Just an Everyday Emergency

by Erik Minty

I don't remember its callsign, but I'll never forget the aircraft. It wasn't that it was particularly old, just that it hadn't been treated with the care and attention one might normally afford such a noble craft. I always had the feeling with this one that something would go wrong... and if you're thinking there might be another Jason ("I Follow Roads") story in here, well, you're right.

He had flown this beast over to Viscoria for the afternoon with his girlfriend and his parents. A pleasant and enjoyable flight from Pitt Meadows over the Gulf Islands, on a pleasant and enjoyable afternoon. (It so happened that I was giving pleasant and enjoyable flights to some Air Cadets on the very same pleasant and enjoyable afternoon. That's how I know it was a, well, you get the idea.)

The return trip, by contrast, was apparently not quite so pleasant, nor was it particularly enjoyable -- for Jason. He told me that he began to see -- right around Active Pass -- big bellowing clouds of smoke belching from the belly of the beast. And if you've ever seen the pilot's view of the underside of a Cessna-172, you'll know there would have to be a goodly amount of said smoke to notice it.

So Jason spent the rest of the flight continuously scanning the instrument panel for signs that the engine was about to quit, and the ground for a friendly field to land in when it did. All of this, plus the great cloud of smoke that enveloped him as he touched down on Runway 26L at Pitt Meadows, explained the harried look on his face and his subsequent reaction when I asked him if he had had a "pleasant and enjoyable flight."

But I had to laugh. After all, he made it in quite safely, and besides it was fair turnabout of sorts. You see, it was only a week before that I had had a similar delightful experience with that particular aircraft ... "How'd you like to go down by Boundary Bay, maybe zip by the beach?"

"Cool!" That was a favourite expression of Craig's. This was his first time in an aircraft of any description, and he was just thrilled to pieces the whole way. Right now, I was just taking off from a touch-and-go.

"Pitt Tower, we'll be exiting the zone for local south." (I told you I forgot the callsign!) A pause. Geez, these guys were really slow today. Try again. What, are these guys out to lunch? One more time. Hmmm ...

"Craig. Do me a favour. Reach over to that thing in front of you. That's a transponder. Turn it off, switch it to 9600, then turn it on."

"Okey-dokey. What's going on?"

"Well, we've got a communications failure."

"Is that, like, an emergency?"

"Yeah, you could say so."

"Cool!"

This was really no big deal. I wagged my wings at the tower as I passed on downwind, then descended to 500' and flew a low approach, then turned left just past the tower. (Standard procedure as I remembered.) So then he gave me a flashing green light. Return for landing. Great!

Same thing again. This time, descent as normal. 400', 300', no green light. 200', no light. So I added full power and prepared to go around again.

Flashing green light: (as if to say, "Sorry about that, we messed up, you were right, go around and come back to land") So I did. 500', 400', 300', there's nobody on the runway, why aren't you giving me that @$!@#%@ green light?!?!?

Wag wings. Green light: (this time, "Sorry about that, we forgot about you.") So I got onto the ground, taxied to the tie-downs, and shut down.

Craig: "That was cool! A real in-flight emergency!" etc. And I was worried that he'd be nervous on his first flight. Guess he's a natural.

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