Dumbest thing you have done and lived to tell about it

Teller1900 said:
Or the Delta 7X7 (I think it was a 76-) that landed on the parallel taxiway in ATL. How many thousands of times must they have landed there before the incident flight?
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Not saying what they did was a-okay, but there were a lot of extenuating circumstances in the Delta taxiway landing at ATL (yes, it was a 767). For good lessons on fatigue and how external pressures can lead to problems, I'd highly recommend reading the NTSB report.
 
Teller1900 said:
It's for that reason exactly that I have seen SEVERAL airports with large yellow and black signs in or near the run-up pad that say "Don't take off on taxiway," or that have TAXI painted in 15 foot tall yellow lettering at the ends of taxiways parallel to runways.

Even the pros do it. Look for the news stories about the Continental 757 that landed on taxiway Z in EWR (the home base for the plane AND crew). I talked to the tower supervisor who was working ground that day...funny story, since no one else was on the taxiway.


Or the Delta 7X7 (I think it was a 76-) that landed on the parallel taxiway in ATL. How many thousands of times must they have landed there before the incident flight?
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Yep. I think it's easier to make that mistake at bigger airports that have lots of parallel runways. Or for intersecting runways, the common one is identifying the wrong runway when you've let your DG precess a bunch, or at night. At ILG (three runways forming pretty much an equilateral triangle) at night once with poor visibility and a circling approach I lined up with the wrong runway. "Well, you lined up with the wrong runway, but you can land there anyway." "Oops, sorry about that." "No problem! You'll just have to taxi further from there."

It's certainly not ok, but it's something that is an easy mistake to make. The take-away is to be vigilant.
 
How about taking off from the wrong runway? This happened about five years ago while I was on a stopover at KSAC, in the runup area waiting to take off. KSAC has three intersecting runways, and 20 was active at the time. The guy in the Tri Pacer sounded VERY old and cranky.

"Executive Tower, Tri Pacer XXXX is ready for departure."

"Tri Pacer XXXX, where are you?"

"I'm on the active runway, ready to take off."

"Tri Pacer XXXX, which runway are you on?"

"I'm on..... Runway.... two zero."

"Um, Tri Pacer XXX, you appear to be lined up on runway three four."

"I'm on two zero, ready for takeoff."

"Tri Pacer XXXX you are cleared for takeoff, runway three four." Tri Pacer takes off.

"Arrow SA123, you are cleared for takeoff. Say heading."

"Which way is the Tri Pacer headed?"

"He appears to be on a Northeast heading."

"I'll take a Southwest departure."

Why the tower cleared the Tri Pacer for departure without having a basic understanding of which runway he was on I don't know.
 
Jaybird180 said:
Anyone here ever star in their very own NTSB report?
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Nope, but I was a supporting actor once...

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20080304X00255&ntsbno=DEN08CA056&akey=1

IMG_0501.JPG
 
I don't think I have any good ones aviation related... Thanks to a really great intercom in my RV-12, I listen to music all the time while I fly, but it auto-tunes it out so it isn't a big deal.

Foolish flying things:
1- I pulled the mixture instead of the throttle on short final in a C-150, I landed dead-stick :/
2- I've forgotten to pull flaps up during a go-around (on my first solo!), which made the trees uncomfortably close
I've only been flying for about 2 years, thats all I've got so far!

Foolish other things:
1- I've spun cars at ridiculous speeds and walked away, including 150 mph at Portland International Raceway. I ended up being able to keep it on the track and didn't damage anything but my ego.
2- I've damaged many (Ungodly!) expensive/one of a kind pieces of computer hardware at work
 
I opened my mouth to speak in response to my wife's question

"Do these jeans make my butt look fat?"

fortunately the survival instinct kicked in and I shut my mouth.

For full disclosure, my wife is not fat. Not even overweight. When I say "I need to lose 20lbs." I really need to lose 30.

When she says "I need to lose 5 lbs, she really means "I 'might' have 2 lbs somewhere I could lose."
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
Yep. I think it's easier to make that mistake at bigger airports that have lots of parallel runways. Or for intersecting runways, the common one is identifying the wrong runway when you've let your DG precess a bunch, or at night. At ILG (three runways forming pretty much an equilateral triangle) at night once with poor visibility and a circling approach I lined up with the wrong runway. "Well, you lined up with the wrong runway, but you can land there anyway." "Oops, sorry about that." "No problem! You'll just have to taxi further from there."

It's certainly not ok, but it's something that is an easy mistake to make. The take-away is to be vigilant.
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I did that when bringing back the Twinkie after first purchasing it. I was leaving the Kansas City ahead of a large multi-state major icing storm after two hours of trying to learn how to land this airplane. It was a nighttime, unfamiliar airport, unfamiliar airplane, non standard panel, no autopilot, IFR flight. I botched the descent to the airport, and asked for a 360 and return to the runway for a landing. Unfortunately, I lost sight of the runway in the sea of lights and lined up for an intersecting runway. Just before landing, the controller cleared me to land on that runway, after which I came in too fast and high, but did manage to get it stopped on the runway.

Another incident was when I preflighted before a long flight, and had to add oil to one engine. I hung the dipstick on the propellor to add the oil. Yep. you guessed it. Started up the engine and sent the dipstick flying.

Come to think of it, I've done a lot of stupid things and lived.
 
Aztec Driver said:
Yes.

Engine failure after liftoff. Landed in someone's front lawn.
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Yup! lost a spark-plug on the 2-cyl engine in the plane in my avater and chose an upsloping dirt road for the landing. I didn't recognize the slope until I was ready to flare with no extra airspeed to follow the terrain. I pretty much stalled it in from 3-5 feet up as I tried not to stick the nose into the road.:redface:
 
My all-time dumbest thing so far was turning to exit the active after landing, onto a taxiway with traffic approaching the hold-short line, in plain sight. Why didn't I see it? I was completely and utterly over-focused on landing short and exiting there (first taxiway; shortest distance to the ramp). It was quite a beautiful landing, especially for a newbie on one of his first solo hops. From "Woo hoo!" to "D'oh!" in a hearbeat...
:rolleyes:

Of course, it had to be at KTEB... and it had to be the least easy-going controller on duty. I was lucky that my punishment was only to be given the longest possible taxi instructions, aka the "Trail of Tears". :D
 
I forgot to set my transponder to altitude on the first trip out of the pattern. I was flying a different plane that didnt have a Garmin 330 in it, which automatically went to altitude, so I didnt have it on my checklist. At about 3200 MSL I heard a woosh and a 737 went by really close. He probably wasnt as close as I thought, but scared me really bad. I thought "Man, I coulda been a hood ornament on that plane"
 
Flying into North Las Vegas (VGT) from the Northwest on a very turbulent windy summer afternoon. I was thinking about the gusty crosswind landing that was in my immediate future, and was looking for the airport. I finally saw it and was lined up pretty good for a straight in to 25. Luckily that is the runway I was cleared to land on. About 10 seconds later VGT tower "67C it appears you are lined up to land at McCarren, verify you have the field in sight." Doh!! "North Las Vegas, 67C does not have the field in sight" After turning to the suggested heading, I saw the airport I was supposed to land at, and finally got in the pattern and landed (a decent crosswind landing even). Luckily when I had asked for flight following with Nellis Approach 20 minutes earlier I had been cleared into the Bravo, otherwise I suspect I would have been given a number to call (note I was still about 7 miles from KLAS, but definately in the surface area.)
 
Jaybird180 said:
Anyone here ever star in their very own NTSB report?
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Fortunately not, but it's worth pointing out that starring in your own NTSB report doesn't necessarily mean you did something stupid.

Some days, fate is the true hunter.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'm very glad you weren't the star in that case, too. Which interviewee were you?
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You couldn't figure it out? :)

A King Air pilot, who flew the ILS approximately 10 to 15 minutes after the accident aircraft, said that she experienced solid instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) from 11,000 feet down to 6,500 feet. She said that she had all available electrical anti-icing devices turned on; including engine inlet heat, window heat, propeller heat, and pitot heat. She said that she experienced occasional light to moderate icing conditions during her ILS approach, and she inflated her pneumatic boots on the wing leading edges and empennage two to three times. She said that once she was under the clouds, visibility was 3 to 4 miles with light mist and light snow.
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Since I was the next airplane on the approach the NTSB tracked me down through the operator of the aircraft so they could ask some questions, mostly about the weather and ILS signal. I heard the controllers calling this airplane with no answer and tower asked me to look for it but that was impossible since it was IMC and I was also single pilot.
 
Well, lets see, I'd have to say the worst mistake I ever made in aviation was to join the Mile High Club with a fat chic !
 
Everskyward said:
You couldn't figure it out? :)
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Oops, proof that I didn't read very thoroughly. I was looking at the ground witnesses. :redface:

Since I was the next airplane on the approach the NTSB tracked me down through the operator of the aircraft so they could ask some questions, mostly about the weather and ILS signal. I heard the controllers calling this airplane with no answer and tower asked me to look for it but that was impossible since it was IMC and I was also single pilot.
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That makes sense. Very interesting.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
That makes sense. Very interesting.
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This accident is a good lesson about maintaining control of the airplane in IMC when you have an engine failure in a twin. During the course of talking to the NTSB investigator he said that if the guy had just maintained control for 30 more seconds he would have broken out and probably have been fine.
 
Everskyward said:
This accident is a good lesson about maintaining control of the airplane in IMC when you have an engine failure in a twin. During the course of talking to the NTSB investigator he said that if the guy had just maintained control for 30 more seconds he would have broken out and probably have been fine.
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That's what I got out of the report, too. It sounded like he wasn't proficient on single-engine procedures, especially in IMC, and forgot to fly the plane first. "OH ****" probably indicates a lack of calm, which is never good.

As I keep on telling my students when things go wrong and they ask what to do: "Fly the plane. Then figure the rest out."
 
Ted DuPuis said:
That's what I got out of the report, too. It sounded like he wasn't proficient on single-engine procedures, especially in IMC, and forgot to fly the plane first. "OH ****" probably indicates a lack of calm, which is never good.

As I keep on telling my students when things go wrong and they ask what to do: "Fly the plane. Then figure the rest out."
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+1

I was flying an SR20 a couple of weeks ago and just after takeoff the passenger door popped open. My first reaction was to reach over and try to shut it...but then I stopped and told myself "that door isn't going to hurt anything. Just fly the airplane."

Many MANY people have killed themselves trying to shut an unlatched door. There simply isn't any reason to turn an annoyance into an emergency.
 
jason said:
Many MANY people have killed themselves trying to shut an unlatched door. There simply isn't any reason to turn an annoyance into an emergency.
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It's not just unlatched doors. The basic thing to remember is that the airplane will continue to fly with few exceptions. If it stops flying, you probably can't do much about it anyway. So you may as well fly the plane, then take count of what's going on and try to fix it. If you're already on an approach, though, and you lose an engine, your best bet is probably going to be just shooting the approach, with the understanding that you will not go missed. On an ILS with the clouds well above mins, this shouldn't be an issue.

My personal philosophy: I don't care what happens, I'm going to keep flying the plane. If a wing falls off, I'll end up hitting the ground, but I'll be flying the plane all the way into the ground. Never, ever, ever give up and never, ever, ever stop flying the airplane.
 
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starring in your own NTSB report doesn't necessarily mean you did something stupid.
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sent to me today.
(must be dated...ref the gender)

xxxxxxxxxxxx
When a Pilot Dies

Whenever we talk about a pilot who had been killed in a flying accident, we should all keep one thing in mind-
He called upon the sum of all of his knowledge and made a judgment.
He believed in it so strongly that he knowingly bet his life on it.
That his judgment was faulty is a tragedy, not stupidity.
Every instructor, supervisor and contemporary who ever
spoke to him had the opportunity to influence his judgement, so a little of all of us goes with every pilot we lose.

This was posted on a hangar wall.
xxxxxxxxx
 
ref. earlier post:
I often see or read the admonishment that pilots (usually under duress) continue to Fly The Airplane. But I have never seen an explanation of what that is supposed to mean....as if it is self-evident. I have my idea of it, but I am interested in what others think are the vital few things we must do to FTA and thus avoid calamity.
I suspect that 'FTA' is not obvious, as we are told that so many have failed to do so. I think it is worth nailing down (and probably including in pilot studies)
 
Tore all the skin off the back of my hand and wrapped it in a less-than-clean towel to finish the job I was on. Got home that night and wrapped it up. When replacing the wrap 2 days later the hand had turned a wonderful shade of black-green from infection. Dang near lost the hand but thanks to some quick work by doctors and doses of drugs it functions as designed.
 
EdFred said:
First night flight after getting my ticket, I was about 200' on final, and got a phone call. Answered it, talked to them until about 25'.
"What are you doing?"
"Flying the plane."
"What?"
"Hold on I gotta land the plane."
Touchdown. Pick it back up.
"Yeah?"
"Did you say you were flying, and answered the phone while landing?!"
"Yeah, I'm taxiing now what's up?"
...

Looking back, I should have went around and finished the conversation, THEN landed.
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Seriously, for the next (looks at top of screen) 37 days can you please stop posting scary plane stories? I mean, come on, have some consideration for your newbie passenger . . .

Did I mention I've NEVER been in a small airplane when I'm not the pilot / with a CFI? I've actually never been a GA passenger, the only planes I've been on were huge jets where I couldn't even see the pilot.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
ref. earlier post:
I often see or read the admonishment that pilots (usually under duress) continue to Fly The Airplane. But I have never seen an explanation of what that is supposed to mean....as if it is self-evident. I have my idea of it, but I am interested in what others think are the vital few things we must do to FTA and thus avoid calamity.
I suspect that 'FTA' is not obvious, as we are told that so many have failed to do so. I think it is worth nailing down (and probably including in pilot studies)
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I'd agree that it seems to not be obvious, and not drilled in appropriately.

What it means to me is focusing at all times first on keeping the plane under control and heading in the desired direction as best as possible. This seems to be what causes the typical problems - people get off heading or into an unusual attitude, and cannot recover. You also have issues of getting too slow and stalling or having a Vmc roll in a twin.

Once the plane is appropriate under control (heading, attitude, altitude, etc.), then you attempt to diagnose the problem as best you can, and see if it's fixable.

Too many people go straight for #2 and forget #1. That's the fly the plane part.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Seriously, for the next (looks at top of screen) 37 days can you please stop posting scary plane stories? I mean, come on, have some consideration for your newbie passenger . . .
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This IS Ed we're talking about.

Did I mention I've NEVER been in a small airplane when I'm not the pilot / with a CFI? I've actually never been a GA passenger, the only planes I've been on were huge jets where I couldn't even see the pilot.
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That is irrelevant. See point #1 re: Ed.
 
Art VanDelay said:
Well, lets see, I'd have to say the worst mistake I ever made in aviation was to join the Mile High Club with a fat chic !
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I think we can just take your word for it. We don't need pics on this one.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'd agree that it seems to not be obvious, and not drilled in appropriately.
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Maybe the problem is that the essentials of flight are so easy/automatic/provided for us that we actually forget them during a crisis?

Airflow over the wings, and equally. It's not something we think about most of the time. But in a crisis, we really, really need to!

1. So what should be on the FTA list and in what order?
2. Then, how do we train to make them happen?
 
Ted DuPuis said:
This IS Ed we're talking about.



That is irrelevant. See point #1 re: Ed.
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I don't think it'd be the same as chasing mountain lions down Mt. Farnsworth in a Jet Ranger, with an ex-Nam pilot flying. I had that experience once....

Oh wait, it IS Ed we're talking about.... :D
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Maybe the problem is that the essentials of flight are so easy/automatic/provided for us that we actually forget them during a crisis?

Airflow over the wings, and equally. It's not something we think about most of the time. But in a crisis, we really, really need to!

1. So what should be on the FTA list and in what order?
2. Then, how do we train to make them happen?
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1. Maintain airspeed, shiny side up, heading, and altitude. In that order. After that, diagnose the problem.

2. This probably depends on the student. For me being an engineer, systems are what I think about. The wings are the most important system of the plane, and they won't fly without airflow over them. Flying into the side of a mountain is a bad idea, so I want to maintain my heading and altitude as best I can. After that, I think about what could be causing the problem and try to fix accordingly. The one exception is during takeoff, when the emphasis goes towards feathering the bad engine, because there isn't time for a diagnosis.

For most people, I think this comes down to training of flows/checklists, and drilling the procedures in accordingly. What's the flow? Check the mags, check the fuel selectors, check the mixture, etc.

And then some days, fate is just against you.
 
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