What scared you in an airplane?

[StaySeated]

Continuing with the icing stories...

While doing IOE with a new 700 hour first officer (no offense to any 700 hour guys and girls out there) the workload gets rather high in the wonderful 1900 .

The airline had just repainted some of the planes and the fuel caps were painted bright red to contrast with the grey wing.

While cruising at 8000 because Chicago center will not let us climb any higher, I take a peek out of the side window while rolling my eyes wishing I had an autopilot. It takes a second to register, but I cant see the fuel cap. I ask the fo if he can see his and after he turns his head back I think he might have seen a little green monster out on the wing. Both bright red fuel caps are obscured by a layer of ice that has run back over two feet from the boots.

The 1900 can carry a load of ice.

 

[bushman]

Tried to take off 28R at MYF with carb heat on, my first mistake, and left magneto problems. Plane bounced about 10 times until I decided to abort and got it stopped about a foot from the end of the runway. My friends loved it.

 

[TDTURBO]

I was flying a PA-28-201T over lake Michigan from AZO to MDW and had a bird strike rip off the left anticollision boot exposing the aileron conterweight to the 145kt wind. I wasn't sure the thing would fly with that counterweight sticking out but it did! Still scared the hell out of me!

Tim

Almost forgot about the time taking off at gross out of DPA on one mag and barely clearing the powerlines......that was exciting!

and ofcourse several heart stopper carb ice surprises in IMC!

 

[sdpilot]

Bushman,

Not to pick a fight.....no wonder the flying clubs at MYF are having
such a hard time keeping their insurance. Do us a favor, with 110 hrs, maybe a little refresher course on the use of a checklist might be in order.

"Your friends loved it" this time, but when they have to scrape you off the In and Out Burger at the departure end of 28R it might not seems so funny.....

My 2 cents.....

 

[TDTURBO]

sdpilot,

Don't you have to have 150 hours TT to get an instrument rating?

 

[flyboy]

nope, but you do have to have 50 hours pic x-country, plus 40 hours simulated instrument (post private), 15 hours of instruction from instructor (part 61). he'd have to be at a 141 school. there, you don't have to have the 50 hours x-country. that''s about the only way i know of to get the instrument in 110 hours.

 

[TDTURBO]

Well, if what you said is true, then 35 hrs for private+ 50hrs X-country+40 hrs instrument time (lets call it 50)=135hrs. So no way can you do it in 110 hrs. What math are you using?

Or can the 50 hrs X-C be instrument time? Then you could conceivably get the instrument rating in 85 hrs TT. I don't think so. If you could, no way would I fly with someboby in IMC with 85 TT!

 

[AWACoff]

No.

Instrument rating requirements. FAR 61.65:

Hold at least a Private Pilot certificate with an airplane, helicopter, or powered-lift rating appropriate to the instrument rating sought;
Be able to read, speak, write, and understand the English language.
Yadda, yadda, yadda,
Aeronautical experience:
50 hours of X-country time as PIC of which 10 hours must be in an airplane if airplane instrument rating is sought.
A total of 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time
At least 15 hours of instrument flight training
At least 3 hours of instrument trainging in the 60 days prior to the checkride
yadda, yadda, yadda.

 

[AWACoff]

TDTURBO,
Easy now. You're not exactly an old salty dog in aviation. Half of that 40 hours can be in an approved flight simulator. Getting an Instrument rating at 110 hours is no miracle. You're probably as safe an instrument pilot at 110 hours TT as you are at 250 TT. It all depends on your experience. I have flown with guys with a lot more time than 110 TT that are probably more dangerous than our fellow poster.

 

[MarineKC130]

Here's what's scared me so far:
Flying a KC-130 form flight coming in for a full stop at Homestead. We come in for the break then we're both planning for full stops. Lead floats halfway down the runway then stays on till the end. As we cross the threshold we start rolling left. I counter with aileron... all the way to the stops and we're still rolling slowly left to about 30 deg aob at about 50 feet, which is a hell of a lot in a herc at that alt, finally it starts rolling the other way and takes an aggressive correction to stop. The a/c ended up taking controls and added power for a go around (with 150 hrs total time, I had my hands full). The power blew our wings clean I guess and we flew out of it, still in a position for landing, he took the full stop. We're rolling down the runway and the nav says, "Well... my n**s are in my throat." The ac calmly says, "Yeah, I thought we were gonna crash for sure." We figure that we flew through leads prop wash/wake turbulence.

Another time, I was sitting in the RO seat which is in the back of the cockpit while 2 other pilots flew into Souda Bay, Crete after we had done an AR. The flying pilot has us super high for a visual so the a/c tells him to make a 360 to descend. He makes the 360 and looses about 200 feet. Fabulous. So we press on and he realizes that he'll need to make like a brick to get down. The VSI is buried all the way down. I'm waiting for everyone to realize that we're either gonna have to go around, or lower the field elevation by about 100 feet when the Greek tower controlled says "XXXXX, go around." You know you're screwed up if a foreign tower controller calls your go around. Moral of the story is that I should have called it even from the RO seat if no one else was going to.

 

[Bluestreak]

1.Bleed air line in the Merlin's nose broke-toasted the bundle of avionics wires right above it.Pressurization horn,burnt wire smell and lotsa noise.I'm glad it was only at 15,000'.

2.Lost a mag on the 414's right engine just at rotation at SDF.Unfortunately,I cut off the good one first-DOH !

3.Lost the primary trim in the ERJ taking off out of GSO.Backup trim worked,and the next week the max trim speed placard comes out.

4.Flying along in IMC in the 414 a big WHAP! and the left "HYD PRESS LO" light came on.Not so much fear (after the shock of the noise wore off) but the prospect of scratching up our airplane.Gear handle down-3 greens ! Woo-hoo ! Post flight,we discovered the de-ice boot off the left prop had come off and hit the fuselage and the hyd. system was OK.Dunno why we got the light.

5.Took my squeeze to work.Paired with Capt. Babe Deluxe.Two leg day,duty in at 6AM,off before noon.Watching Speedvision in the hotel,she sez "What time do you hafta go back to work ? " "Oh,uh,1PM tomorrow".She sez "THIS ? THIS is what you do while I'm at WORK ?"Never been so scared.

One of my buds had a real fire,complete with flames out of the panel in a Navajo in night IMC-the soot turned the windshield black.Another bud was flying with a guy in another Navajo and began to smell gas-a fuel line behind the panel had ruptured and was soaking their shoes with 100LL !

 

[avbug]

Taxiing at BIL, I could smell a little hydraulic fluid, more than normal. Everything feels good, but it gets stronger with brake application. I look down below the panel for sign of leakage, look at hydraulic pressure gage. All good. PNF says stop the airplane. I stop, and look back through the forward cab, and can't see the fuel panel at the back of the cockpit (15'). Thick red mist.

The cockpit is filled with a thick red mist of H-5606, which is both toxic, and when misted, explosive. A few good breaths is an invitation to limpoid pneumonia, and worse. Two rotary inverters in there wizzing away, one open air janitrol heater, one aux hydraulic electrical pump exposed, and the APU directly below the floor, also exposed and misted.

We vented, patched, and flew on the fire, and fixed it that night. Turned a whole paddock of cows pink, too.

 

[TDTURBO]

AWAcoff,

LMAO!

Ya, I'm no "old dog" as far as TT goes for sure but I am almost 40 and have spent 20 years of it flying. Albiet many years barely staying legally current. Now that I own my own plane, I can catch up to ya.


PS........I hate to stay on topic but I was behind a guy today #2 for final for 30 at Joliet and he did a gear up. He was alright but I'm sure since he forgot to lower his gear, the noise scared the hell out of him!

 

[avbug]

True, but his ground roll was probably reasonably short, and he did save the wear and tear on brakes.

 

[avbug]

Bluestreak,

Your comment on the ruptured fuel line made me chuckle. It's not funny at the time, of course. I had a return line from a boost pump rupture once. It ran from a boost box in the cockpit back ove the wing, which was also accessible from the cockpit. I thought I could smell fuel and finally found the bombay catwalk (20' long) about four inches deep in avgas. It pumped a lot into the airplane; we were fortunate not to have an explosion. Fortunately, the liquid ran out the belly of the airplane, and I found the broken line and made a repair on the spot.

During a C-130 ground school one year, I was assigned to do some familiarization to a street captain just hired for the Hercs. I was explaining the fueling proceedure, and demonstrating clearing the fuel loading manifold before closing up the fuel panel. The tube is several inches in diameter, and about ten feet tall, and is filled with fuel for the single point refueling system. As it runs up the inside of the right main gear nacelle, it's a hazard in the event of a hot brake, so it's always pumped clear before closing the fuel panel.

There is no indicator that it's clear, so you run the pump until you hear it cavitate. Shut off the switch, and then push open the checkvalve slightly to verify that no jet fuel comes out. I did that, had him put his ear to the panel to hear the change in vibration and sound. Then as he stood back a couple of feet, I pushed on the checkvalve. Nothing, so I pushed a little harder. It popped open and a stream of jet fuel that would have done a firehose proud, came out, soaking him from top to bottom. It was about 15 degrees out. He appeared displeased, and informed me that he had two changes of clothes, and that he was wearing one of them.

Nor really scared in an airplane, but scared to laugh around an airplane. I don't smoke, but I offered him a cigarette. He declined, and walked away mad. Some people have no sense of humor.

 

[SATCFI]

About a million years ago I think you needed 125 or 150.

 

[avbug]

It was 125, and it wasn't that long ago.

 

[chperplt]

Another ice story

Flying in the mighty 1900 C one day.. Cruising along at 17K when the cpt cycles the boots. We get a right bleed failure, run the checklist, and life is good. Both boots seem to be blowing just fine.. About 3 or 4 minutes later I look outside and can see a nice amount of ice on the wings... I ask him to cycle the boots, watch for the bump, but don't see my boot doing anything this time. I say.. Hey cpt, is your boot blowing? He says.. sure is.... We blow the boots again...I say, Sh!t.. we go down now!!! Didn't get out of the cr@p until 5K.

 

[Alaska]

One Phrase:

Primary students who wouldn't study the material I assigned them.

 

[ShawnC]

Re: One Phrase:

Primary students who wouldn't study the material I assigned them.

Its not that fact that they won't study but its the chance in he11 that they might make it to become an airline pilot later on.