Rant: Exercising PIC, no not that PIC

ArrowFlyer86

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The Little Arrow That Could
JFC. Had an eventful morning. This is a rant.

Accepted an invitation to fly with a guy who has a Dakota at a nearby field. It's a really slick plane with a new gps navigator and new paint (two things my plane doesn't have), so I said why not? Been jonesing to fly after my ear infection kept me grounded. My new-ish flight instructor who just got their -II had connected us as safety pilot buddies since we both dragged ass on building hood time, plus I figured I'd get some free high performance time. All things considered, sold!

Arrived with my headset after preflight and the excitement wore off after starting the engine.

I'm going to bullet point what went wrong:
1. Fuse for the aux fuel pump pops like 5x in 5 seconds. He responds by reaching across me angrily, hovering his finger over it, reflexively pushing it back in each time it pops. Response: "it started doing that sometimes, idk why but its fine"
2. We're supposed to be doing practice approaches and on the ground I notice we have vacuum pressure but the directional gyro is completely worthless. It is just continuously spinning at about 90-180 degrees per minute. His solution is "we can compensate for that"... What?
3. Taxis really fast and says we should take off quickly because the right main tire has a tendency to run flat. He overinflates to compensate and it "doesn't drain air as fast when it's off the ground and we're not landing at the other airports so it should be OK". I just had a flat tire issue less than 2 months ago and this strategy of flying with a perpetual flat never occurred to me as a reasonable option. It's like buying a new tube never crossed his mind.
4. We did 3 run ups. The first 2 the engine was vibrating badly. This wasn't rough mags. This was ****. I was actually nervous even sitting in the plane because it felt like we were about to blow up lol (I knew we weren't but still). On the third try it was silky smooth. Still, I can't just forget about getting my teeth rattled on the first 2. After he gets 1 good runup, he's content. Again: "sometimes it does that"
5. After the third runup he pulls the level back to idle and the engine shuts off, he quickly tries to rescue it to no avail. Can't get it started right away. We're stuck on the ground for a few mins so he wants to exit the plane and check that the tire is still good. I'm almost laughing at this point. We get the plane running again.
6. He had kept asking to crack the door even though it's cloudy and 50F out. I didn't think much of it at first. But after run-up he tells me to crack it again "otherwise its going to smell like avgas" in the cabin. But don't worry, once we're in the air and have some airflow its fine.

At this point we taxi past the FBO and I had to exercise PIC. That is: Passenger-In-Control (of my own ******** fate) privileges and tell him I'm going to have to skip the flight. Never would I accept actual PIC at the controls of that plane. I did it politely and hopped out near the FBO. He wasn't disappointed or anything just surprised I didn't want to fly anymore after driving an hour out there. Drove back home in rush hour and had plenty of time to think about it.

I fly an Arrow, not a Dakota. In fact, I've never even been in a Dakota before today. But he saw nothing wrong with any of this. Except to say that the plane has some problems but it's not a big deal because he only needs it for another year before his partner has the money to buy out his half. A dubious assumption based on the text below. It's like he's pretending that negotiating with the airplane that it only has to last another year is a valid maintenance strategy. I was like "****ing BRUH".

So instead of flying I just headed home to supervise construction on my deck, and relishing the beauty of not fearing for my life in a flying sh*tbox.

Also, this is the text I got back from my flight instructor, who will probably no longer be my flight instructor.
IDK how any reasonable pilot would think a rubber gasket around the root of the wing would "prevent" a fuel leak.
1729882743257.png


Anyways - I don't know what the lesson is here aside from "don't assume someone who owns a 'nice' plane actually takes care of it". Rant over.
 
Other than your -IIs assumption on using your plane, why dump him?
 
And you are surprised why?
I figured a healthy sense of self-preservation would be enough encouragement to fix an airplane that seems to have overt ailments. Perhaps I'm expecting too much, or my risk tolerance is too low.

Other than your -IIs assumption on using your plane, why dump him?
There'd be nothing wrong with him recommending using my aircraft. I'd be happy to trade-off and have reciprocity there.
But to be blunt, I'm concerned by their own judgment. I'm not a CFI, but I don't know how eager I would be to take on a student who flies a plane that I view as unairworthy, and wouldn't recommend anyone else flies. IDK, it's just something where I feel like the -II isn't making great decisions. That could be unfair judgment though.
 
Good job excusing yourself…I’m not sure I’d be that polite (well, I know I wouldn’t…I inherited my lack of tact from both sides of the family.) unfortunately, as @Doc Holliday indicated, this is far more common than we’d really like, and it extends pretty deeply into the turbine world as well.
 
sticky situation to be in. I think you should be grateful enough happened to get you out before flight. You did good.

Worst I’ve had is a CFI that wanted to fly my lance to get the feel before teaching the new owner and I had to take the controls from him when we hit 600 feet 4 miles from the threshold and I had prompted him half a dozen times we were too low already. “Not used to the sight picture yet”. Ok you can get used to it when it’s not my plane anymore fella.
 
Good job excusing yourself…I’m not sure I’d be that polite (well, I know I wouldn’t…I inherited my lack of tact from both sides of the family.) unfortunately, as @Doc Holliday indicated, this is far more common than we’d really like, and it extends pretty deeply into the turbine world as well.
I felt a little rude because I was nervously laughing at a couple points. Thinking "how can this just be a normal flight?". And "is the dakota engine really this rough?"
And the plane looked so sexy on the outside that there was some cognitive dissonance in my own head trying to reconcile what I was experiencing inside versus how nice it looks with fresh paint and a good interior and a brand new nav unit.

Worst I’ve had is a CFI that wanted to fly my lance to get the feel before teaching the new owner and I had to take the controls from him when we hit 600 feet 4 miles from the threshold and I had prompted him half a dozen times we were too low already. “Not used to the sight picture yet”. Ok you can get used to it when it’s not my plane anymore fella.
Ah yes, the old "sight picture" defense!
600 agl at 4 miles lol. Jesus. Not supposed to feel like you can reach down and touch the tree tops when you're on a 4 mile final. Forget sight picture, just peek out the side window and conclude something is obviously wrong. I take it there was no second chance to "get the feel"?
 
I felt a little rude because I was nervously laughing at a couple points. Thinking "how can this just be a normal flight?". And "is the dakota engine really this rough?"
And the plane looked so sexy on the outside that there was some cognitive dissonance in my own head trying to reconcile what I was experiencing inside versus how nice it looks with fresh paint and a good interior and a brand new nav unit.
Keep this in mind, too…how many pilots were on this airplane who might’ve decided any of the red flags were worth not getting in the airplane…

It’s a tough decision, but tough decisions still have to be made.
Ah yes, the old "sight picture" defense!
600 agl at 4 miles lol. Jesus. Not supposed to feel like you can reach down and touch the tree tops when you're on a 4 mile final. Forget sight picture, just peek out the side window and conclude something is obviously wrong. I take it there was no second chance to "get the feel"?
Interestingly, the sight picture of the altimeter shouldn’t be that much different. ;)
 
Ah yes, the old "sight picture" defense!
600 agl at 4 miles lol. Jesus. Not supposed to feel like you can reach down and touch the tree tops when you're on a 4 mile final. Forget sight picture, just peek out the side window and conclude something is obviously wrong. I take it there was no second chance to "get the feel"?
That was the end of the flight. I was doing it at my own risk and expense while I still owned the plane just to be nice to the guy and to get a "last flight" before it sold. Wasn't worth it at that point.
 
Interestingly, the sight picture of the altimeter shouldn’t be that much different. ;)
To be fair, I didn't let him sit left seat, so it was more difficult for him to see the altimeter, but as an instructor, he should have been used to that.
 
Keep this in mind, too…how many pilots were on this airplane who might’ve decided any of the red flags were worth not getting in the airplane…

It’s a tough decision, but tough decisions still have to be made.

Interestingly, the sight picture of the altimeter shouldn’t be that much different. ;)
In my (admittedly limited) experience, multiple pilots onboard can result in worse decisions.
I wouldn't say it's a rule and probably isn't the norm, but I've experienced first-hand where no one wanted to call it quits because it would inconvenience the group.
Two cases like that happened in the first 15 hours after getting my PPL. I felt like my opinion on matters wasn't as important because I was by far the least experienced.
Several hundred hours later I know I was just being timid, and we got lucky that other factors forced our hand.
 
That's nucking futs!

Bravo for exercising common sense. It's hard to pull that trigger in a situation like that.

If both parties want to sell...I may be interested. As long as they know the thing is a literal bomb and should be priced accordingly.
 
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Lol my friend texted to say I overreacted on this by bailing on the flight.

His response was "you've never done ferry work and it shows. I've been paid to fly planes that sound a lot ****tier than that".

Note to self: don't become a ferry pilot lol.
 
Lol my friend texted to say I overreacted on this by bailing on the flight.

His response was "you've never done ferry work and it shows. I've been paid to fly planes that sound a lot ****tier than that".

Note to self: don't become a ferry pilot lol.
No. Note to self: Don't become a foolish ferry pilot
 
Whatever causes the fuel pump breaker to trip is an electrical flaw. That can cause an in-flight fire, one of the worst possible emergencies. If he doesn't realize this, he is dangerously uninformed. And if he does, he is dangerously complacent.

Do you know what that would cost to have repaired?
 
JFC. Had an eventful morning. This is a rant.

Accepted an invitation to fly with a guy who has a Dakota at a nearby field. It's a really slick plane with a new gps navigator and new paint (two things my plane doesn't have), so I said why not? Been jonesing to fly after my ear infection kept me grounded. My new-ish flight instructor who just got their -II had connected us as safety pilot buddies since we both dragged ass on building hood time, plus I figured I'd get some free high performance time. All things considered, sold!

Arrived with my headset after preflight and the excitement wore off after starting the engine.

I'm going to bullet point what went wrong:
1. Fuse for the aux fuel pump pops like 5x in 5 seconds. He responds by reaching across me angrily, hovering his finger over it, reflexively pushing it back in each time it pops. Response: "it started doing that sometimes, idk why but its fine"
2. We're supposed to be doing practice approaches and on the ground I notice we have vacuum pressure but the directional gyro is completely worthless. It is just continuously spinning at about 90-180 degrees per minute. His solution is "we can compensate for that"... What?
3. Taxis really fast and says we should take off quickly because the right main tire has a tendency to run flat. He overinflates to compensate and it "doesn't drain air as fast when it's off the ground and we're not landing at the other airports so it should be OK". I just had a flat tire issue less than 2 months ago and this strategy of flying with a perpetual flat never occurred to me as a reasonable option. It's like buying a new tube never crossed his mind.
4. We did 3 run ups. The first 2 the engine was vibrating badly. This wasn't rough mags. This was ****. I was actually nervous even sitting in the plane because it felt like we were about to blow up lol (I knew we weren't but still). On the third try it was silky smooth. Still, I can't just forget about getting my teeth rattled on the first 2. After he gets 1 good runup, he's content. Again: "sometimes it does that"
5. After the third runup he pulls the level back to idle and the engine shuts off, he quickly tries to rescue it to no avail. Can't get it started right away. We're stuck on the ground for a few mins so he wants to exit the plane and check that the tire is still good. I'm almost laughing at this point. We get the plane running again.
6. He had kept asking to crack the door even though it's cloudy and 50F out. I didn't think much of it at first. But after run-up he tells me to crack it again "otherwise its going to smell like avgas" in the cabin. But don't worry, once we're in the air and have some airflow its fine.

At this point we taxi past the FBO and I had to exercise PIC. That is: Passenger-In-Control (of my own ******** fate) privileges and tell him I'm going to have to skip the flight. Never would I accept actual PIC at the controls of that plane. I did it politely and hopped out near the FBO. He wasn't disappointed or anything just surprised I didn't want to fly anymore after driving an hour out there. Drove back home in rush hour and had plenty of time to think about it.

I fly an Arrow, not a Dakota. In fact, I've never even been in a Dakota before today. But he saw nothing wrong with any of this. Except to say that the plane has some problems but it's not a big deal because he only needs it for another year before his partner has the money to buy out his half. A dubious assumption based on the text below. It's like he's pretending that negotiating with the airplane that it only has to last another year is a valid maintenance strategy. I was like "****ing BRUH".

So instead of flying I just headed home to supervise construction on my deck, and relishing the beauty of not fearing for my life in a flying sh*tbox.

Also, this is the text I got back from my flight instructor, who will probably no longer be my flight instructor.
IDK how any reasonable pilot would think a rubber gasket around the root of the wing would "prevent" a fuel leak.
View attachment 134569

Anyways - I don't know what the lesson is here aside from "don't assume someone who owns a 'nice' plane actually takes care of it". Rant over.
Unfortunately I see this too often. Pretty paint jobs and cool avionics on a plane that seriously needs mechanical and safety maintenance. Yes pretty paint warms your groin more than new magnetos but gee wizz people
 
5. After the third runup he pulls the level back to idle and the engine shuts off, he quickly tries to rescue it to no avail. Can't get it started right away. We're stuck on the ground for a few mins so he wants to exit the plane and check that the tire is still good. I'm almost laughing at this point. We get the plane running again.
Uh yeah. If I'm getting out of a plane for mechanical reasons, I'm not getting back in until all of them are properly resolved.

So was it just he that exited at that point? Or both of you?
 
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Fuel pump with a probable electrical overload in an aircraft with a known fuel leak. What could possibly go wrong?

My takeaway from this is to never be a part owner with someone that doesn't have a similar risk tolerance.

I've flown in aircraft that didn't have DG's, so that wouldn't be a deal breaker, just no-op it, but the rest would be for me.

I wouldn't drop the CFI, though.
 
I am reminded of my dad's buddy Mack - Mack ran a one airplane flight school and shared a hangar with the old man. When my sister decided to get her private ticket, the old man said she could use Mack as an instructor, but she was not allowed to fly in Mack's airplane because he had seen how Mack (and his A&P) maintained the airplane.
 
Uh yeah. If I'm getting out of a plane for mechanical reasons, I'm not getting back in until all of them are properly resolved.

So was it just he that exited at that point? Or both of you?
Just the pilot, but it was super awkward when he scooted across @ArrowFlyer86 's lap....
 
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