I remember a TV movie titled “Nowhere To Land” that aired in 2000 and starred Jack Wagner as Captain John Prescott, Christine Elise as Kim McGee, and James B. Sikking as George Eller. My thoughts turn to numerous situations where I was looking for Somewhere to Land. As I am writing this article, I am looking out the window at 400 overcast and 2 miles visibility and thinking that just 24 hours ago, I thought I would be flying VFR with a pre-solo primary flight student this afternoon. In short words, the weather forecast was wrong — where is the sunshine and 55 degrees that was promised?
Many times in my flying career for various reasons, I was looking for somewhere to land, other than what I had planned. I would like to share some of these experiences with my readers in this article. Those experiences can be a simple deviation for an unplanned restroom stop, an ill passenger, or an actual emergency. When we are on an instrument flight plan, ATC will probably quiz the pilot when these situations arise as part of their procedures, but don’t let this alarm you. I will say in my flying career, I have found ATC a great friend to have onboard when situations require help.
While training a new instrument pilot a decade or more ago out of Palo Alto, CA (KCAO), this situation occurred and there is a lot to learn from it.
We were on day 8 of our 10-day training course, and it is the day we do the 250 NM IFR cross-country required by FARs. We were training in a very well-equipped Cessna 185 that contained a two-tube EFIS, which was almost unheard of in that time-period in that type of aircraft. The instrument student had progressed very well in his training and was ready for the challenge of the flight. The weather was like today — 400 overcast and 2 miles visibility at the departure airport. We had chosen Lake Tahoe as our destination on the first leg, as I had never been there before. The weather there was good VFR, and the pilot and the aircraft were ready for the trip.
After takeoff from Palo Alto (KCAO), the tower handed us off to San Jose departure, which cleared us as filed.
As we approached cruise altitude, the two EFIS displays started to flash, and we started getting smoke in the cockpit. I was on the radio “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, Cessna NXXXXW has smoke in the cockpit!” There are two pilots in the aircraft; we are in IMC weather conditions, and we have an emergency. As an instructor dealing with this real emergency, it was no time to assign the complete task to the instrument student as a training exercise, but to use all available resources to get on the ground safely. The instrument student was well qualified to fly the aircraft in IMC, so I assigned his task to “fly the airplane.” I would handle the radio and emergency.
ATC responded to our Mayday call immediately, offering their assistance, asking our intentions, and requested the standard fuel and number of souls onboard. Not remembering the exact words from either of us after more than a decade, I indicated we needed an approach to get on the ground as soon as possible. ATC’s response was “fly heading of 170… this will be vectors for the ILS 30L approach to the San Jose airport. Descend and maintain 4000. ILS frequency is 110.9.” (Later in this article, I will explain some important items to learn from this clearance.)
With the student proficient in hand-flying an approach and partial panel operations, he followed ATC’s directions as I tuned the radio to the ILS frequency and read back the clearance. We continued to receive several vectors until we intercepted the localizer at which time we were given the current weather. The EFIS displays continued to flash on and off occasionally followed by a puff of smoke. The pilot was using partial panel procedures and backup instruments as the EFIS display was unreliable.
After breaking out of the overcast with the runway in sight, the landing was routine. We shut off the master switch once the landing was assured. After exiting the runway with a fire truck behind us, we shut down the engine to watch as one more puff of smoke appeared from the engine cowling. A fireman rushed over to the aircraft aiming a fire extinguisher at the cowling intake. No more smoke and all was normal. The cause of the emergency was the result of the mechanic installing a larger alternator to power the EFIS, but not reinforcing the alternator bracket, which bent, causing the alternator post to short out against the motor mount.
At the time of this emergency, we had paper charts and finding the approach chart would have been difficult, if not impossible, to do with only one pilot. Remembering the #1 task is always to fly the airplane… Everything else is secondary.
I have had seven declared emergencies in my flying career and have never been asked to fill out any paperwork or been contacted by the FAA. The most I was asked to do was sign a document for the fire department. ATC is there to help you, so do not hesitate to ask for help. I had a similar experience in my Bonanza in IMC weather due to an alternator failure and again received help from ATC.
Summing up what I learned from my emergency in finding “Somewhere to Land,” before looking at other situations, is as follows:
- Fly the airplane.
- Declare an emergency.
- Give ATC your intentions and what help you are requesting.
In the above scenario, ATC gave us a heading to fly and what approach we would be doing. If we think about runway 30L, it tells us once inbound, we will be flying approximately 300 degrees, plus or minus 5 degrees and any factored wind correction. ATC also gave us an altitude to descend to which should keep us clear of obstacles and enable us to intercept the glideslope. The frequency for the localizer was also very important, as we did not have an approach plate handy and we were too busy to look for it anyway.
Some 10 or more years ago, there was a major revision to the layout of our approach charts which started with Jeppesen and eventually migrated to the government charts. Both versions of these charts have incorporated what is referred to as a “briefing strip.” The idea behind these briefing strips is to allow the pilot to get the information that is most important with just a quick glance. As an exercise during one of my ground school seminars, I flashed an approach chart on the screen for 10 seconds, asking ahead of time for the participants to jot down what they considered to be the most relevant information on that approach. I would like to note that the Jeppesen chart has a better and more logical layout than the government chart.
There are times other than emergencies that we are looking for “Somewhere to Land;” for example: a restroom stop or an unexpected change in the weather or winds. What do we look for and where can pilots find them? Citing a couple of examples as follows:
1) On a flight from Eagle River, WI to Yuma, AZ on an IFR flight plan in VMC weather and flying a Bonanza, we had a planned fuel stop in Grand Junction, CO, but due to turbulence and stronger than forecasted headwinds, it became too marginal for comfortable fuel reserves. Summertime in high terrain with high density altitude is a major consideration. Foreflight is a good source to start providing you with the necessary data, which hopefully you saved by memory. After our search, the only logical destination was Rawlins, WY (KRWL) with its 7008-foot runway; however, there was a problem with surrounding terrain and density altitude. In conclusion, we could make a safe landing, but the density altitude would require us to stay overnight and takeoff in the morning when the temperature was cooler. We took that option!
2) On another occasion on my way back from Florida to my home in Southwest Wisconsin in my Bonanza, upon checking weather at my destination, only to find it was not as forecasted and was below minimums. Rather than attempting an approach to see if I could make it, I changed my destination to Dubuque (KDBQ) where the weather was much better.
Today, we have much better information available in the cockpit. There is ADSB weather and traffic and “Sirus XM” weather that is an improvement over ADSB weather. I have paid the extra money for Sirus XM as the coverage is better, faster and with more detailed. Today, I am using “Starlink” in my Bonanza and very happy with the results. Not only do you have the ability to get weather and traffic on your iPad or other device, but full Wi-Fi at a fantastic speed, including the ability of making phone calls inflight. There are numerous postings on You Tube on how to set up the Starlink Mini in your aircraft for a fee of $65.00 per month, and you can use it in a motorhome or other vehicle as well when not flying.
Keep your flying safe and remember when a flight cannot be completed as planned, there is always Somewhere to Land.
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this column is the expressed opinion of the author only, and readers are advised to seek the advice of their personal flight instructor and others, and refer to the Federal Aviation Regulations, FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, and instructional materials before attempting any procedures discussed herein. © Copyright 2026. All rights reserved!
