ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (11/09/85)
Several years ago, I flew a Cardinal RG from Morristown NJ to Oshkosh for the airshow. The trip out was somewhat meandering: the Midwest was one solid thunderstorm the day we planned to leave so we decided to wait out the weather in Cape May. After a weekend in Cape May, the front blew by, taking some spectacular lightning with it, and the next day we headed to South Bend with a fuel stop in Kent, Ohio. The following day, we departed South Bend for Oshkosh. Weather at South Bend was 2200 overcast, tops at 8, no precip reported or forecast. We punched into it and came out on top half an hour later uneventfully. As we headed north, the undercast became broken, then scattered, then vanished altogether. Brilliant blue sky, green fields below, flying more or less north at 10,000 with a stream of airliners at 11000 crossing left to right ahead of us on the way in to O'Hare. A high-speed descent through smooth air brought us to the southern tip of Lake Winnebago, and about 3,000 feet over the lake, the approach controller said: Cardinal 46H, put down your landing gear, turn on every light you've got, and contact Oshkosh tower. The shore near the airport runs north and south and the lake is many miles across. The airport itself has two main runways: 9/27 and 18/36. They form a T, with 18/36 entirely south of 9/27 and just about at its midpoint. Each runway is about 7,000 feet. The wind that day was about 270 at 20, so they were landing on 27. A steady stream of airplanes was coming down into a right downwind (so as to avoid flying over 18/36), turning base over the shore, and landing on 27. When I could get a word in, I called: Oshkosh Tower, Cardinal 1546H, with you IFR inbound over the lake. Answer: "46H visual approach report 3 mile final" Three miles out I call again and am told: "46H follow the low-wing on final" OK, I pick up the low-wing on final, looks like a mosquito, and line up with the runway. Check gas, undercarriage, mixture, prop again. Passenger says: "Do you have the low-wing ahead?" Yes, I still have the low-wing ahead. But my passenger is getting nervous. I point out the traffic to her. She says something like "I didn't see that one before! I meant the other one!!" Just at this moment, the controller says: "Blue and white Cardinal on short final, go around! Cardinal 46H, are you down yet?" Several things have dawned on me at once: (1) there are TWO low-wing airplanes ahead of me on final, and I only see one. (2) The controller doesn't know that 46H IS the blue and white Cardinal on short final. (3) I'm not staying around to find out what else is wrong. So, full power, flaps 20, and NOW, for the first time, I see the other low-wing ahead. It was invisible under the nose from where I sat, although my passenger could see it. Ah well, time to clarify the situation to the controller and try again. "Cardinal 46H on short final is going around." Now the controller realizes what has been happening. He says: "46H, if able, break left, clear to land 18." Quick decision: do I want to attempt what is now going to be a difficult landing or do I want to go around and try again with a zillion other airplanes swarming around. I decide to see if I can land -- at worst I'll have to go around again and at least I'll be headed straight out of the pattern away from all the traffic. Good thing the gear wasn't on the way up yet -- that takes 30 seconds to cycle! So, power back to idle, put the flaps back, turn left, WATCH THAT AIRSPEED IN THE TURN! and I'm 200 feet over the runway threshold, way high and a little fast. But I've got more than a mile of runway ahead of me, and you can slip a Cardinal with full flaps, so full left rudder, right aileron, and drop like a rock. The landing was not a greaser, but I didn't lose any fillings either, and I only used about half the runway. After that, it was rather anti-climactic to spend 45 minutes taxiing.