I was flying from Jandakot to Rottnest Island, a flight of about 15 minutes. It was a beautiful day for flying, with no clouds and the temperature in the low 30s.
I had 2 passengers who were going to the island for a day of snorkelling in the crystal-clear waters. Originally, there was going to be 3 passengers but one bailed at the last minute. I was going to circumnavigate the island on an e-bike as I had never done this before.
It was February 2022 and I was 66 years old and flying a Piper Warrior, an aeroplane I had been flying for the previous 12 years. I was very familiar with its operation and characteristics, something that would become very important later.
I had 70 litres of fuel, more than enough for the short hop across to the island and back. The aeroplane was well within the weight and balance requirements for the flight. The 2 passengers arrived, loaded their gear and we took off.
The flight over was uneventful. Rottnest has an east-west runway (09-27) but the wind is rarely aligned with it. In fact, if you ever need to practise your crosswind landings, go to Rottnest! Today was no exception: there was a south-easterly blowing at 15 knots, which gave me a crosswind of around 10–12 knots on 09, well within my capability and that of the Warrior.
I had already told my passengers I would be ‘flying sideways’ on final. On short final, I shifted into a sideslip and aligned the aircraft with the runway for a standard crosswind landing.
Later, after a pleasant day and successful circumnavigation of the island by me, and lots of photos taken by the passengers of underwater life, we walked to the airport for the return flight to Jandakot. The wind had shifted to the south-west during the day, so 27 became the duty runway.
How was I going to navigate the tricky airspace around Jandakot when I couldn’t distinguish the landmarks?
In the cockpit, I put on my reading glasses to phone the ATIS at Jandakot as I can’t reach it on the radio on the ground at Rottnest. As I taxied to the threshold of 27, I remembered to put on my dual-purpose driving and flying glasses. These are bifocals and have a movable bridge so I can position the close-up lenses higher to read the dashboard in the aircraft. When driving, I lower the bridge to its normal position. They also have clip-on sunglasses which I would need now as the sun was low in the sky and straight down the runway.
As I turned onto the runway, I had trouble seeing clearly because the sun was right in my eyes. I thought things would improve once I turned away from the sun, so I pushed the throttle forward.
I could just barely see the centreline so I followed that, but I couldn’t see the ASI clearly. I lifted my glasses slightly and could see I’d reached 60 knots, so I lifted the aeroplane into the air. I planned to do a circuit so I turned crosswind. My vision improved slightly but was still not clear.
What was causing this? Did my glasses become fogged or get covered in grime? I took them off to clean them, but I was too busy doing the circuit and didn’t have time to wipe them. As I turned onto final, the sun was back in my eyes and my vision deteriorated again.
I managed to do a touch and go – thankful that I am very comfortable with the aeroplane. Following the centreline, I glanced beneath my glasses again at the ASI to determine my speed and looked up to see that I was drifting to the left of the runway; however, as I was above 60 knots, I rotated the aeroplane and hoped my passengers didn’t notice my near-runway excursion.
Turning the aeroplane towards Jandakot, my vision improved slightly but it still wasn’t clear. I looked down at the coastline but couldn’t make out any landmarks. How was I going to navigate the tricky airspace around Jandakot when I couldn’t distinguish the landmarks?
I couldn’t even see the instruments clearly so that increased the difficulty. I decided to ditch my flying glasses and just use my readers as my distance vision isn’t too bad without them. I reached for my shirt pocket where I keep my readers but they weren’t there! It’s then that I realised I had both pairs of glasses on! Of course, this explained why I couldn’t see clearly. I removed the reading glasses, and my vision returned to crystal clarity – much to my relief. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed successfully at Jandakot.
Lessons learnt:
I should have aborted the first take-off at Rottnest, but I thought the problem was only the sun in my eyes. I should have stopped after my circuit and checked my glasses but I was too focused on doing a touch and go. My passengers were also keen to get home, so I kept going.
What would have happened if I had the extra passenger and hadn’t accelerated to take-off speed before running off the runway? When something isn’t right, I should stop and fix it and that’s what I will do in the future.
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