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Dumbest mistake in an airplane
Attempting to start a discussion and ward off boredom: tell us something dumb ?a guy you know? did in an airplane. Not to judge, just to discuss. I?ll start: I know a guy who in a rush to get in the air rushed through his preflight and neglected to remove his cowl plugs. The cord connecting the two plugs runs past the propeller (as it should) so as soon as the engine fired up it tore the plugs out and chewed them up and threw foam all over the ramp area. No real damage done, a fair amount of embarrassment though.
Bruce |
OK, I go first;
During my flight training years ago the airplane that I was using had a slight right wing heavy. One day the instructor commented/complained that I have the tendency to turn right instead of following the coarse straight to which I replied, it is not me that is turning, the airplane itself is going that way. |
OK, Believe it or not!
A long time ago the runway at Aero Country Airport had one, mid field, turn off. It required periodic patching. One hot summer day the asphalt patch was somewhat soft. A gentleman in a Cessna 421 slowed to make the turn off and the nosewheel began to sink. The gentleman continued to add power (and NOT holding back pressure on the yoke) until he actually got to full power, collapsing the nose gear. The airplane was totaled because the cost of the engines and props came to more than the value of the airplane. A mechanic friend and I watched in amazement.
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Taking off on a contest launch in my glider and realizing I forgot to turn my oxygen on.....
In the RV, once all strapped in, started up, and then realized I left the wheel chocks in. Didn't do my full checklist on a stop-and-go, so the prop was not full forward. On the go, things just didn't sound or feel right, so I aborted and turned off. Just as I turned off, I figured out it was the prop pulled back to 2400. When I was getting my SEL transition training, there came the night to do a night dual cross country. The CFI had me do a short-field take-off. We flew all the way to Fresno from Moffett Field with the flaps down. |
Okay, I'm pretty sure this one was embarrassing. This guy had been flying corporate jets for several years after quite a few years in turboprops. The typical turboprop has power levers, prop levers, and condition levers. Power is generally controlled by the power levers. Upon landing, the power levers are lifted over a "gate" and pulled back to get reverse thrust. The engines are shut down by lifting the condition levers over a gate and into idle cutoff. On the typical jet there are only the thrust levers. Hanging down off the upper forward side of the thrust levers are the reverse levers. Upon landing, with the thrust levers at idle, the pilot reaches slightly forward and lifts the reverse levers which deploys the thrust reverse "buckets" and lifts further for more reverse thrust. The engines are shut down by lifting the thrust levers over a gate into idle cutoff.
See where I'm going with this? ;) On a busy afternoon, at Teterboro, NJ (TEB), no less, on runway 24, this pilot, again, after several years in turbojets, reverted to old habits, and, on touchdown, well...if you can't guess what happened, PM me. Fortunately, there was enough momentum to roll clear of the runway but tower wasn't too happy as he cleared at the most used runway exit. :rolleyes: |
1982, a certain very junior FBO employee gets detailed to deliver a new Dakota to a dealer and new owner at Canaveral. So said junior birdman launches late after a departure delay due to fog. No problem, this a a Dakota, just climb way up and enjoy a tailwind. Problem was, our intrepid idiot was a smoker back then, and chained a dozen while pacing the lobby prior to launch.
Cruisin' along, beautiful sunny day. Something kept nagging, but what, why worry...this is GREAT! Eventually he started puzzling over the fuel gauges. One was full, the other nearing empty? Gee, that's odd... Hmm...forgot to swap tanks. Hey, maybe a little hypoxia here. Started a descent. When the lights came back on, Junior Birdman realized he was about to punch through the Orlando Class B. To to put frosting on this sorry story, he then proceeded to wheelbarrow the landing and do two or three skips in front of the local dealer, the new owner, and the pilot detailed to carry his humbled butt over to Orlando to catch the airlines home. Not a proud day. |
I heard a story of a ferry pilot that totalled a newly restored P-51. He was a high time jet pilot that wasnt particularly experienced in tailwheel aircraft. I heard It was a 2 million dollar restoration and cost another 2 million to repair the damage from it.
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A long time ago I blew through the turn to final because I was in the process of lining up on the wrong runway at...Nashville I think?
Like I said, it was a long time ago, but I remember it was late at night, not much other traffic and severe VFR. We all know that tired and complacent is a bad combination, and I decided to just eyeball it rather than load the approach. I've always loaded the approach or the runway heading into the bug after that. |
Some years back a jet jock reported here (I think) that he had purchased a (built) RV-10, but was disappointed with its climb performance in the high teens. Asked about power settings, he said ?Everything firewalled?. Asked about the mixture, he said ?Full forward, for max power?. Guess it had been a long time since he was in a piston airplane.
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