Infidel

Infidel

Well Known Member
I had an interesting (scary) landing a while back and I learned a valuable lesson. I didn't give the lesson much thought as to talking about it here, but today while talking to a RV pilot friend, he shared a similar experience that happened to him yesterday. Both his and my incident entailed a passenger. It is my hope by sharing it here, I can help others by sharing my experience.

My incident entailed flying my niece to breakfast one morning, which was her first flight in a -4.. My initial thoughts were to remove the rear stick (RV-4). But she's a bright lass, so I gave her a good preflight explanation of what the flight would consist of and during T/O & landing, to make sure her legs were clear of the stick so I would have full authoritative control in slower speeds.

The T/O was good as well as the short flight to KHGR and everything was good until I entered ground effect. The plane rolled left and as I tried leveling to the right, the stick would not move to the right. I countered with the rudder and my initial thought was what is going on? I had full control of the elevator and controlled the pitch. The landing was a 3-point. The left main, left wing tip, and tailwheel. Not exactly the 3-point I was shooting for. The asphalt scrapes on the wing tip were nominal, fortunately.

During breakfast and in my inquisitive questioning I learned she was enveloped in videoing the flight and the landing with her phone. The take off went well because my preflight instructions were fresh in her mind. But afterwards, she was completely immenced with videoing during landing and neglected to allow lateral space between her legs and the stick. It could've been worse and fortunately it wasn't. I've since incorporated procedures for passengers. Whether it involves removing the rear stick (their request, or mine if I'm freaked out) or being vocal and directive.

Be careful up there. Ya never know who is indirectly trying to kill you. 😄
 
Nice!

If a pilot doesn't strap into a -4, but rather straps the -4 on them?imagine what it's like for the person in the back!!

I was showing a friend around the El Paso skies a few years back, non-pilot but flew as crew on blackhawks. She had done well with holding a heading, and to a lesser extent pitch attitude. We had begun a climb under her control and I said the fateful words?"push forward a little on the stick and bring the nose down".

I don't remember what the D100 said, but it was WELL over -2g. Thankfully I was strapped in tight, scared the heck out of us both, scraped knees in the tunnel but never knocked the canopy. I'm just glad she pushed it "a little" and not "a lot".

Lessons learned it seems!
 
I have never worried so much about the stick, especially since my plane is a SBS. You most likely can over come someone leg against the stick. The biggest concern I have is their feet on the brakes. This is the only thing that there is no hope in over coming.
 
curtis said:
I have never worried so much about the stick, especially since my plane is a SBS. You most likely can over come someone leg against the stick. The biggest concern I have is their feet on the brakes. This is the only thing that there is no hope in over coming.
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My pilot/friend was in his -6 when his moment occurred. His passenger claimed to have piloting experience so he left the stick in so the passenger could fly it. The passenger requested some lazy 8's, which gave my friend some comfort in believing the passenger had some aviation experience/knowledge. Sometime thereafter, the passenger wanted a roll. As he entered the roll, the passenger clinched. Tightening his legs in preparation for the roll, inhibiting full deflection. The maneuver ended up as a split S. Fortunately, altitude was available.

He was a bit freaked but his passenger thought it was awesome.😎
 
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