Scary Icing ATC tape

I thought so too, it wasn't clear he was offering much in the way of
attention to her situation, and I heard someone at the ATC laughing in
the background at one point. I think her decision to fly on after
regaining control (and composure) was preferrable to trying to land
immediately while still in shock.

Nathan Young wrote:

On 2 Feb 2007 13:51:44 -0800, "Jay Honeck" wrote:



This is the audio tape of a Fed Ex Caravan pilot who tangled with some
severe icing conditions.

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photoga...78L-Mayday.mp3

(It's a good-sized .mp3 file, so be patient while it downloads...)

This was given to me by our local FAA safety guy, to share with our
airport user's group. The stark terror in her voice is chilling, and
really points out how quickly things can go bad.



Was it just me, or was the controller excessively blase about the
Mayday call?





--
Joe Leikhim K4SAT
"The RFI-EMI-GUY"©

"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

"Follow The Money" ;-P

Was it just me, or was the controller excessively blase about the
Mayday call?



I thought so too, it wasn't clear he was offering much in the way of
attention to her situation, and I heard someone at the ATC laughing in
the background at one point. I think her decision to fly on after
regaining control (and composure) was preferrable to trying to land
immediately while still in shock.

IMOH, a lot of you guys really need to lighten up; and remember the
purpose for which the tape was released--to remind the pilots attending
Wings Seminars that: "ice is nasty stuff!"

The pilot did enough things right, under adverse conditions, to effect a
recovery--and the icing level was at high enough altitude to do so. It
worked, the pilot is more experienced as a result, and the real message is
to take predictions and reports of ice seriously--and inflate them as
necessary for the relative size of the aircraft.

That probably would have been the topic of this discussion if Anthony--a/k/a
mxsmanic--had not intervened. He was become a VERY effective Troll, as
evidenced by his ability to lead and occasionally to terminate discussion
threads--usually by starting a new conversation more to his liking.

As to the controller, he got other traffic through his sector and out of the
way--which I presume was his primary duty--and made appropriate suggestions.
Sounded good to me.

In summary, remember the purpose of the tape.

Let's all try to remember that old saying, occasionally attributed to Will
Rogers: "Be careful arguing with a fool, people might not be able to tell
the difference."

Peter

On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 03:08:55 -0500, **THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**
wrote:

I heard someone at the ATC laughing in
the background at one point.

I've only seen two TRACON's, but it would be understandable if others
in the room didn't have a clue she had a problem.

What amazed me was she decided to continue the flight. I seriously
would have been looking for the nearest FBO to clean my underwear. And
she said she had something like 2.5 hours more to go.

Late at night a while back, there was this 10 minute interview with a
test pilot of military jets. The guy was completely void of all emotion.

On the otherhand, Mike Melville in the Discovery Channel SpaceShipOne
video (extremely highly recommended BTW) showed no emotion when he was
in a tail stall / spin (not sure what it was but something like that)
but on the ground seemed quite normal.

Gerald

On Sat, 03 Feb 2007 10:42:19 -0800, G. Sylvester wrote:

What amazed me was she decided to continue the flight.

Indeed... Even if she was 99% sure it was ice there's still that 1% chance
she's wrong. Wouldn't it make good sense to get it on the ground and check
everything out?

On top of that, she's just had a massive jolt of adrenaline. If you've
ever had one you know that it takes more than a few minutes to get your
system back to normal.

I watched a car in front of me roll over and catch fire. The occupant came
out of the window severely burned and several of us who had stopped managed
to get him and hold him down until the ambulance came, which seemed like
half and hour. The guy looked like something out of a horror movie with
planks of his skin separating from his body. The whole experience had me
screwed up for several hours. I can't speak for her physiological state,
but I wouldn't think it's a good idea to fly in that condition if you have
a choice.

--
Dallas

[..] The stark terror in her voice is chilling, and
really points out how quickly things can go bad.

I dunno, from her repetition and confusion, she sounded totally to me
like a freight dog who fell asleep, and woke up to the plane doing
something unexpected. Probably missing pitot heat , like the
controller suggested.

Reminded me of that (IFR mag?) story from a controller who noticed the
usual cancelled check flight, continue past his airport late one
night. He kept other aircraft out of his way, alerted center, and
waited to see what would happen. Sure enough, about fifty miles past
his airport, the radar target suddenly wavered, then circled, then
called in sleepily for vectors back to the airport.

Kev

On Feb 2, 1:51 pm, "Jay Honeck" wrote:
This is the audio tape of a Fed Ex Caravan pilot who tangled with some
severe icing conditions.

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photoga...-26_N1278L-May...

(It's a good-sized .mp3 file, so be patient while it downloads...)

This was given to me by our local FAA safety guy, to share with our
airport user's group. The stark terror in her voice is chilling, and
really points out how quickly things can go bad.
--


Has there EVER been a voice recording of an incident where the
consensus is that the pilot handled the situation in the WRONG way? It
seems that every time one of these are posted, no matter how much the
pilot freaks out, people always respond with "Oh that pilot stayed so
calm, what a great job. I'd fly with him/her!!". It seems to me that
people don't have a very good idea what a normal level of "freaking
out" is when dealing with an emergency. For instance, the mayor of New
Orleans in my opinion did not handle the Katrina situation as well as
Rudy handled the 9/11 tragedy. Remember the NO guy yelling over the
phone, blaming the federal government? Rudy never did that. He stayed
calm and did what needed to get done, without whining or panicking.
When in danger, the leader (or PIC in this case) should not lose their
cool. That doesn't mean they have to be stone faced, but a good leader
resists the urge to go into all-out panic mode.


Honestly, comparing this one to other similar voice recordings I've
heard, this woman went bonkers. I wouldn't say she is a terrible
pilot, but at the same time, I don't think she handled this situation
as best as she could have. I think this woman was lucky. Going by what
I heard on the MP3, if things had been a little different, she may not
have made it. It's my opinion that she was saved by dumb luck. All
though with more info I may be proven wrong.

On 3 Feb 2007 15:48:52 -0800, "buttman" wrote:



Has there EVER been a voice recording of an incident where the
consensus is that the pilot handled the situation in the WRONG way? It
seems that every time one of these are posted, no matter how much the
pilot freaks out, people always respond with "Oh that pilot stayed so
calm, what a great job. I'd fly with him/her!!". It seems to me that
people don't have a very good idea what a normal level of "freaking
out" is when dealing with an emergency.

Yeah.

They often end with statements like:

- "Oh, God!"
- "****"
- "Awwww"
- "Ah.. Here we go..."

Get the picture?

Sometimes, like the Alaska Air stab trim failure, they did the best
they could, but it still ended poorly. Other times, they got
themselves there.

For those that got themselves in the situation and couldn't get out, I
can only honor them by trying not to repeat it.

In article .com,
"buttman" wrote:

Has there EVER been a voice recording of an incident where the
consensus is that the pilot handled the situation in the WRONG way? It
seems that every time one of these are posted, no matter how much the
pilot freaks out, people always respond with "Oh that pilot stayed so
calm, what a great job. I'd fly with him/her!!".

Several years ago there was an mp3 circulated I guess in an attempt to show how
vauable ATC is. A guy was calling mayday because he was in a spin (apparently)
but survived after popping out of the bottom of the clouds.

I don't think many people would say the "pilot stayed so calm"

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Several years ago there was an mp3 circulated I guess in an attempt to show how
vauable ATC is. A guy was calling mayday because he was in a spin (apparently)
but survived after popping out of the bottom of the clouds.

I don't think many people would say the "pilot stayed so calm"

That would be this one, from Ft. Dodge, IA Flight Service station, via
our website:

http://alexisparkinn.com/photogaller...ightassist.mp3

Although most of it is an infomercial for Flight Service, the audio
portion of the out-of-control pilot should be required listening for
all new pilots.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"