Pilot Recounts How a Single Blue Button Averted Mountain Impact
A private pilot with 2,000 hours describes a night flight when a panel button became critical to avoiding terrain, in a first-person account of the experience.
A private pilot with an instrument rating has written about a night flight where one blue button on the panel was decisive in avoiding a mountain. The first-person account appears in FLYING Magazine. The pilot, who began flying at 40 and holds a tailwheel endorsement, says the incident happened on a clear evening with a full moon. He was flying his Beechcraft Bonanza F33A, according to the article.
His background includes 500 hours of instrument instruction in an Embraer Phenom 100 and 200 hours in a Short Brothers Tucano trainer. He credits the Tucano time with teaching upset recovery and energy management.
The article does not say exactly what the blue button did in the near-accident or what happened after, beyond the pilot's statement that it mattered more than his experience.
Sources
- flyingmag.comThe Night the Moon Disappears for a Pilot