The video was not me, but I flew and taught this. I learned a long time ago that not everybody will relate to why others want to fly airplanes. It defies logic to me that the thrill, challenge, gratification, and so on, is not self-evident to some. I have had to accept that some people just don’t get it. Buried in there somewhere is an aire of arrogance, especially to the people that don’t get it. I would rather think of myself as a humble guy that has at times barely kept his head above water in competition against his own limitations, and who never wanted the responsibility to produce in a real job.
“This approach had been on my pilot bucket list for two decades”… I wrote that sentence some years ago, and as I edit for this blog, I realize that it was untrue. I could have gone my whole career without ever going to Tegucigalpa, the most challenging approach of my career. But, as a Miami-based Check Pilot, teaching it was part of my job description. So, not only was I going to have to fly it, I was going to have to teach it from the right seat! Only Miami based pilots fly TGU, and the highly perishable qualification training requires two separate trips to accomplish. Qualification was a personal milestone for me, and challenge. For some, the qualification turned into a trap because then you are constantly reassigned to do it, the proverbial only man for the job. For others, it offered banker’s-hours scheduling with extra days off to accommodate the company’s constant need to train others.
If you take the time to watch the video, you will see a very short runway that is over 3300 feet above sea level, and high terrain in all quadrants, including final approach which follows a mountain slope just 200′ above terrain all the way down. If not on the ground by the runway stripe, it is a mandatory go-around.
I have a video taken with my cellphone. So, unlike the first video, these two are my approaches.
Captain’s Log 