Panic attack in the cockpit

[DaveJ]

A bizarre incident happened at PDK today just as I was taxing out for takeoff.

A CFI at PDK Flight Academy was flying with an instrument rated private pilot that hadn't flown in a number of years. They were going up in a C172 in an effort to get the pilot current again. After lift off, at about 75 feet AGL, the private pilot had a panic attack at shouted, "We need to land"! The CFI said "I've got the aircraft", grabbed the controls and was prepared to fly a quick pattern and land. As the CFI reached for the throttle, however, the private pilot pulled it back to idle and would not let go. The CFI was not able to budge the guy's hand and had to land the best he could. The aircraft ran off the end of the runway and struck the chain link fence surrounding the airport. No injuries, but the a/c is probably totaled.

My question to the board is has anyone had a student freeze on the controls like this? What did you do?

 

[GogglesPisano]

No. But I had a few new FO's do it.

 

[letthebigdogeat]

Golly, 75 feet? Obviously not many options here. Quite honestly, if the verbal COMPLETE transfer of controls doesn't work here the next solution is to punch that person either on the arm or face. A little more altitude and we could try different alternatives but man this close to the ground I most definitely would have had to knock him/her out of the death/freeze grip and talk about it later. Difficult situation.

 

[52Vincent]

I had a similar situation happen but the pilot was a student on his first solo. I went up with him for a few touch and go's at first and all was good go I sent him on his merry way to solo. One trip around the patch all is good, including the landing. Second takeoff, while on crosswind he calls out my name and says he can't feel the controls or his feet touching the rudder pedals, and he kept saying he was not sure what to do and that he was very scared. I could tell he truly was scared because every time he would transmit he could not hold the PTT switch down firmly and kept cutting out, so I caught about a third of what he was saying, I finally calmed him down, and kept him busy by asking lots of question, altitude, airspeed, etc. I talked to him through the whole pattern and he eventually made an uneventful and very good landing. After he taxiied back to the FBO, I went to him and he was frozen solid to the controls even after he shut it down. White knuckles and the palms of his hands were red as beets after I talked him into letting go. Iam very grateful to the 2 other planes in the pattern that day for leaving or just being quiet on the frequency and giving me the opportunity to talk the student down (probably left after hearing what was going on, I would too). have not seen him since. Helplessness is a horrible feeling.

 

[FracCapt]

My question to the board is has anyone had a student freeze on the controls like this? What did you do?

I've had it happen twice. Once was at about 200' on approach. The guy(much larger and stronger than me) had a death grip on the throttle and yoke....and pushed both forward to the stops. I did what I was taught in my CFI training in a situation like that - I gave him a "karate chop" to the throat. He let go with both hands immediately. The natural response is for a person to protect themself...use it to your advantage.

The other time was at altitude, but during spin training for a CFI candidate. He locked up on the stick full aft and left. We were in a Decathalon, so I was sitting in front(where the student would normally sit). I could barely overcome the forces that he was applying, but I felt one of us would overstress the aircraft(during recovery) or the control stick if I continued to fight him. Yelling at him for 4-5 revolutions in the spin didn't accomplish anything. I reached behind me and tried to slap him. He went to protect his face when he saw it coming, and released the stick before my hand got to his face. He blocked my hand, but it accomplished what I wanted it to.

Use instinct to your advantage. If you are in a side by side configuration, and they don't try to protect themself...then a hand to the throat or face will stun them enough to make them release(or at least ease up) the controls.

 

[Snakum]

I intend to carry my little .25 Baretta in my right cargo pocket when I begin instructing next Summer, just for little problems such as this. I figure I can put two quick ones in his noggin, pop the door latch, and push him against the door with my feet while controlling the yoke with my right hand (I never use rudder anyway, so the feet won't be needed there) till the door opens against the slipstream and out he goes.

(FBO owner walking to plane after landing) "Say ... didn't you have a student today?"
(me sponging up blood with a black towel) "Yeah ... but he musta chickened out at the last minute, cuz he never showed."
(FBO Owner) "But his car is here, and his wife has phoned to ask about him cuz he had bad nerves about his first flight."
(me looking stupified, yet slightly annoyed) "I dunno, man. I just work here."

Minh

 

[vetteracer]

QOUTE

My question to the board is has anyone had a student freeze on the controls like this? What did you do?



Yes, I had a PVT pilot getting recurrent freeze during power on stall. When the onset of the stall occurred he did nothing to recover. I said "recover" and he just froze. The 152 stalled and broke to the left. He yanked back on the yoke and slammed the left rudder down. I pressed the right rudder to the floor overcoming his left rudder. I went to push the yoke forward and he had a death grip with his left hand holding it to his chest. His right hand had the throttle pushed to the stop. I put my hand on top of his and pulled the power off. I then yelled "MY PLANE" and pushed the yoke forward. He still had his hand on the yoke but relinquished some control. I did not feel out of control at the time, but back on the ground it had me pretty concerned.

He was very embarrassed about the whole deal and I encouraged him to come back for some more lessons. He did come back and we had a firm lesson on "MY PLANE" procedures and protocol. I used some techniques to relax him a bit more by having him breathe more consistent and release the death grip from the yoke. He was a very hurried pilot and I attributed that to his anxiety. After about 10 hours of dual he was a totally different pilot. He confessed to me that he loved flying but it made him nervous and after our time together he enjoyed flying much more.

I had an opportunity to meet the CFI that gave him his private and he was a nervous pilot. I am not sure if that transposed to his students or not.

 

[katbird]

recommend bringing a sharpened #2 pencil. Works wonders!

 

[Jmmccutc]

a similar situation happened at my school with a girl that hadn't flow in a while, she was on final and just froze, the cfi took over and landed with out incodent...i happened to be good friends with both her and her CFI and he asked if i'd talk with her later that evening after she calmed down, basicly what i came down to was she hadn't flow in about 7 months and just didn't think she could land the plane, i told her she needed to explain that to the CFI and he'd have no problem helping her out...

 

[avbug]

An elbow works better than a hand or fist, and is in a much better position to restrict the offender in close quarters. It needn't be used with much strength or force to be effective or cause a soloution.

Only two occasions have I had to resort to taking control by force; both were in a Lear 35A with a new training captain who froze. One occured at LAX on takeoff when we got a master warning early in the roll, and the other on an instrument approach into PDX.

On the former occasion I elected not to fight with the individual frozen, but worked the airplane through him. In the second case I took control by force. He rode the right seat home and kept very quiet.