obviously for the pilots on here.
hadn't been up in a couple weeks (dang kids and their soccer tournaments), went out saturday to solo in the most ideal weather that'd been around in a while.
doing pre-flight on the school's 152A and noticed the G indicator was pegged to a 6, which... somebody had a bad landing. ok, rest of pre-flight and run-up was normal, nothing to indicate any problems.
cleared for take-off, rolling down 17L, all is well. rotation is at 50 KIAS, i'm right there and BLAM! and plane veers off hard left. immediately pull the throttle and jump on the brakes, the plane is shaking like crazy, my charts and ipad and stuff are all over the cabin. called the tower told them i blew a tire. they followed me back to the FBO. got out of the plane and the tires were fine. "what the hell?" then i go up to the nose and give it the slightest push and the nose gear is done-fer. nose sinks all the way with virtually no effort. walk back to the tail, push down and when the nose comes up the strut drops all the way to bottom-out.
guess that guy's landing was even harder than i thought. not that i'd wish what i went through on anyone, but woulda been nice if the seal had blown on his taxi from landing.
i know somebody mentioned a couple of engine-outs, but curious what the worst others have dealt with. i fully expect these things will happen- hopefully not as much once i'm done with the rented mules that are flight school planes.
flyin solo, post: 427329, member: 8089 wrote: obviously for the pilots on here.
hadn't been up in a couple weeks (dang kids and their soccer tournaments), went out saturday to solo in the most ideal weather that'd been around in a while.
doing pre-flight on the school's 152A and noticed the G indicator was pegged to a 6, which... somebody had a bad landing. ok, rest of pre-flight and run-up was normal, nothing to indicate any problems.
cleared for take-off, rolling down 17L, all is well. rotation is at 50 KIAS, i'm right there and BLAM! and plane veers off hard left. immediately pull the throttle and jump on the brakes, the plane is shaking like crazy, my charts and ipad and stuff are all over the cabin. called the tower told them i blew a tire. they followed me back to the FBO. got out of the plane and the tires were fine. "what the hell?" then i go up to the nose and give it the slightest push and the nose gear is done-fer. nose sinks all the way with virtually no effort. walk back to the tail, push down and when the nose comes up the strut drops all the way to bottom-out.
guess that guy's landing was even harder than i thought. not that i'd wish what i went through on anyone, but woulda been nice if the seal had blown on his taxi from landing.
i know somebody mentioned a couple of engine-outs, but curious what the worst others have dealt with. i fully expect these things will happen- hopefully not as much once i'm done with the rented mules that are flight school planes.
Trainers do live a "borrowed mule" existence. I remember one in particular (152) with an airframe that flexed so bad at rotation the doors would pop open. The CFI could grab his side really quick, almost before it got open. My side was a learned experience. Everything that wasn't on a good clipboard under your leg would get sucked out the door.
I also remember another who's nose-gear was on its last leg. As long as there was either no weight or full weight on the nose gear it was fine. There were a few terrifying seconds of horrible vibration if you were being a sissy about getting the nose up during take-off.
After my solo one of my instructors confided in me that before I had logged any number of hours something serious would probably happen. He said it either makes a student quit, or it makes them a better pilot. I had a couple of "white knuckle" moments. One was a mag that left me when I was about an hour out. The numbers at the end of the runway was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. When I mentioned to the mechanic at the FBO the engine didn't seem to run real well on one mag his reply was a nonchalant "That's why they have two..."
Another incident involved a stiff cross-wind landing and the little runway lights along the side. I learned the definition of "frangible" that time..;)
It was a long time ago. I was in my twenties and taking lessons in a 152 out of Santa Monica airport. I'd just completed my second solo flying a pattern around the airport and getting into position to do a touch and go and cleared it with the tower when a moment later the tower responds that they have another aircraft coming into the pattern and ask if I can come in 'hot' to get ahead of him. Well this sounded just fine to me so I goosed it a bit and did a quick crab to lose altitude quickly without building up to much airspeed. As I'm on final and all of my focus is on getting the plane down to the right elevation to start bleeding off my airspeed to flair, the tower screams in my headset 'Pull out! PULL OUT!!!' Some numbnuts Iranian dude that apparently didn't understand English had just pulled his plane out for take off onto the very same real estate I was about to land on and at that point on final, I couldn't see him. Without a moment's hesitation I shoved that throttle in as far as it would go and pulled up and banked steeply to starboard thinking something along the lines of what was that the instructor was telling me about take off stalls? They later told me I missed him by a 100'. Post pucker factor: a solid 10.
I hit a pheasant on take off once. I watched the dumb bird run across the taxiway and pleaded for him to stop. but alas, I apparently hit it with the wheel pant. The 140 seemed to shake a little bit but no damage upon inspection. An instructor watched it happen and grabbed the bird off the runway and cleaned it for me.
I flew a Yankee for a while which was loads of fun but they had free wheeling nose gear. if it got turned around on you it would give you a bit of a hiccup. I drove one that had a bad damper on it and it shook at slow speed which also was annoying. I believe they published an AD on that shortly thereafter.
Your lesson learned is that when you see something amiss on your preflight, don't ignore or dismiss it as an anomaly. Especially in a rented/club plane. You shouldn't have started the engine my friend. Glad your okay.
Daniel Ralph, post: 427339, member: 8817 wrote: You shouldn't have started the engine my friend. Glad your okay.
Yes, noted. Except that it wasn't the first time I'd seen it on this plane. It is the areobat they use to do CFII spin training and other more advanced stuff, so my instructors have always just had me note it in the logbook so long as the rest of the pre-flight was good.
this is the plane:
[MEDIA=youtube]chtkfDj9noQ[/MEDIA]
I've spun 150s, 152s, and tried to spin a 172 but they won't spin.
Had a 150 lose a cylinder, melted a hole in the piston. Shepherded it back to the field and landed.
Hit a goose with a 182, never saw him, it was dark. It was like a bump in the road. It dented the lower right cowel and ricocheted into the right wheel pant which it broke.
Years (1967) ago an instructor and I lost a tow line that was stretched between the Schweitzer sail plane we were in and a Super Cub on the other end...just as we cleared the upwind numbers at about 100'. The pasture past the runway was clear (thankfully) but a few piss elms tickled the bottom of the fuselage before we bounced to a landing. The instructor (and owner of the Schweitzer) was really upset.
At 17 I think my first reaction was "Cool! Let's do it again!" 😉
paden cash, post: 427355, member: 20 wrote: Years (1967) ago an instructor and I lost a tow line that was stretched between the Schweitzer sail plane we were in and a Super Cub on the other end...just as we cleared the upwind numbers at about 100'. The pasture past the runway was clear (thankfully) but a few piss elms tickled the bottom of the fuselage before we bounced to a landing. The instructor (and owner of the Schweitzer) was really upset.
At 17 I think my first reaction was "Cool! Let's do it again!" 😉
When I was an instructor I took a 12 year old out and let him spin the airplane. He thought that was so much fun he wanted to keep doing it. After about 15 spins I said, "that's enough, I'm feeling sick."
flyin solo, post: 427350, member: 8089 wrote: this is the plane:
[MEDIA=youtube]chtkfDj9noQ[/MEDIA]
Kids got pretty clear complexion for 14 years old! Geeze!
paden cash, post: 427355, member: 20 wrote: Years (1967) ago an instructor and I lost a tow line that was stretched between the Schweitzer sail plane we were in and a Super Cub on the other end...just as we cleared the upwind numbers at about 100'. The pasture past the runway was clear (thankfully) but a few piss elms tickled the bottom of the fuselage before we bounced to a landing. The instructor (and owner of the Schweitzer) was really upset.
At 17 I think my first reaction was "Cool! Let's do it again!" 😉
Wow! Cleared for flying lessons after all your youthful mischief. I'm starting to think you might be some kid sitting in the basement making things up as you go along....
Dave Karoly, post: 427358, member: 94 wrote: When I was an instructor I took a 12 year old out and let him spin the airplane. He thought that was so much fun he wanted to keep doing it. After about 15 spins I said, "that's enough, I'm feeling sick."
I had some dual time in a tail dragging Aeronca. If I remember it had a STC for a 100 hp Lycoming. We did spin training in it. Not for the weak at heart at my young age. After that there was some time in a 150 and 152. You could make them spin, but it felt completely different than the rag wing. Spin training was also required at that time for glider pilots where I started. Spin recovery in an engineless airframe is some really good experience.
imaudigger, post: 427373, member: 7286 wrote: Wow! Cleared for flying lessons after all your youthful mischief. I'm starting to think you might be some kid sitting in the basement making things up as you go along....
Pops was a (non-combat) pilot in the Army Air Corps and had a few buddies at the local grass strip that still flew all the time. None of my brothers had any desire to fly. Pops got one of his buddies to take me up in a glider and I was hooked. BTW, at 16 I was paying for my own instructions and flight time with a paper route and pumping gas.
I soloed and logged some time in both sailplanes and SEL. A few years later a pregnant girlfriend put an end to my aviation career...:(
I had a flat tire (nose wheel) last year in a 177. I did not know what it was at first, just that the wheel was acting real strange, and could not taxi. Happened all of a sudden, no noise, just flat. I was at another airport dropping off some equipment for my crew, and it was after hours. Fortunately there was still someone there who was able to change the inner tube. Fortunately it happened on taxi and not on landing.
Never did a spin.
