I'm Still Alive

By Dennis W Sniffin

I had been a WestAir Airlines first officer for four years. I was landing in Los Angeles flying a nineteen-passenger twin turboprop Jetstream, following a Korean Air 747. The weather was clear. I had three and a half miles separation behind the Korean Air to avoid the wake turbulence, aka cyclonic flow, coming off the 747's wingtips. The Korean Air landed and turned off the runway. I intended to land beyond where he touched down as per standard operating procedures.
Descending below 100' above the runway I felt a slight yoke movement from the wake turbulence of Korean's right-wing. I initiated a climb to get back in sequence for another approach. In the next two seconds had full power on the airplane.
Too late. I was caught in the 747's vortices forcing the plane into a descending left turn. I countered the left turn. Two seconds later, I had full power on both engines, all flight controls at their limit for a climbing right turn but continued to descend in a left turn. Less than fifty feet off the pavement and descending, we were still out of control. We were going to hit the ground, uncontrolled. If I lived through the initial impact, I, and everyone else, would die in the fire.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DXSHSC2R
• ISBN13: 9798310819535
• Release Date: February 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"