Ignominious (and just funny) Moments in Aviation.......

[airtac]

"AH, Boise ground (on 123.95) Airtac 12 at NIFFC ramp, taxi with Alpha-----(now, why are those guys waving at me---IDIOTS!!!--)  ---been there, done that and of course, I had to do right there, at the center of the universe (NIFFC ) and with the volume turned down on the #3 com so that I repeated it several times! 
I was surprised they didn't ask to check my card!

[TheSoccerMom]

CARD?!?  What's a Card?!?   
 

[G-man]

I used to work out of OAK---would not have liked to live there so I commuted 2 hours 4 days a week---know an FAA inspector who worked there

I flew Bay area for 8 years---Knew a few of the FAA in OAK----Murphy, Manning, Knets---all the usual suspects...........

[airtac]

I used to work out of OAK---would not have liked to live there so I commuted 2 hours 4 days a week---know an FAA inspector who worked there

I flew Bay area for 8 years---Knew a few of the FAA in OAK----Murphy, Manning, Knets---all the usual suspects...........

YEP, Howard (Manning) is great---did ya meet Joe Gilly?

[airtac]

CARD?!?  What's a Card?!?   
 

Yeah, next time they ask, I'll just do my best Cheech Marin accented; "CARD?-----I don' need no steenking card!" 

[cj5_pilot]

My most bone headed aviation moment was not in a plane.  It was behind a keyboard.  I belong to an online writers group and one guy was writing a multi part aviation story.  Anyhow, I dropped him some comments and said if he had any aviation questions he could ask me because I was a private pilot.  He wrote back to say "Thanks but I'm retired from the Air Force, and I think my experience rat-f*$#!*g Soviet built radars over North Vietnam in the back seat of an F-4 will be plenty for this story".   

Turns out the guy retired as a Lt. General.  Nice guy we still correspond occasionally even though he's had to stop writing due to his new job.

[TheSoccerMom]

That's great that you keep in touch with him -- good one!

It's amazing how, no matter how old we manage to get (speaking for myself here), there is always someone who has a wealth of different experience...  your story reminds me of when I taught my first ground school classes, in a formal setting..  at a technical college, part-time....  I was a nervous kid and wanted SO BADLY to do everything RIGHT... 

I always started out my new courses with everyone taking a moment to say why they were there, what kind of flying they liked, you know...  it worked wonders to get people visiting, but it also helped me to try to figure out how to teach things.

My first class was always "Basic Aerodynamics", and so imagine my chagrin when the polite gentleman sitting right in the front row, dead center, up by me, said he was a retired aerodynamicist from Boeing, and had been there 34 years......  I would have given anything to been able to drop through a hole in the floor, and come up in Samoa or somewhere.....   

But, he was a gracious person and we all survived just fine....  but, it was a big reminder for me to "check out every teeny thing before you say it". 

                                                                                                                                                                         

[Fabo]

My most bone headed aviation moment was not in a plane.  It was behind a keyboard.  I belong to an online writers group and one guy was writing a multi part aviation story.  Anyhow, I dropped him some comments and said if he had any aviation questions he could ask me because I was a private pilot.  He wrote back to say "Thanks but I'm retired from the Air Force, and I think my experience rat-f*$#!*g Soviet built radars over North Vietnam in the back seat of an F-4 will be plenty for this story".   

Turns out the guy retired as a Lt. General.  Nice guy we still correspond occasionally even though he's had to stop writing due to his new job.

sounds like a nice reading, can you post us a link please?

[happylanding]

How about the way too many times I was walking from the back of the airplane where I stowed the tail stand and as I pass by the wing tip slip on the ice and fall flat?   

It happened to me too....but.....but.....I was standing on the thingie on the fuselage in order to check the fuel into the cessna 152. a young - very young spectator - had just said to his parent, on the other side of the fence, "dad look! she is a pilot!". I fell my balance and roughly landed (not on my feet!!), and I was so much ashamed, that I added to it, just by acting as if everybody usually came down THAT way from the checks...

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Another time, during a flight, I gave to the plane I was flying another name, without even realizing (I always risk to call the HBPPQ I fly by the name of its "fore-flyer": HBPPV  ). milan info wasn' happy at all! :-)

[FlyboyGil]

Well Yesterday at the airshow in St. Thomas, my damn lawnchair decided to break on me (LOSE SOME WEIGHT GIL!!). The back just went, and I tried to get up, but all I could scream was GOD@#MMIT, and down I went. Embarrasment city!!

[Skid Kid]

2 years ago yours truly was installing a starter on a Cobra when the torque wrench slipped off the nut.  Well, I popped my self in the nose with the wrench and as a result fell 4 feet to the ground. 
Not a good day since everyone in the shop heard about it within 5 minutes.  They still dont shut up about it. 

[RagDragger]

Lately I keep calling the wrong damned airport coming home.  Right frequency, just the wrong name.  Friend of mine once tried to call tower on the AWOS frequency.  I'm sure I have others, I'll just have to update later when I'm not quite so tired. 

[Mike]

HA HA!

Flying back into Vegas last night with Southwest, the flight attendant must have had a long day as well.
She came over the PA saying:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like to welcome you to . . . . .uhm . . . . .(then nothing for a minute until a passenger reminded her)
....that's right, Las Vegas"

...made me laugh. 

[Baradium]

How about the way too many times I was walking from the back of the airplane where I stowed the tail stand and as I pass by the wing tip slip on the ice and fall flat?   

It happened to me too....but.....but.....I was standing on the thingie on the fuselage in order to check the fuel into the cessna 152. a young - very young spectator - had just said to his parent, on the other side of the fence, "dad look! she is a pilot!". I fell my balance and roughly landed (not on my feet!!), and I was so much ashamed, that I added to it, just by acting as if everybody usually came down THAT way from the checks...

--------------------

Another time, during a flight, I gave to the plane I was flying another name, without even realizing (I always risk to call the HBPPQ I fly by the name of its "fore-flyer": HBPPV  ). milan info wasn' happy at all! :-)

One of the captains thought it was hilarious when I'd fall down.  Me not so much.  I'd always just hope that the passengers didn't happen to be looking out of the window at the time... kind of hard to hide though when one side of my black pants is white from the snow...   I think acting like it was normal was probobly the best way to do it anyway... not much else to do, right?


As far as the other name part... that's pretty hard to catch especially with them so close anyway!  The flight school I went to got new aircraft and they all end with MT....   there are 4 aircraft that end in 7MT  (147MT, 167MT, 127MT, and I believe 177MT).   I didn't get much time in the newer aircraft, but rode along with a friend once... we were in 563MT and were looking for flight following.   They were also talking to another aircraft, believe it was 565MT.   Every time we tried to call them center would call up 565MT and ask what they wanted.  They'd respond that they were fine and we'd repeat.  Eventually 565 responded that they suspected a similiar callsign was trying to call on... was pretty frustrating.  Most of the aircraft were sequential as well.

You'd also get new pilots in the pattern who just wanted to use the last 3 of the callsign no matter what... which was fine until you got 3 aircraft ending 7MT in the pattern doing touch and goes... talk about a headache.  I bet it's still like that too. 

[Rooster Cruiser]

During my Commuter days in New Mexico, we were descending into ABQ with my FO flying and I was working the radios, etc.  We came to the part of the checklist where I needed to give the passengers the before landing briefing.  I hit the PA button (I thought) and proceeded to give a lengthly, professional briefing where I identified myself, advised them regarding the necessity for seatbelts to be fastened and seatbacks in the upright position, Albuquerque weather, and the fact that we were yet again on time.  At the end I thanked them for flying with us and keyed my microphone off.

To my dismay, a voice from my #2 radio (which was tuned to 121.5, or Guard Frequency as per regs and company policy) replied, "That was a great Passenger Briefing, but you might want to give it to the passengers instead of all of us on Guard."!!!      I had mistakenly hit the #2 radio button instead of the PA button before I gave my speech!  If there would have been a hole in that sky, I would have crawled into it!  Since I had identified myself and my airline, I couldn't hide or deny it so I came back on Guard and said "Oh Man!  I'm NEVER gonna live this down!"

I'm sure they still talk about it in ABQ to this day...