Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal #8
\nAerial Road Rage
\nI\u2019d decided that the next Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal would be concerned with a topic that was related to tailwheel flying. I\u2019d strayed from it a little lately and I felt that my readers expected and deserved articles that stayed on that subject. But then I had this experience and had to get something off my chest.
\nIt was a pretty good soaring day. We\u2019d gotten off tow at about 6,500 and had gradually worked our way up to 8,500 or so. I was flying with a friend who is a pretty good stick. He\u2019d decided to get an added glider rating and had come to Sunriver Soaring for instruction. We were flying the big yellow 2-32 in which I fly rides. He was doing a pretty good job of staying in lift and I was leaving him alone to get comfortable in this relatively new kind of flying. I was happy to be flying with someone who was demonstrating good stick and rudder skills. Then I heard the radio: \u201caircraft at the intersection, this is Cherokee one two three alpha hotel. I\u2019m on final, please don\u2019t enter the runway.\u201d
\nIt wasn\u2019t a terribly unusual call, and I still wasn\u2019t paying much attention to it. I could look down on the Sunriver Airport from my perch and see that the aircraft who was the intended recipient of the call must not have heard it because he entered the runway and was on the roll.
\nThe Cherokee pilot who I had first heard was suddenly deeply offended that someone had ignored his presence (and more importantly his radio calls) and entered the runway ahead of him.
\n\u201cCherokee one two three alpha hotel is going around to avoid that idiot in front of me!\u201d
\nNow, that got my attention. What followed were a few more transmissions berating the NORDO aircraft departing. The Unicom operator got sucked into the conversation. I don\u2019t know why; it wasn\u2019t his problem. But he was someone to whom the Cherokee pilot could complain. After a few more protestations and insults on the part of the Cherokee pilot, I keyed my mic: \u201cGentlemen, let\u2019s discuss this on the ground\u201d. I didn\u2019t identify myself. Transmissions stopped and that was the end of the diatribe.
\nI had been happy in the tranquility of my soaring. The radio had been a necessary interruption to that tranquility. At a reasonable volume I\u2019m used to it and it doesn\u2019t bother me. But that Cherokee pilot had really pissed me off and now I found that I was angry. I wasn\u2019t angry at the \u201cidiot\u201d in that unidentified departing aircraft. He had operated legally without an operating radio at an uncontrolled airport without a lot of traffic. He had made one mistake. He failed to see the approaching Cherokee before he took the runway. Had he looked up-range for traffic? One of my crew at the intersection saw him taxi out and said that he did look both ways. Had he had a radio with the volume turned down so that he thought he had comms? I don\u2019t know. No one heard a transmission. He may have made one mistake that many of us have made and many more will make, but that\u2019s not the point. Safety wasn\u2019t the issue. No one was put in harm\u2019s way. The departing pilot wasn\u2019t the villain. In my opinion that Cherokee pilot was unmistakably
\nthe villain. He made his approach with the other aircraft in sight. With no communications coming from that aircraft, he should have been prepared for a runway incursion. His anger at having to initiate a go around was un-called for. His rudeness and willingness to discuss the perceived slight on the radio was inexcusable. Actually, I think he actually enjoyed this chance to be dramatic, not realizing that he was being a dramatic jerk. His mother and his flight instructor should both be ashamed of him\u2026 or themselves if they allowed that kind of behavior.
\nAviation can bring out the worst in many people. Years ago, the Disney Studio made a driving safety cartoon featuring Goofy (my hero) as a guy who, as \u201cMr. Walker\u201d, is mild mannered, kind and sweet. But when he gets in his car he becomes \u201cMr. Wheeler\u201d, an angry misanthropic individual who hollers at everyone in his way and is the archetypical source of \u201croad rage\u201d. Many pilots become \u201cMr. Wheeler\u201d when in an aircraft. They feel that they are incredibly important because they fly (they probably wear large watches). They feel that anyone who doesn\u2019t follow the rules that they learned is incompetent. The flying world is full of them. They are fools.
\nDon\u2019t expect other pilots to cooperate with your planned flight. You can\u2019t change their operations whether or not they are ill-advised. But you CAN alter YOUR behavior and the way you handle unexpected situations. A go around is not an emergency and someone \u201ccutting you off\u201d is not a slap in the face. Go around if you must. Prepare for the unexpected situations that can arise and pride yourself on the ability to do so with skill and equanimity. If you can\u2019t alter your plan without getting upset about it, perhaps you should pursue a different method of transportation. That Cherokee pilot may have thought the other pilot was an \u201cidiot\u201d, but in my opinion that Cherokee might as well have been towing a banner that said \u201cIDIOT\u201d with an arrow pointing at the plane towing it. He probably dines with his hat on, too.
\nI promise that the next issue will deal with tailwheel flying.
\nHappy Swooping,
\nBrian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal #8 Aerial Road Rage I\u2019d decided that the next Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal would be concerned with a topic that was related to tailwheel flying. I\u2019d strayed from it a little lately and I felt that my readers expected and deserved articles that stayed on that subject. But then I had this experience and had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}