ground and I'm thankful for that.  I also saw where he got rattled.

-CFI training seems a lot more interesting even as a non-teaching pilot.  Some amount (or maybe a lot) of my own anxiety was likely an overreaction to not being in control and not KNOWING the state of mind of my PIC. 

-The response crew was empethetic.  My buddy in the tower told me it was his first real emergency and that it was good practice half jokingly, half seriously.

-Shame on me for not finishing my ticket the first time around.

-While atitude is always my friend, it's a little less friendly when I've got a low ceiling.  Short of flying the approach or landing in the water, I'm not sure what our outs would have been with only 600' of ground visibility.

 

Thanks for listening all.  I welcome feedback, insights, commentary.  Waiting for word back on what was going on with the engine.

[jlunseth]

Crash truck lights sure make a good approach light system don't they?

[Cruiser]

what was wrong with the engine?

[GeorgePerry]

David

First let me say how great I think it is that you were man enough to share.  It’s hard to self assess in a public way, but it’s important that we as pilots share our mistakes so others can learn from them without having to actually experience it themselves.  BRAVO ZULU!

I’ve been in the aviation safety business for quite some time.  First as an Air Wing Safety Officer where I supervised and managed aircraft recovery operations on board aircraft carriers, then again as the F-14 Fighter Community Safety Officer where I managed the safety programs for all Tomcat squadrons.

One thing the military does well that significantly helps mitigate risks, is a preflight brief, and I’m not talking about the FAA’s version of how to buckle a seat belt.   In the military we discuss expected flight conduct, mission specifics, weather contingencies, operational risk issues, human factors, and risk mitigation techniques , …and the list goes on and on.  At a minimum any time you go flying with another pilot, always take the time to discuss the “what ifs” and expectations for the flight.

We also use a technique called ORM or Operational Risk Management.  That sounds like a fancy term but really what it does is help us make decisions on what our “acceptable” level of risk should be given our mission requirements.  For instance, in your scenario a few discussion points might have been: (1). Given the weather conditions, are we current and proficient? (2) Is the requirement for “training” worth the risk of flying in low IFR conditions? (3) What if we have a problem, do we have a game-plan for recovery at every point during our flight…You get the idea.  I know all this sounds corny, but when you make yourself formulate and verbalize these questions, it forces your mind to think through scenarios and determine the answers.  After some thought, what seemed like a good idea initially, may not be after some reflection.

Enough pontification…You want to know what to do when the proverbial "stuff" hits the fan...The best thing you can do is fall back on your training.  In the GA world, unfortunately, training costs money so pilots often get by with the bare minimum.   If you’re not as "sharp" as you should be and you feel the bucket start getting full, remember this phrase, it'll save your life.  Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.  When (not if) you encounter and in-flight emergency if you can remember to do, those things, in that order, your chances of survival go up exponentially. 

Aviate - If you loose control of the plane because your busy looking at a minor problem then what should be a routine issue can quickly become tragic…Think back to the Value Jet that crashed in the everglades because they had a burnt out landing gear indicator light.  No matter what...keep flying the plane.  Airspeed, altitude and attitude should be primary in your emergency scan.

Navigate – Point yourself in the right direction.  In an emergency, time is often critical.  Whether the emergency is a “land as soon as practical or Land As Soon As Possible”, in either case you want to move with a purpose towards getting the plane on deck safely and successfully resolving the problem when the airspeed is zero and the G’s are 1.

Communicate – If you ever have a problem or feel uncomfortable DO NOT HESITATE – DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. And Squawk 7700.  Once the “E” word comes out lots of good things happen.  First you own the airspace and second the controllers work for you.  Tell ATC what's wrong and what you want…they’ll bend over backwards to help. 

Lastly simulators are good emergency trainers…esp if they have visuals.  The simulators I fly in the Navy are phenomenal emergency trainers...However there really isn't a good way to get realistic emergency training in alot of small GA aircraft.  As a low cost solution for emergency training, I recommend  sitting in your parked plane (with the engine off) and practicing emergencies at least 2-3 times per year.  Do this at night with the hanger doors closed.  In your minds eye visuallize various emergency senarios.  Mentally run through various procedures and actually manipulate the switches and levers (minus the L/G handle).  With the battery and motor off this won’t hurt anything.  What it will do, is teach you muscle memory and build an emergency scan.  When an emergency happens for real - you’ll be ready…you won’t have to think, you’ll just react…because your training will drive your actions.  Just make sure of reset all your switches and levers to the correct position after your done.

Thanks again for sharing….I hope you find my remarks helpful.

George

 

[KSMooniac]

Thanks for sharing the tale!  I don't really have anything to add and can only reinforce that I think you've correctly analyzed the incident after the fact, and learned exactly what you did right and wrong.  Thankfully you're both here to analyze it, and the incident didn't become an accident for all of us to debate after the fact.

I was a right seat pax with a novice pilot in his new-to-him Comanche right after he finished a checkout/complex transition and we went on a dinner run.  Like you, we didn't do any brief...I just hopped in for a ride.  On the way back at night the gear failed to come down, and the manual system didn't work either.  He never did an emergency gear extension as part of the checkout.  We talked through it, and he set up for a long duration loiter while talking to ATC, declaring an emergency, and troubleshooting.  He didn't even have flashlight on board, and we were reduced to me using my single LED keychain light to fiddle with the gear system below the floor.  To his credit, he engaged ATC, relayed a phone number for a Comanche expert and woke him up at 10:00 on a Friday night.  We conversed via ATC to troubleshoot the locked-up gear, and eventually I was able to free it after several well-placed smacks.  The landing was uneventful, fortunately!

I learned a LOT about making assumptions when flying with others, as it seems you have.  Sharing these stories is helpful to all.  Listening to George's experience is also extremely beneficial since he does it for a living where the chances for a bad outcome are much higher than with us pleasure flyers.  Having two pilots up front can sometimes be worse than a single pilot.  Communication/briefing ahead of time (as George says) can turn that second pilot into a crew member, and not a dangerous pax.  This is especially critical in low IMC as you shared, and compounded by rusty skills and especially with an emergency! 

Thanks again for sharing...we can all learn.

[mooneygirl]

Dave

Thank you for sharing your story.  Another thing that you did correctly is not panic.  You kept your wits about you.  You were systematic and kept in control of your emotions.  Post-incident I am sure you had quite an adrenaline rush.

It does take gumption to post your story, and I don't think that any of us can criticize.  You learned some valuable lessions, and perhaps gained a few "never again" items to your personal checklist.

Kudos to you!

 

Let us know what happened with the engine....perhaps it was a guardian angel getting you guys back on the ground sooner rather than later!

 

 

[carusoam]

David,

First: Glad it worked out well.  Thank you for sharing.

You did well to help keep the focus on flying the plane.  Excursions in bank and airspeed come quickly in IMC.

Have you set your personal minimums and were you able to compare personal minimums with your flying partner?

What were his thoughts after the flight?

My personal minimum: I have difficulty trusting any nav and A/P equipment until I have used it in VMC first.  I had a bad bendix king experience that allowed me to think I was following a VOR radial, the A/P was just flying unguided but wings level.  It takes much concentration and sometimes knowledge to get all the settings, switches, radials, and frequencies dialed in CORRECTLY.  Too many ways to make a simple fatal mistake.

Acceptable Risk:

Your pilot friend being rusty, but current, may have been able to do the IMSAFE checklist.  He probably did and passed.  His plane is in working IFR condition.  Overall, it would be difficult for you to have made a better or different decision.  The problem seems to be rooted in mental overload during an emergency in IMC conditions.  Would that have changed if you were both current and well practiced?

If the Rocket is like the Missile, the govenor, that Rocket Engineering, chose fails in fully feathered mode. (opposite to your 201 that goes to fine pitch).  If the engine was either running out of oil or oil pressure.  The prop would be trying to go to max pitch.  Its a nice trick to extend glide distance by minimizing prop drag under loss of power.

Your basic airmanship skills get an "A" for best supporting aviator.

Things we don't talk about much: Low ceiling emergency.  Break out and land.  From 600 feet you have one minute to find a field and put it down.  With a dead engine, you may want to  carry more speed to the bottom of the cloud than best glide ratio.  What else can you do?  The only help you may get before breaking out is from ATC pointing you towards an airport nearby.

I am looking forward to hearing about what happened to the hardware. 

I am glad you are making a list of training to be completed also. 

Thanks again,

-a-

[Ned Gravel]

David:

I want to congratulate you on coming out of this in one piece, for being honest in your explanation and in your evaluations, for being so insightful in your list of things to address.  Regardless of this incident, you have demonstrated to me an attitude and a level of understanding of things physical and psychological that I would be pleased to fly with you at any time.  You learned from this and it will make you a better pilot.  No question.

I have less than 100 hours in IMC on a brand new IFR ticket.  I really know squat - or perhaps just enough to get into real serious trouble.  But I have enough fear in me to try and avoid the scary bits like going beyond my personal minima.  I would rather not learn some of these lessons the way you have in this incident, but it may happen.  And if it does, and if I live to tell the tale, I hope I can be as useful to others as you have been to me.

Thank you.

[FlyDave]

David,

Great job on being collected enough to deal with an emergency situation like this. It's pretty easy to get rattled but keeping that rattling to a minumum is both important and indicative of who you are as a pilot. Also, these kinds of experiences are invaluable once you've been through them as you now know you can work through situations - as long as you don't let them compound.
I think George's insight and experience with planning could go a long way to successfully getting through emergencies. I'd really like to see some of these processes and techniques presented to GA pilots and maybe this post can be a springboard to get something like that going. I don't think we GA pilots will ever have the proficiency that George and his airwing pilots have just because we don't practice as much as they do. But if you remember 2 or 3 things from the training when the stuff hits the fan, you're that much closer to turning an emergency into an incident and memory (instead of you).
The discussions aroung minimums are definately applicable to any instrument flight - single or multiple pilot. But another minimum I have is who I fly with VMC or IMC. There are people I just will not fly with in VMC...Period! I also won't fly with anyone OR in any airplane in IMC until I've flown with that pilot in VMC AND under the hood and am comfortable with their quality/level of flying. I also have to be comfortable with the airplane and it's equipment so flying (at least in it) in VMC is another requirement.
I absolutely LOVE flying in instrument conditions. There is nothing that gives me the same kind of satisfaction as breaking out on top of a layer and climbing to altitude or below a ceiling and seeing the ALS and the runway. It is one of the coolest things I've ever done. But I give instrument conditions a wide berth. The only time I'll depart with the weather conditions marginal at a destination is with my instrument instructor on a training flight. Those are both fun and a lot of work - but excellent practice with a very qualified person that I trust in the right seat.
Lastly and most importantly, thank you for sharing this experience and being candid about what happened and how it happened. Again, it says a lot about your mindset as a pilot.

[lahso]

Thanks for sharing your story, and glad you guys made it down safely. I feel blessed not to have been in an emergency, but I certainly prepare for it.

[DaV8or]

Quote: davidfreedman

-You are a different pilot in an emergency...our little monkey brains get overwhelmed quickly.  It never occurred to me that I should do recurrent training that includes pushing me to saturation to make sure that THAT pilot is as sharp as the one who flies 400 mile cross countries in clear and a million conditions.

[davidfreedman]

Thank you all for the thoughtful feedback and support.  Human nature to feel like you belong to the superior tribe (Mooney pilots) but in this case, its just true:)   My thoughts:

jlunseth - honestly never seen such a promising sight as the ASL and stack of crash trucks.

 

Cruiser - pilot told me today it was a bad injector that fouled both plugs.  Looks like we had plenty of engine left to get us down...though in the air the engine sounded like it was starved for fuel and was on the verge of ceasing.  It's a little perplexing because I quickly checked temps on the EDM and would have expected abnormalities but saw none. 

George - Great advice on briefing and ORM.  You mention "may sound corny."  Rapport is a real issue.  I checked weather beforehand and briefed likely approaches knowing I was flying right seat.  I asked the pilot if he checked weather and he said "yep ceilings 600-1300, tops 4500 and icing at 10k.  Our TECs dont fly above 5k so we're good."  That was my cross-check and it corresponded with my info and assessment.  I had mild self-consciousness about asking him a question I knew the answer to.  Looks like I'm going to have to get over that if I'm going to do a proper briefing.Also, good advice on emergency practice.  Like anything, going to the airport for a walkthrough is a discipline. 

Scott - VERY similar situation though I will credit my pilot with being in command if not a bit behind the airplane.  On low ceiling...I learned a lot.  With limited IMC experience, it didn't occur to me how limited ones options are for finding Best Field.  It hit me after the BOOM - we've got the water or we are flying the approach.  The may not be true in flat lands but with terrain and buildings that's what it is.

Jolie - Guardian Angel...I have my first baby due in 3 months.  Will be much happier to have him grow up in the back seat than hear stories about how daddy loved to fly.

carusoam - Good questions!  I have personal minimums and they were far exceeded on this flight as I'm a VFR pilot at this point.  While I'm "IFR Capable" to the degree that I am, I haven't considered my minimums since I don't have my ticket.  In that sense, I was in no mans land.  I haven't considered minimums in terms of the condition of anothers airplane as 99% of the time, I fly my own.  We did not compare minumums...I could and should have asked about his as PIC.  "The problem seems to be rooted in mental overload during an emergency in IMC conditions.  Would that have changed if you were both current and well practiced."  Yes and yes.  We talked a bit about the situation on the very expensive taxi ride from OXR to VNY and concluded that leisure flying and light IFR were insufficient for what we had experienced.  I haven't thought about what the right routine looks like but it's a combination of practicing enough to be "automatic" and inducing stress with enough frequency that it doesn't significantly degrade my performance.

Ned - Funny, I said to the pilot afterward that the only thing I hate about flying is that the good lessons always seem to come with pain. 

Dave - Great points on minimums and qualifying flying partners/equipment.  I typically fly solo and VMC in a bird I trust with a pilot I trust:)  On IMC, I'm inclined to engage more than I have.  What came clear to me is that busting through a 1000' layer is nothing like soup end to end where there is no opportunity to settle in and get oriented...particularly when you are maneuvering constantly.  I/we have just got to fly it more.

lahso - Thanks and I hope you stay out of 'em.

Dave - yep you got it....really challenging to get true priorities straight in that moment.  What really matter's at this moment?  It seems like the thing you're doing until your realizing that you forgot to fly the plane! 

Again, main thanks to you all!

[N57039]

As a side point, let me make a comment about having two pilots in the cockpit. With proper briefings and CRM (cockpit/crew resource mahagement) having two pilots can be a huge stress and workload reducer. Although the press seems to forget, Sully had a FO workig his butt off and helping to make that successful water landing. Besides my Mooney I do fly planes that require two pilots, andthe additional workload is very noticeable when I am flying my Mooney alone IFR.

So if you are flying with another pilot or even a non-pilot that is interested, I suggest briefing a little before departure about what your right seat passenger can do. Especially in an emergency you want to be able to use all the resources possible.

[jlunseth]

Quote: davidfreedman

jlunseth - honestly never seen such a promising sight as the ASL and stack of crash trucks.

 

Same here.  Been there done that.  They never tell you in training to look for the crash truck lights, but when you break out of IMC and are in a hurry to get solid ground under your feet, they are a beautiful sight.

Well, you have your emergency landing merit badge now.  Congratulations!

I gotta tell you, I was trained to always be aware of potential landing places, but I never did that before like I do it now. 

[fantom]

Great comments by all, and wonderful learning experience, and a safe outcome...not half bad. Moments of terror tend to focus us, and when it's our life on the line, everything is magnified. You could not go out and buy the kind of lesson you had, David. Great job, and thanks for the superb write-up. I think your PIC did quite well also.

It's good to be as selective with who you fly with as it is with who works on your plane. Pre-brief every flight, no matter how uncomfortable it seems. Pleasure flying is a dangerous business.

[Amelia]

The best, so far, of many, many useful threads on this forum. Thank you, all!