5/1/2002: 14th hole landing

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by dhamsaic
"It's so funny when a girl tries to do something."

The boys can be even funnier.

I've seen another student pilot in exactly the same position, in a plane I'd flown, at the airport where I was training. He was a cadet at the local "military academy" (which seemed to have some "reform school" elements to it).

We heard he'd been sent to the school (among other reasons) to keep him away from his girlfriend, who he apparently arranged clandestinely to meet at one stop on one of his cross-country training flights. (The term "lay-over" comes to mind).

Apparently was busy enough with her that he didn't get the tanks topped off as he was supposed to, and also neglected to reckon with the fact that it was wintertime, susnset was early, and he had very limited experinece flying at night.

He didn't quite make it back to his home drome before dark, and apparently wasn't able to actually *find* the airport. He eventually started making radio calls, and an instructor took off from the airport to try to find him. (I heard this going on on my radio at home). When he ran out of gas, he landed in a snow-filled field by moonlight. Didn't flip the airplane until he hit a low stone wall.

He was uninjured (my sister-in-law was working the ER that night; I got a firsthand report) at least until he explained to the other cadets why the academy plane would be unavailable for a while.