Wanting to Know

[toneal]

What is the most absolute dumbest thing you seen happen in an aircraft? I dont mean with student pilots either. Just a though provoking question.

 

[BoDEAN]

What is the most absolute dumbest thing you seen happen in an aircraft? I dont mean with student pilots either. Just a though provoking question.

Was departing, and on climbout, I noticed the plane behind me (must have been a 70+ yr old man) took off without clearance. Must of not had his radio on. I got out of the area quick

 

[Hubie]

Saw some crew in a Learjet run over a big trash can at Birmingham Alabama several years back.

This happened the week after a lineman walked into the prop on a King Air and the FBO rats were still very upset about that one.

It happened right in front of that huge plate glass window the girls working the counter look out of all day.

 

[PCL_128]

I was standing outside the 172 that my student was preflighting and I noticed another instructor and student getting into their plane. They still had the tail tied down. I tried to signal to them, but they weren't paying attention, so I started walking over to their plane. Before I got there they started the engine and started to power forward. Obviously I couldn't approach the plane now, so I kept trying to signal to them, but they didn't understand what I was saying. When the couldn't get the plane to move forward at all, they decided to just keep adding more power. You'd think that at 2000 RPM and no movement that they might realize that there was a problem, but no. They just kept adding more and more power. After a couple of seconds at almost full throttle, the tail tie-down snapped off of the airplane and they surged forward. They slammed on the brakes to slow down and just kept on taxiing out.

The moral of the story? Instructors, please make sure that your students actually do a full preflight. Don't just hop in the airplane assuming that they have done everything. At least do a quick walk around of your own to make sure that the plane isn't still tied down before you hop in.

 

[350DRIVER]

a seasoned older captain going into reverse in one of the King Airs on short final- real smart.... -

a CFI (with a well known reputation for stupidity) giving an intro- flight in low IMC then charging the "potential" student like .7 for ground time.- real smart.... ( I never did see that guy who seemed very interested in flight lessons again after his intro- flight.....


I have seen a few others but won't continue to rank on stupidity since for some it seems to be a way of life- 0





3 5 0

 

[pilotshan]

How about the one where an instructor took off on an instructional flight into a thunderstorm in a C172...

or the one where a line guy marshals a student pilot into a pole and then the student flys the airplane back to the home base???

 

[HappyFlying]

A CFI and her student were doing multiple SDF approaches during a very busy fly-in. They would announce final for runway 5 and traffic landing 23 was scattering in all directions. She did the same thing the next week at a different fly-in. She is an FAA Safety counselor.

I found one of her other instructors sitting in MY airplane with a student. I asked him if he needed help with something. He was griping that the key wouldn't work in the ignition and they had time getting the door unlocked. He argued with me when I explained that they were in My 150 and NO it was not on leaseback. About then, the school's 152 landed. They're not even the same color.

Fly Happy!

 

[310]

This einstein busts his ppl checkride more than once and later buys a C150 and decides to fly from the right seat(for the first time) solo and totals the thing on landing.

 

[Deftone45075]

Heard a guy on NY Approach, he was on an ifr flight plan and apparently thought he was allowed to change altitudes at his discretion anytime he wanted. It was amussing when the controller gave him a colorful lesson in IFR procedures and regulations.


FlyChicaga,

Who's Junkscream is that?

 

[jsoceanlord]

the civil air patrol held a fly in near bakersfield calif about 20 years ago and about a third of the arriving planes landed on a taxiway. - kinda like that oriental airliner that took off from a taxiway at anchorage last year.

we used to drop tennis balls out of gliders (and do formation loops in our training gliders)

guys used to pick up handkerchefs with wingtips in old biplanes.

we used to get distant banner tow jobs and go and lay the sign out in a remote hilly area where we'd never been before and come in and pick up the sign - might not sound crazy, but it was

i know a guy (i was there) who was towing signs, landed and ran out of gas while taxiing in (a united 747 did the same thing in tokyo a few years ago)

guys move their cargo load aft instead of forward, compunding their weight and balance problem

i know a guy who rented a cessna 150 in prescott ariz and landed on a dirt road in the middle of the air force boneyard in tucson. a dust storm could be seen in the distance as a convoy of military trucks came our way. (this was 20+ years ago)

replying to an faa letter of investigation is pretty stupid

 

[ibaflyer]

A few years ago I watched as a man and his girlfriend were getting into a Long E-Z. He had her open the throttle while he hand proped the plane. Well after the engine started, she panicked and opened the throttle more. AS the plane was moving away from him, the man got ahold of the wing tip and happened to spin the plane that was moving into a fence.

Needless to say, the nose of the plane was heavily damaged. She got out of the plane, cursed at him (many times) and walked away.

 

[flydog]

Anything jsoceanlord does in an airplane

 

[acarpe3448]

A student and I were getting ready to perform some crosswind takeoffs and landings. Winds were out of the east. While running up for our departure of of runway 16, we noticed a very full and tail heavy Beech Barron taxi onto the midpoint of runway 27 and depart with around 1100 feet remaining, and a 15 knot crosswind. The barron barley made it off the ground struggled for altitude but just could not fly! The aircraft's left wing tip struck the second floor of a large apartment complex, cartwheeled over the top, landing upside down in the parking lot. The aircraft exploded and burned. Later learned it was a Department of Corrections Officer flying the Barron and transporting three prisoners. You are not going to believe this, no one in the aircraft died. Up until 9-11 it has been the most horrific sight I had seen.

 

[wickedpilot]

The ink was still wet on my instrument ticket and I was taking my girlfriend up for her first time. Fortunately though, our flight was not a part of the screw up.

Preflight was complete and I was clearing the ramp area b/f I turned it over and spotted my Instructor w/ one of his double I students in another C-172 ready to taxi out of the blocks. Funny thing was, the nose chock was snug underneath the nosewheel...Now if it were a wing or tail tie down, I'd offer a helping hand but the nose chock ...
Just told my pax to sit back and watch how NOT to taxi an airplane. They jocked the throttle for a few minutes and eventually jumped it

 

[Capthuff]

Let me count the times....

Any one who has worked line service in So. Florida has seen alot of dumb things.

Me: Welcome to Sarasota!!
Pilot: Oh, ummm This isn't Venice???
Me: ummm no it's not ... By the way, the tower wants you to call them. ( more than once this happened)

In 3 years I personally took 8 gear ups off the runway.

Or how about the pilot that does'nt pay attention to the line guy - looking over his sholder for his friend in another plane and taxis into a fence. I also saw a golf cart take a beating from a plane.

Or tha chief pilot of the flight school giving a stage check and the student didn't untie the tail... it was attachad to a chain link fence... so by adding power they pulled about 40 feet of fence down before they finally got out and untied it.

I saw a pilot at sun-n-fun one year polish his beautiful F4U and then jump up on the wing to get something he forgot in the cockpit.... darn it if he didn't just slide right off that wing and land on his a$$.

have you heard about the pilot in St Pete? He was getting paid by the hobbs so he chalked the plane and left it running, when it was time to go he jumped in - pulled the chalk - but OOPS he fell out - hit the throttle on his way out and the plane went careening out of control into a hanger.
(that is hear say - I was not there for it)

Ok enough for now.

Cappy

 

[Capthuff]

C

 

[Capthuff]

Oh Yeh

There was this Citation pilot practicing X-wind or proficiency one day on a 3400' runway - normally not much of a problem but this day was different ( windy as heck ). The first one was a little rough. The second one got away from him and he ran off the end and the nose gear colapsed.

Cappy

 

[corky]

1. FAA check airman pulled an engine on go around in turbine beech 18 but went over the gate and into full beta. They recovered.

2. Falcon made three attempts down the runnway and aborted each time. Couldn't stop the laughter as he taxied by with the pitot tube covers dangling in the wind.

 

[mainah]

Two dumb fuks on the ramp drinking beer and then getting up front of their Citation and taking off.

 

[WrightAvia]

one of our past students bought a shiny and freashly refurbished 414. He had about 500 hours and was going to fly the plane for his own business and lease it back to our 135 service for charters. Eventually filling in at our charter department when he got the required flight hours. (he eventually got his CFI, gawd bless his soul)

Well this guy wants to go on a business trip and management assigns me to be the safety pilot for his insurance carrier.

He made alot of mistakes on that trip, but the funniest one was (keep in mind, this is on the return trip) his 1 hour walk around with checklist in hand. The 35 minutes of idling in front of the FBO trying to figure out how the SID didn't match his RNAV route filing. The decision to just stop on the painted lines for ground vehicles at the Pheonix airport to attempt a runup. The fact the guy got flustered when the ground controller asked the guy to taxi to where he told the guy to taxi to. Then with his meticulous checklist in hand, joe rich guy you can't tell me a thing attitude...he takes off still bewildered about how he filed an RNAV routing and how the SID that he was given didn't exactly match up with that plan and was also confused about how I told him, he really was never ACTUALLY going to get to fly the SID...just the vectors the controller gave him.

Well with all that said and done, we take off and they ask him to climb to 5000 feet...heading such and such and he does. About 5 minutes after we level off, the controller querries him and asks his altitude. He replys "5,000". The controller says he's 1,500 feet high and gives him the Kollsman setting. The 414 owner then dials it in and finds himself 1,500 feet high. Hahahahahaha.

That dummass was initially pissed when he found out he was going on trip with a guy that had 4,000 total time as his insurance safety pilot and only had less than 100 hours in type (even though all of my time in 414's was PIC 135 and 414 135 letter in hand). I had 1,200 multi...but for some reason when he started out on the trip, he stated that he couldn't believe that they gave him a guy with less than 100 hours in type to be his insurance safety pilot. He was a real ass from begining to end. Couldn't tell him a thing AND with all the gadgetry on the plane, NO INTERCOM. So I just took the attitude that my job was in the interest of the insurance company and preventing damage or bodily injury...not teaching a Multi Engine, Instrument Rated, Commercial pilot with 500 hours in his own plane. I also made shure he filed his own flight plans...his name.

I heard that ass almost ran that thing out of gas on a personal trip from florida once after he got on his own insurance. The thing had digital fuel totalizers and he was too preoccupied with being a cool guy in his plane to learn how to use them and how to lean the engines properly. I tried, but the guy was good at knowing all the good aviation folklore about leaning and how to fly planes.

One more thing...he tried to show me how you could do a DME arc by just getting to the DME distance and turning 90 degrees and keeping the RMI needles on the wing of the miniature airplane. None of that 10 or 20 degree cuts on the heading for this guy. According to GLIEM you fly it with the pointers of the needles on the wing. Ha. It was miller time after being trapped with that dong for three days.