+Swordsman422 61 Posted March 30, 2015 I've been attending flight school at an FAR 141 FBO on nights and weekends for the better part of six months. I don't post about it very much because it isn't particularly exciting for anyone but me. But yesterday was definitely a break from the usual. I was having a bad day flying. I'm usually on the ball and pretty good. But yesterday I was behind the plane and just couldn't catch a break. Windy, bumpy weather, and there was a terrible eddy coming off the trees on approach that would cause me to balloon, then dump at the threshold. Not a very good day for a beginner and certainly did nothing for my confidence. The sun was setting on my last circuit through the pattern, and I was hitting all of my altitude cues and actually doing pretty well for a change in the day. I was cleared number one ahead of a medevac Learjet, callsign 6CJ and asked to perform a truncated approach. I was at this point just at the 45 on the downwind and about to make base turn so I gave serious consideration to asking if I could give way to the much faster Learjet. Instead, I just decided to comply with instructions and answered "Short final and cleared for landing runway 7, Skyhawk 507." I curved in the final, quickly ran my GUMPS check, and was a little fast on the approach. Lost my depth perception in the twilight at the threshold and bounced the landing pretty roughly. I rolled out and was given instructions to clear the runway as soon as I could, because 6CJ was right behind me. About fifty yards away from my turn-off there were three deer standing on the runway about midfield. Given that I had not received a wildlife alert, I suspected that the tower was not aware of them, so I immediately told them about it as I taxied clear. My suspicions were confirmed, because the next thing I hear is "6CJ, go around NOW!" And over the puttering of my propeller I hear the Learjet's engines spool to full TOGA as it screams down the runway not fifty feet overhead. They had been just seconds from touching down, and their rollout would have been a good deal longer than mine. Moments later I received some calls of gratitude from the tower and the crew of the Learjet. I dunno if any of you have ever seen a car hit a deer, but an airplane hitting a deer is exponentially more catastrophic. I may not have been able to fly worth a damn yesterday but at least I was in the right place at the right time. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heck 496 Posted March 30, 2015 I admire how clear headed you were in this situation. No matter what opinion you have of your performance flying, you should be very proud of the way you handled yourself. I'm not a pilot myself, but I think you're going to be a good one. You may have saved people's lives. The tower crew and crew of the Lear Jet certainly think so. Good job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nesher 628 Posted March 30, 2015 seems like every bad day has some shining moments... good job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
