Sudden Wing Drops

Early in our flying training we were warned about wing drops i.e. one wing suddenly dropping (and the other rising consequently). This can happen when there is insufficient lift generated on that particular wing and it stalls. The loss of lift in turn can be caused by a drastic drop in airspeed caused by the aircraft getting into too high an angle of attack but with insufficient thrust to maintain it. Both wings can stall at the same time, in which case the pilot just has to perform the normal recovery. In many instances though, and particularly with some aircraft, one wing will stall first and if the correct action is not taken, the aircraft will enter a spin - a more serious situation than a stall.

Sometimes though, that wing drop occurs due to a sudden drop in airspeed arising from a change in wind direction or speed especially when it is gusting. I was once caught in this situation as I was flying straight and level on a windy day and suddenly the right wing rolled down sixty degrees and my passengers were alarmed. On another occasion,  I was landing at Tioman Island and the sea breeze was gusting onto the runway. The aircraft was just about 10 feet above the threshold when the left wing rolled down about 30 degrees.

On both occasions I instinctively kicked hard on the opposite rudder and used as little aileron as possible and managed to right the aircraft in time. I had learned from my instructors during early training that when the airspeed is low, one cannot use too much aileron to right an aircraft. The wings do not have enough airspeed to react to the ailerons' deflection and will fail to right the aircraft. Only the wash from the propeller in front onto the empennage at the back will be able to act on the deflected rudder and roll the wings back to level via an indirect effect.

Tried and true. 

A Memorable Flight

In the many flights that I had made over the years, of course many are memorable ones but one that put a big smile on my face was when I completed my first cross country flight into an international airport, one which I had never flown to on my own before.

Planning the flight was a joy as I laid out the 1:500 map and plotted my intended path, measured the distances of the legs and worked out the details for my navlog entries. On the morning of the flight, I filed the flight plan, checked the weather (which was forecasted to be good) and preflighted the aircraft. It had two tanks full of fuel and with one passenger tagging along, had just the right setup for a pleasant flight.

I had over 20 PIC hours by then and confidently flew the flight plan on VFR using the navlog and relating the ground features to the map as we went along. Every inch of the flight was under ATC and I had no problem with that as I switched from station to station on the way. GPS was too expensive then, so concentration was really required to ensure we were always on track by matching the ground features with the corresponding items on the map.

Finally we entered the penultimate leg but just then ATC directed us to a location that was not in my flight plan. Fortunately I could find it on the map. It was a small fishing village on the coast and we tracked towards it using the compass and by looking at the shape of the coastline . That was the only heart stopping event we encountered. We were told to hold over that village as we approached it and so we just circled above it. There was airline traffic around the airport at that time. Eventually we were cleared to descend and join right base for Runway 04. The airport is located on an island and there is a hill that flanks the seaward side of the runway. We therefore had to track across the sea from the mainland while descending to circuit height, join downwind on the other side of the hill from the runway and continue until we could see the runway end before turning base.

We were cleared to land and I touched down just after the piano keys, turned off the runway at the next exit and was told to hold to allow a B737 to pass along the main taxiway in front of me. This was the first time ever that I sat as a pilot in a plane watching a jetliner taxi right in front of my nose at a busy airport. At that instant I imagined myself being at the controls of another B737 just doing my job as an airline pilot. It was a totally different scenario from what I was used to in my earlier flying days as a student pilot where the traffic was mainly GA and some military aircraft.

A SIMILAR SCENE AT ANOTHER AIRPORT

We were cleared to proceed to the ramp near the tower and as we did other jetliners were pushing back for departure. The vista, sounds of jet engines, ground vehicles crawling around and ATC chatter in my headphone were something that gave me a glow of satisfaction, a feeling that I had arrived literally and figuratively into the aviation world. How can I ever forget that wonderful day.