MissedApproach

When I was 16 yrs old we left Teterboro airport under a high overcast that looked fine from the ground. We were headed to buy me a new horse. Five of us the plane that day. My dad’s 1970 Aerostar sat there looking sleek and low. It was fast, the fastest twin engine. The next fastest was a Learjet. He liked getting places quick in it. He had his instrument license but he didn’t file it that day. He just went, same as usual when the weather didn’t look bad. We were already in Kentucky when the plane started picking up ice. At first it was just a little on the front of the wings. Then it kept building and the plane got heavy and quiet. Ice does that. It sticks and changes the shape of the wings so the plane doesn’t work as well anymore. It doesn’t climb the way it should and everything feels different. If it gets bad enough the plane just doesn’t want to fly right. When he glanced at me I saw it. Not the usual concentration. Actual fear. The kind that arrives when a pilot realizes the numbers he trusts are no longer true and the airplane is still flying only because he hasn’t asked it to do anything difficult yet. That was the only time I ever saw fear in his eyes. He always looked so calm in that airplane. We made it to Lexington. He got us down. On the way home we flew commercial. He didn’t want to take the Aerostar back. I'll never forgot that look. I'll also never forget that weather can turn on a dime.