when 'students' attack part II

[tathepilot]

Yesterday on a training flight my student was doing his unfeather checklist in a pa34. The checklist called for mixture rich on the number 2, so instead he was inclined to pull the mixture on the number 1. As quick as he pulled it I pushed it back up. (At least he didn't pull the #1 prop lever)

In a twin I always have my students touch the lever and I'll confirm it before they do anything. But this time I don't know what happend.

Sound familiar?
Can I hear some other cfi stories of the same thing happening.

 

[labbats]

MEI. Ugh. I should just wear gloves my palms sweat so much.

 

[banned username 2]

How about pulling an engine right after lift-off and having your student slam the wrong rudder to the floor... Now THAT is FUN! Can't believe the guy flies a jet now!

 

[JetPilot500]

YAABM!!

 

[banned username 2]

YAABM!!

I KNEW it was just like the "Gripper Claw", you couldn't resist responding!!! My work here is complete! Turn on your AIM Grandma...

 

[Alchemy]

I accidentally pulled the wrong throttle once when I was training for my multi comm....didn't take long before I caught that mistake, but still an eye-opener. One of those things that seems too stupid to happen but is possible in the "heat of the moment".

 

[flynryan15]

A quick hand is a dead hand!!!!! Nothing that happens in the next 3 seconds will kill you, but what you do in the next 3 seconds may kill you!!!!!!! I had a instructor tell me that once and it has stuck with me ever since.

 

[bigD]

How about pulling an engine right after lift-off and having your student slam the wrong rudder to the floor... Now THAT is FUN! Can't believe the guy flies a jet now!

I bet the flight school is still looking for the seat cushions for that airplane. Actually, come to think of it, they probably don't want them back anymore!

 

[Gulfstream 200]

this is why we have THREE engines....no more problems.

 

[tathepilot]

this is why we have THREE engines....no more problems.

nice....!

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

sheeeeet, where do I start

when they reach for the mixture instead of throttle at 300 feet on climbout gets the heart going

 

[User546]

During my MEI training, my instructor demonstrated to me the importance of guarding the rudders when practicing engine-outs with students.

We went up to about 5,000 AGL and he pulled back the left engine, while simultaneously stomping the left rudder. I could barely comprehend what was happening before we were rolling past the downside of 90 degrees headed inverted. Was a powerful and memorable lesson I'll never forget.

He said when he was a fresh MEI teaching at Riddle he had a student do that to him on an engine-out shortly after takeoff. He said he managed to recover it with only about 100 ft left to the ground, and left a big stain on the front right seat when it was over with!

 

[banned username 2]

We went up to about 5,000 AGL and he pulled back the left engine, while simultaneously stomping the left rudder. I could barely comprehend what was happening before we were rolling past the downside of 90 degrees headed inverted. Was a powerful and memorable lesson I'll never forget.

He said when he was a fresh MEI teaching at Riddle he had a student do that to him on an engine-out shortly after takeoff. He said he managed to recover it with only about 100 ft left to the ground, and left a big stain on the front right seat when it was over with!

Mine happened at about 30 ft AGL... I never knew a Duchess could fly with it's nose pointed 60° left of the direction it was traveling, but gosh darn it can! Just ask JetPilot500!

 

[FlyChicaga]

Nearing the end of my MEI training, my instructor and I were in the practice area with him flying and me teaching. Well, being a Seminole, I decided to reach down and move the fuel selector to "off" while he was doing clearning turns and while I'm rattling off some stuff about the maneuver. Well halfway through the clearning turn the number 2 engine goes dead... and he just looks at me like "what did you do?" So I look back at him and say, "What did you do??" He's like "Nothing!" and just stares at the panel for like 30 seconds. I just start laughing and say, "What happened to 'mixtures, props, throttles?'"

 

[AV1ATRX]

You think it's bad that a student slams the wrong rudder to the floor low-level? My INSTRUCTOR did that at 300' AGL, being a smart-***. Once I recovered, we flew back home and I left. The company defended him, but I got my money back. I heard several years later that he got fired after that happened several more times... I was his first student with this company, and he got his multi in a Dutchess and was teaching in a Seminole, which he had had a quick check-out in. He actually asked me to teach him the systems in the airplane because I had just finished my commercial multi at another school and was fresh on the systems.

 

[Mmmmmm Burritos]

Almost had a student bring the gear up in an Arrow on a short field landing once. And this is in a plane with a manual flap bar!! He had forgotten to bring up the flaps (normal procedure in a Piper- gives you better braking) and I let him know that just after we touched down and he was fumbling around near the throttle quadrant.... I could almost see it coming. I think his hand had a red mark on it for a few days, good thing I didnt break off the gear selector knocking his hand away

That student had flown manual-flap Pipers since day one too... never let your guard down!

Also had a student stall a Mooney at about 20 feet AGL. He pitched up AND chopped the power on a short field... not a good combo. I took the plane, added full power and kept it level so it would bounce off all three wheels to distribute the load. It was a pretty hard bounce but not as bad as it could have been. We did some aerodynamics ground after that one.

 

[FracCapt]

I used to teach in a Cessna 310 fairly often. My procedure for engine failures was to turn off the fuel selector for the appropriate engine. Both were located in the same area(and out of view unless you leaned forward to see them), so it wasn't obvious which one I had just killed by the position of my hand. I told my students to call out checking that both fuel valves were open and move their hand down there - but don't actually move any valves. One day, climbing out of about 50', I reached down and cut the right engine. I felt a shudder from the right side of the airplane, and looked out to see the right prop coming to a stop....feathered... I looked down at the prop levers - both full forward. Well, combined with the low altitude(even though we were still climbing at 300-400fpm) and a feathered prop staring us in the face, my student decided he needed to actually check the position of the fuel selectors...and found one of them out of position...and moved it....whoops...wrong one. As I was looking out at the prop, he shut the fuel off to the good engine. This was about 300' or so. I immediately shoved the nose over to land in the field ahead, and saw his hand down near the selectors....I reached down, pushed them both down, and the left engine restarted. We leveled out around 100', then resumed the climb. Returned for landing, and got a pressure washer to clean out the mess I left in the cockpit.

 

[JetBlast2000]

Take note of a valuable lesson here. If your going to cut the fuel, wait till you have several thousand feet under you. Our school had a 5k foot minimum before we could cut the fuel using the selectors.

I had a student who, on decent into the a/p (about 1000 feet), instead of pulling the throttles back, decided he wanted to pull the props back. I caught him just before he feathered both engines. He just got really confused and forgot some very important basics. Just goes to show you, if you can survive flight instruction you might just have a career.

JB2k

 

[FracCapt]

Take note of a valuable lesson here. If your going to cut the fuel, wait till you have several thousand feet under you. Our school had a 5k foot minimum before we could cut the fuel using the selectors.

That may have something to do with the specific aircraft you guys are using. In the 310, as soon as you get the fuel lever in the OFF position, the engine quits...and as soon as you put it back, it starts right back up(assuming the prop is still windmilling). It's been many, many years - but IIRC, the Seneca wasn't like that, so I'm assuming many others weren't. I think the engine took a good 10 seconds or so to quit, and about that long to restart. I flew the Duchess a few times, but it was long enough ago and few enough hours I don't remember anything about it except that the single engine climb performance was horrible to non-existant.

Unfortunately, pulling the throttle back to idle or zero thrust gives the student a distinct advantage. They KNOW which engine you just pulled. I've told students I was going to fail the left engine, then reached down to the fuel selector and failed the right engine instead....guess what....right rudder to the floor. It told me that they were not reacting to the airplane, but reacting to what they expected...much the same as if they see which throttle you pull back.

 

[ucf_motorcycle]

Whats with all you CFI's messing yourself in the plane during emergency situations?? I hope this is a joke.