RV 10 N783V My 1st Emergency HD 720p
3,113,795
Published 2021-03-26
I've decided to turn on the "comments" section so that others in the pilot community can learn from each others insights and comments. PLEASE be gentle on me! In the comfort of my home today, it's very clear how many bad decisions were made. I promise you, in the moment, it simply wasn't that clear. I made some stupid decisions that began to build as time went on. It's as simple as that.
UPDATED...... Here are some answers to additional questions raised by others...
1) Q. Why didn't I just file IFR to begin with? A. The weather on this leg of the trip looked "fine". 7,000' AGL ceilings in Farmington NM and 6,500' ceilings in Page AZ. Weather at both ends, and my last 2 hours of flight, showed that I had plenty of ceiling for a safe VFR flight. Since I was flying over Monument Valley and all its beauty, I wanted the ability to go lower and circle if I wanted. But, here's where the problem arose, there are no weather stations between those two points of my flight. This is a very remote part of the US. There is 168 NM distance between those two points with no reported weather. I had no way of knowing in advance that the clouds just after Monument Valley would erode to just below 1,000' AGL. It simply happened, but without weather reports in that area, I was not able to "plan" for it. Not saying filing IFR every time isn't a good practice. Just sharing insights on why I didn't on this particular trip.
2) Q. Why didn't you use your auto-pilot more? A. GREAT question!! I should have! But, what doesn't show well in the video (due to stabilization technology of the camera) is the turbulence I encountered. Just before entering IMC, my AP had begun to porpoise (oscillate up and down). That has happened before on rare occasions, and when it does, I simply disengage the AP, steady the plane, then reset AP. I did use the AP for much of the video, but when airspeed went to zero and stall warning kicked in, I THOUGHT I had lost my AP. I have learned since then that the AP was still working!!! When the AOA stall warning alarm went off I felt a sudden and strong pitch up of the plane. This was the anti-stall feature of the autopilot kicking off, not the AP shutting down. Garmin AP servos will pitch the plane downward if they sense and impending stall. That's what it did when I was losing airspeed. When the IAS gets below 30 KIAS, it kicks off. So, what I felt was not the AP kicking off, but the impending stall limiter kicking off (that's why it pitched up). When I took the control stick in my hand, I hit the disengage button because I didn't think it mattered at that point. The AP was off in my mind already. That's why I was "hand flying" during the worst part of this emergency.
3) Q. For an IFR rated pilot, why was this such a big deal? A. Two things to understand. One, you are seeing my piloting skills during the 15 minutes of me at my very worst. What you don't see are the 1,100 hours of safe, competent flying under my belt. 191 of those hours in IMC conditions with no previous safety concerns. This video illustrates what can happen to someone when they encounter IMC they don't plan for! It was like someone slipped me the "stupid pill" and sucked very ounce competency out of my brain! That's point of posting this. Don't let it happen to you!
Second thing to understand, I'm sure professional pilots (military and commercial) would not have panicked or had their brains shut down like mine. They are pros, with many more hours of experience and with the ability to practice such emergencies in multi-million dollar simulators! I don't have access to that level of training, or the ability to fly as much. I'm not a "pro", I'm an average amature that simply enjoys flying. I will never be as good as the pros. Just like I'll never shoot a 66 on the golf course (even though the pros can), I will never be as good or practiced as a "pro" pilot. This video is for the amature, "average" pilot to learn a valuable lesson from, TURN AROUND!!!
All Comments (21)
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You’ll never know how many pilots you helped by sharing this experience.
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I am not a pilot, but common sense tells me that you posting this video was probably one of the greatest services to aviation you will perform in your lifetime. Well done.
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My favorite part of this is ATC: "Thats our job"... these guys and gals are awesome. Don't think they realize how much comfort they bring in these situations.
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As a current FOQA analyst, I think admitting an error and learning from it is the most important figure for a pilot. Keep learning and keep flying!
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13:25 - "I'm sorry for all the trouble". "783-Victor, that's our job". Never ever forget that, and never ever be too proud or ashamed to call for help. Beats the heck out of the alternative every time.
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Ex airline pilot captain here. The humility you showed is not a bad thing. It’s showing you’re still willing to learn and not complacent. As long as you’re willing to learn from your mistakes, it’s ok. You stayed calm and flew the plane. Good job getting in there safe.
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1. Aviate, navigate, and communicate in that order. 2. I have over 11,000hrs as a major airline pilot, more than 2/3 as captain, but on my full IFR twin Cessna I only fly Day/VFR. 3. Never say you’re nervous, this guy was scared s#itless, but sounded and acted cool. Congratulations, you won the biggest award in aviation (the coveted ‘Continue to Breathe’ prize).
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as a private pilot, I felt everything you felt. My heart was in my throat the entire time! Being in IMC and losing an instrument would make me wanna cry. Great job!
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To be honest though, I don't think you should be embarrassed. You made an error, remained calm, flew your plane and in the end you prevailed.
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Airline pilot here. I give you kudos for making this video to help other pilots. We used to do this in the military, telling our colleagues how we screwed something up so they could share in the learning. At first it felt like hazing, but I quickly realized it's not. It's how a group of people doing something dangerous learns most effectively. One day, a pilot will remember this video and turn around. And they'll have you to thank for showing them what can happen if you push it.
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stumbled upon this again while I'm in the middle of my IFR training. Thank you for posting this.
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I don't fly but I'm an aviation nerd and I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to be disoriented and feel like you're behind the airplane. It takes courage and humility to admit something like this to the world, and I commend you for helping others see just how quickly things can go badly. Glad you're safe.
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As a professional pilot I just want to say that this makes you an outstanding aviator. Posting this “embarrassing” mishap to let the others learn about the mistakes we all make everyday means a lot. Fly safe!!
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"783 Victor, that's our job" Best line of the whole video.
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OMG how beautiful this is! I'm a student pilot and almost everything described in the books regarding VFR into IMC happend here. Thank you so much for the video. Also the unintended banking was impressive as you are always told this happens if you don't watch the instruments closely because your body tells u a false story. And the best thing is when the stall horn goes off and this shows how a chain of errors develops and from one second to another your mind gets crushed - man, this could have ended bad for a beginner or untrained pilot! Great job flying, and thank god everything worked out that well. This was the best lesson you can get on that topic. Thanks for sharing, every student pilot should see this!
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I am captain on a heavy. I take my hat off to you for sharing this. At first it is easy to think «no big deal». But I am in the simulator training these things all the time. Yes, you were overloaded. Yes, you lost focus on you horizon there for a minute. But you regained control. And at the end you even had capacity to switch the pito heat on. It is so good of you to share this. We all do mistakes. Learning from them is so valuable.
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I am a 40 thousand hours pilot . Flown on most of everything from Jcubs to B747-8 and I salute you for your airmanship and your candid exposure to the public. You see, many pilots would feel very ashamed for exposing their mistakes but you did not and by doing so , you are contributing greatly to aviation safety and your video will probably save several lives in the future. Once again, thank you , you made me and others a better pilot.
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If this keeps even one pilot alive, then the benefit was greater than the cost of a bruised ego. Thanks for swallowing your pride, and sharing with the community.
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Thanks for posting! It takes balls to go public with silly mistakes but you’ve helped thousands of people like myself who are learning. We’re all human, best we can do is live and learn!
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I am a pilot currently going for my IFR rating. I (and I’m sure along with everyone else) appreciate you sharing your mistakes made in this video. It’s a real eye opener especially to me on what to do and what not to do in this kind of situation and how stressful things can become in the blink of an eye. Everyone (indulging myself at times) think, it won’t happen to me (or I can handle that situation better) but this goes to show that’s not the case and how important being persistent with training/studying is. Again, I thank you for sharing your mistakes and explaining everything that happened.
