Listening to someone in trouble

[benyflyguy]

Took my brother and kid down to W05 Gettysburg pa today and dropped them off. Was on IFR flight plan as there was a layer getting out and once up another layer to get back down. Just crossing KMDT hear a pilot frantically calling out on Potomac approach. Was in the clouds now above them and can’t see airport, needs help. Apparently was a student doing T&G at Frederick and just popped above the layer. At W05 the layer was just at/below patter altitude burning off.
Controllers were great. They found a place for him to go safely where it was clear and wait it out.

That’s the first time I really heard someone on the frequency really freaking out a bit.

 

[kaiser]

A few months back I was landing KPWK on a long final to 16 when a departing aircraft declared citing (IIRC) runaway trim. Tower cleared them any runway and we got a couple of 360s on final. The pilot didn’t seem to be freaking out, but he was definitely focused more on the problem than on comms. All landed uneventfully.

 

[flyingron]

A couple of years ago I heard a pilot freaking out on 121.5 demanding a place with less turbulence. While it was bouncy where I was (not far from him), it wasn't of the metal bending level.

In 2006, I was heading home from Oshkosh. As is typical for us, we had called Gary tower to transit their class D after flying down the Chicago lakeshore. I was probably about ten miles beyond but still had GYY tuned when I heard the Legend cub report they were going down in Lake Michigan. Fortunately, there was a Mooney closer to them that circled the area. One of the two aboard didn't make it out.

I've heard FSS give directional advice to lost pilots.

Of course, I made the report to Roanoake Approach that I had a complete engine failure and was going down in a field south of Lynchburg.

 

[frfly172]

I’ve heard controllers get people out of trouble several times. They are very good at getting airplanes to VFR airports.

 

[mandm]

Usually the comms are pretty light from what I’ve observed.

I was in flight heading to Rockford (KRFD) when the airport suddenly closed due to a king air crash.

I was in flight in northeast Florida when a commercial airline penetrated a thunderstorm cell with extreme turbulence and reported the incident to ATC and that everyone was ok.

I think once in Chicago area I heard a report of loss of thrust and that was about it.

 

[IK04]

Back in the '70s, I was on an ILS into SJC when there was a PA-32 Cherokee Six on the frequency who had gotten lost above a cloud layer. I had seen him a few minutes earlier and had a good idea where he was. I called approach and broke off the approach and flew VFR to where I guessed he was. He saw me and followed me back to South County (Now called San Martin, E16) and he landed there. I continued back VFR to KRHV and never heard a word about it after then.

 

[MauleSkinner]

I heard a Baron report a midair once…the version I heard later is that he collided with a student in a 152 who was practicing steep turns and broke off when he saw the Baron. I don’t recall what damage was done to the Baron, but supposedly the aileron was scraped off the back of the Cessna wing.

I also had a controller ask if I was the guy who helped them out the previous week. I said no, that it would have been the chief pilot, and asked what happened. He said he probably shouldn’t say on the radio, because “there might have been some rules broken.” Turns out an Archer had a vacuum failure, thought all of his instruments had failed, and the chief pilot found a way to get him below the clouds and led him to an airport.

 

[eman1200]

every second I engage the PTT I sound like I’m in trouble.

 

[chemgeek]

Kudos to the distressed pilot for calling ATC for assistance promptly enough to assure a happy outcome. We had a renter take a C152 on a day trip to BGM, about a 30 minute flight from the home drome. On the return trip, the pilot flew north for more than an hour until fuel was nearly exhausted over the Adirondacks before contacting ATC. (I guess they missed prominent landmarks like the windmill farms, Oneida Lake, the NY State Thruway, or Lake Ontario.) Apparently, they also didn't know how to locate where they were (pre-GPS), so it took a while for ATC to locate them when they finally called. Ultimately, fuel was exhausted before they could get to an airport and they made a forced landing in the deep woods, a couple of hours by foot from civilization. Remarkably, the occupants were relatively unharmed, but the plane is still up there in the woods. Too bad, it was a nice plane, the one my wife and I did my primary training in.

 

[Piperonca]

The only maydays I have heard were either outcome undetermined (1) or fatal. One of them, early 1970, I was nearby on a routine mission in a UH-1. Headed back to Chu Lai about 30 miles out, heard a very brief and loud mayday call then silence. Puzzling about that, all of a sudden I noticed smoke rising in the distance. I was headed in the right direction so continued straight toward it. Passing high overhead about 2000 feet I see a Chinook on the ground pouring smoke. This was a hostile area, so I immediately laid the Huey over on its side and into a very tight vertical spiral, taking care to monitor rotor rpm so as to not overspeed. You can get a very high rate of descent doing that if you're careful. Rolled out, flared way up to kill airspeed, then fast hovered over about a hundred meters to the aircraft and all of a sudden realized there was no intact aircraft. What I had seen from overhead was the rectangle of the fuselage, but at ground level I was shocked to see there was no part of it over three feet high. The rotor blades had come off, and the aircraft impacted flat from altitude. I gave the controls to the copilot, jumped out and ran over to the cockpit area. It was ugly, and all life had departed. So I jumped back in the Huey and climbed backed up to report the accident and to get a team out to secure the wreck. Another day in the AO, another set of names on The Wall.