The most valuable lesson I learned from the “School of Hard Knocks” had nothing to do with weather or instrument flying. The “trial by ice” was a lesson in the awesome responsibility that comes from occupying the left seat of an airplane, regardless of its size. It also taught me to recognize those rare and unusual emergency situations when going by the book is not safe, and when deviating from standard operating procedures or the Federal Air Regulations is not only warranted, but imp...| Air Facts Journal
But this rainy afternoon, neither of us was contemplating our future with Skyway. We were scheduled to fly the afternoon shift in a Beech 18 over the eastern half of our route system, and it promised to be a long and difficult day. We would fly 11 legs—nearly eight hours of flying without the aid of an autopilot. What would really make it stressful was the weather.| Air Facts Journal