of his duties was to be the company pilot. Like any
responsible pilot, he took recurrent training, and this
time I was the instructor. We departed VFR from
Lakefront Airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, climbing to get clear of some low clouds. Around 5,500 feet
we spent a busy hour going through engine-out drills,
finally securing the front engine and feathering the
propeller. My student had done well in knocking the
rust off his emergency procedures, and I was ready to
put him through some work in the traffic pattern.
I looked down and was pleased to see a large hole
in the clouds. I was even more pleased to see Stennis
International Airport at the bottom of the hole, its
unmistakably huge runway beckoning up at us.
“It’s a fine time for an emergency descent,” I said.
“You wind us into a spiral through yon hole, and I’ll
get this engine started.”
He began his descent, and I moved the levers,
flipped the switches, and rotated the valves to get the
front engine ready to go. Everything went fine until I
moved the mag switch into the “start” position. Have
you ever seen an airplane sag? That’s what this one
did. The readings on all of the electrical needles went
down. The electric tachometer for the rear engine
eased on down toward zero. All of those little panel
lights you don’t usually notice grew dim. I let go of the
ignition switch, and the rear tach needle slowly
flopped back up to where it belonged. “It doesn’t seem
to want to crank,” I told my client.
“Oh, heck, the rear alternator’s out. In all the
excitement, I forgot to tell you,” he said.
I peeked around the control column to see the
amber idiot light, glowing its message that the battery
was not getting a charge. I had not seen it, and my student had been too busy to pay it any heed. With the
drills of gear up, gear down; flaps up, flaps down; cowl
flaps open, cowl flaps closed (they are all electrically
actuated in this model), the energy in our battery had
been severely depleted.
AN AIRPORT BELOW
By the time we figured out what had happened, we
were coming out of the hole, about 1,500 feet above
the center of Stennis International Airport.
“Let’s land and get a jump start,” my student said.
“Do you have jumper cables aboard?” I replied.
“Nope.”
“We’re doing just fine holding our altitude on the
back engine. We have the cowl flaps wide open, and this
bird does better on the back one than on the front. If they
don’t have the right kind of equipment down there to
jump us, we’re stuck in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Let’s
take what we’ve got and go home,” I said.
If you use a certain kind of twisted logic, Option B
5600
Patents 6,271,769 B1 & 6,940,425
www.Advanced-Flight-Systems.com Phone:(503) 263-0037
Geo-Referenced ( Sectionals , Approach Plates , IFR Charts , Airport Diagrams )
XM and ADS-B Weather
ADVANCED Pilot Autopilot
AOA
One Pilot’s Solution for Strong
Glare Outside and Dry Air Inside
This month we caught
up with Roger
Johnson,
an experienced
pilot and longtime Claroxan
customer.
Capt. Roger Johnson - Commercial Pilot
Roger Johnson has enjoyed a 25-year
career as a captain with American Airlines. He has logged over 22,000 hours of
;ight time and is type rated in the B-757
and B-767 airframes. Roger is also an
AOPA member. The 57-year-old California resident has been using Claroxan™-
the once daily tablet for vision improvement - for ;ve years, and is thrilled with
the results he has seen. In addition to
Claroxan, he uses Optimis7 eye drops.
Pacific Health recently spoke with Roger,
and he shared his success using Claroxan.
Aviation Medical Exams
I started using Claroxan for peace of
mind. I take my AME every six months
to renew my ;rst class medical and
continue to receive 20/20 on the vision
portion, which astounds my examiner. He asks me how I do it and I say,
“In addition to a healthy lifestyle, I take
Claroxan daily.”
On the Job
I ;y the LAX - HNL (or surrounding islands)
- LAX route. During the entire ;ight out
to Hawaii, I endure “perpetual sunset,”
which can be quite draining on the eyes.
The cabin is kept at 7 humidity during
the ;ight, which is dryer than the Sahara
Desert. Fortunately, I have my Optimis7
eye drops to keep my eyes moist for the
;ight out and less irritated when looking
into the perpetual sunset.
Claroxan also helps when I return to
LAX. I usually arrive right before sunrise, so my night vision has to be keen.
There is heavy traf;c coming into and out
of LAX. So, it is important to be able to
pick up visual traf;c to orient myself for
traf;c pattern entry.
One morning, returning to LAX after the
long ;ight from HNL, I was cleared to
land on runway 7L. On ;nal approach,
I spotted an aircraft on the runway.
It had been cleared for take off, but hadn’t
started moving yet. As an airline pilot, you
always look for options. I could go around,
which would cost the airline unnecessary
gas money and cause an unnecessary
delay. Or, I could execute a sidestep
maneuver and land on 7R.
I advised the tower of the situation and
asked if we could side-step and land on
7R. The controller okayed my suggestion
and we landed safely and earlier than
anticipated. This move saved 1,000 pounds
of fuel and saved the passengers any
undue delays. I have to say that taking
Claroxan helped me pick up that aircraft
on the runway much quicker, giving me
more time to weigh my options and make
a sound decision.
These statements have not been evaluated by
the Food and Drug Administration. This product
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure,
or prevent any disease. Customers in testimonials
have been remunerated.
