LAST FLIGHT

摘要

During a simulated engine failure, the elderly pilot had trouble selecting a suitable place for an off-field landing. And his situational awareness and airspeed control were marginal. Really, less than marginal. They were substandard. I knew it, and so did he. "The third time's the charm," he said with a mix of feigned optimism and gallows humor after a second botched engine-out glide. But the third attempt was awful, too, and it would have ended downwind, short of our target, in a line of tall trees despite the presence of abundant, flat farm fields in the area we were flying. We'd been airborne for an hour, and it was time to return to the pilot's home field. But even that seemingly routine process was plagued by mistakes and unforced errors. He stumbled with programming his panel-mount GPS, missed a radio call, and errantly reported his position and direction of flight to the tower controller.