5 for 5 and still alive

It was a clear and a million summer day in Kansas. I arrived at my destination from the south and joined the left downwind for the 1,655 foot grass runway at Concordia’s Blosser Municipal airport. I had picked the grass runway because we are in a Kodiak after all! I called my pattern entry over the CTAF and set flaps to 10* while looking over my left shoulder at the freshly mowed green carpet rolled out for us below, beckoning a welcome. I’m at the perfect distance for a the downwind leg. I reduce a touch of power and speed is decreasing now through 100 knots. Time to turn base. I set flaps to 20* once established level. I reduce some more power. We’re at 85 knots. The base leg is the decision leg for your approach path... It looks good or it doesn’t. My sight picture for this visual approach is good so I continue into final and set my flaps at full, 35*. Final approach speed today is 70 knots for my arrival weight. There are some trees and a home on final, so once clear of those obstacles I make my final slow power reduction to idle, reaching idle right as I’m level with the horizon now over the field. The remaining speed bleeds off quickly as I add back pressure Into a flare; and now, touchdown. A textbook full stall landing and there’s almost no need for brakes as I roll to the end and over the intersecting paved runway. “I could have done it with half that runway!” I think as I taxi up to the ramp and shutdown the engine.

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The FAA has identified 5 Hazardous attitudes often found at the root of accidents attributed to pilot decision making. When stated simply, these attitudes have their root in complacency; the characteristic of being self-satisfied with the circumstances even when unaware of potential dangers. These 5 attitudes are Anti-authority, Impulsivity, Invulnerability, Macho, and Resignation. I am going to share the full story of that day in Concordia when I exhibited each one of them in some way and made it through to write this today.

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That morning before leaving for Concordia I walked into the customer lounge of our flight department and met two gentlemen who were to be my passengers. For flights within 250 miles, the Kodiak was the aircraft of choice. One of the first things a passenger said to me was “Those Kodiaks are good for landing on grass aren’t they? I think it would be cool to see that.” This question was no surprise because the other aircraft used in our flight operation were the Cessna Conquest 1 and 2,legacy twin turboprops from the 80’s which are not ever found on grass. Therefore being in the Kodiak was a bit of a marvel for them today. We would be quite light with only 3 onboard, and not excessively fueled for the short trip each way. Therefore, knowing our destination had a grass runway next to the primary paved runway of 4,000 feet I made the decision right then to show off the Kodiak’s capability to my passengers. Macho.

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The Kodiak 100 is a very capable aircraft, but a Pilot in command must not let capability become a trap. This is my most important advice when talking about Kodiak flying, because it’s such a remarkable flyer when it comes to what it can do. Complacency can set in when a pilot gets overly comfortable and foolishly confident in a capable aircraft.

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The 115 nautical mile trip across northern Kansas passed quickly, only taking about 45 minutes. A green and tan checkered pattern of fields and shallow hills floated by underneath. In fact it reminded me of a slightly rumpled quilt spread across a wide bed. The turquoise blue sky is above me with perfectly spaced fair weather cumulous clouds.

I call this a “Toy Story” sky, inspired by recognition from the Pixar movie I saw as a child.

The clouds are just like those depicted on the wallpaper in the main character Andy’s room. Isn’t that where the love of flight starts with each of us—as a child with possibilities endless, playing with small airplane toys and envisioning soaring through the sky above amongst the clouds?

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During my day in Concordia it grew to be an uncharacteristically warm day at 100F, or about 38C. This temperature was a full 10F warmer than the climatological average for a June day. Excessive heat steals performance from engines, propellers, and wings alike as the air is less dense. I had checked all runway lengths against the performance charts of the aircraft and knew I was capable of departing from any legal surface that day. But had I thought about margins of safety? It is my duty as a commercial pilot to operate with safe margins. I objectively followed the letter of the law, but how about the spirit of the law? Anti-authority.

At the end of our time in Concordia I loaded up my two passengers, started the engine, and taxied out to the edge of the ramp and thought for myself “Why not head for the grass again?”— There was no need to use it, I’d already given a good show to the passengers on the way in and the grass runway was a longer taxi trip than the paved 4,000 foot runway directly in front of me.— “I’m in a Kodiak after all!” So over to the grass I went once again without putting much practical thought into it.Impulsivity.

Once making the full back-taxi down the grass runway to the appropriate takeoff direction for the 12-15 knots of wind, I made consolations that when added up further effected my ground roll. In my back taxi I turned around early at the end and left about100 feet behind me, and I did not make a static full power takeoff and instead chose to roll down the runway as I made the power increase to full. These two choices are not in line with basic takeoff procedures taught at the initial level of pilot training for a short runway. It seemed fine to me because I was in a very light configuration that day, and “I’m in a Kodiak after all!”. Invulnerability.

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I applied takeoff power and held nose up pressure on the yokefor soft field technique. In just a few moments the nose wheel is off and we are rolling along on the mains gaining takeoff speed. A moment passes and I feel like things are moving in slow motion. This was the day I recognized all to well what using most of the runway looked like. I’d never done that before. I knew the numbers worked, but I hadn’t actually sit and thought about what using so much runway would look like and feel like. For the record, I don’t recommend ever being surprised by how much runway you are using while using said runway.

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I did not abort the takeoff as I had decided to commit while realizing it would take way more runway than I was comfortable with. Resignation. When we lifted off and the ground started getting further below I was disappointed in myself and what I had allowed to happen that day. I am a pilot who would otherwise pride myself on operating with margin available. And that day there was very little to speak of because of my rushing to get home and all of the hazardous attitudes I was toying with.

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I am far from a perfect pilot. I have at times learned lessons while making decisions similar to others who were not able to write about them after. A saying many hear in flight training is that you start with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. You must fill the bag of experience while occasionally paying out from the bag of luck due to poor choices. An ideal aviation career ends happily in retirement with experience bag full and some luck remaining in the other bag; many before us ran out of luck while still building experience. I don’t know where that saying should be attributed, but it’s a great point of view for any pilot who ventures out into the decision-making territory of the flight deck.

As pilots, that’s all we are really, people who have to make decisions while in command of an airplane; the flying itself comes pretty easily, but making good decisions continually never stops.