A few years ago, I was a corporate pilot for a kitchen furniture factory based in Trieste, in the province of Venice Julia in northern Italy. Every second Tuesday we had a scheduled flight to Valence in the Rhone Valley in France. The company's airline was a turbocharged PA23 Piper Aztec E. Since the plane was not under pressure, most of the flight was performed at an altitude of 20,000 feet above the Alps on oxygen. My policy was to ensure that all flights were carried out on the airways according to RFP plans (instrument flight rules) in controlled airspace.
At the airport of Valencia, I studied the weather forecasts and forecasts around the area for the return flight to Trieste. I then presented a flight plan for the RFP, requesting FL240 (24,000 feet) through Montelimar, Nice, Genoa, Bologna, Chioggia and Venice. The route did not lead us to the Alps. The reason for requesting such a great height was the use of strong westerly winds, which significantly increased our speed above the ground. Another reason for the flight was high because of the forecast line of thunderstorms over the Apennines, which lay on our planned flight route.
Managers of the company, including the president, received a full oxygen briefing before the first flight with me. After that, they were very happy reading the “La Corriere Della Sera” with oxygen masks on their faces. One of my biggest fears was that someone lit a cigarette while on oxygen. It happened to me once with another company. I had to turn off the oxygen, put out a cigarette, and then quickly switch the oxygen. TUC or the time of useful consciousness without oxygen at the heights that we usually flew, was about one minute.
Approaching Ventimiglia, on the border with France, we were transferred to the Milan office, which cleared us to Trieste on the flight route in order to support FL240. Listening to other aircraft that require higher levels to avoid bad weather conditions, I soon learned that on the Apennina mountain ranges there is a line of squalls of interconnected lightning cells that run right in the middle of the Italian peninsula. This extreme weather pattern was caused by an occluded frontal system in which the two fronts merged to form a squall line.
To the east of Genoa, the squall line became visible, and I asked to change the level to FL280 (28,000 feet). This level is unavailable and we were first cleaned up to FL260 (26,000 feet). Approaching the squall line, we faced severe turbulence. Alitalia and other airlines have requested higher levels. It was not possible to deviate from the storm cells, so my plan was to fly over the low tops at an altitude of 28,000 feet and then go to the Adriatic Sea, where there was no noticeable weather.
Waiting for my last level to change to 28,000 feet, the ineffable happened! Both engines failed, and the aircraft took on a kamikaze attitude in the air. Piper has no procedure for this situation. You are on your own! Auxiliary electric fuel pumps were switched on from 18,000 feet climbing, and the fuel tanks were half full, so this could not be a fuel supply problem. I knew that this could not be icing, because we were still in very dry air with an outdoor temperature of minus 40 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, the altimeter was dropped at an alarming rate, with thunder clouds building under the plane. I installed the transponder on the emergency code 7700 and made the call to this day. He was raised above Alitalia DC9 above me. The crew contacted Milan Control, which gave me alternative permission, which was transferred to me by Alitalia. Milan misunderstood my situation, believing that I failed in one engine. I made it clear to the Alitalia crew that I had lost both engines, and therefore could not accept any permission. I added that I accept a return header to avoid the worst of weather conditions, and that my intentions were sent to the Tyrrhenian Sea south of La Spezia. In the Italian fleet were search and rescue facilities based in La Spezia.
Diving into heavy seas was a difficult prospect, and I didn’t like our chances of survival. However, there is no clear alternative. After you set the approximate western header, I started playing with the engine controls, and finally put them in the cutoff position. This counter is intuitive, but I had to try everything at this stage. Very slowly, I advanced the mix control and a miracle happened. As we passed through 12,000 feet, both engines fired, and I slowly advanced the throttles, installed the mix, and set up the propeller control to adjust the cruise in the economy. We are back to life!
I phoned Genoa's radar and asked to distract him in Genoa at a distance of 12,000 feet. The Genoa approach cleared us to the NKC Camogli (non-directional beacon), which is the initial landing approach for Genoa. They reported that the exact approach for runway 29 (approximate western alignment) does not work and that I could expect an NDB approach. This is an inaccurate approach that is difficult to fly, especially in marginal weather with a strong southerly wind. There were also landscape considerations. The mountain range, on average, 3000 feet ran parallel and just north of the 14 underwater course.
The approach controlled that the surface wind was now from south to 25 knots, breaking up to 30 knots. It was a straight cross wind, exceeding the maximum cross wind limit for my aircraft.
Having reached the initial landing approach at Camogli, I was still on a cloud flight, referring to the instruments, so I took a shift 60 degrees to the left to avoid the risk of getting into the mountains. At 1,500 feet I escaped from a cloud over the sea, changed course to the right, and then took off to the coast to the port, where I was confronted by severe turbulence.
Now over the threshold of the runway and the blade on the left with the left wing down to the wind, and using asymmetrical power, I finally managed to set it about 3000 feet along the runway. With a great sense of relief, I turned off the runway to the taxi to the ramp. The only aircraft is the British United Bac-111 and Lufthansa 737. Alitalia had a 19-fold restriction on side winds in their DC9 insurance policy and was sent to Milan-Linate, where the runway alignment is north to south.
The company president asked me to buy a couple of airline tickets to Trieste via Milan. I replied, “Dottore, do you see any other plane here?” That's why I have to do this after I have a double Scottish wardrobe - book some rooms at the Grand Hotel in Santa Margarita and rent a car . Tomorrow we will try again! He could not argue with that and quickly accepted to spend the night on the Riviera.
According to statistics, the incident described above is extremely unlikely. This, however, illustrates the importance of the ability to think sideways.
