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And they ’ re the ones that you really need to be concerned about if you don ’ t follow the instructions .
RAIN : That guy ’ s there to solve a lot of problems should you become a problem . So you make the turn , you follow , and again , they ’ re going to direct you to place to land . This is assuming you ’ re Nordo ( aircraft flying without a radio ). Hopefully , at this point , you ’ re talking to them . Well 121 five , where they push you over to another frequency .
BOAT : Correct .
RAIN : So you follow them to the land , what are some of the next steps ? Are they going to chase you all the way down ? Are they going to escort you ? Again , you might be much slower than an F16 or F15 once you fly . So they might disappear , they might circle and do some things , but what ’ s kind of happening next from when they get your attention , go in the right direction and now you ’ re going to go land ?
BOAT : So they ’ re going to take you to a field based on your type of aircraft that they have assessed in conjunction with air traffic control that it will be safe for you to land at . And typically , obviously , you ’ re a Cessna or something small , so you don ’ t need a lot of runway , but they ’ re going to find a piece of concrete that ’ s available for you to use . It ’ s going to be a safe place to land . At that point , they ’ re going to be flying formation off of you , typically staying on the left-hand side . And they ’ re going to lower their landing gear . When you see the landing gear come down , you are at a point where you ’ re safe to land , you ’ ve been cleared to land by air traffic control . And fundamentally you should be able to safely land at that point . Now , what does that mean ? That means that they are assuming you can land the aircraft . If you can ’ t land the aircraft for some reason , then you need to get their attention and let them know . And there are some signals in here that say that we can ’ t .
But if you have a retractable landing gear , you ’ re going to lower your landing gear , you ’ re going to turn your landing lights on , and all the normal procedures . Again , safety is paramount throughout all of this . The other thing you ’ re going to do is you ’ re going to look outside because you ’ re not flying formation off the F16 , they ’ re flying formation off of you . So we want you to clear to make sure that the runway ’ s safe . And you ’ re also looking at the control tower . If you ’ re not talking to them and you see a solid red light on that thing , don ’ t land because it ’ s not safe to land . And so we want you to go around and execute a go-around procedure just like you normally would . And then fly around in a circle and that F16 is talking to the control tower , and they ’ ll figure out why the red light was given .
If you see the F16 raise its gear , that ’ s also when your landing clearance has been terminated . So don ’ t land at that point . But just remain predictable throughout all of this kind of stuff . If you can ’ t land someplace , get their attention , use a piece of paper , write a note for them . Somehow , some way , communicate that you can ’ t land for some reason and then we ’ ll figure out another plan that makes more sense . But let ’ s say they do let you land , you land safely , and you can expect that F16 to go around . It won ’ t land with you nine times out of 10 unless for some reason they ’ re out of gas or something like that . And then you ’ re going to clear the runway , you ’ re going to find a place to park , you ’ re going to stop , you ’ re going to shut down your aircraft . You can crack the door open because it ’ s probably going to be hot and you ’ re just going to sit and wait for local law enforcement , the FBI , maybe the secret service depending on where you ’ re at to come and have a discussion we ’ ll say .
And that ’ s up to them how long that discussion is going to take . But as long as you ’ re respectful , you ’ re honest and transparent with what was going on and you ’ re not argumentative in that kind of interaction , you should be totally fine .
RAIN : That ’ s the thing too , right ? Everyone makes mistakes . We ’ ve never flown a perfect sortie . This would obviously be a big whoops . But the thing is owning that mistake , being polite , being respectful , and it usually will sort itself out because again , if it ’ s a genuine honest mistake , life will be okay . It ’ ll march on . It ’ s going to be a little bit different of a day , but you ’ ll be able to progress .
BOAT : Absolutely . And as a baseline , at no point has a NORAD aircraft ever shot down a civilian aircraft of any kind . So that being said is a very safe and controlled procedure that 99.9 % of the time has worked out perfectly every time . It ’ s when you have that conflict on the ground typically or in the air that causes more frustration and consternation .
RAIN : Absolutely . So Boat , I really appreciate you talking . Again , this card is available in a digital format . We ’ ll have the link down there , the time to have it is when you need it , not wishing you had it .
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