Real Pilot Story: Trapped On Top
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Link to certificate and ASI transcript: bit.ly/RPSTrap...
Description: We tend to think of emergencies as one-at-a-time events, but as pilot Ken Lawson discovered, bad things sometimes come in pairs. Imagine yourself as a non-current instrument pilot dealing with an unexpected IFR descent-then add a failed engine to the mix. How would you cope? Listen as ATC mounts a heroic effort to get the pilot down safely.
Love these videos! Pilots can never stop learning and these videos teach you a lot.
+steveo1kinevo Amen Brother.
+Chris Davis I'm not pilot. Just enjoy pilot vglogs (thanks Steveo) and these videos. As a laymen, I'm suprised you are allowed to become a pilot without being IFR trained.
I just discovered this you tube channel.....it is illustrative of why I am enamored of your Uber Professional Piloting by seeing you using this to keep you in a constant learning curve. Outstanding Steveo
Steveo whats up? Cool to see you watch other pilot videos. I think ive seen all of yours once or twice.
Couldn't agree more.
"i am ifr but i am not current"
that straight up humble honesty would have contributed to him being alive today.
@Julian Martov Only a small percentage of GA pilots (in the US at least) maintain IFR currency. He also took off with max fuel. Errors were definitely made that resulted in emergency fuel situation, but your knee-jerk reaction missed the point by a nautical mile. You're also calling someone's actions idiotic (and, weirdly, annoying) when you clearly don't understand the subject yourself.
He lived man. He's literally telling his story...
That’s exactly the kind of pilot I can trust
@@jqb101 I think he meant to say that the honesty helped him survive. I had to read it twice.
This is so far the best episode of your series I have seen. The pilot beeing alive and the controllers having a face makes this episode so strong.
Excellent video thank you. The last comment by the pilot might be the most important:
If your alternate is unavailable, MAKE THE CALL...
Whoa! So reminds me of my scariest flying "incident"! I was a newly minted, cocky Instrument Rated pilot flying my [certified and properly equipped] Cherokee 140(!?!) in actual IMC .... but had never encountered ICE! While I'm reporting this to ATC my engine quit - I'd run my first tank dry - BUT had plenty in the other - never declared an emergency but learned a LOT from that escapade! Ken's saving grace was admitting what he'd got himself into and asking for help. Those controllers deserve kudos ad awards!
I am so thankful for these videos. Pilots need to spend time with ATC at a local controlled airport. They are great people who CARE about helping pilots and keeping pilots safe. I truly believe these videos help me be a better student of flying.
ATC is like any other big group of people. You have some great people and some real jerks. I know dozens of them personally.
That’s an awesome idea!!!! So they can see from the other side. Like a police ride along.
John Hempel what makes them jerks? I’m learning......
Being ATC, all the hectic days and stressful situations are worth that one day where a pilot tells you that you saved his life.
Cody Columbia From a retired airline guy I have appreciated act many a time. True professionals . Except for a couple
@David Miorgan proof?
@David Miorgan what right do you have to say this ??
I fly 747 jumbo airbus.. so i appreciate EVERYTHING you do. My hero.
That's cool bro and I'll bet. Question tho what kind of training did you need to work as an atc? Did you do special schooling on your own or did the company pay for it? Just curious is all.
So great to watch one of these videos with a happy ending. Too many of them are just tragic and post-mortem rather than having a survivor who gets to tell the story. Kudos to the controllers who kept their heads and to the pilot to listened at the last minute and got his focus off the wrong runway. So many lessons here, thanks to ASI for making this available.
I think everyone in this situation came out of it extremely well. We all make errors and the pilot did a good job.
Amazing emergency management and calm attitude by this pilot.
Great video. I ve had 2 engine failures and I learnt a,few,things along the way. 1 is, never put ur gear down until u r sure ur gonna make ur landing destination.
Great outcome. ATC is supposed to help you so don't be afraid to talk to them vs possibly dying...
ATC will report you for this, Then you deal with the FAA
These videos are GOLD!! Thank you for making them available. To the pilot who allowed this video to be published and to share his experience, thank you! There is no telling the number lives that have been saved from these videos. I'll be the first to admit I am very hesitant to call up ATC, this video has broken down some of those barriers.
Dropping the gear when that far out was a near fatal mistake.
Imagine not raising the gear when prompted just because you didn't want to jerk it around. That's while you can clearly see that you might not be able to clear an obstacle.
@@michaelbuckers If he had put the gear down right after passing the thrust barrier, would he have enough time to put down the gear? How long does that take?
@@nofurtherwest3474 He wouldn't, however he could've saved upwards of 50 feet of altitude by retracting it immediately and lowering it once necessary.
@@nofurtherwest3474 a belly landing is better that being dead. just saying
@@ctsteve1967 Yes, your point was by leaving the gear up, the glide would have been farther and a belly up landing on the rwy, is better than a gear down landing into a barrier. The other option was to land on the side of the runway if the gear was down.
Thank you to the Air Safety Institute for producing these outstanding if not lifesaving presentations. There is a lot of experience being shared for the profit of the any flying communities. I appreciate the cooperation and support of all the Air Traffic Controllers making these airspace safe and protecting pilots sometimes from ourselves (pilot's self). My life was saved once by ATC (Houston ARTCC saved me from ditching in the Gulf following an emergency in South Texas years ago). You guys/girls have all my gratitude and admiration, Ciao, L
Glad you made it down and landed in one piece! Kudos to all you guys for working together and saving one pilot’s life !
Great job by the ATC! Teamwork and problem solving at its best.
My Gosh.. this story gave me both chills and few tears once it concluded and I found out he cleared the jet blast shield and landed SAFELY. 👍
Those ATC guys were awesome!
"I'll just go over and slide in between the (imagined) gaps between the mountains and the clouds."
What the...?!? Good thing he realized he didn't have the fuel to actually try that.
Flashbacks on my hiking trips submerged in mountainous fog/cloud, visibility is like 10 trees away.
What a great story. Well done to ATC and the Pilot for sharing his story, honestly.
I'm currently only a student but can't imagine flying 600nm away to an area notorious for clouds without current instrument proficiency. Not filing a flight plan or asking for flight following seems even worse.
Not filing a VFR flight plan makes sense. They are pretty much pointless, especially if you get flight following. IFR on the other hand, yes no reason he couldn't have quickly done an IPC and flown an IAP to his destination. Conditions were MVFR, it was basically ideal for a rusty instrument pilot.
Daytona Sixty-Eight Quickly depends on how far out of proficiency he was. Sounds like probably a lot if he couldn't hold a heading with the engine (and vacuum) running. Some people worry about the cost of things like maintaining currency, or renting a car after landing at an alternate (BEFORE you go VFR on top - which is only available to IFR current pilots by the way), or renting a hotel room. But nothing is more expensive than your life, and you'll never get in as much trouble as dead.
@@daytonasixty-eight1354 Disagree, he was flying long distances over mountains and some pretty remote terrain. VFR flight plan in this case is mandatory in my book. Flight following as well, but there's no guarantee you'll get it.
This is a great video and love how the emphasis was placed on the ATC being a pilots friend someone to assist and help them out of trouble sticky situations!
Thanks for sharing. You are very fortunate. The engine re-starting just to clear the hurdle on landing looks timed, glad it happened.
I’m watching this 6 years later and still relevant.
Boy,those controllers are worth their weight in gold.They are the difference between living or dying when it comes to information that can help you take the right decision.Flying vmc in marginal conditions in a small aircraft is a mighty task.The pilot owes them a bier!
Way to go controllers and Pilot! Great job by everyone! Mistakes happen, the way we deal with them makes all the difference!
There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. But there are no old bold pilots!
Great job!
Lots of dead timid and indecisive pilots though.
What a story! I am not a pilot, but this is an inspiring story, on several levels, for anyone. Thanks for these amazing videos, Air Safety Institute.
Wow! such drama. Those controllers saved the day and his life. He remained unbelievably calm throughout the whole ordeal even after he ran dry. I'm not sure how I would have reacted to that grim situation. Great video !
Our tax dollars at work! Well done, ATC guys. Thanks for the job you do.
I'm glad I live in Seattle. Thanks to all for this. From an X-Controller.
My instructor in my Champ, responded to my question about being stuck on top in my very simple plane said “spin it”. He expanded, “ your attitude is under control, your airspeed is under control, just recover when you see the ground”. I asked what if the cover goes all the way to the ground. He replay “you were dead anyway”.
The engine came back to life right before the barrier...wow.
just like a hallmark movie
As a Christian, I feel like God worked through the ATC controllers, but especially worked on helping the engine start. But also, the engineering of the aircraft prevented the crash, cos the fuel flowed into the pumps. :)
Interesting stuff this. It's great to get the perspective from the controllers, as a student pilot myself I always feel a little daunted when on the comms amongst commercial pilots, but it's good to know that if anything does go wrong it's ALWAYS the right call to tell ATC immediately!
glad to see you kept a clear head calm and landed safely that weather cant be trusted easy to get spatial disorientation in those situations..
In an engine failure event , when you see you cannot make the field fully coarsen the propellor! If possible feather. I didn’t hear him do that. It has helped me in the past.
Great vid. Thanks to all involved for sharing the story. Glad the pilot lived to tell the tale.
this makes me fangirl for ATC so much
Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands (Pacific Northwest - northwest corner of Washington State) is usually open. It’s usually sunny due to the banana-belt weather pattern. So, 95% of the time it becomes my IFR Alternate. It’s only 35 miles from Arlington.
That engine coming back to life right in front of the thrust barrier was an act of God in cooperation with the design of the fuel line....whew!!!
or maybe just physics and a pickup tube with fuel in a tank in an airplane with a nose up attitude.
Quite the eventful christmas! Very glad you made it sir.
Great story with a great outcome
Very good lesson.
Thank YOU!
Excellent presentation, we can all learn. Even after a career flying commercially & owning my own A/C I still learn everyday! The US ATC are fantastic! Shame the Aussie authorities don't you take the same approach, being helpful rather than crucifying you!
ATC did an amazing job.
The heroes behind the scenes... Great video.
They were just doing their job but 3 hero's in my view. Well done to all involved.
What a great job! Regular everyday heroes.
You know there is a bigger problem around when people hesitate to ask for help because they are afraid of getting in to trouble...
if he couldnt clear the thrust barrier the best course of action would be to turn to the right or left and land on the grass
MWB Gaming wouldn't work at Renton. FSX doesn't show it well. The thrust barrier is built into the airport's perimeter fence, which is the same height.
This is a really good channel. I’m glad I subscribed.
Wonderful great job fellows
N13TM 1963 M20D, looks like a J in the sim footage. Sold on in 2012. Lucky guy!
Awesome video and story
Very good video! and an amazing lesson to learn!! I have to say always when I fly to an alternate I ask atc for latest weather information before flying there and finding out that it is IFR ....
ATC, teamwork and no ego!
Coming back from San Diego to Van Nuys at night I ran low on fuel. My fuel gauge was almost on empty as I flew over Burbank Airport. Above a cloud cover and looking for a hole; I spotted one by the mountains above Northridge. Way too close, and never again!
So how did this happen? The older Cessna 172 that I’d rented was getting poor millage. Previous flights to and from San Diego were just fine without refueling. I always had a safe fuel margin before so this was a surprise. Lesson learned: always refuel mid-trip if you think you need to or not!
Job well done controllers, and I hope the pilot takes a good instrument course.
Safety first, and emergencies do happen. Better safe and ego crumpled a bit than ego intact and plane crumpled a lot.
Putting aside your ego and clearly declaring you're in trouble sadly was not done by many other pilots who have gone down.
Wow! A feature length movie!!!
Excellent content, and excellent job by all.
Everybody did their job. The pilot should have reacted to fuel situation much sooner. He made it and that's the important thing. Never leave fuel behind either. Always leave full unless density altitude keeps you from it
Very emotional and powerful stuff right here.
Great story!
The voice waver around 14:24 says this man really believes what he says.
Well the pilot is IFR trained (although not current, but never-the-less knew how to fly using his instruments) the aircraft is IFR capable, I'm not sure how he got himself in such a pickle, but a fantastic job done by ATC, and I have to give the pilot his due, for remaining calm in a situation, which I'm sure, was quite frightening.
im happy it went well .
Good to see a success story here
Thanks for produting this videos. Very instructional.
This story if freaking beautiful! Super job by the controllers...and even the pilot. While he should have gotten help way sooner, at least he had the good sense to not stall the aircraft, as so many pilots in this situation would have.
At a certain point in a private pilots career not having an instrument rating is insane. You spent 600K on your own plane, have 2,000 hours, and you’re only VFR qualified? Does anyone think weather forecasting is that accurate?
I found myself VFR over the top of a layer, with no nearby holes and weather building rapidly behind me. While up ahead conditions were better and not active. I ended up diverting to a rather distant airport without any difficulty. I had plenty of fuel, plenty of O2 and remained well clear of IMC conditions. Enroute, I did find a few holes that were simply not big enough to use. It was a non event, other than having to rent a car and drive back to my destination. The forecast weather at my destination was supposed to be clear. That turned out not to be the case. VFR over the top is not really a great idea. The good news is that I landed with more than 3 hours fuel remaining and could have gone another 400 miles if necessary. The weather was known to be good well within that distance.
13:50 “ I’ve always hesitated in contacting ATC in fear of getting in trouble”
I’ve contacted ATC over two dozens times in my flying time with a situation knowing I would be questioned as to what any actions I took and never once got into trouble. The FAA just simple need an explanation as to WHY you made the decision you made or what caused you to make that decision. These are all and only for reasons of keeping pilots and the public below alive through learning.
I had an engine out a few years ago at night and landed on a highway and you don’t have a lot of time to think when the engine quits Have though it out several times since
The FAA and their agents are NOT your friend!! They will fine you and suspend you, and make you do "remedial training," anyway that's what they call it. In emergencies, save your life and take your abuse, and live to fly another day! Remember, when you declare an emergency, there IS paperwork to file! And you WILL be in trouble. However, flying is worth it all. Just try to be diligent, always do your best, and enjoy the hell out of life!!
Terrifying. But brilliant video!
Awesome story.
Truly amazing in so many ways. I was surprised that he wasn't investigated by FSDO. I thought when there was a known violation by ATC they would relay it to FSDO who would follow-up with the pilot. After watching these end in tragedy it was nice to see the pilot come out alive.
Cool heads prevailed... great job!
I've never understood pilot hesitancy to talk to ATC. My instructor used to act like ATC was out to get us. Now that I teach I train people ATC exists for only one purpose and that's to serve Pilots. They work for you to help you. If you're in training or you are an instructor stop acting like ATC is your parent and you're a child. This adversarial relationship needs to go away.
well both the pilot and controllers did a good job!
Great video thank you.
That looks like about a 64 E or C type Mooney. I don't see a gear switch so probably it has a Johnson bar. You can lower the gear in a couple of seconds. It's not like a hydraulic system that takes several. Strictly (grunt!) manual. I have a 65 M20E with electric gear and it is fast, so if I ever had to make an airport power off, I'd be able to do it in the flare if needed. Not the best, but possible. Also see that velcro on the left upright of the left yoke? That's to defeat a pneumatic wing leveler that is on by default. It wears out your thumb to hold it down for turns but if you get disoriented, just release the button and the plane straightens out. I've since put in an Stec 30 but the old Mooney system probably saved quite a few lives of inadvertent entry into IFR conditions.
Nice job. Damn nice job.
He should have made the call earlier and declared an emergency.
Thank God, literally, for that bit of fuel to help clear that thrust barrier...
wow very lucky sir that day well done all
WHY couldn’t have jsut have kept wings level & been vectored down through the clouds?? I don’t get that, if visibility was workable below the could deck then jsut drop down through it, much better chances to me than remaining airborne with low fuel.
Took off in a Cessna Ag Truck early one foggy morning which closed down quickly around my dumb ass. I shot thru the top real quick before I lost control (no type of attitude indicator). Looked around, found a tall radio tower, circled it like a damn buzzard for an hour, fog lifted, I survived. Had about 30 minutes of fuel on landing. Don't be stupid.
God dammit! What a amazing story! I laughed so hard about the damn buzzard! 😂👍
But yeah, without attitude indicator you are fucked up when you are in or above clouds. Scary to imagine it!
Pretty sure Mooney's have variable pitch props ? He should have feathered the prop and left the landing gear up as long as possible . But that's not under pressure thinking your gonna die Monday morning quarter backing .
If you know you are flying into a weather area where your primary and secondary landing ports may become inaccessible, then the pilot should add another hour worth of fuel to make it a successful flight.. Horray TO THIS BRAVE soul who kept his durthers.
👍 Amazing.
I'm no pilot, but I must praise these videos. Human beings are rationally very frail. Bravo.
What a difference a dribble of fuel makes.
Wow just amazing!!
This is great
Nice ATC’s
This had me wondering if the windmilling engine rpm is high enough to provide a somewhat acceptable vacuum and thus, acceptable indications on the air driven gyros.
question...and note I am not a pilot and also not making any snarks/accusations - I'm merely trying to inform myself: if the pilot is IFR rated, why is he looking for breaks/holes in the clouds to get down (again, this is a question only not an accusation or criticism)? Why can he not use instruments to descend through the clouds to either his original or alternate landing location?