My flight to Orcas Island started in beautiful, cloudless weather. The weather reports for Orcas were clear. While flying at 10,000 feet with the 7,900 foot mountain tops of the Olympic Mountains just to my west, and with Seattle to my east, a solid cloud-bank had developed below me visible in the facebook video.
As I began flying over clouds I was relying on my flight instruments to navigate. One after another my avionics began dimming, and then failing. The voltage indicator showed a zero charge now, I was losing my electronics!
I could only hear the air traffic controller on my radio at this point, he could not hear me. He continued to call for me, each attempt sounding more stressed than the last. If an air traffic controller loses radio contact and radar with an airplane that can mean the plane has lost electronics, or is down.
I didn’t know what was happening to cause the electronic shutdown but was concerned that the problem might be spreading to the engine as well. Trying to keep calm, I surveyed my options:
- I could attempt to fly to an airport below me, but with no electronic instruments working to guide me through the clouds, this was a terrible option.
- Orcas Island’s East Sound airport (my original destination) was not quite visible 38 miles over the water. If I lost my engine and survived the water landing the fifty-something degree water temperature would cause hypothermia and loss of dexterity in about fifteen minutes…maybe I’d last an hour. Another terrible option.
- Finally a closer airport became visible on Friday Harbor. Still over open water, but only 25 miles away. That would be my choice as long as I still had the engine pulling me along.
After the longest 10 minutes of my life, I arrived over the top of Friday Harbor airport. I began circling down from 10,000 ft looking out for aircraft below. Two planes took off or landed below me not knowing I was above them. I couldn’t contact them without a radio, nor was there a tower there where a traffic controller might see me and contact the other pilots.
Upon landing safely at the airport a security vehicle with flashing lights drove up to my plane with a cell phone; the air traffic controller had been calling nearby airports looking for me. We were both relieved the ordeal was over.
The Moral of the Story
As the stock market, bond market, and real estate soar to new heights, it’s important not to forget that any one financial system can fail at any time. When this happens the choices you made and the actions you take will determine if you’re safe or wet.
Our mission is to help our clients prepare for stressful situations, and when they inevitably come, whether it’s BREXIT or the great recession, to help them stay calm and survey their options. Our fifteen years in the business won’t eliminate all risks, but it’s experience you can use to navigate the next challenging times.
Fly safely,
Bruce Porter
