What is your "oh Sh*t" moment?

[SelectZoneFive]

I vote "Darth Antinein" as President of said hate group.

I would like to present the first resolution for consideration.

*The establishment of a "No babble zone"*

Do we have a second?

Wait a second, (no pun intended) I'm not even a member yet!

Drat!!!

Hey, JediNein,

Any chance of honorary membership? Huh, hmm, buddy, old pal?

I was only joking about that little resolution. hehehe

Whisper, whisper:

I'm just using it as a ruse to gain Darth's trust, then in a coup of truly devilish quality we will seize control, and re-name the group the "JediNein Appreciation Group."

Yea, yea, that's it, honest....

 

[avbug]

I happen to know Jedinein, and she hasn't made a thing up. Nor is she a hazard or unsafe. Antinein, learn of whence you speak before you yak off.

As for one of those "rats" moments...I'd been told by several Dromader drivers about punching off the whole load and getting stuck standing on their tail. I always thought it was just bad airmanship. After all, only a dingbat lets the airplane do that, right? So I thought.

I came downwind at the back of a ridge this last summer on the Dynamite fire, getting set up for a high angle run down the lee side to put a load in a swail that was smoking a lot. It was in a depression, and I couldn't run down the hill steep enough to see it. A large panel marker was set along the uphill side of the dip but I couldn't see it until it was too late to line up.

It was really rough in there; I was getting retardant on the windscreen; it was coming out the top of the tank. For those that don't know the drom, that's really rough. I made four passes on the ridge, trying to get slowed down on the downwind run, and got some serious rotors and shear. Each time turning final, I'd get a rapid airsped increase of about 30 mph (airspeed marked in miles). I'd come back almost to flight idle, and approaching the ridge it would shear off by 20 mph on the other side...a 50 mph shear. Even with adequate approach speed, the airframe was getting a hard stall buffet and kept trying to roll off.

On the run-in, I lost sight of the target, but didn't want to fly through it on the way out again. It was getting too rough. I decided to push over and guestimate. I found a smoking swail, sans panel marker. I had set the doors for a full coverage in order to penetrate the load into the swail. It seemed a good tactical choice, though I knew that it would take a big trim force change.

The problem came when I punched off the load. I was fast, above flap speed, and going down hill. I lost the load fairly quickly, and there really wasn't any time between pointed downhill 35 degrees, and straight up and out of airspeed. The pitchup occured at 50' AGL going into the smoke, and even with both hands on the stick and straightarmed, I couldn't hold the nose down. Airspeed fell off, full rudder for torque and still not enough, and I got the buffet.

It was mostly the extra airspeed that did it; it makes a hugh difference on the drop, but it was also due in part to the rotors. I was fortunate to be stupid in the right place, because just past the swail I had a free extra 2,000' where the hill dropped away. I rolled over and recovered, and went back for one last load. I didn't get it; they shut us down due to rough conditions.

I do recall thinking right at the top of the pitch-up, "Oh, so this is what they were talking about." I wouldn't have believed it could have taken off like that, so fast. Now I believe.

 

[SelectZoneFive]

What the???

Well all I can say avbug is get to un-know her.

She sounds like a freakin jinx!!!

Unless she is hot and single? And then actually I would like to get to know her. hehehehe



AGHUUUM (Load clearing of throat)


Ummmm, sorry.

 

[avbug]

If I took the bandwidth (what is bandwidth, anyway??) to list a few of my own, you'd probably say the same thing about me.

Then again, I really am accident prone...though I don't believe in jinxes. (Isn't that a small cat with hairy-tipped ears?).

Let's compare broken bones, some time.

 

[SelectZoneFive]

Hmmm

Aaaah, avbug, you little minx:

Bandwidth is the width of the stage upon which the band can set up and play their musical pieces.

Silly, everyone knows that.

Otherwise, it is the capacity of a network to transmit data which is called Bandwidth, and is expressed in bits per second.

See, not just a pretty face.

 

[need2AV8]

Hello, McFly! Anyone home?

Nothing like what you all have been through, but here goes.

While approaching an uncontolled field in Sonoma, CA we see some guy without a radio takeoff. We end up behind him in downwind. This bonehead turns 180 and starts heading right for us. We divert to the right and TRY to keep him in sight. Get this, he proceeds to fly the traffic pattern in reverse and land on the runway in the opposite direction from which he JUST took off!

No matter how hard I try, I can't think of any good reason why someone would do that!?

 

[dispatchguy]

I think this guy just had his...

Saw these on the ADDS site when I first signed-in at work...


PIREP 03:12Z 11/06/02
SOP UUA /OV SDZ180012/TM 0312/FL040/TP C208/TB SVR LOST 1300FT IN SECS

PIREP 03:20Z 11/06/02
CLT UUA /OV CTF045020/TM 0320/FL060/TP C208/TB MOD-SVR

 

[Beantown]

I'm taking off in a PA 28 with an instrument student, cleared to 3000ft RH. Of course this is my 5th flight of the day and I am staring out the window day dreaming. The student blows through 3000 so I yap at him to level off. The plane keeps climbing. I sit up and push the yoke forward as I am getting irritated now. Nothing happens. I take the controls and am pulling and pushing full length and no response at all. OK. Call tower, tell them I need to return and declare an emergency. Pull the power back to start a descent while making a slow left turn. My main concern at this point is the one piece stableator. I have lost control of it and if it decides to go full up or down I'm dead. I don't touch the trim. Just power. I fly the pattern ok (except I instinctively put in a notch of flaps and the plane pitched up 15 degrees, I actually starting laughing at myself when I did that. I don't think the student thought it was so funny though.) I take out the flaps and turn final. Into the flare, I pull the power, and start trimming nose up. The plane lands hard on the mains followed quickly by the nose. We pull off at the first taxi way. 15 minutes later we have a new plane and are trying it again. Just another day as a flight instructor. Glad I don't do that anymore.

 

[mar]

Interesting thread!

By the way, kudos to Jedi Nein for professionalism and wit.

Disclaimer: All of my stories are generated by some lapse of judgement.

1) Scud running counter-clockwise (that is, to the right) around a bay in freezing drizzle in a 207. I'm following the shore. Every time I bank right I lose sight of the shore out my left window. One time I lose it for good. My windscreen is iced up, the visibility is low and now I'm headed for either open water or rising terrain.

2) I'm scud running in the passes in a 207 and get lost. The first and only time I can truly say I've been lost. I'm burning up fuel and daylight trying to weave my way home.

3) I'm short final in a Metro, just selected full flaps, and encounter a 30kt loss. Stall warning horns sounds.

Obviously I survived each situation. I won't discuss the first two but the third situation was resolved with SOP--I just went around.

Before you judge me and point a finger that asks, "What were you doing there in the first place?" I hope you realize that I haven't shared *all of the information* in the interest of brevity.

 

[antinein]

Professional? Wit? Good for entertainment maybe. To many people around here know better! That no babble thingy sounds pretty good. If jedinein has had that many things happen to her in only 750 hrs, she shouldn't be doing her own maintenance. Chief check pilots over seeing two check pilots...Hmm. You would think the loud noises would have told them something was up. You know Jedis are fantasy characters. Maybe she is living in a fantasy. Can anyone out there substantiate her stories? No, really I want to know.