Mayday Mayday!

 "Mayday Mayday Cessna 734KU Engine Failure,  Flying 3500 feet, putting it down in field north of Banks, north of highway 26, Request Assistance, 734KU"



 James, on our way to banks, asked me to climb from 2500 ft to 3500 ft for a safe cruise altitude. As he was explaining a few maneuvers that he was going to have me do when we got to banks, he casually reached over and pulls my throttle out..and states "Engine Failure". He told me quickly to find an emergency landing field. I thought it would be okay to just point out a field and say that i would land there.. But nope. From about 3200 ft, we picked a field, and glided the plane all the way to 500 ft, picking an exact spot to land. At first, when he made the announcement, I didn't think much of it, but, when he told me to fly the plane all the way down, it became a little bit more real. Starting with a radio call, we informed everyone around that we had experienced an engine failure, and that we were attempting to put the airplane down in a farmers field.

 " Mayday Mayday Cessna 734 Kilo Uniform,experiencing an engine failure, cruising at 3500 ft, will attempt forced landing in field north of banks requesting assistance, Cessna 734KU"

 Next we moved to passenger briefing.
 " We are experiencing an engine failure. Nothing to worry about, however we may be forced to land.. Please Fasten your seat belts. If we are forced to land, please be aware that the exits are here and here. As we come in to land, the door will be unlatched. When we come to a stop please exit the aircraft as soon as possible. Also the windshield kicks out if there is a big problem.Again, there is nothing to worry about. should be just another landing!"

After we made our radio call, and our passenger briefing, we move to the emergency checklist, where we check things that could have made the engine turn off. Such as bumping the fuel selector, or the mag's,or leaned the mix to much etc. After we have diagnosed the problem, we make an attempt at restarting the engine. If the engine will not restart or you can not diagnose the problem, you move to forced landing.
 Simulating the worst possible situation we made as if we were going to land the airplane in a farmers field.
 As we made our base turn,  I realized that i would have over shot the area that i was intending to land. So it is a good thing that i didn't loose my engine, because it may have been a bumpy landing.
 Practice makes perfect as they say. Hopefully when the time comes if it comes, i wont have any problem putting it down safely.

 Once we had descended, we climbed back to a safe altitude, about 1500 ft msl, and started reviewing ground reference maneuvers. We started with turns around a point, at the turning tree. This time i did much better maintaining altitude. Still a little bit rusty because i only get to fly once in a while, but over all it was much better. We also did some s turns over a strait road out in the same area. This maneuver was a little bit rusty.. I attempted to chase the turn and ended up turning to far to be lined up. But again , practice makes that perfect. I really enjoy practicing these ground reference maneuvers because I feel like it is developing skills that i want to use in my future profession.. Bush flying!


 Worked on some stalls as well, getting some power off stalls in. They were a little bit rusty as well, but Im getting a lot better at flying in general..When we get to altitude I am getting better at leveling off, getting the pitch set, the power, and then the trim. Also being able to control the airplane on the brink of stall. James says that a good pilot is good at controlling the airplane even in super slow flight, on the brink of a stall. So that is what we worked on for a while!

 The last few minutes of the flight was fairly eventful. We flew back towards home field of twin oaks, and made our radio call to let people know that we were entering the pattern on the 45. Responding to our call, was a lady on the cross wind in a Mooney. As we approached the  field, where we would make our turn on to downwind, I noticed a plane directly above us about 500 ft flying in the opposite direction. With out taking a good look at the airplane, we figured it was the lady in the Mooney, that was just overshooting the approach. So we started to make our turn onto the down wind for our approach, to also avoid conflict with that plane. Right as we started our turn to downwind, I looked right out the windshield.. and low and behold a Mooney about the same altitude as us, and flying directly at us! With one swift movement, James took control of the airplane, punched the throttle, and made a climbing left turn to avoid the lady, who apparently did not see us. Apparently the airplane that i had spotted above us, was not the person that had made a radio call.

 After that close call, James made a radio call, to let all other people know we were out of the way in the pattern, and rejoining for the downwind. As we thought back on the situation, both James and I wondered what the other aircraft was doing, and how come he had not made a radio call to let people know he was intersecting the pattern, around pattern altitude! All in all however, we followed the Mooney for a big pattern, to give each of us time to breathe, and made a safe and uneventful landing.

A Mooney Bravo similar to the one that James and I encountered.

 Over all it was yet another amazing flight. With lots of lessons to learn. Both in and out of the lesson plan.

Till next time!

Happy landings