Chicken Wings Forum

Roost Air Lounge => The Classroom => Topic started by: Mike on February 14, 2008, 04:11:40 AM

Title: Chuck Moments!
Post by: Mike on February 14, 2008, 04:11:40 AM
We were talking in another thread about possibly doing a thread on "the most stupid thing you've ever done in an aircraft".
No names, no N-Numbers, no dates.
I see it as stories people can hopefully learn from. You can write what you've seen "your friend" do as well if you want  ;)

Airtac kind of dared me so this is a personal story I did:

#1 stupid thing I ever did with an aircraft:

When I was a young lad and had just gotten my private pilots license I decided to take out a bunch of friends in a C-172. Looking back now I am amazed flight schools let people do that. I had them all loaded up and off we went to another airport for a touch-and-go. I had never flown a fully loaded 172 until that day and I was eager to show off my superior flying skills to my friends.
I came in a little high on my final but so far I thought I was doing fine. Then I flared late and the Cessna kept floating and floating and floating until almost halfway down the considerably shorter runway than I was used to practicing at. And here is where I made my big mistake!
I lowered the nose slightly just to finally get the airplane on the ground rather than going around. Now, those of you who have flown 172 may know what happened. I plopped on the ground and got the plane bouncing front wheel to main wheels and back all the way down the runway. I didn't know how to stop it. The end of the runway was coming up and it had a big bush and a fence not very far from it but I couldn't stop because my wheels weren't on the ground long enough to give me any sort of braking action.
I decided to go around but I was still running out of runway. I veered off the runway to the left since I saw an almost empty field there and the ramp with parked airplanes was on the right side. Off into the field I went, now with full power. I bounced through the grass, passed a significantly big tree, grabbed a bush with my left main gear, and still wasn't back in the air yet. I was headed for a drop-off with a few houses coming up when I realized I never put my flaps up. So I did and finally got the plane back into the air before the drop-off (just above stall speed, much like that russian freight plane on the video).

I was pretty much in shock and couldn't believe I made it. My friends had the ride of their lives and thinking I did this on purpose they asked me if we could do this again they had such a blast! Part of the bush was still stuck to my main gear as I told them we're gonna fly back now.
I landed and wanted to quit aviation. I told my instructor about it and that I am not going to be a pilot after all because I just almost killed myself and my friends and obviously wasn't gifted. But she wouldn't let me.
We walked out to the aircraft and inspected it. It was fine. Then we cleaned off all the green from the landing gear and she made me go fly again right away and do some touch and go's at an even smaller airport to prove to myself that I can still do it. Now I am glad she did . . .
The End

Moral of the story: Don't try to impress your friends! .. and .. If in doubt: GO AROUND!!!!

Top that, Airtac!!  ;D
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: airtac on February 14, 2008, 05:26:32 AM
Wait a minute Mikey, I need time.............
There are so many and I'm sorting through them---I'll give something tommorrow<blushing smiley>
(CRAP, why'd I ever agree to this) ::eek::
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: Mike on February 14, 2008, 05:33:18 AM
Wait a minute Mikey, I need time.............
There are so many and I'm sorting through them---I'll give something tommorrow<blushing smiley>
(CRAP, why'd I ever agree to this) ::eek::

unfortunately . . . I have more of them......  ;)  ::whistle::
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: Oddball on February 14, 2008, 08:20:29 AM
can i add my model flying experience in here or should i stick my R/C thread i started ealier?   ::type:: lol
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on February 14, 2008, 08:31:31 PM
[quote]
.......a thread on "the most stupid thing you've ever done in an aircraft".
[/quote]

Hmmm-mmm.....  I think that would be "opened the door and got in".   ::loony::    ::loony::


 ::loony::

 ;)
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: airtac on February 15, 2008, 12:47:47 AM
Let's see, I'll call the first installment "the early years";

There was once this young private pilot, who, in a fit of patriotic fervor, decided to quit college to join the Army. For his last two years of school, he had supported himself by working at a dinner house as a chef's assistant.  Also employed at this restaurant was an old man named Frank who acted as caretaker/potato peeler and when Frank found out that our young man was a pilot, he (Frank) began to recount tales of his own career as a pilot during what we Yanks call World War One.
During the 2 years our intrepid young aviator worked with Frank, he became quite fond of of the old man and so decided that before his departure for Army training he would do some type of flyover at the restaurant to bid his old friend goodbye. 
In those early years (1962) ex-military aircraft were cheap and the local flight school had acquired a Vultee BT-13 which it rented out for 21 dollars an hour and so our young man felt a buzz job in the "Vultee Vibrator" would be an appropriate salute to such a grand old man.
On the day before his departure "Ace" rented the Vultee and went to do his flyover.  Being young and enthusiastic and after seeing Frank come out on the porch to wave, "Ace" decided that something with a little more style was called for and he did some wing-over whifferdill things at altitudes as low as 100 feet while screaming "HEY FRANK" as he passed by and after a few of those decided it was time to go home.
Upon landing at the home aerodrome and taxiing to the gas pump, "ACE" was met by a deputy sheriff who inquired as to who was flying said aircraft so "ACE", being a genuine smartass, pointed to the empty rear cockpit and said "he was"----this turned out to be a bad response since it was soon apparent the deputy had no sense of humor at all.
Well, "Ace" went on to his Army training next day and soon was forwarded a letter from the friendly folks at the FAA who, as it turned out, didn't have much humor in their soul either.
After a 6 month surrender of his certificate "Ace" went on to several military flying clubs and even a career in aviation but that's another story! ::eek::   -- to be continued--
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: gibbo_335 on February 15, 2008, 05:10:37 AM
  ;D Pity "Ace"  ;) didn't know Chuck back then..."Ace" could have blamed him and would have DEFINATELY gotten away with it  ::rofl::
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on February 15, 2008, 06:18:44 AM
Hmmm...   ::thinking::

I think I see a book possibility here....  "Ace goes to the Airport"....   ::whistle::

And then for Chapter II......    ::whistle::
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: Mike on February 16, 2008, 01:00:18 AM
no more stories, huh . . .

I was hoping for a bigger collection.

Maybe I am the only one who messes up every now and then.......
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: Turbomallard on February 16, 2008, 02:48:12 AM
no more stories, huh . . .

I was hoping for a bigger collection.

Maybe I am the only one who messes up every now and then.......
I'll take a rain check on that. I'll be back in a few... right now I'm trying to reconcile the fact that 20-some years ago I had two classes in a place called Cole Hall at Northern Illinois University, and now that place will be forever remembered for something else. Learned to fly at DKB, soloed and flew over the campus on July 12, 1986. Strange experience. I'll be back with the usual wise quacks and stupidity soon and promise to post at least one dumb flying story.

TM
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on February 16, 2008, 03:01:59 AM
Oh, no, no, Mike, not hardly!!!!!    ::unbelieveable::

It's just, uhm, hard for me to know where to start here.....   ::thinking::   There are so MANY times things have just been ALL wrong....   ::thinking::

Like..  the time I wore white after Labor Day on a charter trip.....   ::eek::
That time when my mascara ran when it was SO hot in the cockpit, and I did NOT have my mirror to do a touch-up...  SI-I-I-IGH......   :(
And of course, the time I tried to jump out of the Minivan with my evening gown on, and caught the hem on the step.....  which was just made EVEN worse, tsk tsk, when I broke my HEEL off my GOOD Gucci heels on the rudder pedal right before that....   ::silly::    ::banghead::

And then there was that time when my headset cord got caught in my diamond necklace, and I was trying to untangle it, and missed those 36 calls from Center.....  S-I-I-I-GH.....   ::)    ::)     ::)  and the guys screamed and said something about that HUGE black shadow that went right over us...     ::sweat::     Hmm, I wonder what THAT could have been...?!?!?     :-[

And then when I dropped my Cosmo magazine, RIGHT when I turned to the article I was wanting to read SO BAD  ::) , I think it was "39 Things Good Girls Should Know to Make Men BAD", well, DARN right then I dropped it, SPLAT, it slid down the aisle of course, those darned smokejumpers got BOOT MARKS all OVER it, and BOY was I MAD,  ::complaining:  well, somehow I kinda forgot we were doing CARGO right then and the spotter, wow, he was REALLY screaming, it was SO loud, I told him later "Hmmmpph, you don't have to YELL, you know."  [Sniff.]

Of course, the mechanics were REALLY steamed when I was flying back from the 1979 Miss Empty-Brained Airhead Beauty Pageant, and of course, when I TOLD those IDIOT organizers they should give Miss Congeniality something besides those darned cheesy plastic roses, well, they gave me that HUGE tiara just to shut me up I think, anyway, it sure did get stuck in the headliner when we came across the Uintas and hit all that turbulence at 12,000 feet....  like how was I supposed to know those picky little rhinestones would get SO stuck in the darned fabric on the ceiling, it's not like they LET me do my CHECKRIDES wearing my PRACTICE tiara or anything, which I thought I should, I mean, how is a girl supposed to be PREPARED for these FLIGHT EMERGENCIES if she isn't allowed to PRATICE?!!!?!     ::sweat::    ::sulk::

SI-I-I-I-GH....   

Boy, now that is just the START, it is SO much WORK to fly when you have to do ALL these GIRLIE things too, boy oh boy, especially when the guys keep screaming and yelling, of course, there WAS that one time they were REALLY, REALLY screaming and shouting and then they got REALLY nice and quiet....  and I was thinking "nowwww, isn't that SWEET of them, to take a nap..."  but then I turned around and....  they were all...  gone......


And had landed in the middle of the desert.....  it was WEEKS before I saw them again.....   ::sulk::    ::sulk::    ::sulk::



Phew...  They were RIGHT in flight school, this flying sure 'nuff IS a lot of WORK.    ::sweat::    ::silly::

Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: airtac on February 16, 2008, 03:37:38 AM
 ::rofl:: ::rofl::STOP IT! STOP IT! ::rofl::
You lunatic!   ::loony:: Here we are, making soulful (albeit stupid) confessions and you entertain us with flights of fancy that leave our sides hurting ::rofl::
And yet I can clearly see you doing these things---- girl you have to stop medicating yourself with those Kahlua cookies ::drinking::
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on February 16, 2008, 03:43:12 AM
Whaaaaaaat??   ::whistle::

Those are ALL true...  just ask the guys!!  Though, it is AWFULLY polite of you to pretend they are fiction.....   ::silly::

There's just SO MANY to choose from.......   ::sweat::

 ;)

Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: Mike on February 16, 2008, 03:46:12 AM
come on mom!
I KNOW you have some good stories!!

don't make me ask the jumpers!
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: airtac on February 16, 2008, 03:59:21 AM
come on mom!
I KNOW you have some good stories!!

don't make me ask the jumpers!
The heck with that---I'm gonna start asking as soon as I see them------she'll be BEGGING for mercy! :D
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: AirScorp on February 16, 2008, 04:13:17 AM
So Mary, you have no real stories to tell?  :P

That girlie stuff doesn't suit you! You're a true woman after all and not some think-I'm-fancy-this-is-SOOO-yesterday-my-daddy-got-me-a-car-for-my-birthday kiddo from LA (Hey, come to think of that, girls in my town act like this too.. Maybe that's why I'm single)  ::rofl:: ::rofl:: ::rofl:: ::rofl::

Not that I didn't wake my parents up laughing!
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on February 16, 2008, 05:45:36 AM
Hey, I'm sure they'll be able to fill you in on all KINDS of stories....  and some of them might even have to do with WORK!   ::eek::

Yeah, there ARE real stories...  but I'm not sure how to distill them down into anything like "A" good story...  just take all those years of bad air, 100-degree temps, high winds, sinkers on short final, downdrafts, injured buddies, lee side cargo, crashed buddies.....  and stir them up and you'll have the soup of why I have grey hair and no BS tolerance anymore (not that I started with one in the first place).

No joking on that part....  but, I'll try to come up with some good tales here...  But it's really more like one, big, long, drawn-out tale though.....    ::sweat::

 ::banghead::
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: Oddball on February 16, 2008, 08:08:02 AM
 ::rofl:: thanks s'mom that really cheered me up and made me forgot my troubles  ;D did you chip you nails while trying to open the doors by any chance?
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on February 16, 2008, 09:35:22 PM
Hee hee, glad you got a yukk-yukk-yukk!!   ::rofl::   ::wave::

AirScorp, tell Mom & Dad I didn't mean to wake them up.  Oops!   :-[

And Oddball, yeah, I finally had to request the Boss put "chipped nails" on the MEL for the Minivan....  I mean, how on earth can a girl go fly if she breaks a nail?  Sheesh.      ::)

I did have a new spotter once, we were overhead the fire, found a jumpspot, and he had moved to the open door in the back, talking to me on the headset to finalize "The Plan" of attack.  It was kind of a tight spot, but not bad, and when he was done with his spiel to me, I just said "Well....  I can't go down there!"

There was quite a (confused) pause, then a concerned voice came over the headset, thick with worry that he'd missed some awful hazard, and said "Wh-why??"

So I said in my most serious voice "I broke a nail!  We're gonna have to call it off."

He about came up front to kick my a**, but we had a good laugh, and he got much less serious!   ;)

 ::wave::
Title: Re: Chuck Moments!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on March 08, 2008, 07:43:02 PM
Okay, here is a real, and stupid move I did when a young flight instructor....  I just got a call from the guy involved, which made me remember it...   ::sweat::

I was working in fire and doing part time flight instruction in the west, and had an old friend come to visit from the east coast.  He had his private license, and was a real conscientious pilot, but didn't fly all that much.  He was dying to go flying "in the mountains", and we agreed we'd fly to a few medium-sized airports, and if he felt "brushed up", we'd go to a few grass strips. 

We had a great time, and he was doing a really good job.  He was nailing things in the airplane (a new C-152), and we were having a blast.

Well, in hindsight, I should not have let my guard down as much as I did, because we went to a few grass strips, and he did a good job.  (Don't relax!)  So, I decided we'd go to a shorter grass trip near town, that had a slight slope to it (one way in, one way out).  (Don't relax!)  He was a bit more puckered up, but I thought that just meant he had a brain.  It turns out that the addition of tall trees (Don't relax!) was something that made me him truly nervous....  (which I should have thought of..) and he let his airspeed get higher than it should have been on final. 

I should have taken the airplane sooner, but since he had been doing everything so well, I TOLD him what to do, to get us down NOW, before it would be impossible.  (Don't relax!)  I fully expected him to do what I said, and make the corrections, etc.  (Don't relax!)  Well, either he didn't hear a WORD, or else he heard it but FEAR was way stronger, because he didn't correct a darned thing, and we ended up way too high on short final.  Then he abruptly chopped the power, realizing (too late) we were way too high. 

Well, now things are getting REAL interesting, because we're sinking like a bowling ball, and I'm taking the airplane from him, and telling him as much.  I announced we were going around.  Well, thank goodness for healthy cylinders and a good little airplane, because we wallowed out in a stuggling climb over those same TALL TREES that were indelibly imprinted on his eyeballs, and mine.  (Don't relax!)  Man was she ever pegged on best angle speed!

We squeaked through the timber and headed back to the big airport.  His eyes were huge, and he said in shock "There were so many trees!"  That was the first real inkling I had that I had failed to even warn him of what the sight picture would involve....  I had NOT told him fully what to expect, and I had let my guard down because he did such a good job in the airplane.

It taught me to try HARD to see every flight from the eyes of the person I was with...  and I learned a little bit better, Don't relax!     ::banghead::



   

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