How I Survived IIMC By Julie Pearson
myself as a vigilant pilot, always watching the clouds, always aware of what’s in the miles ahead of me so that I can’t get caught off guard.
I I also thought that if it
ever did happen to me, an instrument-rated pilot and CFII with experience teaching instruments, I’d be mentally prepared to handle it. I often wondered why pilots in a helicopter in this situation didn’t just slow down to a hover and land. I thought that’s what I’d do. But the truth is, when you’re in this situa- tion the initial fear of real-
Julie Pearson is a pilot, flight instructor, and safety manager
for JBI Helicopter Services. She is grateful for the mentors she has had throughout her seven years as a pilot. Her motivation for sharing her story comes from a
desire to give back to the aviation community that has given her so much.
izing you’re getting backed into a corner triggers your fight-or-flight response. My field of vision had already started to narrow. My
ability to weigh my options and choose the best one was already limited before I punched into the clouds. As many helicopter pilots would say, I trained more for emergency response than how to prevent emergencies in the first place. (And, prior to this experience, I had no actual wet windshield time.) So I reverted to my inadver- tent entry into IMC (IIMC) training. In a split second, I decided turning was too danger- ous because of the mountainous area, slowing any- where near a hover was too dangerous because of the precipitation and how quickly the fog was coming in around me, and landing wasn’t an option because all I could see was treetops.
ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WOULDN’T HAPPEN TO me—not that it couldn’t but that it wouldn’t. I thought that I would see the signs. I thought of
While watching the clouds and checking weather, I had lost sight of the road. The precipitation and fog skewed my depth perception. I looked at my radar altim- eter and saw 300 ft. I now had one option left—commit 100% to my emergency response training. I thought briefly about my family and about my baby
at home. Then I thought about the instrument-rated pilots before me who didn’t successfully transfer to IMC in declining weather. Then I made my decision to climb. First, I transferred to my instruments, and then I initi- ated a climb. Within minutes, I punched into the clouds, and everything went white. As instructed, I never looked outside again, to avoid being more disoriented than I already was. I knew there was a mountain to my right, so I attempted to turn left. Every time I looked at my instrument panel, some-
thing was wrong. I couldn’t get my attitude indicator to stay level. I couldn’t hold a climb. I couldn’t hold a turn or heading.
I pulled in power to climb but saw my torque was
getting high, so I reduced it again. This happened several times before I finally had the capacity to set it to 80% and leave it alone. I kept trying to turn away from the mountain, but I never chose a heading, so, ultimately, I just ended up in and out of the leans while getting closer to the mountain. After about two minutes of utter panic, trying to get
my aircraft to do what I wanted it to do, I knew if I didn’t get control, these were my last seconds to live. I told myself, “Climb and breathe. Climb and breathe.” I narrowed down my instruments to two, the vertical speed indicator and the airspeed indicator. After several minutes of focusing only on them, I finally started put- ting some distance between myself and the ground. Finally, I was able to add my altimeter to the scan.
I knew once I got above 4,000, I’d be at a safe altitude. I knew the valley was at about a 300-degree heading, so, finally, I chose to fly that heading instead of turning. Once I got to my safe altitude, I tuned to the nearest
68 ROTOR MARCH 2022
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