Lifesavers
in the Cockpit
Pocket carbon monoxide detector
AS A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR, I’d hate to have someone die because of
something I didn’t teach him or her. It’s rare that anyone tells you,
“You saved my life,” but I heard those words recently from a friend.
She was the copilot in a King Air on a charter flight returning
to the San Francisco Bay area at 1: 30 a.m. The captain wasn’t
familiar with our area. As they were being vectored among the
pitch-black hills for the localizer approach into the Hayward airport, she remembered a comment I made at a night flying
seminar–that more than 50 percent of fatal accidents in our area
occur at night, probably because of the dark hills and frequent
low clouds and fog. The advice I gave—which my friend said
saved her life—was that if pilots were ever in doubt about their
position in our area, they should climb to 4,500 feet, to clear the
highest terrain.
My friend told the captain he needed to
call the controller now about their turn
onto the localizer or to start an immediate
climb. The captain called the controller,
who initially responded with confusion—
but then he ordered an immediate climb.
Later, he apologized to the crew. Another
Part 135 crew didn’t fare so well; in 1995 a
controller vectored them at night into the
side of the same hills.
THE SILENT KILLER
Not all lifesaving events are as dramatic. Some
dangers lurk so far below the radar that pilots
