![Emergencies rarely unfold like the textbook diagrams. [Image: Joel Kimmel]](https://tbh.express/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Pilot-Executes-the-‘Impossible-Turn.jpeg "Pilot Executes the ‘Impossible Turn’")
Night flying has always been where aviation feels the most honest. The distractions fall away, the wind calms, and the world below turns into a quiet, shimmering outline. I have always enjoyed teaching night flying for exactly that reason— students absorb more, stay focused, and experience precisely the kind of disciplined flying that makes them stronger pilots.
On January 6 during what should have been a routine night of full-stop pattern work at DeLand Municipal Airport (KDED) in Florida, that sense of calm evaporated in a single second. In the space between a normal climbout and the engine’s sudden silence, I went from instructor to emergency pilot executing the very decision we all hope we never have to make—the “impossible turn.”
