2009 Fall Update! -VanFossen
Seeing Out Without a Window?
by Greg VanFossen
It was 6:30 p.m., July 2, 2009. Plans for departure approximately 10 hours earlier had been completely obliterated by, among other things, the need for a new mixture cable on the Cessna 206 bound for Guyana. I had figured and refigured the weight and balance several times in the process of determining what to load into the aircraft. We took off from Andrews University Airpark on Runway 31. I was not able to copy the clearance on the ground because of no radio contact with flight service. The visibility was good enough to fly visually until after the controller gave us a clearance to fly in the clouds on instruments to our first stop, the Cleveland, Tennessee, airport. As we proceeded, the clouds enveloped our plane and the only meaningful perceived light was from the inside of the plane’s cabin. We were in the clouds until reaching the southern border of Indiana with the exception of some moments of a view of the ground here and there.
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Laura and Greg enroute to Guyana.
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Instrument flight rules involve a large number of details. In order for an instrument-rated pilot to be able to exercise his privileges, he must have flown six instrument approaches, intercepted and tracked a course and flown a holding pattern in the previous six months. This can be performed on a flight simulator with an instrument flight instructor in attendance. The airplane must have had the pitot-static system checked in the previous 24 months, the Emergency Locator Transmitter in the previous 12 months and the VOR receiver (navigation radio) in the previous 30 days, among other things. When flying to a given airport, the enroute flight is governed by certain rules. When on an instrument flight, the pilot flies at specific altitudes related to the direction and type of flight and has to have a specified amount of fuel left over after arrival. The approach procedures at the destination have minimum requirements with regard to visibility, minimum altitudes, times and cloud ceilings. When arriving at a given airport with a precision approach, the pilot must be able to land the airplane within a 3000-foot portion of the runway. All these rules and conditions are enough to make one wonder if it is worth it. The rules are so restrictive. Yet if I ignore these rules, who would want to fly with me? I would be considered an unsafe pilot. We all recognize these rules exist to provide defined limits within which operations will be safe. Additionally, all these rules create greater freedom. On the surface this seems like an oxymoron. But consider a flight in which we want to be able to fly somewhere without seeing out the window. We want to do it without hitting a mountain or another airplane. These rules are planned ways of addressing conflict. Flying at an altitude lower than a mountain peak creates a conflict in which the mountain always wins. The observance of the rules doesn’t make the flight happen but does limit the risks. With the risks limited, we gain the freedom to fly when the weather is not so good and we would otherwise be earthbound.
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| N59WA instrument panel |
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An instrument pilot experiences vertigo and has to use the instruments to make decisions as to how to control the aircraft. When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, they took the human race into the fog of sin. Humans experience emotional vertigo in most of life’s situations. Just like the instrument pilot in flight, we cannot trust how we feel. God has given us a set of instruments and rules by which to control our own behavior. These instruments and rules are foolish to the decidedly secular mind. But to those who choose the narrow path, they help us fly the planned route to the Heavenly Country. Jesus has filed our plan for us and has given us a clearance through the storms of this life. It is our job to copy the clearance, familiarize ourselves with it and turn in the right direction. Jesus gets us there but allows us to use our power of choice throughout the journey. We are always free to change our mind until we get on the ground at our destination.
The flight to Cleveland was completed at the end of a visual approach 3 ½ hours later. We flew out of the cloudy weather enroute, landed and met the friends who were expecting our arrival. The remainder of the trip to Guyana was without incident though definitely different than expected. We are still in the clouds on this spiritual journey with the hope of meeting our friends in that City whose builder and finisher is our awesome God. Can I expect to see you there?
