“I Land Now”
One day in Vietnam I was leading a flight of twelve aircraft from our home base to the base of operations for the day. It was a mixed flight with six Cobras, three scout aircraft and three Huey aircraft. While flying to our location we flew in a very loose formation with the aircraft separated by quite a bit of space. When we were getting close to our destination we closed up into a close formation for landing. We got closer together so we would not take a lot of time landing and would not interfere with other traffic that might want to land or take off.
When flights of aircraft fly close together they give up some of their maneuverability. Turns are made much more slowly and carefully. The approach is made more gradually especially when there is a mix of different kinds of aircraft with varying performance capabilities. Maneuvering a flight takes more space and planning than flying a single aircraft.
As we were getting into the vicinity of the base where we were to land, I made a radio call to announce our intentions of landing. I made the radio call so that other aircraft that were around the base would know where our flight was and what we planned on doing so they could plan their actions and watch for us. There was no tower to control the traffic at this base so everyone was expected to listen to the radio, announce his or her intentions, and then to work together to have a safe flow of traffic.
Our flight entered the traffic pattern where we were supposed to be and made a second call informing anyone listening that we were doing so. We were making the traffic pattern fairly large because we were in a formation. A third radio call was made when we turned the corner for the next leg of the traffic pattern.
As we were making our turn to final, lining up with the runway for landing, a Vietnamese voice came on the radio and said, “I land now.” He didn’t say what he was flying, where he was landing, which way he was coming from, and which direction he was landing. He should have included all of that information. It could be that he was on the wrong frequency and was landing someplace else or he could be landing at the same place we were. If that was so we needed to know where he was so we didn’t run into him.
I told my copilot to look for him and see if he saw any aircraft out there. At the same time I made a radio call and asked, “Where are you landing?” The radio call brought no response. The copilot said he didn’t see anyone. I asked again, “Where are you landing?” This time he responded and said, “I land now!” That wasn’t much help.
Then my copilot yelled that there was a fixed wing (airplane) straight ahead! We were landing “into” the wind like everyone is supposed to do and he was on final landing down wind. We were on a collision course for the runway and he was flying a C-123, a good -sized cargo plane.
This time my radio call was, “C-123 landing at Zwan Loc, you are landing downwind! Go around! Go around, there is a flight of twelve helicopters landing straight in front of you!” His response, “I land now!” He had no intentions of following proper landing procedures. He didn’t care about other traffic. He was just going to do what he wanted to do. We had no choice but to make a hard left turn with the entire flight to keep from being killed! And hard turns are not what you want to be doing when in a good-sized formation flight.
While we were going around and getting set up for another approach the C-123 landed and dropped off a couple of people and went back out the way he had come. He did say, “I takeoff now!” That was it. We stayed out of his way as he left. There were many unkind things said about him but the best thing to do was to let him go. Any one of the six Cobras could have moved one weapon switch and pressed a button and he would have been history! We weren’t supposed to shoot him and we didn’t but, he just about killed us.
There are lots of folks like the C-123 pilot. They think the universe orbits around them and they are the only ones that matter. We see these folks on the highways, in the supermarkets and about everywhere else in life. Many of them don’t even care if they put others out of their way, or even worse put them at risk, as long as they have their way. Their minds only work in an “I land now” mentality. In almost all situations it’s best to just let them go about their “road hog” way. Hopefully some day they will “wise-up” before they seriously hurt someone. In the meantime the rest of just have to watch out for them! They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!
When flights of aircraft fly close together they give up some of their maneuverability. Turns are made much more slowly and carefully. The approach is made more gradually especially when there is a mix of different kinds of aircraft with varying performance capabilities. Maneuvering a flight takes more space and planning than flying a single aircraft.
As we were getting into the vicinity of the base where we were to land, I made a radio call to announce our intentions of landing. I made the radio call so that other aircraft that were around the base would know where our flight was and what we planned on doing so they could plan their actions and watch for us. There was no tower to control the traffic at this base so everyone was expected to listen to the radio, announce his or her intentions, and then to work together to have a safe flow of traffic.
Our flight entered the traffic pattern where we were supposed to be and made a second call informing anyone listening that we were doing so. We were making the traffic pattern fairly large because we were in a formation. A third radio call was made when we turned the corner for the next leg of the traffic pattern.
As we were making our turn to final, lining up with the runway for landing, a Vietnamese voice came on the radio and said, “I land now.” He didn’t say what he was flying, where he was landing, which way he was coming from, and which direction he was landing. He should have included all of that information. It could be that he was on the wrong frequency and was landing someplace else or he could be landing at the same place we were. If that was so we needed to know where he was so we didn’t run into him.
I told my copilot to look for him and see if he saw any aircraft out there. At the same time I made a radio call and asked, “Where are you landing?” The radio call brought no response. The copilot said he didn’t see anyone. I asked again, “Where are you landing?” This time he responded and said, “I land now!” That wasn’t much help.
Then my copilot yelled that there was a fixed wing (airplane) straight ahead! We were landing “into” the wind like everyone is supposed to do and he was on final landing down wind. We were on a collision course for the runway and he was flying a C-123, a good -sized cargo plane.
This time my radio call was, “C-123 landing at Zwan Loc, you are landing downwind! Go around! Go around, there is a flight of twelve helicopters landing straight in front of you!” His response, “I land now!” He had no intentions of following proper landing procedures. He didn’t care about other traffic. He was just going to do what he wanted to do. We had no choice but to make a hard left turn with the entire flight to keep from being killed! And hard turns are not what you want to be doing when in a good-sized formation flight.
While we were going around and getting set up for another approach the C-123 landed and dropped off a couple of people and went back out the way he had come. He did say, “I takeoff now!” That was it. We stayed out of his way as he left. There were many unkind things said about him but the best thing to do was to let him go. Any one of the six Cobras could have moved one weapon switch and pressed a button and he would have been history! We weren’t supposed to shoot him and we didn’t but, he just about killed us.
There are lots of folks like the C-123 pilot. They think the universe orbits around them and they are the only ones that matter. We see these folks on the highways, in the supermarkets and about everywhere else in life. Many of them don’t even care if they put others out of their way, or even worse put them at risk, as long as they have their way. Their minds only work in an “I land now” mentality. In almost all situations it’s best to just let them go about their “road hog” way. Hopefully some day they will “wise-up” before they seriously hurt someone. In the meantime the rest of just have to watch out for them! They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!
posted by Bruce | 9:05 AM
1 Comments:
Some of those types finish their lives with these three words..."I crash now."
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