Cow VASI

Cows mixed with aviation have some kind of odd
humor about them. You remnded me of my cow
story:

I get my major maintenance done at HAS Corp.
in SW PA. Their place has a sloping grass strip
and a helipad to land at. I needed a ride back
there one day to pick up the helicopter, so I
called the local flight school and asked if they
had anyone experienced in grass strip landings
that could run me out there.

A little while later I got a phone call from a
guy who had a bunch a bush time, a plane,
and wanted to do the trip. I didn't have a stuck-wing
ticket at the time, and he wasn't Part 135, so I asked
if we could do it as a soft field landing training flight.
He said great, and we went.

A litte way out he asks me if I've got the runyway,
and I said "I have the facility, but I don't see anyrhing
that remotely resembles a runway." Then he says
"See those cows? They're about at the aiming point."
I started laughing so hard I could hardly fly the thing.

At the time, I really disliked Cessna 172's because they
are sooooo different from flying a helicopter. It seemed
to me at the time that there was no finesse in airplane flying.
The IP tells me to "set it up for a soft field landing but once
you're over the end of the strip do a go-around and the cows
will know what to do." Now I'm laughing even harder but
I'm also busy as hell taming the 172 on base to final.

Sure enough, as soon as I did the go around the cows
sauntered off the strip, but just enough to be clear of the
runway. On the second approach the cows were on
either side of the strip like some bizzaro VASI light
system. I still had the giggles, and as it turned out it
was a great advantage because it relaxed me enough
that the landing became a no-brainer.

That was about 4 or 5 years ago. A year later I got
the sad news that the fella that had taken me out there
had killed himself by going inadvertent IMC off the
coast of Connecticut. I couldn't believe that this had
happened because the guy had about 5000 hours
and he was a CFII too. I think we all take events
like this to heart as shocking reminders that complacency
kills.

This June I took my fixed wing transition check ride.
The examiner was also a chopper pilot, so he pretty much
knew what to expect from me so it was pretty rountine and
the ride was going smoothly.

Mid ride the examiner say's "Engine out" so I chop the
throttle and get the best-glide speed. I'm looking for a
place to go, and notice some cows, and right next to
them in an adjacent field was a sweet grass strip. It
was obstructed by trees on one end and power lines
on the other, so I was really nervous. I was keeping
my eye on the cows for reference, and then got this
really calming feeling as I remembered the cow VASI
thing, and said a silent "thank you prayer to the
pilot who'd first showed me how to do this landing"

I went over the trees perfectly and got it on the strip
like I'd done it 1000 times. I figure that that the bush
pilot was looking down and helping me because I'd
just managed to knock engine-out, short, soft, and
obstructed off my ride with a perfect score, and all
of those things were areas that I was nervous about.

Now when I see a herd of holstine cows I smile
to myself and do a complacency check.


Bart