My Horrifying Dream (Continued) - Part 3/5 The Ditching

I swore. At 32 feet and only 121 knots, my wings had no lift left to give. I couldn't turn; my wings would hit something and I would descend faster. I pulled more on my control column. 16 degrees. 33. 37. 44. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 45. 33. I pushed on the control column. We were at only 115 knots and I had to find a way to get to at least 118 knots. Otherwise, the plane will break up on impact with the water. 27 feet, 117.5 knots. 118 knots. 12 feet. Here's is a brief explanation of what the plane's instruments were showing:
Altimeter: 9 feet
Speed: 118.4 knots.
Descent Rate: 221 feet/minute
Flaps: 2 degrees
Radio Altimeter: 12 feet.
I was far ahead of downtown Toronto and this was a very scary experience. Furthermore, I was dangerously far from the land. Maybe 2000 feet from the land. 3 feet. I left my instruments and I braced. We hit hard. All I saw now was water pouring over the windshield. This is it. I looked up. "THE DITCHING BUTTON!". I forgot to press it. Now, with no power to anything, it wouldn't work. It was to late. I looked back. Thousands of gallons of water were pouring in. I couldn't get out yet. I had a 3 page evacuation and after-ditching checklists to complete. And those, would take me at least 4 minutes for both my co-pilot and I to complete.
Start Levers. Off.
Cross levers. Off.
Engine Thrust. Idle.
Reset. On/Off.
Auto-throttle. Off.
Autopilot. Off and disengaged.
Evacuation Checklist Complete.
After-ditching checklist.
Start Columns. Neutral...
When we finished both checklist, the ice cold water was at my waist. "Let's get out of here" My co-pilot listened to me, and amazed that I ditched the plane successfully. Something he probably couldn't do. It was an extremely difficult aviation feat. I opened the over-wing exit doors and we jumped on the wing of the plane. I closed the door.There was only one hitch. I was dumb enough to not go on the emergency exit door which had a raft that could be detached from the aircraft and the other was that I chose to exit from the right side which was further away from land. Now, no one can see us from their view. The wing was slippery and I fell of twice and as every second went by, the lower into the water the aircraft went, and the chance of me and my instructor surviving, was dissolving away.

To Be Continued...

My Horrifying Dream (Continued) - Part 2/5 The Glide

"Yeah, you need to come back to Toronto, uh, Turn right 180. You have about a 100 miles to fly"
I was already rolled into the right turn, and I switched on the Auxiliary Power Unit or APU. It's an emergency generator. Engines not only provide thrust, but the power required to manipulate the aircraft. My co-pilot began reading our descent rate (1000 feet/minute), speed (220 knots) and altitude (21 800 feet) to determine if we could make Toronto. We had 22 minutes to fly. No more. When we were about 60 miles from the airport. Now we had 11 minutes to fly and 11 260 feet in the air, we have awful news. We will not make Toronto Pearson Int'l Airport and Toronto City Centre Airport are out of question. We can make City Centre Airport but it will be too dangerous. The runway that is used for landings is too short for our plane and the runway that we would have to land on would be too dangerous: 25 knots of crosswind would be too dangerous to land. If we were to land, we risk a big chance of overshooting their runway and breaking up in the water. There was only one other place to land. Lake Ontario. Ditching in Lake Ontario would be extremely difficult. If not impossible. 4 minutes to fly. I radioed to the controller "Toronto Tower, Learjet Golf Zulu, we're gonna be in the water. 2 600 feet. City Centre Airport was 3 miles ahead of us. I knew that the best chance of surviving, was going beside the airport. We would hit the water about 6 miles ahead of the airport. A dangerous distance from downtown. Now the plane was at 178 knots, as I was getting ready for the ditching. I was too high and I had to do another dangerous maneuver to lose altitude but not speed. The side slip. I got down to 540 feet and 142 knots. I brought the plane to a pitch of 12 degrees for the ditching and reduced the descent rate. The altimeter read 40 feet. I just passed City Centre Airport and I saw a tree, and boats.

To be continued...

My Horrifying Dream - Part 1/5 Gear Up

"Mayday Mayday Mayday, Learjet Charlie Golf Zulu Hotel Alpha, We've lost both engines, We're turning back toward Toronto. Now out of FL230"

A Learjet 85

I was about to earn my flight license. This plane was a brand-new Learjet 85.I was on my last test flight, out of Buttonville Airport to Ottawa MacDonald Cartier Int'l Airport. "Learjet Golf Zulu, cleared for takeoff runway 15". I pushed the throttles forward. My engines instruments read full power and accelerating through 30 knots. I looked out of my window excited about finally getting to fly. "80 Knots" my co-pilot yelled out. "Confirmed". We were now about 800 metres from the end of the runway. "V1". "Rotate". We were at 136 knots. I pulled back on to my control column. I was looking at my altimeter. Ground level was 576 feet. We started climbing. 580. 590. 600. 610. 630. 655. 680. We were 100 feet in the air. "Positive rate, gear up". My co-pilot retracted the landing gear. "V2" He yelled out. He then reduced thrust to idle on the number 2 engine. "Engine failure number 2". It was a simple process to fix and I was up for it. I was not allowed to increase thrust from the number 2 engine. I changed the pitch trim and tail trim to keep the plane level and climbing. "Learjet Charlie Golf Zulu, contact Toronto Departure on 121.75. Good Day". "Going to 121.75, Learjet Golf Zulu". I switched our transpnder to the setting. "Toronto Departure, Learjet Golf Zulu 900 climbing one zero thousand (10 000)."Roger, Learjet Golf Zulu, turn left heading 080". I rolled the plane into a left turn. "Turning left 080, Learjet Golf Zulu". I showed my co-pilot that I succesfully passed the engine failure test. I set thrust for both engines at 80 N1 (Climb thrust). We were now at 10 000 feet about 30 miles from Buttonville. "Learjet Golf Zulu, resume own navigation, contact Toronto Center on 121.9". I responded with the usual responses and we got to
22 000 feet (FL220). 30 seconds later... Boom. Alerts going on in the cockpit. I look at my engine instruments. 70 N1. 60 N1. 50 N1. 20 N1. -2 N1. No thrust. This was not at all suppose to happen. The co-pilot was surprised and decided not to take control of the aircraft from me. I was already handling the engine failure and the shaking control column and he knew I was flying the aircraft well. We were 95 miles from our nearest major airport with full emergency support. And that was Toronto Pearson International Airport. From only 22 000 feet, it would be very hard to glide that such distance, if we could. I shouted:
"Mayday Mayday Mayday, Toronto Center, Learjet Golf Zulu is 19 miles of CYGK, we've lost both engines, now out of FL220.

To be continued...