There I was… Dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t with a FED on the jump seat.
A story in “There I Was…” by Joel Turpin reminded me of a time I deviated from SOP with a FED on the jump seat giving me a check. Like Joel I was in kind of a dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t situation.
Back a couple of hundred years ago (well it seems like it anyway) in the winter of ’89 I was a 727 captain and flying a trip from Den with a stop in Sioux Falls (or was it city – can’t remember which) to Fargo. It was a lousy night and even lousier weather. We were stuck in “can’t remember which” since a winter storm had closed the Fargo airport. However, it was almost over, and they were clearing the runway.
Finally, we took off and were told the runway breaking in FAR was fair to poor by car. However even with the crosswind we were legal to land. Before we started the approach, I did a thorough briefing. I told my crew to be prepared for a go-a-round if I felt the A/C wasn’t perfectly lined up and going straight down the runway. I also told the Fed on the jump seat that he was as much a member of the crew as the rest of us and to speak up if he sees something amiss.
The landing was uneventful, and I made the turnoff. I reported the breaking as fair. I didn’t want to say good because I didn’t know what the rest of the runway was like. Then came the turn onto the parallel taxiway….
As I turned, the A/C kept going straight. I was on black ice. I quickly reversed the engines to stop and came to rest sitting over the edge of the taxiway, but my nose gear was still on the taxiway. That made me very happy, especially with the Fed on board. But now the fun began! I called the ramp and told them we needed a tow, but they didn’t have tugs there. I then asked them to bring a bus to take everyone off (remember this is the dead of winter with very cold temps.) but they didn’t have anything available to get the passengers to the terminal. Now what the hell am I going to do…..
Well, figuring I’m dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t, I decided to back up the airplane with the thrust reversers. Yes, even with the Fed on board but my concern was for the passengers. I again briefed the crew telling them we’ll call the tower to make sure we are clear behind us and what we are planning to do. I briefed we won’t touch the brakes but use forward thrust to stop so we don’t end up sitting on our tail. I’ll then use differential thrust to turn on the parallel taxiway much the same way as docking a twin-screw boat (something I’ve done many times in my boat). If anyone feels even remotely worried about anything to speak up and we’ll stop and reassess the situation. I also told the passengers just what I was going to do and that if it didn’t work, we wouldn’t be any worse off than we are now. (Except maybe for me)
It worked like a charm. When we made it to the terminal and as the people were getting off the Fed put his hand on my shoulder and said, “nice job captain” and left. I’m sure he was relieved he didn’t need to spend the rest of the night writing me up. It’s amazing how I went from almost loosing my Job to being the hero of the moment.
