Let me take you to the beginning of the bank holiday weekend, three pilots en route to a weekend away to canoe the river Wye formate in a cheveron 7 miles to run to a short strip at a campsite, it had been raining but the conditions were smooth and clear. Overflying we break from the right 2, 1, 3, I land second coming in a little hot I slip and slide across the wet grass send over shoot the end of the runway into the farmers garden, but only just! I turn to see Phil land in snake left then right and for a few moments I think I am toast, in what seems like a moment later Phil powers on and goes around. So often in a short field by the time the brakes are on you have less that a couple of seconds to make your decision.
So that in and of itself does not seem to be so special, so ask why is Phil holding an Ozee with a burn hole? Now comes the context of that go around, on the final run on for the overhead join and while in formation, Phil had a capacitor blow. If you have ever experienced that you will know the cockpit fills with smoke and surprise! I know it happened to me on take off at Thorney. Phil took this in his stride made a logical assessment of the situation, engine running, no fire, all instruments good and carried on the join, break and landing sighty hot he did not get it on the ground at any cost he decided to go around having a burning sensation on his leg, around and down for the perfect short field landing.
When I think about this, the Calm, logical, and the presence of mind I think this has to pay tribute to his understanding of , and the training he received, well done Phil.
