The candidate unfortunately is a no show, and at 20 minutes past scheduled departure time I make the decision to get under way quickly. I have enough hours in the CRJ that I know where everything is by rote, but it’s been long enough that I’ve been PIC in the CRJ that I’m fumbling just a bit with where the controls are. We’re late for departure, and I’ve got a bit of get-there-itis to get under way quickly. Even the taxi out to 22R for departure is more like a sleigh ride than at a jogging speed. Departure from KBOS is on UNICOM, and we are hotrodding the LOG6 then on course to PSE lickety split. Light is fading to dark during the rest of the uneventful landing into PWM, and we’re able to gain about 10 minutes on the timetable. Pax are only mildly annoyed.
But then the trouble starts. Mother has swapped out our aircraft at the last minute due to the delay, and has been loading PAX into an older E135 still in Continental paint for the last leg to BTV. Fortunately at bag drag at Portland isn’t as big a deal as a bag drag at ORD. But it’s been even longer since I’ve been in the 135 pocket jet, and even longer still to operate one still in Continental paint. This one is long overdue for a date with the paint shop, but on the plus side I’m looking forward to her sports-car-like handling for this quick pop up to KBTV.
Again we’re trying to make up for lost time, and again I’m fumbling a bit with the controls, but I’m mildly pleased to have a proper FMC on board. My fingers are getting tired from all that button pushing in the CRJ. Engines spooled, and out we go on the PWM4 to enter the pipe at ENE. TCAS is painting a GA turboprop about 50 miles out in front of us, and a quick consult to flight desk indicates that he is on the same pipeline for KBTV. He’s 6,000 feet below me now, but I’ll have to keep an eye on that for approach. Both ZBE and BTV_A are offline tonight and he’s 100knts slower than me. I don’t want to be sneaking up his butt by accident, and this approach will be entirely blind and by sonar. It will be a bit of a challenge, but like they say in Red October, “give me a chart and a stopwatch and I’ll fly the Grand Canyon blindfolded”. ATIS says 15 is active at BTV, and just to be safe I plan to fly the full LOC/DME approach.
In the decent now, and planning to cross BTV at 5,000 for a safety margin. However the Tprop in front is held up at 6,000 and we’re closing on him rapidly. I make the decision to hold up the descent at 8,000 for a bit when I pick up the first ice warning. The master alarm panel flashes briefly as I confirm that the forward shields are on and hot. It’s difficult to see what’s going on outside in the murk of night, but I can vaguely make out that we are skirting the top of a cloud layer. Betty has the ship though, and FMC is operating well. The ice warning disappears and I’m more concerned about the mountains around BTV and not overshooting the LOC/DME approach and bumping into Plattsburgh’s airspace.
I slow up to match speed as best I can behind the Tprop and start the decent again to cross BTV at 5. Now the ice warning pops on again, but doesn’t turn off. Shields are hot and I’m not too concerned. We’ve closed into the murk and we’re entirely on digital feelers at the moment, with no help from BTV_A, or ZBW. Crossing HERRO at 2400 and we’re lined up on the ILS backcourse, flaps down to position 1, and speed holding at 180. The Tprop has gone over to BTV_T some time ago, and I check in with tower as well departing HERRO.
“Burlington Tower FENWAY 35 checking in at two four hundred crossing HERRO. We’re planning the full LOC/DME approach out and back”
“FENWAY 35 Burlington tower, roger. Report inbound on the ILS”.
Hitting STAEV we start the outbound leg of the turn and start the stopwatch and just under 45 seconds I spin the heading control 180 around to re-intercept as we descend to 2200. I’m seeing the lights of Plattsburgh ou the right hand window as we slip in an out of cloud layers… right before everything goes dark at 2200. Flaps down one more notch please, and slow up to 160. Betty has the glide and we lock down the APPR HLD. Glide is above us now, but we are on the localizer inbound and we check in with tower. Burlington clears us to land and I’m dropping to flaps 3, speed 160. Where’s the damn glide? DME is inside 10 miles, and the glide is still above us. All my attention is fixated on the little pink diamond looking for any indication of movement, but it’s still pegged firmly to the top of the scale. 7 DME, better get with the gear and flaps program. Gear coming down, flaps 4, Betty has the ship nicely on the inbound and I get a wiggle from the pink diamond just inside of 7DME. Whew… for a minute there I was beginning to think that maybe I was tracking Plattsburgh instead of Burlington ILS. What a mess. Can’t see a damn thing.
At about 5 DME the little pink diamond is just about dead center and I can see some feint strobes now ahead. I put the last notch of flaps in and hear the chirping cricket-like-tone of the APPR HLD grabbing the glideslope.
Suddenly we are nosediving for the ground. WTF? I mean we are SERIOUSLY nosediving. I MEAN THE GROUND IS COMING UP TO MEET US RIGHT NOW!! The artificial horizon has turned all brown. Umm.. FLIGHT DIRECTOR DISENGAGE, throttle FULL, stick PULL BACK!! 3 seconds have passed.. We are still nosediving!!!... FOUR SECONDS… shit…. I’m seeing treetops… CLIMB BABY CLIMB BABY CLIMB! She’s starting to climb - - five seconds - - , “TERRAIN TERRAIN TERRAIN!!” the controls feel like mush and I only have second to call tower … “Tower FENWAY 35 loss of control”. SERIOUS TREETOPS NOW… but the artificial horizon rolls to a blue color and we are barely flying, but we’re flying. But then AH rolls over to a full blue color - - shit… we are skyrocketing… and the wings won’t stay level. One more tag on the flight director OFF switch just to be sure.
“Fenway 35 say intentions”.
“one second…”
Nose DOWN DOWN DOWN, try and get the pocket jet level! I think we’re seeing positive rate now, and I think I’ve got a decent climb angle… where the hell are we now?
“Tower, FENWAY 35 has control, looks like we are climbing heading due south”
“Fenway 35 the field is to your left, what would you like to do?
Training kicks in. It takes me 0.5 seconds to scan the instruments and see that we are to the right of the glide and 4DME out. I flip the jet hard over to the left and stand it on her wing. She’s responding. Power is good, control is good.
“Tower, we’re gonna go for the field”
“Copy, FENWAY 35 cleared to land runway 15”
As I’m coming out of the turn that’s when I realize that I’m 4 DME SIDEWAYS from the field, but virtually perpendicular with the threshold. I’m probably 1000 feet too high for this maneuver. For a split second I consider a 270 degree orbit to the left to get better positioning, but then nix that idea lest the pocket jet decide to quit flying again. Alright then, it’s all me now.
I get the best possible angle I can against the threshold and aim for the ground but within 5 seconds we are coming up on the point of no return. Now I stand the E135 on the right wing this time and dump as much speed and altitude as I can in the turn. The field is coming into position now, but the down angle is a little severe. Did I say a little? I mean, it’s pretty stupid. But at the last second I’m able to pull it out of my butt and flatten out pretty much on the centerline, although still 100 feet to high. W’ere also still coasting through some of the remaining side energy from the turn. A quick wiggle of the rudder puts us back, looking decent, FLARE FLARE FLARE… ok , float float float… and then MUAH “”:Kiss”” the ground just shy of midfield. THRUST REVERSERS AND STEEEEEERR baby.
“FENWAY 35 nicely done, exit right when able”.
Slow the jet, contact ground and roll up to the gate before stopping to SHAKE AND THEN SHAKE SOME MORE. Sweet Jesus, did that just happen?
As the power dies off on the engines and we pop the main door open I now start to hear the POP POP of raindrops on the canopy window. As the door opens I feel the rush of cold winter air rush in. Frack. For real?
Yea,. ICE. I’m afraid to stick my head out the cabin door, but when I do and look back I see at least an inch of rime over the leading edges of the wings. It’s a wonder the little pocket jet flew at all. It’s also lucky we were in this little jet with her sports car like handling or we would not have made that landing. The bigger E175 would not have been as quick to make that last turn. I’m remembering now the Sky Babe was talking about how it’s going to get unseasonably cold for a few days. I should have had my head in the game on that one, but instead I was thinking instead about how I won’t be seeing the beach until next year. Wrong Idea. Ice is here. Time to get with the program. Time to also check WX at the destination. It occurs to me that during all that get-there-itis I never did check the weather.
So although PAX and crew were all scared sh**tless, and we may have bent the airframe on that landing, and many drinks were spilled, fortunately no one died. It could have been much worse. Much much worse. The radar track indicated terrain at 300 feet, and that we pierced through 400. I definitely saw treetops.
So what have I learned?
1. Check the weather on every flight. Use Flightaware or FAA weather, but check the weather. ATIS may not always be updated as much as you would like. Avoid get-there-itis regardless of what else is going on. Operate your aircraft.
2. If icing conditions are alerted, don’t rely on the forward shields to solve it. The shields were HOT the whole time and we still fell out of the sky. Get out of the icing conditions as rapidly as you can.
3. Monitor icing speeds, and fly the ship by hand. If Betty has the ship, you won’t be able to feel the controls getting slushy until it’s too late. Keep the airspeed up and away from stall speeds just in case.
4. I don’t care who you are, and how many hours you have. When you see the artificial horizon roll down to full brown and you see the nose of your ship diving to meet it, your first reaction is going to be to pull back on the stick. You can be trained until you’re blue in the face that when you are stalling to nose DOWN and power FULL. But until you see the ground coming up to you at that obscene angle, I'll bet you any money that your first reaction will be to pull back. Just hope to GOD that when you do, you’ll also reach for throttle FULL and that you’ve got jet power behind you.
5. And remember the DASH8 in Buffalo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wriIs8sMaEE. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, at almost any time, and when you least expect it.
The next morning I received several messages from Mother that at least one other United Regional ship encountered severe icing conditions last night. UAR373 also almost bought the farm in a CRJ7 with UAR’s executive officer on board. A second message from Mother also indicated that all UAR flights into icing conditions have been banned until further notice, and until Mother can implement an ice safety briefing.
Might not be such a bad idea.
