Close Calls

[Almerick07]

What "close calls" has everyone had here?

Me personally, 2 alternator failures (1 in IMC). Gear failure to extend, pumped it down.

 

[VNugget]

Traffic 12 o'clock, level, opposite direction. Didn't see him until probably less than a thousand feet range; we really were pointed spinner to spinner. Most likely would have gotten even closer if we weren't both talking to tower.

In retrospect, I should have turned away some, long before that point.

 

[JediNein]

Lost everything in IMC— vacuum, pitot-static, T.C., Nav, and comms. I pondered the term “UCFIT” for “un”-controlled flight into terrain; sampled severe vertigo; found several new religions; and still don’t have a reason for why I survived.

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein

 

[MarineGrunt]

Lost everything in IMC— vacuum, pitot-static, T.C., Nav, and comms. I pondered the term “UCFIT” for “un”-controlled flight into terrain; sampled severe vertigo; found several new religions; and still don’t have a reason for why I survived.

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein

What kind of POS airplane were you flying? losing three different systems all at once??? Kinda hard to believe.....

 

[RichardRambone]

Ive had 5 total electrical failures, luckily all in VMC, 1 at night; gear didnt come down and had to pull the knob; 3 "wasnt sure if my gear was down and locked" b/c gear light didnt illuminate; 1 rough running mag, 1 failed artificial horizon between layers; icing over the mountains at night in a 182RG; and probably more things I forgot. All this in just over a year. Oh yeah and several near misses. And I also slid off a taxiway due to brake failure. Im sure Ill come up with more.

 

[Lead Sled]

Wimps

You guys, that nut'n, we get more than that during the first hour in the sim.

'Sled

 

[Almerick07]

All that makes me feel quite lucky....

 

[soonerpilot625]

yea i agree with you jedinein is full of it. unless it wasn't actually IMC. how many people do you think are completely full of it and just pose as pilots on this website?

 

[MarineGrunt]

yea i agree with you jedinein is full of it. unless it wasn't actually IMC. how many people do you think are completely full of it and just pose as pilots on this website?

I'm not questioning the survivability of the situation, because if you have your head on straight, you should be able to get yourself out of it with a little effort. But the fact that these are three different systems (on most airplanes) which are completely independant of eachother, which supposedly fail all at the same time, makes it hard to believe. Unless there was some type of freakish occurrence that happened (i.e. - hit by a meteor that severs your pitot-static and vacuum lines while taking out your entire electrical system), I'd say I'd have to raise the BS flag here...

 

[RichardRambone]

I could understand the losing of the electrical equipment all atonce b/c all that takes is a bad alternaotr and then running out of battery juice. But to have the pitot static and vaccuum as well? I call bs.

 

[say again]

My ex thought she was pregnant!!!!!

 

[jknight8907]

Glider traffic, 12 o'clock and circling, same altitude. Every time he would turn head-on or tail-on, he would disappear in the cloud glare. My dad had just handed the plane over to me when my scan caught him in the middle of a turn. His expression when I made a steep left turn for no apparent reason was priceless.....

 

[MauleSkinner]

Had to force another car onto the shoulder so that an oncoming semi could have my lane...5 across on a two-lane road with two turn lanes, just because some idiot didn't look in his mirror before he pulled around the guy in front of him.

Drive safe!

David

 

[RichardRambone]

Hit a dog on the highway going about 60. Swerved into the grassy median and then right back onto the highway. The people that drove by me looked at me crazy. Never saw that dog though....clipped him good.

 

[kneeshoe]

Almost lost a toe in a freak E6-B incident. Always wear close toed shoes when flight planning!

- sorry, couldn't resist

 

[Brett Hull]

I almost puked today doing aerobatics in a Decathlon.

 

[Almerick07]

Just about died today driving down an icey road, i swear people just do not know how to drive in winter. Stupid lady was driving like it was a normal 70 degree day and hit the brakes doing about 30 coming up to a stop sign...I swerved enough to miss her by about 3 feet and floored it to swing my back end around going straight to dodge an oncoming car....

 

[say again]

Just about died today driving down an icey road, i swear people just do not know how to drive in winter. Stupid lady was driving like it was a normal 70 degree day and hit the brakes doing about 30 coming up to a stop sign...I swerved enough to miss her by about 3 feet and floored it to swing my back end around going straight to dodge an oncoming car....

Must have been driving in Ohio!!!!!:laugh: uke:

 

[Lead Sled]

Must have been driving in Ohio!!!!!:laugh: uke:

My guess is on the back roads in Knox County - judging from past experience.

'Sled

 

[cezzna]

Me: C-150 coming back from last solo x-country, fat dumb and happy. On course, 30 miles from home, I'm the man today.

Him: Piper Low wing of some sort.

Me: looking out the pilotside window down at nothing in particular.

Him: All of a sudden about 50 ft or less from me going across my view of the C-150 left main. So close I HEARD his airplane.

Me: F*** this sectional chart. I don't care if I'm lost ever again. Don't care if I can hold altitude ever again, not gonna look at that panel again until I'm on short final.

Me: Still here writing this because of pure dumb luck.

Never did buy all of that 141 diversion stuff, drawing lines on charts while flying as a student pilot. When I was an instructor and you picked up an E-6B enroute or fiddled with crap in the cockpit I just threw it in the back of the airplane. If you can't divert without a plotter then you don't have the right stuff. 85% of the time should be spent looking out of the cockpit, straight from the FAA.

Got off cheap that day.

 

[wmuflyguy]

Holding at a VOR with my student , while VFR and no radar, had an encounter with a 172 as we were turning outbound. Grabed the yoke, said an expletive and banked that thing faster than i ever had before. Missed the dude by about 100feetish. Could tell he had David Clarks on his head as he passed off my left.

Had a student who outwieghed me by abuot 100 pounds freeze on teh controls in an inadvertant spin. Took some effort to get him unstuck.

 

[Almerick07]

another one i just thought of:

shooting a practice ILS approach at a non towered airport making all appropriate position calls for IFR and VFR. we're right about at DH and some yahoo down on the ground calls cessna 123xyz departing runway 35 (we were approaching 17) without making any prior radio calls. We get off the approach course and this guys zooms by about 150' from us and says im kind of in a hurry as i eat his lunch on the radio. even had the fbo call up on ctaf asking if everything was ok.

 

[HAL]

For me it was a near miss in LAS this September.

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=63140

I was the FO, and the PF. We were cleared onto the runway for takeoff, I applied power and we started to roll. It was about 11pm, dark, and still hot outside. We were very heavy, just a few hundred pounds short of needing a 'bleeds off' takeoff. Just after we started rolling the tower cleared the A/C behind us into position, but they requested another 30 seconds. Tower said "Cactus XXX, cancel takeoff clearance", using their callsign. It was all very low key, and the cadance and timing made both the Captain and me think he just misspoke for the A/C behind us, and should have said "cancel position and hold". He actually meant us, but didn't correct himself.

Unknown to us, just before we had switched to tower, and Air Canada A320 had landed on the parallel and the tower had cleared him to cross our runway. We hadn't heard that clearance.

There were no more transmissions from the tower.

At about 20 knots below V1 the Captain says "I don't think he's stopping". I look over to see the Air Canada moving closer, then right across our runway. I haul back on the sidestick just as the Captain yelled "Pull, pull, pull!" There was no way we could stop before hitting him, so I knew we had to go over. We were still about 10 - 15 knots under Vr and I expected a tailstrike, but we were lucky. We staggered into the air, and the Captain watched out the front as we passed directly over the Air Canada by 50 - 100 feet.

And the passengers never knew a thing.

HAL

 

[VNugget]

For me it was a near miss in LAS this September.

Holy crap... I think you win.

 

[polysciguy9]

Driving back from teaching a class one night on a two-lane highway in Dublin, Ohio ... saw two cars approaching in the distance which seemed to be side-by-side. A half a second later, I realized that they were side by side and someone must have been passing left of center ... so I slowed expecting him to get back over into his lane ... still not getting over ... still not getting over ... In all of a 10th of a second I had the sense to know there was a guardrail and a river on my right (so no ditching to the right) and trees on the left ... so at the very last second, with this guy doing about 60, I turned into the opposing lane of traffic letting him hit me in the rear passenger side of my Jeep Wrangler. My car spun several times and came to a stop on the road. When I crawled out the window I realized that, amongst other things, the entire rear passenger quarter of my car was gone.

I hit my head pretty hard on the roll bar, and had some whiplash issues. Dude's car flipped on its side and landed in the trees. Had I not turned, I would have hit the guy head on at a closing speed of about 100mph ... had I turned left sooner I would have missed his car completely and would have hit the minivan he was passing head on. Fraction of a second saved my life. Come to find out later on, dude who hit me had a BAC of .236 ... I kid you not. LIke most drunk drivers, he was fine ... fine enough to get out of his car and hide in the woods. Police dogs found him an hour later.

 

[Makesheepnervus]

What "close calls" has everyone had here?

Well, there was that time the flight attendant called my wife!

 

[MAS]

those doubting the integrity of jedi nein need only to do a search of her qualifications and accomplishments... she has no reason to lie to you... glad you made it out... =)