<p>As a young boy, my son was doing homework, and out of the blue, he asked a question completely unrelated to his studies, “Papa, why is there a sudden change in an aeroplane’s sound level sometimes?” As it happened, we lived on the flight path to the old Bengaluru airport and he had noticed this happened regularly. Trying to explain this to a child, I told him that the pilot just changed gears like in a car! Not convinced with my answer, he turned to his mother and ask her “Howda Amma?” (Is that true mother?)</p>.<p>Many years later, my wife and I were visiting my son’s family in California, and found flying manuals lying around. He had taken up flying as a hobby and was learning to fly in a Cessna 172 four-seater aeroplane. He usually flew on weekend afternoons, but one Saturday he left at 8 pm. It was a night flight training session, and he was flying with his instructor to a far-off airport. He said he would be back around midnight. We couldn’t sleep that night out of worry. He finally returned around 3 am, much to our relief, and we all went to bed. The next morning, I asked why he was so late.</p>.<p>What I heard was an interesting story. He had navigated using landmarks, clocks and speed (no GPS) to his destination airport. It was completely dark over Central Valley. As he approached the airport, he followed the procedure to turn on runway lights (by pressing the microphone button five times) and was on final approach. About five seconds before touching the ground, he realised the runway numbers were “wrong” – he expected to touch down on runway 36, but instead saw 31 in large paint below! He realized he was about to land at the wrong airport!</p>.<p>While my son had been busy with landing procedure, his instructor realized they were approaching the wrong airport. While ensuring it was safe, he stayed silent to let my son land anyway! Hiding his embarrassment in the dim light of the cockpit, my son planned the route to the correct airport, took off and accomplished the task. Never again would he make that same mistake! The reason for the error was simple: there are many airports in the vicinity, and navigating with compass headings and speed is only approximate. Beginners are taught to navigate the old-fashioned way, not using a GPS.</p>.<p>While a valuable lesson and a good story, the experience didn’t shake my son’s confidence. He continued to train and enjoyed the hobby for many years. All was well that ended well!</p>
<p>As a young boy, my son was doing homework, and out of the blue, he asked a question completely unrelated to his studies, “Papa, why is there a sudden change in an aeroplane’s sound level sometimes?” As it happened, we lived on the flight path to the old Bengaluru airport and he had noticed this happened regularly. Trying to explain this to a child, I told him that the pilot just changed gears like in a car! Not convinced with my answer, he turned to his mother and ask her “Howda Amma?” (Is that true mother?)</p>.<p>Many years later, my wife and I were visiting my son’s family in California, and found flying manuals lying around. He had taken up flying as a hobby and was learning to fly in a Cessna 172 four-seater aeroplane. He usually flew on weekend afternoons, but one Saturday he left at 8 pm. It was a night flight training session, and he was flying with his instructor to a far-off airport. He said he would be back around midnight. We couldn’t sleep that night out of worry. He finally returned around 3 am, much to our relief, and we all went to bed. The next morning, I asked why he was so late.</p>.<p>What I heard was an interesting story. He had navigated using landmarks, clocks and speed (no GPS) to his destination airport. It was completely dark over Central Valley. As he approached the airport, he followed the procedure to turn on runway lights (by pressing the microphone button five times) and was on final approach. About five seconds before touching the ground, he realised the runway numbers were “wrong” – he expected to touch down on runway 36, but instead saw 31 in large paint below! He realized he was about to land at the wrong airport!</p>.<p>While my son had been busy with landing procedure, his instructor realized they were approaching the wrong airport. While ensuring it was safe, he stayed silent to let my son land anyway! Hiding his embarrassment in the dim light of the cockpit, my son planned the route to the correct airport, took off and accomplished the task. Never again would he make that same mistake! The reason for the error was simple: there are many airports in the vicinity, and navigating with compass headings and speed is only approximate. Beginners are taught to navigate the old-fashioned way, not using a GPS.</p>.<p>While a valuable lesson and a good story, the experience didn’t shake my son’s confidence. He continued to train and enjoyed the hobby for many years. All was well that ended well!</p>