Merimbula airport, on the south coast of New South Wales, is a pleasant place to fly from with the beautiful Sapphire Coast with its crystal clear waters and the Snowy Mountains not far to the west. However, I was caught out there one day very quickly and in a most unexpected way. If it had been another less experienced pilot in a less powerful aircraft they would surely have ended up in the water, seriously injured or even killed.
I had been operating in the Eden hinterland from Goulburn assisting local historians with the search for some American army P-40 Kittyhawk fighters that had been lost in the area in 1942. Four young US pilots with little experience in the fighter type or local geography had flown down from Canberra and been lost in bad weather. Two crashed, one flew to safety near Cooma and the fourth had landed on a local beach. While we knew we wouldn't see the wreckage from the skies it was the terrain that we would walk through that we were interested in.
My background in flying faithful old Cessna aircraft had begun thirty years earlier in Papua New Guinea and the aircraft on the day in question was a 182 model, old in years but young in hours. With one on board and lightly laden with half tanks of fuel the old girl could lift her skirts and make short work of most situations, as pilots who fly this model so well know.
The approach to Merimbula's on the 03 runway can be a bit tricky. There are a few small mountains and high ground to the south and in a wide circuit they can throw you out in lining up on base and final. A steeper approach with more flaps or a long low approach can help solve the problem. An approach from the north means coming in over Merimbula town itself. Departures to the north are for right hand turns only to keep clear of the town.
My approach on this day was for 03 and possibly a little slow and low because of the previously mentioned high terrain. I was dodging around it. All was proceeding well with a light northerly wind and good, comfortable approach.
Suddenly, as I was over the lake on short finals, "whack". I was hit by a gale force wind from the north east. You could feel the 182 rock and slow as the solid wall of air slammed into us. The earlier calm waters below were now black and wind whipped. Just like my old sailing days when wind could be detected by the colour of the approaching waters, only this time I had missed the vital water signs.
The plane already slowed, began to sink. Oh joy to be in a 182 with that extra power and constant speed propeller. A 172 or 150 just wouldn't have had the poke to tackle this problem. Everything full forward with the propeller and engine responding instantly. A satisfying surge of full power, being close to sea level, with the sink arrested but in a no climb situation.
The instant gale force winds I had encountered were also creating some sort of down draft situation that made a climb impossible. All I could do was hold the nose level, or in a slight descent, and keep up the airspeed and not allow it to bleed off. To nose up or attempt a turn, I felt, would have been fatal. The registered airspeed was just too slow.
That grand old 182 stayed airborne as these aircraft, especially the early models, have a superb low speed performance. We powered on low across that lake with my breath held and the piano keys creeping closer and closer. Made it, a little reduction in power and we virtually flew on to the end of that airfield, like landing on an aircraft carrier. We must have made one of the world's shortest short field landings.
It was only when I started to move towards the parking area that I realised the full extent of the mini gale force winds that had struck us. The wings rocking and amount of power required just to taxi in confirmed its force. It had been a close shave with the peace and relative tranquillity of beautiful Merimbula now able to greet me. Good instructors at Goulburn in past years, who had trained me well, and the magic of the Cessna 182 design had saved the day.
Postscript: As regard the American P-40 Kittyhawks mentioned, wreckage from two was eventually located and parts are sometimes on display at the Eden Killer Whale Museum. The amazing story of their loss in a 1942 storm might be a future article for this magazine. (Research courtesy - Military and Aviation Research Services, Canberra).
Read
This... It could save your life!
What
would you do if you have a heart attack while flying?
The Johnson City, Tennessee Medical Centre staff actually
discovered this technique and performed an in-depth study
on it in their ICU. The two individuals who discovered
this then wrote an article on it, had it published and
have had it incorporated into ACLS and CPR classes. It
is true and has and does work. It is called cough CPR.
Cardiologists says it’s the truth. If everyone who
reads this tells it to 10 people, you can bet that we’ll
save at least one life.
Let’s say it’s 6:15 p.m., and you’re
driving home (alone of course) after an usually hard day
on the job. You’re really tired, upset and frustrated.
Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest
that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your
jaw. You are only about fi ve miles from the hospital
nearest your home. Unfortunately you don’t know
if you’ll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You’ve been trained in CPR but
the guy that taught the course, didn’t tell you
what to do if it happened to yourself. In the air this
could get you to the nearest airport, saving the lives
of your passengers. Since many people are alone when they
suffer a heart attack, this article is to be studied.
Without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly
and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds
left before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing
repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be
taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and
prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the
chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about very
two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until
the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing
movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating.
The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain
normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get
to a hospital. Tell as many other people as possible about
this, it could save their lives!
“AND THE BEAT GOES ON !”
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