Practising engine failures with pilot who had two in her Tiger Moth

[@spitfireinvasion]

Madame, hello, Air traffic controller here, albeit area control center, not tower. If you have an engine failure, or honestly, even if you don’t but for some reason deem it necessary for safety to land back on the runway with no delay - it is my job to deal with that situation. All I need to hear from you is mayday, mayday, mayday, landing on the runway. I might have just pressured you to start your right turn, but in the next second, I’ll be doing the exact opposite, giving the other, bigger, faster, heavier traffic a go around instruction with no delay whatsoever. To everyone reading this: it is your job to make ATC understand what you need, and we will make it happen, do NOT be scared of us! We are here to help you! Communicate your needs, and we will accommodate them, do not worry about the consequences!

[@spitfireinvasion]

I would be absolutely devastated knowing in hindsight that you crashed into the sea because I didn’t know you had an issue!

[@spitfireinvasion]

Other than that, what an absolutely fantastic report and video, great pilot, I’d never dare take my plane on a journey like that. Bravo!

[@mothmagic1]

Good to hear from a controller who realizes what they are there for. Some are only too happy to be obstructive rather than constructive.

[@spitfireinvasion]

@@mothmagic1 it's a matter of communication if you ask me. Not every ATCo has a pilots license, so it's important to explain what you need and why in a concise and professional manner so that we can help. But at the end of the day, we are only human, just like pilots, and we all sometimes misunderstand or fall victim to biases.

[@ajs1691]

Excellent interview, Jon. I had the pleasure of chatting to Amanda at the British Women Pilots' Association awards day at Sywell earlier this month. In fact, it transpired that we did our PPL training at the same airfield. She makes a fascinating point, having realised she wasn't getting full power AND knowing there was plenty of rwy left, she still felt compelled to follow ATC instructions. Of course a few seconds later her experience kicked in, she called the MD, and best of all she accepted the tailwind to land back asap. The ATCO commenting in the thread sums it up perfectly, tell ATC what you need and they will do everything to help.

[@SJF15]

I first met Amanda in 2021 when she flew me in a Tiger Moth at Duxford, it was such an amazing experience. I have since met her a couple of times at Duxford when she kindly signed her books for me. She is such a lovely lady, and I really hope she is successful in her adventure next time!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

She's a lovely lady. Thanks for watching.

[@gzk6nk]

I flew a lovely dH Chipmunk for 35 years as part owner (and a Yak52 for 3 years) and many other types as well . One day taking off in the Chipmunk I had a partial engine failure. It went like this: We pre-flit, strapped in, and fired up. Once the oil temp was up, we taxyed to the hold for 09 (the only one of Barton's runways which points directly at a built up area). Checks complete, we lined up and I applied full power. Tail-up, SL accelerated smoothly over the wet grass and I let her unstick at 45 knots, holding her down just above the surface in ground effect until we had 60 knots, then eased the stick back and climbed out at 70 with a good rate of climb. As we crossed the upwind fence, SL gave a mighty cough, which I felt through the controls. Could be a bit of water in the fuel - I made a mental note to stay in the circuit until I was happy with the engine, and continued ahead (no other options at that stage, anyway). A couple of seconds later, now about 300 feet over the built up area, the steady blattering roar of the Gypsy Major engine deteriorated into a series of loud pops, bangs, and surges, accompanied by much vibration. I levelled off immediately, holding full power (such as it now was...), let the speed build a tad, then turned gently left, descending in the turn to keep the speed up, transmitting "Sierra Lima immediate return". Above the cacophony from up front I couldn't hear the reply (NOTE: on reflection I have since learned that under stress hearing is the first sense to be lost so it could have been that), but knew there was at least one other aircraft in the circuit in front of us. If we could turn beyond 90 degrees before the engine failed completely I thought we could probably continue a gliding, descending teardrop turn from there and get back in on runway 20 - or at least somewhere on the airfield or into a field north of Barton. In the turn I noted the local cemetery rotating around the left wingtip and looking ominously close. Then three brilliant white swans in perfect formation swept gracefully under us; I could swear their beady eyes were swivelled upwards towards the noisy, banging, shaking, red beast descending towards them. Rather than the engine failing completely as I had feared it might, the misfiring actually became slightly less severe and I realised we could hold height. So I stopped the turn after 180 degrees which put us on a close-in low-down downwind leg for the active runway, 09. I transmitted "Sierra Lima, rough running engine, immediate return" in case the tower and the circuit traffic hadn't got the message the first time. Again, I couldn't hear the reply. I pulled on full flap, turned base very close in with the 09 numbers on the left wingtip while descending and transmitting "Sierra Lima close-in left base" for the information of any other traffic that this is now MY runway AND I AM GOING TO LAND ON IT. I heard someone else transmit that they were "going around dead side", which was good 'cause it meant that they had got the message. I closed the throttle, let go a very old breath, trimmed for 60 knots, and continued a steep gliding left turn right down onto the runway. We taxyed all the way to the end then, followed by the fire tender with its blue flashing light, straight to the engineer's hangar. They did some ground runs - lots of misfiring (but nothing like as bad as it had been in the air) with flames and white puffs of unburnt fuel from the exhaust at high RPM, black smoke at low RPM. Those swans were just surreal! And as a postscript, the aeroplane was 'fixed' by changing the plugs, but it still wasn't running as it should. Later, we applied a mod so we could use 'modern' plugs, which improved things a lot. But what really fixed it was, several months after the above, a mag failed (on the ground) and after it was changed, all was well. I think aerobatic currency was great help in enabling me to unload the wings instinctively and quite sharply when most of the power went. At low speed in the climb, a power failure does require an almost immediate and quite sharp forward push if AoA is not to get dangerously high. Vince C

[@hughblack6831]

Wow - what an amazing lady, and she seemed so calm during that emergency landing. Thank you for this great interview Jon and happy New Year.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Happy New Year Hugh.

[@Medge2sc]

I think it speaks volumes about the pressure an instruction from Atc can have when someone with so much experience does as they say. I only have a few hundred hours as a PPL but this video has really made me realise that I should have the confidence to tell them what I’m doing in an emergency Thanks for the video both

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I have a video coming out in a couple of weeks where similar 'pressure' affected me. It's very common I think.

[@Medge2sc]

@@TheFlyingReporterI’ll look forward to that one I stopped flying a few years ago but plan to get back into this year and maybe get my instructors rating. I found that in the 15 years that I flew for I started just doing the same thing over and over. I don’t know anyone else who flies so thought maybe being an instructor would give me a purpose. I suppose what I’m saying is that I did become complacent when I was just flying the same routes and the circuit and I saw that in my self so decided to stop before I got more complacent as I think if an emergency had of occurred I was no longer properly prepared. I know that sounds terrible to admit but after a break I feel Iv re found the passion for it and your videos and your honesty as well as guests like this have shown me that mistakes do happen

[@aaron_11111]

I look forwards to hearing Amanda's next adventure (and hope you Jon are able to provide that report). Thank you.

[@grahamlees4394]

A young student pilot on his 1st solo at Southend sadly died after he was told to hold because an aircraft on an IFR arrival was given priority to land. The AAIB were critical of that decision IIRC suggesting that the more qualified instrument commercial pilot would have handled the break-off from the approach more skilfully than the tyro pilot could have been expected to. Sometimes, ATC forget about priorities in a rush to be seen to be accommodating to commercial interests and put other lives in danger.

[@paulrichardson6804]

Fantastic video, inspirational as well as as useful for us low hour pilots, thx

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching Paul.

[@ranh71]

Brilliant Jon, really great video, Amanda is awesome, I'm sure she will get it done. Great story wow!!

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

Inspirational beyond measure. Excellent episode about an ordinary lady doing extraordinary things.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Yep - she's great isn't she. Thanks Simon.

[@poggs]

Out of all of your videos over the last five or so years, I think this one's gotta be my favourite. There's little more I can say other than that!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Oh, cool. Thanks for watching and Happy New Year.

[@uptake2]

Great video. The real sense of measured adventure. Very powerful.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@georginahallett8716]

What an inspiring lady. Thank's for posting Jon.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching Georgina.

[@robertmailer4978]

Brilliant, very very good, top girl!!, hope you make it

[@patrickshea-simonds5827]

A great video - love the clips from Amanda's flight and look forward to hearing about her future adventures

[@MelanieMoxon]

Great video Jon. I had the pleasure of talking to Amanda at the LAA rally this year; amazing story, lovely person and I hope she inspires many people to learn to fly.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Melanie.

[@speedbird01]

So great to learn of Amanda's journey Jon

[@drumswest5035]

Great story, really enjoyed it

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching and Happy New Year.

[@tomdchi12]

Well done with the "human interest" portion, but I really appreciate the practical element of flying with Amanda and working through a partial engine failure situation!

[@davidcartwright5591]

My wife is a breast cancer survivor, I know the challenges both mental and physical that Amanda must have gone through . To plan and attempt this marathon of a flight was truly an inspiration to us all . As my wife says “ life is not a rehearsal , this is the main event “ . Amanda should hold her head high and Jon , I say thank you , this is a brilliant piece of video ..

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks David.

[@avman180]

What an amazing aviator she is. In awe. I’ve done an hour lesson and hour as passenger in a Tiger and loved it but I’m not sure I’d want to go such long distance in one lol Incidentally I really wish I’d had your videos to reference when I was learning to fly.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Me too!!

[@matthiasrammes]

Amazing Story. Thanks for sharing

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching and Happy New Year.

[@FlywithLee]

Amazing story 😊 and as an aside, the Robin Hr200 seen in this video G-ECAP is the first aircraft I ever flew as a young 15 year old! She used to be registered as G-NSOF back then

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Lee.

[@theflyingfrog]

What a brilliant lady. I’ll be buying her book asap…

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Excellent.

[@andrewagner2035]

Greetings from Cape Town. An emergency is mayday and landing back on runway! You could always maybe veer off onto the grass from runway after touchdown.

[@Steeyuv]

Got to be careful with those EFAAAAATOs....more seriously, it's an amazing demonstration of how you can get into a stuck mindset with that engine problem.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Easily done. Thanks for watching.

[@420Donnelly]

Truly an amazing woman/pilot. I would love to sit down and have a chat over a pint with her.

[@longtallj2158]

Lovely video. There always seems to be a built in reluctance in pilots to declare a mayday. And I think in the U.K. this is even worse due to the “politeness culture” here. ATC is there to help but if you don’t tell them they don’t know! Never ever be bothered by the interest of commercial air traffic. Don’t stick out your neck without a reason!

[@jamesonpace726]

You should talk 2 Airdrome Aeroplanes, MO, USA for a 7/8 or full size repro aircraft. Not original, but likely won't blow 2 engines, be a bit faster, better fuel & safer. Were I doing any RTW tripping, that's what I'd do....

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I think that might take some of the 'fun' out of it! My fun, I mean jeopardy!

[@gwynsea8162]

800 feet seems too high to abandon a PFL, no guarantee you're getting in. Why not 50 feet?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

In all the schools I’ve trained in here, the go around on a pfl off airport is initiated before 500agl in compliance with the rules of the air. I went around at 600 agl and the landing was assured.

[@matthewwilliams2128]

@@TheFlyingReporter Surely the rules of the air only require you to be 500' away from "persons, vessels, vehicles or structures"? When I was a lad (in the mid- to late- nineteen hundreds) we had to brush the grass with our wheels to pass a GFT. And from experience, I can affirm that "landing assured" with a ticking-over prop is a very different sight picture from one where the engine has actually stopped. Which we also had to practice.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Yes. But I would rather apply the margin than have to defend a claim of low flying from someone who said they were in the field cutting the hedge (that I couldn’t see). 500ft is sufficient to know if the field can be made or not.

[@gwynsea8162]

@@TheFlyingReporter from my experience 500 feet is not good enough, especially if the field is marginal which they regularly are in the south east, perhaps something you might care to put to the test when you're running out of topics to cover!

[@acbeech]

Piss poor.If your going to fly anywhere, let alone 1/2 way around the world don’t let atc run the show.

[@andremarais2706]

Can an interesting story happen without a despicable Cessna?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Nope.