Real Pilot Story from the Field: No Go-Around - A lesson from the Backcountry 

Five absolutely wonderful human beings, able to speak truthfully without any fear of feeling foolish, for the betterment of their community. Thank you, Todd, for having the stones to be so honest and forthcoming, and thank you Richard for the respectful and professional way you conducted this interview. I love the way you guys paid it forward: Todd, you had angels looking out for you that day, and by sharing your story, you will certainly save more lives.

As a student pilot at the ripe old age of 57, I just want to thank all involved with this accident for their willingness to share and discuss it with us. I have found it extremely valuable to now add the unexpected stall training to my current stall training, again, as a student pilot working on my PPL... Again Thnx...

One advice for ppl who want to land on no go around strips: Get a glider license, or at least take some glider hours before you go to these strips. This teaches you to fully commit to every landing you do in future, because there is no other option. So when you aproach a no go around strip, Change your mindset to glider flying, your throttle lever becomes the spoiler Lever, and you will be fine.

I'm not even a pilot, but that was an amazing, educational video. Glad it turned out well and I'm impressed with everyone's professionalism and commitment to helping other pilots.

What was missing was a pilot briefing about this demanding strip. At the top of the list should have been that this is a NO go-around strip, and a go-around IS NOT an option. If the pilot was uncomfortable with this, DON'T GO! Sometimes less experienced pilots get sucked into doing things they are not qualified to do.

This hits close to home. Last month I nearly stalled after a botched go around from a high density altitude mountain strip. Pointing the nose at the ground 50ft away to recover was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Similarly to this story, I had not adequately prepared myself for such a challenging strip. I also was not proficient at go-arounds as most of my recent flying had been IFR training.

Theses videos are priceless. Very sobering to hear where it went wrong from experienced pilots. Thank you.

My son had 15000 hours of flying different air craft, his baby is his 152 he built with Dad and Uncle. I bought him a first aid kit with flares and he has never crashed, lost a door but landed fine. This is a video that should go up on ALL Cessna planes such a Cubs and little bugs such as his. He has a piper needing a engine sitting in his hanger, engine hought just taking his time as he works full-time. The piper I will worry I think more. Thanks Todd for hanging in there. Guntersville Airport, Alabama, you can call and connect with him. Leaving message using Foxie Dog. He will know. Thanks again. Fly safe.

I remember my instructor taking me up for spin recovery training, and me thinking "oh no, why?". But when he took the airplane into a first spin, I was so completely disoriented and in some sort of shock, that it made me unable to do anything but stare at the ground in front (!) of me. All he asked me to do was to report the spin direction, and count the revolutions. I wasn't even able to do just that. My conclusion: if I had encountered this situation at a low altitude, unprepared, I would certainly have died. I recently learned that spin recovery (and even aerobatics) isn't part anymore of commercial pilot training (I personally know a commercial pilot that had his training less than 10 years ago, and he never did this during his training), because of cost arguments. I think this is a giant mistake. Basic flying is an essential part of pilot training. I started with gliders, and as already mentioned here by others, it is such a great experience and preparation for powered flight. It has learned me a lot (the spin recovery training was part of my glider license training, it wasn't in the PPL training later on). When I had to practice engine out landings later on, I was totally at ease, because I learned to land without an engine before I learned it with an engine. You leanr about energy management before you even know what that means. In fact, glider training should be part of any pilot training. To finish my story: after I-don't-know-how-many spins, I was able to do them however the instructor wanted, he even flipped the aircraft over to get it into a spin, I was "comfortable" with it. And years later, while demonstrating power-on stalls to an instructor, in some crosswind, when a wing dropped, I still had the reflex of using the rudder to correct (which impressed him).

"Airplanes always make it to the ground". Much respect to all of the pilots out there reading this with a little bit of gallows humor in the back of your mind. All of us plebes wouldn't mind making a landing once. Cheers... from a passenger.

The "helmet question", and the inertia reel harness attached to the fuselage STC were extremely interesting.

When I worked at a major electric utility we did a lot of remote site work, so we invited a local SAR organization in to teach us. They introduced us to those GPS emergency alerters and highly recommended them. Now I see why.

If you fly backcountry THIS INTERVIEW SHOULD BE MANDATORY VIEWING!

Excellent point about not just stall training, but departure/spin training by an instructor who can work you into a stall/spin scenario without your being aware it's going to happen. It didn't feel like a freaking *benefit* at the moment I found myself unexpectedly in a spinning airplane with a laughing instructor - he found stuff like that *thoroughly amusing* - but once I realized fully what had just happened, I laughed too. And it stays with you. Wonderful video. Thank you!

I don't fly, but i would have anyone of these guys at my back without question. We all make mistakes throughout our lives but critical thinking, which all of these men are using in this situation is admirable.

In the airline world we review and brief each and every approach prior to descent. Even if we've been to the same airport 100 times. We cover the approach, go-around, Terrain, Weather, and other operational considerations (e.g. current fuel state, contingency plans, etc.) Preparation is key. In this case, a clear briefing on sight picture, location of the runway (it's tucked in on the right side of the clearing) approach, landing, and rollout. Also discuss commitment point -- the point where an approach can no longer be aborted, and the pilot is committed to land. Critical details are key! As the hazards increase, so should the preparation to meet those hazards. There was a bit of stall-spin recovery discussion in the video. Once Todd had stalled, at that altitude, there was no chance to recover. Stall and spin recovery is critically important for pilots, but wouldn't have saved Todd. Stall and spin *avoidance* training would have been more useful. Also being a glider pilot does help. When you know you only have one chance to land each time you fly, you get really good at mentally preparing for an approach and staying focused throughout the whole approach and landing.

Love watching Ed Harris do these interviews .......

Not a pilot, just an aviation fan. Man, That choked me up. So Glad to see that Todd is okay as can be.

This is an amazing story, but the lessons that were learned are so valuable. Nothing is able to substitute for training, and having a good plan. Always having first aid and survival gear, is also a huge takeaway from this.

This channel has saved lives. Please keep up the good work.

1. He is a lucky man. It was not his time to go. 2. The right trio of friends on scene with the right tools, training, communication. Incredibly so! 3. Very proud and grateful of these gents and ASI for creating a useful step by step vlog of events so others can be more prepared. At LEAST take pause. Some times things do not go as planned 4. Know your limits, your airplanes limits and don't exceed them. Your responsibility is to get home safe, not to land your where friends landed (Monday quarterback stuff, sorry) Thanks fir putting this up. Glad he is alive and seemingly well

Takes my breath away to have experiences like this to learn from going into aviation. My favorite line, "Are pilot and machine ready for this mission?". One that I will hold close for life.

The last comment on takeaways - "leave yourself an out" should be #1. Doesn't just apply to aviation.

The jump in production value is obvious, these are getting better and better. Thanks to the pilots for telling their stories.

Wow. So glad for this outcome and the lessons learned. Great video, thanks AOPA. I can't imagine the feeling of seeing my brother pancake his plane just out of sight in the backcountry. Then to find him alive but death-gurgling. Props to these guys for getting the right aid in place asap. So glad these brothers can fly together again. Blue skies!

I'm a glider pilot, with only a few hundred hours, so have less experience than these guys and I acknowledge it's easy to be wise after the event. It surprised me that a pilot would choose to fly into a challenging strip solo for the first time. The others had been here before: mightn't it have been better to have one of them in the plane? Stall / spin: many GA pilots fly aircraft which will not readily stall and are not universally (I believe) taught spin recovery. You might find it useful to go to a gliding club and ask to do some spinning (not just the early stage of wing drop). Stall / spin is a well-recognised hazard for glider pilots, particularly in out-landings (going into a farmer's field you've only just seen a few minutes before) and spin recovery training is part of the syllabus. Lastly, thanks for sharing. The challenge is to not repeat someone else's mistakes but to go out and make your own new and different ones. Fly safely.

I had a Stearman start spitting burning glops of gas out the exhaust on takeoff at ten feet alt. Luckily my copilot was a WW2 Vet and knew exactly what to do. He calmly notified the tower, set back down, shut off the fuel, slowed down, drove off the runway and locked the left brake to slowly go around in circles until the engine quit. We sat there he started laughing. "If you shut off the engine, the aircraft will burn to the ground." "I learned that in basic flight training 1944, and never used it until now." (1994) Moral: Good training sticks with you. RIP Mike.

Thank you to everybody who was part of making this video. We all need to see this and think about it. Todd, you are lucky to be alive! Terrible situation, ultimately happy ending.

I can't begin to tell you how valuable this video is. It's also a relief to see that Todd has recovered and flying again. No doubt this will indirectly save someones life. There are so many valuable lessons in this not quite 30m video. We are definitely not trained enough on the dreaded stall spin scenario. I have never experienced it but I know I was close back in the mid 80's (it's burned into my memory). I had way too much left rudder in on a left base to final turn, trying to force the aircraft to line up. I still remember the feeling of seeing the ball so far out of where it was supposed to be and realizing and way too much bank. Thankfully I corrected the rudder, rolled wings level, and went around. A few weeks later I signed up for spin training. It showed me how violent and disorienting the entry is. It's on me to fly the aircraft and keep it coordinated. Pilots today are blessed to have this kind of resource. Kudos and best wishes to everyone that was involved.

UPRT! An absolute must for any pilot. I’m an airline pilot and we have done it in our recurrent training every six months for the last 5 years. I was also an aerobatic pilot and light aircraft pilot in my spare time. Upset recovery training is brilliant! It has made me more aware in all my flying. The way ASI has done this video and how the pilots involved have openly discussed this and shared their experience is absolutely brilliant. Hangar talk definitely increases all pilots knowledge. Single pilot CRM and the psychology of flying is just as important as any other aviation subject. Thank you for this, you have enlightened me and provoked more thought on how I prepare myself for flight. Absolutely brilliant video👌🏻👍🏻

I look back on some of the situations I've experienced in light aircraft in my 50yrs of flying and realise many dangers that I had little awareness of at the time. It's so much easier now to avail yourself of good information. It's one thing to read accident reports, but quite another to see these guys relating their experience. When he described that wing drop my stomach lurched with the aeroplane! Thank you sirs.

I do aircraft recovery for a living. This guy is lucky to be alive. I’ve seen crashes like this and the pilot was mangled beyond recognition. We give tours to student pilots around the yard and tell them what caused each crash and how that pilot could have avoided the crash. The students leave our facility with their eyes wide open after the tour. They either stall on landing or takeoff or the biggest problem we’ve been seeing is people NOT checking their fuel levels.

For me personally I would only attempt these kind of BC operations until I had received rigorous mountain flying training from professionals. A co-worker of mine worked part time at "McCall Mountain Canyon Flying Seminars" and shared many stories. But even then accidents can happen like these proficient pilots experienced. Thank you for sharing this event.

Also being able to commit yourself into a controlled crash as opposed to the alternative which is a nose straight down uncontrolled stall/spin crash.

I'm glad he's okay. The competence of his comrades is remarkable.

Every pilot should see this. Thanks to all of you for candidly sharing all the details.

When I first saw the title of this, related to backcountry flying, I immediately thought "this is what pilots face here in the backcountry in Idaho," and here you are!! His joke about looking for world-class rhubarb isn't far from the truth. Before he let his license laps due to his age, my dad loved to fly into some small backcountry strips here in Idaho and have a burger at the lodges. He called them his "100-dollar hamburgers."

Every time I see a video from this channel I can't click it fast enough.

This is the first video of yours that I'm watching on your channel. I was part of a US Coast Guard / Civil Air Patrol joint effort looking for stranded boaters, downed aircraft and swept out swimmers. We took off from Erie Int'l Airport in PA, flew up to Dunkirk NY, turned, went to Conneaut Ohio, then returned. Whatever we saw, we radioed in for the Coast Guard to go investigate. It was a daily event, code named "Sundown Patrol." Once we were stable in the air, the pilot would give over the controls to us cadets, one by one, so we could experience what it was like piloting a plane. After my stint as a CAP Cadet Commander, I joined the Air Force, in Security Police (Now called Security Forces) and joined several federal law enforcement associations as a result. After fulfilling many of my life dreams, I am now seeking to rejoin CAP and get my pilots license. This looks like a good place to get great info, and learn. I'm very happy to have found your channel.

Thanks to all of you. I've recently been turned on to the idea of flying(specifically backcountry flying.). This is a well needed awakening from the frequent day dreaming I've been doing as of late. Having close to 30 years of ER experience, I can say you guys handled a very intense situation. There is next level pucker factor when shit happens right in front of you.

Thanks to all involved for sharing. We can all learn from each other.

Thank you Todd for putting yourself through this for our benefit. I hope I am never in the same position but, if I am, I hope have the courage that you have shown. Thank you

Very interesting. Whoever designated the airfield "no go around", did so because a go around was not possible. So a crash was inevitable. This is a very valuable video.

Another great video from the ASI. Thanks for producing this and thanks guys for sharing the story.

This is the flight instructor in me, but why are we labeling this as a "no go around" strip? If the approach is unstable or for any other reason there always has to be an alternative, otherwise why even approach? Here's a suggestion, how about a spiraling climb? Isn't that why we practice chandelles? Constant airspeed, constant bank... pitch for vx and perform a climbing 180... why was this not an option? I'm glad this pilot lived to share the experience; I'm trying to learn something hence my question. I don't understand what a "no go around" strip is as I come from a different school of thought I suppose. The pilot of the accident aircraft is lucky he was in a group; that saved his life. Now I will also say thank you to ASI for facilitating this conversation and posting it on RU-vid so the content reaches more people. That's awesome.

*as someone who wants to go into back country/bush flying, these stories are priceless and immensely helpful. Thank you so much for agreeing to open up about it!! Back country flying has such big risk but such big reward, thankful everybody survived.* 🙏

Thanks to the gentlemen for sharing this story. Very humbling and learnt a lot. Glad to see that Todd has recovered from this scary accident.

What a GREAT group of guys that, in AS BAD as this situation was..I would want this kind of ‘level-headedness’ and strong people around any accident scene. I WISH we’d heard more about the specific CARE they gave Todd in the initial aftermath of the crash..SO glad he’s alright! Bet this has made them a lot tighter group. AND, you can’t say ENOUGH about that garmin ‘IN-REACH’ tech..saved Todd’s life to be sure.

I Love that the Garmin device can send texts without cell phone coverage ! Just brilliant

Thank you all for sharing your story. I'm not a pilot, but enjoy watching these videos... your story was very educational and scary. I'm so glad it had a happy ending and you are all safe!

Another fantastic video!! A great way to spread safety that I'm sure has and will continue to keep folks out of bad situations. Very happy to hear that Todd has made a full recovery. I can only imagine how terrifying that must have been. Good group of fellas together that fateful afternoon - the kind of guys you can trust and know they have your back. 👍

Excellent videos. Have watched many of these and learned from each. I’m a 2100 hour commercial instrument rated pilot and each time I watch one of these I tense up with understanding how it feels to be so highly stressed.

Great video guys glad to hear the outcome was as good as it was. I’m an ag pilot who topdresses in high altitude country in Australia and regularly operate off short no go round strips. Conducting up to 80 takeoffs and landings a day . Great idea to practice on go round strips. Helmet with this type of flying is I believe a must, a good flight helmet does cost a few dollars,but well worth it.

Appreciate the story and the guys willing to talk about it.

Outstanding video and big, big thanks to the pilots involved for being open and sharing their story. Happy to hear of the pilot's recovery.

I love these videos, starting on my pilots license later this month and am binge watching these again to prepare myself mentally. Sidenote: I also love me some rhubarb

Thank you for sharing this chilling story. I is hard to learn from other peoples mistakes.....Yet all of these "forced landing" discussions help others to reflect on the seriousness of flying in the back country.

Great stuff guys .i tried to remember all the good advices you gave to all of us in this video. Above all, I am delighted to see the brothers still happy together. Cheers from the French alps American flyers.

Solid work all - very much appreciated, and happy this one only had an expensive outcome! Oh, and rhubarb crumble is worth the effort!

Great recap with a lot of good take aways, glad this pilot is alive and the willing to share the story.

The honesty of these guys demands huge respect from me.

I am absolutely not a pilot, but I was very surprised when the one question I had was not coming up through all of this video: Why did nobody in the group ask everybody else if they have been to this place before while they were all still in the and not in an approach? Why is there not a policy in place, when you go bush flying, that everyone gets a briefing for the place they are going to be landing? I get that the challenge is part of the fun, but I would make it a rule that: 1. everybody who landed there before states as such on the radio. 2. everybody who didn't states as such on the radio. 3. If someone in the group never landed there before, the pilot with the most experience for the landing strip is obliged to give a quick summary of what to expect.

Want to practice no go around landings, fly a glider. Every landing in a glider is a no go around landing.

Great discussion on helmets and old plane cockpit design.

So many things had to go right for this guy to be a live, wow.

Thank you for sharing the story. Glad it had a happy end amd you were able to male it out!

All great points made about gliders. I learned to fly on cessnas etc, and then flew gliders, including hang gliders and paragliders for 15 years - as everyone else says, it really focuses your mind when you know you can't go around (like when I landed repeatedly for a photo-reportage project in the super tight canyons of Petra in Jordan, next to the Indiana Jones temple of doom place.

OUTSTANDING VIDEO!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING !!!

Thank you for sharing the lessons learned...

Thank you for sharing your story amazing so glad you came out of that alive

I agree with others that these videos are invaluable and really make me stop and contemplate all aspects of my experience as an aviator. Well done and please produce more safety oriented content.

Thank you very much for making these videos available.

Thanks so much for this video. As someone once said, "Humans learn from their mistakes, not from their successes." I pilot a canopy as a skydiver, not an airplane but I learned an amazing amount about my own sport from watching this video. All of the flight terms and all aspects of being in the air and landing are the same. No matter how big or small your wing or wings are the aerodynamics of flight don't change. When I deploy my canopy I am always aware that I could be presented with something unexpected. One the most harrowing of these possibilities is being in a stall spin. Under canopy can easily be deadly. Once the spin takes over it becomes extremely difficult to overpower the centrifugal force. Maintaining clarity during an emergency is challenging but critical. My father was a pilot and I have chosen to take flight to a different level but at the end of the day the principles of that flight are the same and the emergencies are remarkably similar. All of the people in this vid are outstanding and a happy outcome being pulled from an accident was truly miraculous. The most important thing I was taught from my instructor: Remember, whenever you begin a turn you are committing to an altitude loss. Thanks for the reminder. Blue skies, guys!

This looks incredibly hard to do. Thank you, so much for your honesty, your story, and for saving countless people in the future

Just wow! Thank you for this video and thank you to the 4 involved in this incident, to share their experience. So thankful for the recovery!

I'm so glad I've subscribed to this channel. This is such a great video, and a wonderful reminder to plan and prepare - and to make critical decisions ahead of the point you need to make them.

Glad to hear you mounted back up and are doing good.

Outstanding. Its nice to see everything go as 'according to plan' as it can. Getting the power and fuel cut are a good reminder for the next pilot down the line. Sending out the SOS immediately was job #1, well done.

Great video. Thank you for producing it and to those gentlemen for sharing it.

Great video! These are the types of videos we can all learn from. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent recap of what happened. Lesson learned, thank you!

Experience can mean nothing. Only evaluated experience is valuable. That’s what this channel is all about and I love it! Great show with several great takeaways.

Great video, great quality of the production as well. I loved it and above all thank you for sharing.

Really appreciate the story, it will definitely help me. I will be looking at my cockpit for what I could hit in a crash. Thank you.

Great story - glad to have all back safe and sound - thank you for sharing.

Thanks for sharing guys, this information is invaluable!

Thank you for sharing this story.

Wow....A really great video. Thank you to all involved.

Excellent content, thank you for sharing your srory, it will save lives

Wow, cool story. I really enjoy watching these, glad this one turned out well.

Thanks for bringing these stories to light so completely. This channel is a great resources for all pilots.

Thank you guys for the excellent discussion ❤️🤠❤️

This was outstanding. Agree it was a very sobering reminder to plan and stay well ahead of the situation.

These pilot stories are great.

Excellent video! Thank you for sharing. Take care, Be safe.

Thanks for doing these videos. Every time I watch a new one I hold my breath. This time I relaxed, because you guys laughed in the beginning of the video. I am sure it has been a tough journey for Todd, but the other option is far less good. Thanks again.

An exceedingly well made video. Mr. McSpadden is very enjoyable to follow and listen to. I will be strongly considering Upset Recovery Training to become more familiar with stall regimes. Thank you ASI!

One mitigating factor I've noticed in canyon/mountain flying it is very easy to lose your horizon perspective; while turning in a canyon, it is very easy to climb exccesively in the turn- you lose airspeed very quickly. Mentally preparing for this helps me- I scan my artifical horizon in the turn to make sure I'm not inadvertebtly climbing. Also always enter the turn on the downwind side of the canyon if there is a crossbreeze- so you are turning into the wind. This effectively reduces your turn radius relative to the ground especially when your eyes are focused on terrain below. Good video- thx!

Glad this worked out. Thank you for the information.

Good discussion. Thank you!