The Scariest Thing I've Ever Seen

Charles K. Scott wrote:

On 9 Dec 2005 07:35:00 -0800, "Jay Honeck" wrote:


How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me. He's one lucky SOB.


Jay, not sure about your term "driving snow-storm". Your first
description of the situation was that luckily, there was little to no
wind although lots of snow was falling.

Using the descriptor "driving" makes it sound like there was wind.

Thanks, Corky

Jay was running so fast that the snow seemed driving relative to him!
He's lost so much weight that he probably runs at 30 MPH now. :-)

Matt

Charles K. Scott wrote:
On 9 Dec 2005 07:35:00 -0800, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me. He's one lucky SOB.

Jay, not sure about your term "driving snow-storm". Your first
description of the situation was that luckily, there was little to no
wind although lots of snow was falling.

Using the descriptor "driving" makes it sound like there was wind.

Doesn't really matter if there was wind or not. The aircraft
is moving at 80 knots or something like that....ever flown in
snow? It appears to be coming straight at you.

Doesn't really matter if there was wind or not. The aircraft
is moving at 80 knots or something like that....ever flown in
snow? It appears to be coming straight at you.

Boy, is that true. I've flown into snow showers a few times, and have
always been struck by the "time tunnel" effect when looking straight ahead.
Visibility down is usually okay, but ahead really goes downhill, fast. It's
like driving your car in a snowstorm at night -- the snow seems to be coming
right at your face.

Luckily, when it gets extremely cold around here, snow showers are often
like late-summer thunderstorms, in that they can be easily flown around.
The guy I wrote about wasn't in any "snow shower." He was stuck in a
wide-spread snow storm that stretched from Chicago all the way back to Des
Moines. When he flew in, visibility was measured in yards, and wildly
variable. He had no business flying in that, period.

But, he made it. This time.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Ron Natalie wrote:

ever flown in
snow? It appears to be coming straight at you.

That's because it pretty much is coming straight at you.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

This guy was definitely not having fun... Sounds like he "went missed" then
saw the runways and circled to land on 30. BUT if he was right over your
head when he added power, he was a bit off course for 25 and get this...
www.flightaware.com doesn't list any incoming IFR 182's yesterday! Was this
guy trying it VFR? or maybe he was on a local IFR with CID and flightaware
didn't pick it up? Just glad he made it down ok. He's lucky he didn't clip
any of those cranes you've got sticking up in the air around there!

Jim

This guy was definitely not having fun... Sounds like he "went missed" then
saw the runways and circled to land on 30. BUT if he was right over your
head when he added power, he was a bit off course for 25 and get this...
www.flightaware.com doesn't list any incoming IFR 182's yesterday! Was this
guy trying it VFR? or maybe he was on a local IFR with CID and flightaware
didn't pick it up? Just glad he made it down ok. He's lucky he didn't clip
any of those cranes you've got sticking up in the air around there!

When I saw him go over in near knife-edge flight, he was heading EAST.
He clearly wasn't lined up for anything.

My guess is that he flew the VOR 36 approach, accidentally over-flew
the airport (cuz he couldn't see it), spotted it at the northeast edge
of the airport property (where we are), racked it around to keep the
runway environment in sight (which is when I spotted him), lost the
airport again, and just kinda did a "fly out for 30 seconds, do a
tear-drop 180 degree turn, fly the reciprocal heading for 30 seconds,
and hope for the best" approach.

It worked, but only just barely.

And Roger is right. Without GPS, I'll bet he wouldn't have found the
airport again.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

My guess is that he flew the VOR 36 approach,

THAT explains a LOT more! I didn't know he was headed east when you
heard him. Definitely sounds like he missed on 36, and from a guy who flew
that approach at night in pounding rain between thunderstorms, he's lucky.
The final approach path comes in from the 019 radial of IOW, almost 20
degrees off the runway heading. Those med intensity lights blend right into
the surroundings on that approach because you can't pick out any distinct
lines and the lack of a PAPI/VASI or REILs on 36 doesn't give you any help
squaring you up. We flew the final approach for what seemed like forever
down at the minimum altitude, the only thing we would make out was the
beacon. Finally we saw the runway illuminated by the landing light, broke
right then back left and put her down. At dusk, in blinding snow, and with
everything else being white around him, it's no wonder he didn't see it.

An extended approach following the 019 radial of IOW may have shot him out
near the end of 25 and behind your airport building, but by that time he
should have gone missed. Sounds like he caught a glimpse and circled but it
also sounds like he was below mins to do that. Lucky guy.

Jim

Jay Honeck wrote:
My guess is that he flew the VOR 36 approach, accidentally over-flew
the airport (cuz he couldn't see it), spotted it at the northeast edge
of the airport property (where we are), racked it around to keep the
runway environment in sight (which is when I spotted him), lost the
airport again, and just kinda did a "fly out for 30 seconds, do a
tear-drop 180 degree turn, fly the reciprocal heading for 30 seconds,
and hope for the best" approach.
Hmmm...how come I don't see that on any of my approach plates? Oh,
that's right, because it's not there! As in, if you need to go missed,
follow the procedure. Cripes, he was lucky. Stupid...but lucky.



--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 09:51:17 -0600, "Jim Burns"
wrote in
::

get this...www.flightaware.com doesn't list any incoming IFR 182's yesterday!

You're right about that; in fact it doesn't even show any singles at
all:

Arrivals: Iowa City Municipal Airport (Iowa City, IA) [KIOW]

Ident Type Origin Departure Time Arrival Time
N586TC BE9L Palwaukee Municipal [KPWK] Fri 09:19AM CST Fri 10:18AM
CST
N586BC BE20 Des Moines Int'l [KDSM] Thu 09:41PM CST Thu 10:08PM CST
N401WD C401 Minneapolis St Paul Int'l [KMSP] Thu 02:33PM CST Thu
03:48PM CST
N904US BE90 L O Simenstad Municipal [KOEO] Thu 12:33PM CST Thu
01:46PM CST
N558TH BE58 Huntsville Int'l Carl T Jones Field [KHSV] Wed 03:47PM
CST Wed 06:21PM CST
N447J C303 Waukesha Co [KUES] Wed 02:29PM CST Wed 03:31PM CST
N421DB C421 Waukegan Regional [KUGN] Wed 01:44PM CST Wed 02:48PM CST
N350J B350 Lewis University [KLOT] Wed 01:25PM CST Wed 02:07PM CST
N904US BE90 Anoka Co Blaine [KANE] Wed 12:16PM CST Wed 01:25PM CST
N9164N BE55 Mason Co [KLDM] Wed 07:24AM EST Wed 07:56AM

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:3Ogmf.609603$x96.519786@attbi_s72...
Now at a dead gallop, I was able to see him slide to a stop, just before
the end of the runway. The deep snow had saved him, and he stopped in an
impossibly short space...

Jogging back to my nearly-forgotten guest (who was trying to check in for
the night), I could only shake my head in wonder at what some guys will do
to fly.

Scary!

Did you find out who it was flying? Was it a local? Was the whole area under
this type of weather at the time or could he have gotten vectors into CID or
someplace better? The pilot may have been trusting his GPS too much.

You should carry your Icom to listen to see if the pilot was saying anything
on Unicom, center, FSS, etc. I've often heard planes flying over around here
when weather is bad and quickly grab the scanner to hear 'missed approach,
going to xxx'.