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Pilot describes his flight from hell...

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First let's set the stage. I fly in Florida and at the time might have had about 200 hours total, just enough to feel slightly invincible. Not my story, but a good read about gethomeitis. (www.reddit.com) More...

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preacher1
preacher1 8
Good article, then check out the definition list at the bottom of the article, especially his definition of the 2000fpm descent.
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joelwiley
joel wiley 1
From Medical jargon: Don't say feces when you mean to say s....
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preacher1
preacher1 2
lol. If I read that right, he didn't have but about 3 grand to start with anyway.lol
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Flyingappraiser
Flyingappraiser 5
Now, as an instructor, I must share what my instructor told me almost fifty years ago. I still use it today. The quote is "I'd rather be down here, wishing I was up there, not up there wishing I was down here" So true on many fronts.
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preacher1
preacher1 3
Seems like an ex Navy friend that went from submarines to aviation told me somthing similar one time. I asked him why he made the switch and he said "I got to thinkin' that what goes up will come down, but that what goes down don't always come up". Best I remember, that was about 3 months after THRESHER
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Zany4God
Zany4God 2
Hahaha, and here's another one: There are more planes in the water than there are submarines in the sky...
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preacher1
preacher1 1
Yeah, but they did come down.lol
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truckernurse
Pamela Steele 3
As a prospective student pilot, this is one of the best "read, heed, and beware" articles I've come across. That and many of the anecdotals as comments attached to the post. Before my breast cancer treatment that started in February, I was a driver for Con-Way Truckload, and before that, an RN. GetHomeItis doesn't work well in either profession, either!
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mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 1
Pamela, All the best and I wish you a quick and complete recovery. I did some tanker driving in my time, specializing in "Elevated Temperature" cargo. Some of the very best experiences I ever had, other than those in the cockpit and flight deck.Enjoy the 3 dimensions.
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tlblosser
tlblosser 1
Pamela,
Here's to your speedy recovery!! I'm also a "survivor", 19 years out. I thank my lucky stars every morning.
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stinsonsteve
Steve Dow 1
Git yer ticket.
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fwaviator63
A. Highsmith 2
Glad this pilot recognized his errors and posted them. I wonder what, if any, WX briefing he received.
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jetman05
John Burnham 1
im glad you made it safely. no doubt the pucker effect was there but i have one question? actully, its not a question, is your girlfriend still with you? i just thought it was pretty rude to call your girlfriend "the girlfriend". sorry, just being honest. glad everyone is ok tho.
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joelwiley
joel wiley 1
With apologies,

It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
`By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
. . .
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Gurica
Gustavo Rios 1
Gurica I learned from my instructor: dont make night flight unless be neccesary
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preacher1
preacher1 1
I see you carry an ATP too so I know you have had to make them during that time. I agree that nobody really likes them but as with driving at night they are necessary unless you really want to restrict your self. As with night driving, you give up a lot of awareness and more reliance is put on your instrument panel. They should never get second nature to you but it never made a difference to me whether I left at 7pm or 7am.
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mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 1
@ Gurica:
I thoroughly disagree with your instructor. Learn to navigate and fly in all conditions you're rated for. It's impossible to maintain your 5 and 5 without flying and you're not going to be proficient when you need it most. Get used to all conditions so there are no surprises and then get instruction for the next rating available. Never stop learning. If you think you've learned enough, stop flying. Practice, practice, practice and read all you can. There is always one more thing to do or learn fresh.
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WALLACE24
WALLACE24 1
Most surely the GF was approiately thankful for saving her life! lol
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preacher1
preacher1 2
Well, pale as she was, she did say "Nice Landing".LOL
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1639847
Michael Armstrong 1
I was in a similar situation many years ago flying a PA-30 from Opa Locka to Tamiami. Reeeallly bad wx to the West, but you could practically see TMB a few minutes after takeoff, so I figured there'd be no problem. Unfortunately, I had filed IFR for some reason. ATC told me to turn right to intercept the ILS way out there, and things went rapidly to hell. Remember the old "I learned about flying from that" series? I learned about contact approaches from that; requesting one would have saved a lot of stress on me, the airplane, and my passenger.
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JoeBear
Joe Bear 1
Had a hair raising flight like this between Cleveland and Detroit indelibly burned into my memory forever. You know you have a problem when the Cross ink pen floats off into the air that was just sitting there a moment ago. Gets your attention in a hurry.
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jimdaddy7
Jim Fell 1
like they say, "if you haven't had the crap scared out of you at least once, you just haven't flown enough hours."
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17Tons
Steve Cochrane 1
Here is another saying: there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. Told to me by a Canadian Coast Guard Helicopter pilot 30 years ago.
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ernest7
Ernie Feltham 1
Excellent story in the sense of helpful advise. Your experience and the telling of same should be taken as a good lesson of teaching in "how to make good decisions based on the weather facts you know are true, your instincts and NEVER I got to get-there-itis.
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mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 1
As a young man I enjoyed the "I Learned About Flying From That" articles in Flying magazine. This would qualify as one of the best. A good lesson and well written, especially with the inclusion of the appendix.

Get-home-itus has killed a lot of pilots and passengers over the years. I think I read some 30 years ago that, it was the particular bane of Medical Doctors.
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Donovan16
Don Thomson 1
Great read. <checking my own pulse> ok, un-curl toes. Whew !
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emilpudge
emilpudge 1
Well written and entertaining. Never get pressured by gf, wife etc...wasn't that JFK Jr's big mistake. Also, I hope he didn't have any wine at dinner.
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mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 1
Easy rules to talk about. Never, never, never.... I managed to follow the 24 hour rule. Ginger-ale or iced tea became my whistle wetter for a lot of years. I never could warm up to breakfast wine. :-) As for GF or wife pressure, I don't know a man since Adam who hasn't knuckled under to that pressure and made a bad decision or two. I read once about 40 years ago that more medical doctors died in plane crashes due to "get-home-itus" than any other category. It's always for the same reason: flying in conditions that exceeded their talents and experience. And that was before the days of special VFR. Get good under the hood and never stop learning.
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vulcansunray
vulcansunray 1
For those of you who thought our pilot was talking about flying an A-4 Skyhawk - think about it for a minute! Would an A-4 have much of a problem with a 4-knot tailwind on take-off? I don't think so! Further, an A-4 could fly above the weather, in fairly short order!
And, in Top Gun, I'm pretty sure the "enemy" planes were A-6 Intruders, with the bent probe sticking out of the nose. And then the Navy relocated Top Gun to Fallon NAS in Nevada - is nothing sacred?
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mickijay
micki jay 1
Very amusing writing style. Put us right there with you, cushion up the butt.
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hiflier32
ric lang -1
DON'T FLY AT NIGHT UNLESS YOU HAVE TO??? THAT'S WHAT I WOULD CALL SIGNIFICANT UNDERUTILIZATION OF AN AIRPLANE. AIRPLANE DOESN'T KNOW IT'S NIGHT, YOU DO HOWEVER, SO CAN IT BE YOU FEEL UNQUALIFIED TO FLY NIGHTS? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT SOLID IMC DURING THE DAY? IN SINGLE ENGINE EQUIPMENT? SINGLE PILOT?
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Donovan16
Don Thomson 2
Rick, WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING? <chuckling>
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hiflier32
ric lang -1
You think this is shouting??? No, THIS IS SHOUTING!!!!
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Donovan16
Don Thomson 1
LMAO.... err.. (lmao) Cheers!
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hiflier32
ric lang -4
AN INTERESTING "STORY". DIFFICULT FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAN BE A CFI WHEN YOU ONLY HOLD A PRIVATE TICKET.
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hiflier32
ric lang -4
AN INTERESTING "STORY". HARD TO GET MY HEAD AROUND YOU BEING A CFI WHEN YOU HOLD ONLY A PRIVATE.
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