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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 08:10:31 -0600
From: Snowbird <snbird@ibm.net>
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Subject: Re: What could he have done different
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> On 22 Nov 1998 00:16:59 GMT, "Logic Theorist"
> <logictheorist@yahoo.com> wrote: 
> >The following is a preliminary report from the NTSB about a student 
> >pilot who became lost and ran out of fuel. I put this up for open 
> >discussion to see what ideas people could come up with. Take a shot 
> >at what you think might be something you could/would have done 
> >different. 

A number of people have had very good responses, but as far
as getting "un-lost" many depend upon a working radio including
the "3 Cs".  Can't confess or comply if you can't talk to anyone!

I would like to share an exercise my first CFI did with me very
early in my training.  A bit of background first, I started to fly
as a "pinch hitter" from the right seat, to get more comfortable
as a passenger and to know how to handle the plane if my husband
was incorrect about Chantarelle nature of the mushrooms he just ate. 
So my CFI was trying to pack as much useful info into as little time
as he could.

But I think it would be a useful exercise for anyone.

We took off and were maneuvering for some time, doing slow flight,
MCA, and stalls.  I think it was my second lesson.  I really had
only the vaguest idea where we were.  Then my CFI instructed me
to fly to an airport I'd never been to, to practice landing.

>From flying with my husband, I knew how to use VORs to locate
my position.  I reached for the nav radio.

He shut it off.

OK, I have a chart, I know which direction I flew from my home airport,
I will look at the chart.

He grabbed the chart and tossed it into the back of the plane.

Then while I sat there hyperventilating, he suggested I try flying
in a gentle circle and think about where I was.  Which direction
had we flown from the airport?  West.  Is there a major landmark
near the airport he wanted me to fly to?  Well, that town is along
the river off to the west.  Which direction is the river from our
departure airport?  South.  The light dawns, I'll fly south, hit the
river, then fly west along the river, that should get me to this
unfamiliar airport.  It worked.

Now not every airport has a river next to it, but most have some
major landmarks.

I feel this was a very helpful exercise because it taught me,
right from the start, to slow down, use my head, and keep the
Big Picture in mind.  Now when I'm planning a flight, I always
ask first "what is the Big Picture?", what major landmarks 
bracket my intended route of flight?   Pride goeth and all that
but I really feel I could figure out something to do even without
a chart, and if you give me a chart I feel amply equipped.

Now if the student who ran out of fuel had a radio malfunction,
he couldn't ask for help.  But if he'd been taught to keep the
Big Picture in mind, perhaps he could have found himself at least
enough to follow some major landmark until he recognized something
on the chart and could locate an airport.  I've only flown in that
area once, but as I recall West Palm Beach is near the ocean and
Tamiami-Kendall is a pretty easy airport to find from the air.

I guess one other comment, it sounds as though the student flew
until he ran out of fuel then took whatever landing site he could
get.  Perhaps it might have been better to choose the best landing
site he could find, and make a precautionary landing with fuel
still in the tanks.

Snowbird

