Flight Story No. 1
written by David Barth, 1977
This a true story that happened to me and my friend, Gary, during a flight across the country. I made it read as though it was about someone else to
protect the "innocent," because our action wasn't exactly the way it should be done.
Back in the early 1970s, I heard a story about two pilots flying IFR (on instruments) westbound from the East Coast. They were forced to fly south of their
intended route due to weather. They had the enroute charts for the new route, but, unfortunately, as they neared a fuel stop at Memphis, they realized
that they didn't have the approach plates (the procedures for landing when clouds obscure an airport) for that airport.
The weather at the time was IFR (clouds obscuring the airport), light wind, ceilings 500 feet, and no precipitation. ATIS (recorded airport information) gave
them the approach (runway) in use. Thinking quickly, they realized that they had an Airport Directory that showed the localizer frequency (so they could receive
the electronic guidance signals) for the approach being used. They took out a yellow tablet and drew their own guess at what the approach procedure should
be like.
As one pilot flew the approach, down through the clouds, the other pilot gave him directions based on their made-up approach plate, and looked down to see
when the plane broke through the clouds. Finally, they broke out of the overcast and landed uneventfully, promising themselves that in the future they would
not go to a destination for which they did not have approach plates.