Plastic Pilot

Winds aloft were not favorable. Our C172 was hardly reaching a groundspeed of 80 kts at FL100. We were VMC, and the flight destination airport was anyway not equipped for an IFR approach. We cancelled IFR, and descended to 5000 feet. The gain in airspeed was immediate.

I was safety-pilot on this flight, and also in charge of the radios. 5000 feet was a better altitude for wind, and we were still a couple thousand feet above circuit altitude of local airfields we were overflying. We were approaching one, and I tuned its frequency on the second radio, as a complement to my airspace watch.

There were a couple of traffics in the pattern. At 3′300 feet, they were not a problem. A third plane was joining the pattern from the vertical, at 4′000 feet, 1′000 feet below. We were passing by, slightly east of the position of the base leg, when we started to spot parachuters…

The meat-bags (kind name for parachuters…) were descending above the airfield. We noticed them only when they opened the chutes. The only thing going down quicker than a parachuter is the airplane they jump from. It’s quite common to see the plane landing before the first jumper !

This has been quickly confirmed by a call on the airfield frequency. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was something like “Porter XXX, 8′000 feet, on base, for landing”. This sounded like a “oops” to us. We were 1′700 feet above the base-leg, and this guy was 3′000 feet above us, descending to join the base-leg !

We turned away to avoid the descending plane, and I focused my watch on airspace above us. I rapidly spoted the Pilatus Porter, descending steeply, in a side-slip. Our avoiding manoeuver was successful, and we looked at the Porter diving to a normal base altitude and land.

Ready for a couple of lessons learned ?

1) Dropper pilots fly crazy procedures - joining the circuit in base, from above… no comment

2) The descent performance of the Pilatus Porter is amazing. I spotted some on radar with descent rates beyond 8′000 feet per minute.

3) Listening to local airport frequency when flying by can improve your airspace watch, even if you’re above circuit altitude.

4) When scanning airspace for other traffics, don’t forget to also look up and down.

That’s a lot of lessons for a few minutes of flying. There is one more about the second radio… when there is no local frequency, ATIS, or information frequency, tune it on 121.50. If you need it, it’ll be ready. And you could once be the only one in position to pick-up a distress message…