This post is part of a series of blog posts describing a training flight that a new MAF staff person tagged along on. These training flights help prepare MAF pilots for their field assignments overseas. Past posts include How To Convince Yourself It’s Safe To Fly, MAF’s Delicious Landing Procedures, and Preparing For Takeoff.
The canyon walls rose around us as the plane dipped sharply. It looked as if I could reach out and scrape the rocks on either side of the plane with my knuckles—the same knuckles that were currently gripping the seatbelt as my stomach rose to my throat.
Earlier that morning we took off from the Nampa airport, adjacent to the MAF headquarters. It was a crisp, autumn morning and the Treasure Valley stretched out beneath us—bordered by the foothills of the Rockies to the north and the Owyhees to the south. The mountains rose to meet us as we crossed the Snake River.
“We are going to practice a ridge crossing,” said MAF Chief Pilot Brian Shepson into the headset as the Cessna approached a 6500 foot peak.
Lying just past this particular ridge was a narrow, red-rock canyon called Leslie Gulch.
As pilot candidate Chris Ball made his second approach of the ridge crossing, Brian gave an unexpected instruction:
“Simulated engine failure. Bring the plane down through the canyon and find a place to land.”
Chris calmly dipped the nose of the plane into Leslie Gulch and relayed a simulated “mayday” call.
I, on the other hand, was not so calmly squirming in my seat looking for something to grab onto and wondering if the pilots had remembered to pack enough parachutes.
“Aim for that green patch,” Brian told Chris.
This training flight was going to be a little more exciting than I thought—and we hadn’t even made it to the lava field yet…