Sometimes we don’t make the smartest decisions. And sometimes, we end up in the water because of it.
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2026 4:27 pmThis flight began quietly on the ramp in Unalaska.
Darkness, low clouds, nothing unusual for the Aleutians – but not exactly inviting either.
Still, I went.
Climb performance was never really there.
Too little power, a trim that wasn’t quite right – nothing dramatic, just a constant feeling of “working” the aircraft.
Later, on approach, it even looked stable.
Gear down, attitude fine, everything as it should be.
But it wasn’t.
Low, slow, and ahead of me a wall of cloud.
There was a moment – not loud, not obvious –
where the better decision would have been to turn away.
I didn’t.
Instead, I tried to salvage what was no longer salvageable.
Fifty meters short of the runway, it ended.
Looking back, this wasn’t a heroic flight.
It was a chain of small decisions, each one acceptable on its own,
but together leading exactly where they shouldn’t.
Darkness, low clouds, nothing unusual for the Aleutians – but not exactly inviting either.
Still, I went.
Climb performance was never really there.
Too little power, a trim that wasn’t quite right – nothing dramatic, just a constant feeling of “working” the aircraft.
Later, on approach, it even looked stable.
Gear down, attitude fine, everything as it should be.
But it wasn’t.
Low, slow, and ahead of me a wall of cloud.
There was a moment – not loud, not obvious –
where the better decision would have been to turn away.
I didn’t.
Instead, I tried to salvage what was no longer salvageable.
Fifty meters short of the runway, it ended.
Looking back, this wasn’t a heroic flight.
It was a chain of small decisions, each one acceptable on its own,
but together leading exactly where they shouldn’t.