Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:28 pm
#1572638
As I was returning to my home airfield, the sun was quite low on the horizon with only a little bit of cloud cover.
As I turned onto final, the low sun completely obliterated my view of the runway. In fact I had no forward visibility whilst descending. Suddenly losing visibility was quite frightening, because I could not see the runway and had no idea if I were still aligned with it. I couldn't see if there was anything ahead of me, and most scary of all, I couldn't judge how low I was. I carried on for a little bit... maybe a few seconds... to see if I could get a better view. The sunshades in the aircraft were of no use whatsoever.
Finally initiated a go around and as the nose of the plane blocked the direct sun, I noticed that I was completely misaligned and at a dangerously low height.
On the second attempt, I flew the circuit and again turned final. By this time the lighting had improved a little bit and I could see the PAPI lights, which I used to descend. I was relieved as I flared and was able to once again see the runway clearly. I landed, thankfully, without further incidence.
Walking away from the parked aircraft, I was wondering what could I have done differently. The only thing that I could think of was to leave the circuit, wait for the sun to just go below the horizon and then come back and try again.
Unfortunately that thought didn't occur to me at the time. Would have been less stressful.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you handle it and what did you do?
As I turned onto final, the low sun completely obliterated my view of the runway. In fact I had no forward visibility whilst descending. Suddenly losing visibility was quite frightening, because I could not see the runway and had no idea if I were still aligned with it. I couldn't see if there was anything ahead of me, and most scary of all, I couldn't judge how low I was. I carried on for a little bit... maybe a few seconds... to see if I could get a better view. The sunshades in the aircraft were of no use whatsoever.
Finally initiated a go around and as the nose of the plane blocked the direct sun, I noticed that I was completely misaligned and at a dangerously low height.
On the second attempt, I flew the circuit and again turned final. By this time the lighting had improved a little bit and I could see the PAPI lights, which I used to descend. I was relieved as I flared and was able to once again see the runway clearly. I landed, thankfully, without further incidence.
Walking away from the parked aircraft, I was wondering what could I have done differently. The only thing that I could think of was to leave the circuit, wait for the sun to just go below the horizon and then come back and try again.
Unfortunately that thought didn't occur to me at the time. Would have been less stressful.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you handle it and what did you do?
Confucius Say: Live each day as if it were your last because one day it will be.