Your most scary flight

[WDD]

Definitely Tuesday night’s flight. Engine decided to come from together at 800AGL on takeoff.

Oh ****....some of that stuff is supposed to be on the inside!

DITTO Yikes. As you're still with us, congrats on excellent piloting on getting that back on the ground and walking away from it.

 

[texasclouds]

Working on my PPL, flying a 172 with my instructor & another CFI in the back seat. Cleared to land at KALN and on short final when another plane zoomed over the top of us so close (heading for the runway) I could count the rivets on its belly

I didn't think it was possible to jump out of your seat with the belts on, but I think both of my instructors did

You're a fast counter…private school?

 

[MJR Pilot]

I know we have some old bold pilots in here, and probably some young and dumb ones too. So let's hear your most hair raising aviation tale.

Low IMC and night - I learned (at least in my book) that these two don't mix very well. Had ~ 900 hours under the belt. Tons of night time. IFR current and proficient, and had recently completed a long round trip XC in hard IMC with approaches down to minimums. So when I had a few hours to kill one night and the weather showed low IMC, I thought "hey I'm really comfortable flying at night, and really comfortable flying in IMC, so this should be a piece of cake." Scheduled a short XC. I don't know if others have had similar experience, but the combination of night and IMC caused EXTREME disorientation almost from the moment I lifted off. Pure black hole out the windscreen with moonlight blocked by thick clouds. Have never had to work harder on my scan to keep the wings level and fight the urge to follow my senses instead of the attitude indicator. A minute or two in I remember thinking I had a made a big mistake, bitten off more than I could chew. Had never felt that before. Settled down a bit, flew the instruments, and disorienting feeling subsided a little bit, but flipped on the A/P for the rest of the flight just to make sure I was safe. The approaches (I did two as it was a round trip flight) were beyond nerve wracking. I had done many approaches in actual IMC to near or actual minimums with no problem. But something about the combination of ceilings at minimums and night made it seem much harder. I went back to my training and experience and executed both well, but once back at home base, I kissed the ground after parking and vowed that I would never mix low IMC and nighttime ever again.

 

[texasclouds]

@MJR Pilot glad you made it back safe. There is a reason pro pilots fly as a crew…to back each other up, and to lighten the load. Imagine if you also had to deal with a minor equipment failure, or rough running engine. Be safe out there. IMC Night, as you have found, isn’t a toy to play with.

 

[MJR Pilot]

@MJR Pilot glad you made it back safe. There is a reason pro pilots fly as a crew…to back each other up, and to lighten the load. Imagine if you also had to deal with a minor equipment failure, or rough running engine. Be safe out there. IMC Night, as you have found, isn’t a toy to play with.

 

[MJR Pilot]

Thank you. And Amen to that. Couldn't agree more. Lesson learned for me.

 

[robin ardoin]

This past Saturday. CAVU flying in to 3T0 (Cedar Mills). All hell breaks loose on final over the lake. I see the waves breaking perpendicular to the runway. Must have been 8-10 footers...at least! The spindrift was covering the windscreen on short final. Four brave souls at the waters edge/threshold were giving me the wave off as they could barely stand upright in the crosswind. Must have been at least 60 kts at 340 for runway 25. I reach out of the window to clear the windscreen just at the water's edge, see runway while the four brave souls at the threshold scramble for the emergency vehicles. The screech of my tires was horrendous as I dumped flaps, pulled back on the yoke (or should I have said yolk?), and watched the grass fly. I wiped the sweat from my brow and relaxed once I realized that I made it in time for pizza...but it was close.



Edit- I also like to fish so, since it's been a few hours since I posted, those crosswinds are now in the 70kt range...carry on.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I don't know if others have had similar experience, but the combination of night and IMC caused EXTREME disorientation almost from the moment I lifted off.

Interesting. I don't find night IMC any different than day IMC - Look outside, can't see anything. It's just a different color. I wonder why it was so disorienting for you?

Maybe it's because I did a fair number of the training flights for my instrument at night? But I never felt that way even during training. The only time I got really disoriented in IMC was my first time ever going into IMC, and that was during the day.

But what I'm really curious about is how many other pilots have experienced the same thing?

 

[WDD]

Interesting. I don't find night IMC any different than day IMC - Look outside, can't see anything. It's just a different color. I wonder why it was so disorienting for you?

Maybe it's because I did a fair number of the training flights for my instrument at night? But I never felt that way even during training. The only time I got really disoriented in IMC was my first time ever going into IMC, and that was during the day.

But what I'm really curious about is how many other pilots have experienced the same thing?

Maybe the amount of light; the additional stress of reading low light / back lit instruments vs a fully lit cockpit. Just guessing.

 

[Barrett50]

I bought a Bensen B-8M gyrocopter. This should be all I need to write, but I'll finish the story. I didn't have a pre-rotator so I had to whip the rotor around by hand to get it fast enough to start windmilling while I taxi. I got it up to speed, and without delay, rolled out on the runway for my first flight ever in a 90HP two stroke McCulloch drone engine aircraft. It had a wood pusher prop. I was worried about losing rotor speed, and the only advice I got before flight from the seller was to get it up and going before the rotor speed decayed. So - I nailed the throttle to the stop, and that drone two stroke spun like an angry wasp and I was off the ground and climbing HARD into the wind.

This all worked fine for about 40 seconds, and then the prop decided to leave the aircraft, it had had enough of this high torque spit. My first landing was going to be an autorotation(the gyro is always in autorotation of course). I pulled the power back, switched the engine off and pushed the stick fwd to the stop. Which - was my second mistake of the day, as that unloaded the rotor. Which means rotor speed decayed QUICLY. So, I pulled back some, kept the craft semi-level, got some rotor speed back, and flared just in time to touch down on the opposite numbers of the runway. It rolled a few dozen feet and then I ****ed all over the seat - which is also the gas tank full of 9 gal of two stroke fuel.

 

[david.h]

My story is very pedestrian, and the photos are long gone. But I was flying in clear, summer skies in Texas 15 years ago. I took my camera with a long telephoto lense to snap a few picks. Cruising along at 4500', took a picture of the Austin skyline from 20 miles away. Put the camera down, and looked back up. Two buzzards at 100 feet in front of me, ducking their wings. I pulled up and right, they went under the plane maybe 8 feet. That was it, but it shook me a little. You can see the two black specks when zoomed in on the photo.

 

[bluesky74656]

I was a student pilot, a few hours past my first solo at the age of 17. I signed out a 152 to go run through maneuvers: steep turns, slow flight, power on and off stalls. I set up for slow flight and pulled power to transition into a power off stall. Recovery from that stall went smoothly, so I transitioned that directly into the power on stall. The stall warning blared, the wing buffeted, and then the dropping of the nose was closely followed by the dropping of a wing. As the ground spun in front of me I remember thinking, "Welp, I guess this is it." I thank God to this day that I remembered the lesson on spins my instructor gave me even though it wasn't required by the PTS. Unfortunately in the moment all I remembered was "pull the power, step on the rudder, pull out of the dive." I couldn't remember if the rudder was to be applied with the spin or against. A bit of quick experimentation assured me that it was most definitely not applied with the spin. Stepping on the opposite rudder pedal stopped the spin, and I remembered that the pull needed to be gentle so as not to break anything until I was back in straight and level flight. It felt like an eternity but I'm sure it didn't last all that long and I thin I probably lost no more than 2000 feet.

I was scared enough that I knew I needed to climb right back up and try it again or I'd risk never being able to, so that's exactly what I did. I will admit I probably recovered a bit earlier than I usually did, but it was more or less effective. It did take me a while to really be comfortable again with stalls.

 

[texasclouds]

I bought a Bensen B-8M gyrocopter. This should be all I need to write, but I'll finish the story. I didn't have a pre-rotator so I had to whip the rotor around by hand to get it fast enough to start windmilling while I taxi. I got it up to speed, and without delay, rolled out on the runway for my first flight ever in a 90HP two stroke McCulloch drone engine aircraft. It had a wood pusher prop. I was worried about losing rotor speed, and the only advice I got before flight from the seller was to get it up and going before the rotor speed decayed. So - I nailed the throttle to the stop, and that drone two stroke spun like an angry wasp and I was off the ground and climbing HARD into the wind.

This all worked fine for about 40 seconds, and then the prop decided to leave the aircraft, it had had enough of this high torque spit. My first landing was going to be an autorotation(the gyro is always in autorotation of course). I pulled the power back, switched the engine off and pushed the stick fwd to the stop. Which - was my second mistake of the day, as that unloaded the rotor. Which means rotor speed decayed QUICLY. So, I pulled back some, kept the craft semi-level, got some rotor speed back, and flared just in time to touch down on the opposite numbers of the runway. It rolled a few dozen feet and then I ****ed all over the seat - which is also the gas tank full of 9 gal of two stroke fuel.

That is awesome! Please tell me you found the prop, bolted it back on, and went for more!

 

[Barrett50]

That is awesome! Please tell me you found the prop, bolted it back on, and went for more!

Duct tape. Seriously, I had to buy another prop. The one that broke came apart at the base of the blade. The hub was still bolted to the flange. I put the new prop on it, and flew it maybe 6 more times. It was a death trap, collection of parts all operating in close formation. I sold it to another sap, and got a much more safe aircraft. I bought a Vari-Eze. At least it didn't try to kill me - much.

 

[Barrett50]

I ran out of gas. The old Citabria has a crap fuel gauge. It was a ball with a lubber float on it and the ball was 'calibrated' in F-3/5-H-1/4-E. The resolution was also crap, and the window covering the ball was crap. The scale markings on the ball were crap and rubbed down a lot. We used the plane for banner tow and I used it for acro. I told the FBO not to fill that tank after towing so I could do better acro training.

I got to the airport summer about 7:30pm, and I had just enough time to pre-flight, get my chute on, taxi out and do 30 min of air time. I looked at the ball fuel gage and it was reading just below 3/4 on the ball. That's good enough for me! I'm out there looping and rolling, and did a hammerhead, and the engine cut out a bit. I didn't pay attention because sometimes the fuel draw from the inverted tank to the regular tanks gets a slug of air in it. I was doing a snap on top of a loop and the engine just died, and the prop stopped.
'
Not much on the emer checklist, but I ran it quickly once I got back upright. Cranked it some, but the engine was d-e-a-d. I took a closer look at the fuel gauge and it sure said "E" in the twilight. I was maybe 15 miles from the runway at ~5000', and I remembered; hey, I have an inverted fuel tank! So, I flipped it over, pushed the starter and it fired right up, happy as can be. I didn't say a word, it was just before sunset, and I got over the runway, flipped it back upright, engine dead, did a downwind, base, and final, slipped it some and landed. I felt like a complete idiot pushing the plane off the runway. I was a complete idiot. When I jammed my head in the cockpit I mistook the "1/4" for the "3/4". I had great performance - right up until I didn't. Stoopid mistake.

 

[Vihurah]

very recently went out to a nearby airport for fuel. its over a hill in a valley so i should've already smelled trouble. my 150 was doing 1600fpm up which should've been the second clue. flew over there anyway, winds some 15-20 straight down the pipe. a little bumpy but no big deal, TAF said it'd be this all day. fuel her up, hit the can and grab some snacks, come back out to the wind slapping me in the face.

now the winds suddenly reading 10kts above forecast with no sign of calming down. still straight down the runway i make a bet that my home airport is reporting lighter winds on the other side of the hill and this will just blow me home if i get out of the pattern. hectic takeoff in 26g34, and true MOD turbulence the whole way home. at this point im just begging it to be over.

now they set me up for right pattern, winds just ever so slightly right crosswind but back to a workable speed, but now there's windshear galore. windshear that almost takes me out short final, stallhorn blaring, wings thrown about 40 degrees and nose low into a tree line. Now I'm pulling up into a go around shaking harder than i ever have. thankfully take 2 was uneventful.

safe to say im never taking off in an Appalachian winter higher than 5kts ever again. i think i rather grow old than be bold again...

 

[Lowflynjack]

25 years ago, when I had under 100 hours, I fell in love with taildraggers and aerobatics. I got my TW endorsement, then found the rarest creature: a Decathlon for solo rent. So I got my 5 hour intro to acro course, then started working on contest acro. This was my 3rd or 4th solo aerobatic flight.

At first I thought I could be reading my own story! I too saw a Decathlon for rent and took an aerobatic course.

I don't remember how many hours I flew aerobatics, but I do remember my aerobatic instructor had told me to only do one-turn spins until we did more training. What do instructors know? I was a badass aerobatic pilot. Nose up, stall, right rudder, one turn, two turns... and then it tightened up. Stick forward, left rudder, and nothing changed. Stick back, forward again, right rudder, back to left rudder, no change. I was looking at a barn on the ground spinning so tightly that I knew I was about to die. Oddly, I remember a sense of calm... this is how it ends. At the time, I was married with two small girls and I felt sad for leaving them behind. I leaned forward to release the door in what I knew would be a failed attempt to jump and I noticed the plane bobbled a little. I tried left rudder again and it came out. It was luck, not skill that saved me that day.