Agreed. And easy there Eddie....I was just giving you a hard time....I'm a GA warrior too
No harm, no foul!
I knew what you meant.
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Scariest Day/Night Flying
- Thread starter phrogpilot73
- Start date
No harm, no foul!
I knew what you meant.
Since we seem to have gone the way of gliders...
My first solo in the 2-33 entering my landing patern. I do as all good students should and check for traffic continuously. As I'm turing onto base I look to my left to see a towplane (not the one that towed me) doing the traditionall spiral landing, inside of my pattern, effectively cutting me off. The dirt runway to the right of the paved one has a glider mid-way down waiting for take-off and the powered runway to far right had a Cetabria taxing out onto the runway. Being total new to actual emergencies, I did what came naturally, I crabbed hard and landed short, giving full spoilers and hammering back on the break, still barraling in right behind the towplane which was quickly coming to a stop, hoping he either got out of my way or I stopped before I became very intamate with his tail number. Thankfull he saw the ungly duckling that is the 2-33 barraling down the runway at him and veered off to the left.
The pilots' boss was steaming pissed and wanted to rip me a new one, but my CFIG thankfully came out in my defence, since glideres can't power-up and circle around for another landing attempt and all the runways were occupied...
My first solo in the 2-33 entering my landing patern. I do as all good students should and check for traffic continuously. As I'm turing onto base I look to my left to see a towplane (not the one that towed me) doing the traditionall spiral landing, inside of my pattern, effectively cutting me off. The dirt runway to the right of the paved one has a glider mid-way down waiting for take-off and the powered runway to far right had a Cetabria taxing out onto the runway. Being total new to actual emergencies, I did what came naturally, I crabbed hard and landed short, giving full spoilers and hammering back on the break, still barraling in right behind the towplane which was quickly coming to a stop, hoping he either got out of my way or I stopped before I became very intamate with his tail number. Thankfull he saw the ungly duckling that is the 2-33 barraling down the runway at him and veered off to the left.
The pilots' boss was steaming pissed and wanted to rip me a new one, but my CFIG thankfully came out in my defence, since glideres can't power-up and circle around for another landing attempt and all the runways were occupied...
A.Kuettel
Registered User
This is a GA story, but it was pretty crazy to watch it happen. I was at my flight school one spring afternoon and watching other guys in the pattern with about 40 other flight students. Then one of my frat brothers came in a little fast and starting balloning. Instead of correcting with a little power he pulled back on the yoke and stalled the plane out. he then added power while going towards the ground, slammed on the runway riding only on the nosewheel with the prop about a 1/2 foot above the ground for about 2 seconds. The plane then slammed to the ground and he tried to do a go-around. He was so slow that the plane went into full left turning tendencies, doing a 90-degree turn heading towards the woods next to the runway. Although it got off the ground, it stalled out nearly vertical at about 30 feet, while heading towards the trees. However at the last second he gained altitude and cleared the trees by about 10 feet. He went out and flew around the pattern a bit, and then came back and landed. He had busted the nosewheel through the firewall, but somehow it still flew.
invertedflyer
500 ft. from said obstacle
I'm sure he had to change his pants after that one!
Since we are adding general aviation stories.....
We were on our intiial t/o in an Aztec one hot July at the North Las Vegas airport as I was getting ready to check out a friend on the aircraft. The oil temps were right below the yellow as they always were during the summer. (The plane had just come back from another flight so everything was still warm). We had just lifted off from Runway 12 and we were not climbing well. I mentioned to my friend that there were power lines at the end of the runway and we really needed to climb faster. At the same time I saw the prop RMP guages suddenly jump from about 1500 to 2500 and we zoomed skyward. I asked my friend if he had forgot to set the props full forward and he said they had always been at max RPM. We were scratching our heads over this while turning downwind and decided maybe it was time to call it a day until we figured out what was wrong. As he turned base, he pulled the power back to idle and suddenly we were a glider. Both engines stopped and the props were feathered. Since the starters were on his side, I took the controls while he tried to get the engines started. The didn't restart and we barely made the field (I cut the corner and turned staraight towards the runway when they died).
Later on we found out that Piper recommended larger oil coolers for Aztecs flying in hot climates. The original coolers were too small and did not sufficiently cool the oil. When the engines died, we saw the oil temps had gone into the red sometime between our lift off (last good instrument scan after the prop surge) and dying. Oil pressure holds the props out of feather. As the oil heated up, it got thinner. At low power settings (idle), there was not enough oil pressure to hold the props out of feather. When the props feathered, the engines did not have enough power to turn the feathered props so they stalled and died. We couldn't get them restarted for the same reason - oil too hot/thin to force the props out of feather and not enough power to turn the props/engines to build required pressure.
I also found out from the same mechanic that the owner had been told of Piper's recommendation every time the aircraft went in for an inspection. Needless to say, I never flew that plane again. I didn't trust the owner after that.
We were on our intiial t/o in an Aztec one hot July at the North Las Vegas airport as I was getting ready to check out a friend on the aircraft. The oil temps were right below the yellow as they always were during the summer. (The plane had just come back from another flight so everything was still warm). We had just lifted off from Runway 12 and we were not climbing well. I mentioned to my friend that there were power lines at the end of the runway and we really needed to climb faster. At the same time I saw the prop RMP guages suddenly jump from about 1500 to 2500 and we zoomed skyward. I asked my friend if he had forgot to set the props full forward and he said they had always been at max RPM. We were scratching our heads over this while turning downwind and decided maybe it was time to call it a day until we figured out what was wrong. As he turned base, he pulled the power back to idle and suddenly we were a glider. Both engines stopped and the props were feathered. Since the starters were on his side, I took the controls while he tried to get the engines started. The didn't restart and we barely made the field (I cut the corner and turned staraight towards the runway when they died).
Later on we found out that Piper recommended larger oil coolers for Aztecs flying in hot climates. The original coolers were too small and did not sufficiently cool the oil. When the engines died, we saw the oil temps had gone into the red sometime between our lift off (last good instrument scan after the prop surge) and dying. Oil pressure holds the props out of feather. As the oil heated up, it got thinner. At low power settings (idle), there was not enough oil pressure to hold the props out of feather. When the props feathered, the engines did not have enough power to turn the feathered props so they stalled and died. We couldn't get them restarted for the same reason - oil too hot/thin to force the props out of feather and not enough power to turn the props/engines to build required pressure.
I also found out from the same mechanic that the owner had been told of Piper's recommendation every time the aircraft went in for an inspection. Needless to say, I never flew that plane again. I didn't trust the owner after that.
A.Kuettel
Registered User
Its funny you say that. All the guys were starting to run out to the plane when he landed and the chief pilot (an old army helo guy) says hold up boys he needs a chance to clean the sh!t out of the plane.
invertedflyer
500 ft. from said obstacle
awwwww... I feel sorry for the next pilot in line to fly that bird.
I can't say I have many scary stories beyond the typical can't see the boat in the gulf in the day until 100', being close enough to a turkey buzzard in a T-2 in Meridian to count it's feathers, etc.
Death Rattler's story is incredible and it reminds me of an instance that happened to a classmate's father who was a test pilot. Doing a standard test flight when he has to eject. BAd thing is that he was at 400+ knots. Worse part is that the ejection seat didn't have the leg garters on it. Even worse was when he ejected he rolled onto his back with his legs into the windstream. Worst of all is that the wind force was so great it took both legs, split them to his sides, and ripped him open from groin to sternum. I don't remember the exact length, but I think he was in a coma for a few months and didn't get out of the hospital for something on the order of six to eight months.
Death Rattler's story is incredible and it reminds me of an instance that happened to a classmate's father who was a test pilot. Doing a standard test flight when he has to eject. BAd thing is that he was at 400+ knots. Worse part is that the ejection seat didn't have the leg garters on it. Even worse was when he ejected he rolled onto his back with his legs into the windstream. Worst of all is that the wind force was so great it took both legs, split them to his sides, and ripped him open from groin to sternum. I don't remember the exact length, but I think he was in a coma for a few months and didn't get out of the hospital for something on the order of six to eight months.
This is a Great thread, with many spactacular stories. My only true brush with death was last year. T-6 repo for hurricane Dennis, my first Solo flight in the plane, heading into DFW JRB. I am the 2nd to last T-6 to arrive. I end up getting vectors for the visual and when turning to final I see a C-130 working the pattern (also on final). I give a seconds worth of thought to wake turbulance and decide I am far enough behind him that it wont matter. Keep in mind I only have about 80 hours in this plane and had just come from flying P-3's. At 3-4 miles I notice he is not landing but sidestepped to the north and is going around. So all thoughts of wake turbulance have gone away at this point. It was not until I was approx 20ft off the deck and closing out the power when I got to fully appreciate what wake turbulance is all about. The uncommanded 45 degree angle of bank to the right gave me an excelent view of newly cut grass next to the runway. I was just finishing my thought of "wow I am going to die" when my full left stick input began to actually take effect, and because I must have just enough extra airspeed, I was able to start a climb before the engine spooled up, during engine spool up I got the stick shaker followed by the leg shakers, it was obvious at this point that I was going to live and thats when the adrenaline kicked in. I then decided I needed a few minutes to myself in the delta. When I finally calmed myself down to the point I could land, low and behold I am #2 behind a 737. Wonderful, and to top that off, I hear that there is a flight of 2 T-2's behind me. Despite the T-2's I fly a deep 180 to guarantee myself enough post 737 time, and also fly a high profile to get beyond his point of landing, which in the end was a very good thing because tower also forgot to mention the rigged gear which we are not suppose to roll over. So in the end, almost dying, allowed me to keep the A/C from being down.
Side note, after shutting down and putting the A/c to bed, I got a call from my boss at Schools Command informing me that I was just selected for an IA billet. Needless to say, not one of my better days in the Navy.
Side note, after shutting down and putting the A/c to bed, I got a call from my boss at Schools Command informing me that I was just selected for an IA billet. Needless to say, not one of my better days in the Navy.
Seems like something one would want to know, although 45 degree AOB is fairly insignificant. The Prowler seat can fire inverted at ~600 AGL and still be in envelope at normal approach speeds.
Brett