Decision Making With Lightning Strikes All Around You

Saturday, July 29 2006 was a sunny, warm morning at Norman Rogers airport in Kingston. The aviation forecast called for 30% chance of thunderstorms, but not until after 4 PM. My two passengers, a fellow pilot and I will fly to Niagara Falls on a Cessna 172 and back via Toronto well before the forecasted thunderstorms.

We departed at 9.20 AM and proceeded direct to Niagara Falls with waypoints at Trenton, Coburg, Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton and QEW/420 (which is the overhead entry point into the sightseeing flight pattern over the falls). After taking in the marvelous sights at the Falls from the air at 3500 feet above sea level (around 2900 feet above ground level) - both from the Canadian side, directly over the falls and from the American side - we landed at St. Catherines to refuel and have lunch. As thunderstorms were moving in faster than expected east of Trenton, we decided to fly to Markham (north of Toronto) for lunch instead. We didn’t want to wait in St. Catherines for the Trenton area to clear as St. Catherines isn’t much of a happening place. I filed the flight plan to Buttonville (Markham) and departed at 12.45.

While on route to Toronto, I got a weather briefing from Flight Service and understood that the weather in Markham was deteriorating, so we decided to land at City Center downtown instead. We went for lunch in China Town in Toronto and learning that Trenton was experiencing thundershowers, we decided to wait it out in Toronto and entertain ourselves for a couple of hours by going to a movie (shopping and sightseeing was vetoed as it was very warm and humid outside).

It was now 7 PM. After a weather briefing from Flight Service which indicated that other than moderate rain, the thunderstorms had cleared. With this information, I filed a flight plan direct to Kingston via the shoreline route and prepared the aircraft for departure. City tower notified me of some lightning activity in Oshawa (15 minutes away from Toronto by air) and after hearing a pilot report, we understood the weather was localized and was clearing.

We departed City Center at 8.20 PM and leaving the City Center control zone we were asked to switch frequencies to Toronto Terminal for flight following. With the rain pouring, I decided to stay under 2400 feet, clear of Terminal airspace, and called Oshawa tower for their weather conditions instead. Good decision. Upon hearing from the tower that conditions were rapidly deteriorating in Oshawa with lightning activity, I called up Buttonville Tower to excercise one of three diversion options forumlated on the fly which is A. take the northern route to Kingston bypassing Oshawa or B. land at Buttonville if the northern route is closed off (as the southern route is clearly closed off with lighting activity) or C. turn back to City Center. Buttonville indicated that the lightning had cleared except for some rain and hearing from them that it seems okay for the northern route, I was able to excercise option A after flying through the rain and overhead Buttonville. Phew.

It wasn’t over yet. There were weather activity I had to clear almost the entire way until Trenton. However, the worst was within the first 5 minutes of departure from City Center Toronto - the intended Southern route to Kingston had closed off, our departure point in Toronto was being closed off - if we had pressed on without seeking information, without assessing our intended decision, without formulating options and without picking the least risk option to divert to Buttonville - all of this within seconds (as lightning doesn’t wait for you to make up your mind) - I wouldn’t be here to tell this story.

I experienced something at that time - I was performing with crystal clear clarity in thought and action, with no panic whatsoever even with pouring rain and turbulence at 1800 feet. Everything came together from experience and training - flying the aircraft, communicating with various air traffic controllers, communicating with flight service, using critical knowledge from weather, airspace, navigation, airport procedures and flight mechanics. This was a feeling of confidence and application - this is what training prepares you for - apply the knowledge, collaborate with your team (air traffic control, co-pilot, flight service station), know and use your resources, and importantly, face reality and obey laws of nature and mechanics (and obey aviation law, but you can throw that out the window if you were to declare a mayday).

You can probably relate the above experience to something you have experienced where everything came together - it is almost a spiritual moment. I am hoping that our preparation at Queen’s, the experience we have had so far and the experience we will have in the working world will one day provide the same level of clarity in thought and performance leading to successful outcomes in business situations.

So, blog readers - build a toolkit, consolidating your learnings and intentionally use that knowledge to further yourself at least 1% each day - everything will come together for you - to rapidly assess the situation at hand, to call up your resources, to formulate options and to swiftly pick the best option - and it will make all the difference in the world at a crucial moment you have been preparing for.