NYCPilot
Incorporated.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2001
- Posts
- 645
I remember several years back when I was doing my Private over at FRG, there was a flight school which will remain nameless, although they are now defunct, that had an incident with a couple of their multi-hungry instructors.
At the time, the school had a Duchess they used for rentals and instruction which, on occasion, some of the instructors would use to build multi-time. The Duchess sat on the ramp attached to three tie-downs, one on each wing and on the tail. The ropes that were tied to the aircraft rings were connected to three large circular cement plates. Each plate was about 4 feet in diameter and maybe 8 inches or so tall. These two CFI’s, one with about 500 to 600 hours and the other with close to 2000 hours proceeded to taxi and takeoff the aircraft with one of the tie-downs still attached.
Apparently, in their haste to add another couple of hours of multi to their logbook, one of the pilots neglected to untie one of the wings tie-downs and they proceeded to taxi out with one of the wings still tied down, thus dragging this large cement plate all the way to the run-up area. Although they admitted later on (yes, they miraculously lived) that they felt the plane required a lot of rudder to maintain the taxiway centerline, they did not suspect that anything was wrong.
After performing the run-up, they received clearance to takeoff and shortly after lift-off, still over the runway, BOOOOM!!! – the weight of the tie-down plate ripped from the rope and crashed down onto the runway, breaking into pieces.
These are some lucky MF’ers, let me tell you. Had that rope been a little stronger or if it was the tail that had not been untied, this story wouldn’t have ended so happily.
Anyway, one guy if I recall, had a buddy at the FSDO which is actually on the field at FRG, and so he got a lecture, basically a slap on the wrist and the other guy was grounded and had desk duties at the flight school for a couple of months. I don’t believe there was any official FAA action.
As unbelievable as this sounds, it is a true story.
Make sure you ALWAYS do a proper preflight kids…
..and don't be too anxious to fly that multi. It just might kill you if you're not careful.
At the time, the school had a Duchess they used for rentals and instruction which, on occasion, some of the instructors would use to build multi-time. The Duchess sat on the ramp attached to three tie-downs, one on each wing and on the tail. The ropes that were tied to the aircraft rings were connected to three large circular cement plates. Each plate was about 4 feet in diameter and maybe 8 inches or so tall. These two CFI’s, one with about 500 to 600 hours and the other with close to 2000 hours proceeded to taxi and takeoff the aircraft with one of the tie-downs still attached.
Apparently, in their haste to add another couple of hours of multi to their logbook, one of the pilots neglected to untie one of the wings tie-downs and they proceeded to taxi out with one of the wings still tied down, thus dragging this large cement plate all the way to the run-up area. Although they admitted later on (yes, they miraculously lived) that they felt the plane required a lot of rudder to maintain the taxiway centerline, they did not suspect that anything was wrong.
After performing the run-up, they received clearance to takeoff and shortly after lift-off, still over the runway, BOOOOM!!! – the weight of the tie-down plate ripped from the rope and crashed down onto the runway, breaking into pieces.
These are some lucky MF’ers, let me tell you. Had that rope been a little stronger or if it was the tail that had not been untied, this story wouldn’t have ended so happily.
Anyway, one guy if I recall, had a buddy at the FSDO which is actually on the field at FRG, and so he got a lecture, basically a slap on the wrist and the other guy was grounded and had desk duties at the flight school for a couple of months. I don’t believe there was any official FAA action.
As unbelievable as this sounds, it is a true story.
Make sure you ALWAYS do a proper preflight kids…
..and don't be too anxious to fly that multi. It just might kill you if you're not careful.
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