Confession is good for the soul...

Lndwarrior

Lndwarrior

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Gary
I have an obsession with confession.

When I screw up in my engineering job the second thing I do (after apologizing and making it right) is confess to my partners or employees. The self-flagellation helps reinforce the desire not to repeat the mistake. Also, it may help someone else will avoid the same problem.

Same thing with flying.

So, after my screw up today, the airport was unfortunately empty of confessee's.

So you get to hear it here.

The interesting part of this screw up was that I had very recently heard from another pilot of a very similar mistake that occurred in a very similar manner. This pilot had been practicing a form of "max performance landing". He had done four or five perfectly and decided to do just one more. He admitted to being complacent during a maneuver that required full attention. The end result was a bent plane and an expensive fix.

So today, I went out to practice a similar, but different, type of "max performance landing".

I too, did 4 or 5 perfectly when my arm, which had already been sore, starting hurting more. So I decided to knock it off an just fly around the area for a while.

It was a cloudy, gloomy day from the ground, but eerily beautiful in the sky and I did not want to come down.

Finally I decided to return to the airport and, since no one else was in the area, decided to try a straight in version of the "max performance landing" I had been practicing earlier.

And... just like my friend, I too, became complacent. I got very low and very slow and just as I got on the power I heard the landing gear scraping through the shrubbery on edge of the runway.

I fire-walled the throttle and aborted the landing. During the go-around the plane sounded normal. My thought was the prop didn't hit the shrubs, but the main gear sure did.

I had an uneventful landing and taxied to the ramp wondering if I had done any damage. When I climbed out of the plane there was a 3 foot branch wedged between the tire and the landing gear!

I got very lucky. This could have turned out very bad for me and my homebuilt plane.

My take-away from this is anytime I'm practicing any maneuver that requires a heightened level of attention, is to keep the number of repetitions to a pre-determined, and limited, number.

Also, low and slow and behind the power curve requires a clear understanding of any possible obstructions during the approach.

Also, don't be stupid...

Forgive me father for I have sinned...
 
Not trying to be a jerk here, but there is a fine line between complacency and totally effing up. I think you crossed that line. Absolutely no excuse to drag gear in the bushes.
Complacency is not the issue here imo...
At least you seem to take responsibility for this. It could have been a lot worse it the gear dragged further into the bushes.
 
Which would you rather have Gary? You want a flogging or an understanding pat on the back?
 
Thanks for sharing.

It's harder to keep that sharpest of focus when you know you get more than one shot. When I would bow hunt, after the preseason practice sessions which were used to build muscle and muscle memory, I would practice just one shot a day and make it count. If it was perfect and it wasn't just dumb luck or a fluke, no need to "practice"...even though it was fun, it would be counterproductive for me.

Hopefully you won't make that mistake again.
 
Kritchlow said:
Not trying to be a jerk here, but there is a fine line between complacency and totally effing up. I think you crossed that line. Absolutely no excuse to drag gear in the bushes.
Complacency is not the issue here imo...
At least you seem to take responsibility for this. It could have been a lot worse it the gear dragged further into the bushes.
Click to expand...

Well of course I take responsibility for it. I almost killed myself. In 30 years of flying this may be the closest I ever came. It was stupid and nearly fatal.

Thanks for the response. It helps that hours after the experience I am still thinking about how stupid I was. This is not a mistake I ever want to repeat.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Which would you rather have Gary? You want a flogging or an understanding pat on the back?
Click to expand...

I think a flogging is more helpful. The scars will forever be a reminder of my stupidity.
 
Frankly I feel a little sick to my stomach - and it's 5 hours after it happened.

I can't talk about this to my best friend, who happens to be my wife. It would upset her terribly.

The one guy I could talk to about this, and who would understand the seriousness, is not around right now. So, I'm blabbering about this on POA...

I just can't get past the fact that I almost became one of those pilots we all complain about - the one that gets himself killed by being stupid. The kind that gives GA bad publicity - and a bad name.

If I go down some day because my engine quits at an inopportune time, so be it. Yet to kill myself from sheer stupidity would be such a godawful waste, and cause so much pain to my family.

I REALLY f'd up today and I'm so lucky I didn't pay a steeper price for it.
 
ned-flanders-self-flagellation.jpg
 
Lndwarrior said:
Frankly I feel a little sick to my stomach - and it's 5 hours after it happened.

I can't talk about this to my best friend, who happens to be my wife. It would upset her terribly.

The one guy I could talk to about this, and who would understand the seriousness, is not around right now. So, I'm blabbering about this on POA...

I just can't get past the fact that I almost became one of those pilots we all complain about - the one that gets himself killed by being stupid. The kind that gives GA bad publicity - and a bad name.

If I go down some day because my engine quits at an inopportune time, so be it. Yet to kill myself from sheer stupidity would be such a godawful waste, and cause so much pain to my family.

I REALLY f'd up today and I'm so lucky I didn't pay a steeper price for it.
Click to expand...

It really helps to talk it out. Obviously it's burned into your brain so you'll never repeat the mistake again.

Good for you to post it here on POA...you never know, you might prevent someone from doing something similar in the future. I read "I Learned About Flying From That" cover to cover when I was in training, a compilation of columns from Flying magazine. Pilots getting into dangerous situations, living to tell the tale, and learning from the experience. This was your column. :)
 
Stop hanging around the wrong people:

TwjxbfZl.jpg


Landings can be targeted to places other than the threshold. Performance can be measured with a Google Earth ruler pretty easily. Risk is reduced.
 
Did you learn a lesson? Sounds like you did, but perhaps a refresher with a CFI might help. I am curious as to what is a max performance landing that you mentioned? A short field landing? Soft field? Were you trying to touch down at the very beginning (threshold) of the runway, hence the "dragging" it in part? You were fortunate that there weren't trees instead of the shrubs. Don't beat yourself up though, we all eff up or have in our flying, I certainly have. One thing you learn from eff'g up is a good lesson and seldom repeat that boner again. I do think a refresher with a CFI may help you though. At least get back on the "horse" soon though. Now ease up on yourself, you're still amongst us.
 
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Don’t beat yourself up over it, like the others have mentioned, we’ve all done stupid things, some worse than others. Take the lesson to heart and continue.

I too am curious to know more about this ‘max performance landing’. Mind elaborating a little more for the sake of my interest?
 
Me too, not exactly sure what you did. Were you aiming to touch down just at the threshold and there were bushes right before the beginning of the runway?
 
First, glad you're safe.

Just thinking out loud here. If the margins are so thin, and the consequences so severe, is it time to rethink your practicing? What is your goal here? Becoming a more precise pilot is admirable. If it's to get perfect spot landings, perhaps the 1000-foot markers might work better. If it's to land safely in minimal distance, maybe a "pretty-high-performance" landing practice would be a better idea. It's the pilots who float 2,000 feet down the runway that end up overrunning or having botched go-arounds.

FInally, actually on-topic here: I believe an angle-of-attack indicator might serve you well.
 
Just exactly is meant by "maximum performance landing? I understand max take off, not not landing/
 
Smokes, talk about self-deprecation... whatever happened to the ole adage about any landing that you can walk away from? Though I don't subscribe to the notion of using trees / shrubs for deceleration, I know some pilots who do. ;)

I'm strongly considering pulling the trigger on some fixed-wing lessons and so I too am interested to learn what a max performance landing is all about(?).
 
I was listening to some random podcast where the host had the occasion to wonder whether the terminal velocity of a man sitting on an inner tube would be faster than 100mph or not. Thinking that perhaps someone involved with parachutes and jumping might know someone who might have an answer, he asked a jumper friend. “Oh yeah, I’ve done that, and I’ve done that with a lawn chair and let’s see, with 2 basketballs. Did you know that if you jump with a live chicken he’ll land within a dozen feet or so of where you land, oh and you go faster than 100mph”.

I’ve always maintained that sport jumpers risk running out of things to do and as a result, end up playing around a lot doing stupid stuff. I think sport pilots run the same risk.

Perhaps dragging it in over the bushes and touching the very edge of the threshold with some maximum performance landing technique is really just playing around. Doesn’t really matter whether you do 3 or just one more for the road.

Don’t run out of fuel
Avoid the terrain
Don’t pick up a package by its string


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Run-Around said:
Smokes, talk about self-deprecation... whatever happened to the ole adage about any landing that you can walk away from? Though I don't subscribe to the notion of using trees / shrubs for deceleration, I know some pilots who do. ;)

I'm strongly considering pulling the trigger on some fixed-wing lessons and so I too am interested to learn what a max performance landing is all about(?).
Click to expand...
Hey are you balloon guys going to have to be ADS-B compliant?
 
paflyer said:
Hey are you balloon guys going to have to be ADS-B compliant?
Click to expand...

As far as I'm aware, we're exempt (of course we redefine 'low & slow' and we're never in the busy classes). I know that the gas balloonists carry transponders because of where they fly, so I'm sure they'll be compliant if they aren't already. All these crazy laws/regs/requirements are what are scaring me away from fixed-wing flying.
 
Learn from your mistake.
Heck, who hasn't flown through the trees, corn, weeds, the fence, touched the highway, the roof of a building, the river, a semi trailer, knocked a guy off the top of the bleachers.
It happens to all of us, at some point.
 
Shepherd said:
Learn from your mistake.
Heck, who hasn't flown through the trees, corn, weeds, the fence, touched the highway, the roof of a building, the river, a semi trailer, knocked a guy off the top of the bleachers.
It happens to all of us, at some point.
Click to expand...

Sure. See:

John
 
Not quite that old, but getting there. :cheers:
Against all the odds, I'm still getting older.
 
Timbeck2 said:
<---- more experience needed....apparently.
Click to expand...

Well in your defense you don't have many trees or shrubs to drag your airplane thru out there. But you do have BIG rocks. Now if you were back home in AR....
 
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