Dumbest thing you have done and lived to tell about it

kimberlyanne546

kimberlyanne546

Final Approach
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Kimberly
By special request, I am starting a new thread.

I realize you all may have posted these things before but I wanted to know:

What are some silly things you have done?

I will start:

(Almost) left a chain tie down on the wing. Had to shut down the plane, get out, unchain, get back in. I did not taxi - almost did - I saw the chain out of the corner of my eye.

Dropped fuel dipstick into fuel tank.

Filled fuel tank way too full at gas pump while self pumping gas and took an avgas bath.

Sprayed windshied cleaner into the wind and had it land on my face instead of on windshield.

When using fuel tester and dumping fuel onto ground (no we don't pour it back in), again I have done this into the wind and had the stuff land on me.

Left seat belt undone and hanging out the door. Heard banging sound.

Somehow my door came open in flight even though I checked it during my run-up checklist.

During solo, forgot to retract 10 degrees of flaps and flew the pattern, something felt funny the whole time and didn't notice until doing my approach setup / landing stuff.

Forgot to put the mixture / carb heat / flaps / trim / whatever to where it was supposed to be.

Forgot items in plane / at airport.

Used the yoke instead of my feet to steer.

Forgot to close VFR flight plan (until I remembered). But felt stupid for forgetting.

Etc.
 
Tried to correct a left wing low at MCA nearing stall in a Piper Tomahawk with full right deflection of the yoke!

Really woke the instructor up immediately after the stall and the nose dipped! I think his eyes were about 8" in diameter each.
 
ScottM said:
Tried to correct a left wing low at MCA nearing stall in a Piper Tomahawk with full right deflection of the yoke!

Really woke the instructor up immediately after the stall and the nose dipped! I think his eyes were about 8" in diameter each.
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Yeah I think mine is asleep sometimes too. Well, almost.
 
My primary instructor told me that before I get my certificate, that I would witness "turns about a tie-down". Unfortunately his prophesy did not prove true (I hadn't witnessed it but I hear that it happens at least once a year). Well, on the first flight with my mother-in law aboard, I started the engine to shut down immediately after realizing that I'd forgotten the left tie-down. So that's an almost.

But I did once successfully take-off with the parking brake partially engaged while doing checkride practice with my CFI aboard. He reached over and released it somewhere during the pattern and that cured the sluggish takeoff roll for the next one. He didn't say a word, but I was pretty embarrassed.
 
Wait, we can't nap while our students are flying?
 
Oh, and I tried to put the towboar on the wrong attachment on the nosegear, when the airport owner came up with the friendliest offer to help show me how to attach it. I struggled with it for about 5 minutes before he came over to help.
 
Let the ailerons go to neutral immediately after making the most beautiful greaser of a x-wind touchdown in a DC-3.
 
Tail tie down rope left attached in an Arrow.

Let go of the brakes after engine start and throttle up a little to get rolling, nothing. Checked the parking brake, nope. Throttled back to think about what was going on. Thats when I saw someone running across the tarmac from my right waving his arms. Then I realized.

Matt
 
Unregistered said:
Make requisition to SSgt Diz for the above referenced item.

There will also be boobs. And not just the female anatomical body part. Plenty of each, actually.
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What is up with all these secret posts mister unregistered? First you offer to pay me large bills in my other thread, now you talk of men flashing their boobs at 6Y9.

I demand you identify yourself!
 
The statute of limitations hasn't expired on most of these for me - sorry. Ah, er, what is the limit on how long after a flagrant violation is committed that you can be sanctioned?

The dumbest thing I ever did that's not covered by the FARs is that I touched what I thought was a dead 220V outlet wires with a set of pliers. The explosion melted the pliers and left my face blackened like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon but I, by the grace of God, was spared the death by electrocution.
 
Turned final for AUG...at 10,000ft over AUG. Turns out Waterville looks a lot like Augusta at night, when you're coming from an unfamiliar direction.

Everything on the OP's list, except taxiing with the yoke...somehow managed to avoid that one.

I can't even begin to count how many sets of chocks I've had to power-taxi over.

I got waaayyy lost on my long solo cross country for my PPL. Thank god for Flight Service and DF Steer.

On my commercial initial, the DE asked for a short field landing. I did an absolutely perfect soft field. Thankfully he counted it with only a slight admonition of "lets try what I actually asked for this time around."

I'll have to think of others.
 
PittsDriver said:
The statute of limitations hasn't expired on most of these for me - sorry. Ah, er, what is the limit on how long after a flagrant violation is committed that you can be sanctioned?

The dumbest thing I ever did that's not covered by the FARs is that I touched what I thought was a dead 220V outlet wires with a set of pliers. The explosion melted the pliers and left my face blackened like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon but I, by the grace of God, was spared the death by electrocution.
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This sounds horrible. Is your face still burned? Or is that why you have an airplane avatar instead of a face avatar?

Glad you are ok.
 
Teller1900 said:
Turned final for AUG...at 10,000ft over AUG. Turns out Waterville looks a lot like Augusta at night, when you're coming from an unfamiliar direction.

Everything on the OP's list, except taxiing with the yoke...somehow managed to avoid that one.

I can't even begin to count how many sets of chocks I've had to power-taxi over.

I got waaayyy lost on my long solo cross country for my PPL. Thank god for Flight Service and DF Steer.

On my commercial initial, the DE asked for a short field landing. I did an absolutely perfect soft field. Thankfully he counted it with only a slight admonition of "lets try what I actually asked for this time around."

I'll have to think of others.
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That's an awesome story. Makes me feel better about the checkride. Counter-balances some bad DPE stories I've heard recently so the "good guys" stories are very much welcomed by me.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
That's an awesome story. Makes me feel better about the checkride. Counter-balances some bad DPE stories I've heard recently so the "good guys" stories are very much welcomed by me.
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I've only had one jackass of a DE, and he was the one from that story. As long as you show that you're trying, even the schmucks will lighten up a bit.

I've taken 17 checkrides, off the top of my head, and only two of them were with the same guy. Of all of those, I can't think of one that I wouldn't fly with again. That's not to say they were easy, or that they weren't terrifying in the moment, but in the end they were just another pilot who happened to carry a white pad and a pink one in his brief case. The horror stories are a lot more fun to tell, but I think there really are more "good guys" out there than bad.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
When using fuel tester and dumping fuel onto ground (no we don't pour it back in), again I have done this into the wind and had the stuff land on me.

Used the yoke instead of my feet to steer.

Forgot to close VFR flight plan (until I remembered). But felt stupid for forgetting.

Etc.
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I have done all of the above except the bottom 2, and in 20+ years and a couple thousand hours, I have filed exactly 2 VFR flight plans and both of them were during PP training. I am typically on the radio though.

As for the dumping fuel on the ground, this is very bad form anymore, and very hazardous to you in California where I believe they have some pretty steep fines. Airports and Marinas are favorite haunts of EcoNazis with cameras gathering evidence and turning you in (there is a reward you know). One picture of you dumping fuel on the ground will land you, IIRC, a $10,000 fine. Plus, these things are crimes that will haunt you for a long time, ask Arlo Guthrie...:wink2:

BTW, are we restricted to Aviation dumbest things, or in general?
 
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Bought an airplane. Sold it, then bought another one. :rolleyes:
 
Henning said:
As for the dumping fuel on the ground, this is very bad form anymore
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What are the alternatives if one's home drome does not have anywhere to put fuel samples?
 
Teller1900 said:
I've only had one jackass of a DE, and he was the one from that story. As long as you show that you're trying, even the schmucks will lighten up a bit.

I've taken 17 checkrides, off the top of my head, and only two of them were with the same guy. Of all of those, I can't think of one that I wouldn't fly with again. That's not to say they were easy, or that they weren't terrifying in the moment, but in the end they were just another pilot who happened to carry a white pad and a pink one in his brief case. The horror stories are a lot more fun to tell, but I think there really are more "good guys" out there than bad.
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17 check rides? Can you tell me what they all were? That sounds like a lot but I am new, I don't know too much.
 
Henning said:
I have done all of the above except the bottom 2, and in 20+ years and a couple thousand hours, I have filed exactly 2 VFR flight plans and both of them were during PP training. I am typically on the radio though.

As for the dumping fuel on the ground, this is very bad form anymore, and very hazardous to you in California where I believe they have some pretty steep fines. Airports and Marinas are favorite haunts of EcoNazis with cameras gathering evidence and turning you in (there is a reward you know). One picture of you dumping fuel on the ground will land you, IIRC, a $10,000 fine. Plus, these things are crimes that will haunt you for a long time, ask Arlo Guthrie...:wink2:

BTW, are we restricted to Aviation dumbest things, or in general?
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Are you smart in aviation, and dumb in general?

I don't think there are ever any restrictions, but thanks for asking permission, threads creep all the time.
 
Aviation, dumbest thing I did was get convinced to go spray a field in conditions NOT conducive to Ag flying. I wasn't going to go, but it was a scheduled fertilization for a major producer , so I didn't have a good enough excuse not to fly (with pesticides you can always call it on "drift" issues, fish gut fertilizer, no one, not even the organic people mind). I was told I was going to go fly, I looked at the DTN (radar) and could pretty much tell where the front was and I was watching it move and I figured If I got out just then, I could get it done before the frontal passage. So I launched quick as I could and started flying the field. Now normally we spray with a crosswind, but this was a long narrow field so I was spraying up and down wind varying my pressure to compensate for speed, I had made the last turn and dropped in for the last pass and was thinking "yes, made it" when the plane quit flying. I had gone from a headwind to a tailwind in the beat of a heart while heading uphill. Now normally, you wouldn't notice driving though the frontal boundary, just a little bump as gravity does it's thing and you keep on flying. When you are at 3' AGL, you don't have any altitude to give up for airspeed, so into the crop I went, and 1.3 seconds later I was hanging upside in my harness thinking, "Well, that went well", and I dropped out of the plane (open cockpit AgCat) and walked up to the farmers house to call the boss. "Where are you?" "At farmer jones house having a coffee." "Where's the plane?" "Upside down in his field, come get me, you'll see it, it's right next to the fence row..."
 
Another thing that was dumb and I survived by the grace of God was deferring a repair on my heater in my Travelair. That lead to my gyros freezing in IMC which lead to a no gyro approach which descended me into some bad a--ed icing which is the only time in my life I was pretty much convinced I was a dead man still breathing. I landed at 170kts, everything running flat out+ some extra boost, in a plane totally covered (including windshield) in ice.
 
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kimberlyanne546 said:
Wow. Now my dipstick story looks pretty tame. No wonder you wear a helmet all the time (your avatar)!
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Ag and pipeline, you bet. Pipeline I've flown through 1/4 mile vis and icefog at 50' AGL for a few miles hoping they hadn't put up another cell tower that week.

Girl, you don't even know what real mistakes are yet. Nothing you've done counts for crap on the scale of mistakes, barely "boo-boos".
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
What is up with all these secret posts mister unregistered? First you offer to pay me large bills in my other thread, now you talk of men flashing their boobs at 6Y9.

I demand you identify yourself!
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It's only because you're posting these in "Lessons Learned". Lessons Learned and Medical Matters are the only forums that allow anonymous posting...so if you're not a fan of anonymous postings you can post them in Hangar Talk and anons can't reply.
 
Henning said:
Ag and pipeline, you bet. Pipeline I've flown through 1/4 mile vis and icefog at 50' AGL for a few miles hoping they hadn't put up another cell tower that week.

Girl, you don't even know what real mistakes are yet. Nothing you've done counts for crap on the scale of mistakes, barely "boo-boos".
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This is very true. And exactly what I said, above.

Reading your stories makes me feel like I am living in some sort of a bubble. Hell I don't even get out much anymore and there you are upside-down in a field!
 
jason said:
It's only because you're posting these in "Lessons Learned". Lessons Learned and Medical Matters are the only forums that allow anonymous posting...so if you're not a fan of anonymous postings you can post them in Hangar Talk and anons can't reply.
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That's ok they are amusing.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
That's an awesome story. Makes me feel better about the checkride. Counter-balances some bad DPE stories I've heard recently so the "good guys" stories are very much welcomed by me.
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Most DPEs are humans.

Believe me, I've done some pretty stupid things on checkrides and managaed to pass. I really should have gotten pink slips on both my PPL and ME rides.

On the last landing of my PPL ride (simulated engine out), I put the plane in a full ball deflection skidding turn base to final (my CFI never really explained the diff between skidding and slipping....I thought I was side-slipping to lose altitude). Examiner freaked out. Somehow, he let it slide.

On my ME ride, the examiner pulled an engine right after I had completed the slow flight portion. Now, in my training, my CFI never pulled an engine with the gear down. So, in my haste of mixture/props/throttle routine, I failed to raise the gear. We were doing just fine holding altitude above blue line and then the Examiner points out to me - "You've still got your gear down!" Somehow, I passed.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
This sounds horrible. Is your face still burned? Or is that why you have an airplane avatar instead of a face avatar?
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Naaa, face is fine. My plane is way prettier than my mug shot but if you're curious I'll tweet you a photo... On second thought, that didn't work out so well for the congressman.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
17 check rides? Can you tell me what they all were? That sounds like a lot but I am new, I don't know too much.
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Private single, private multi, instrument, com multi, com single, MEI, CFII, CFI, Beech 1900 initial, 1900 recurrent, Q-400 type, Q-400 recurrent (X3), Saab type, Saab recurrent, Piaggio initial.

I think that's all of them, so far. I'm sure there will be more. :yesnod:

Henning said:
Another thing that was dumb and I survived by the grace of God was deferring a repair on my heater in my Travelair. That lead to my gyros freezing in IMC which lead to a no gyro approach which descended me into some bad a--ed icing which is the only time in my life I was pretty much convinced I was a dead man still breathing. I landed at 170kts, everything running flat out+ some extra boost, in a plane totally covered (including windshield) in ice.
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I've never done the upside down in a field thing, but I have done the severe icing approach. AUG to BOS, 6,000 feet. 240KIAS bled to about 220kts in 30 seconds. Tried to add power, but the engines were already torqued out. A minute later we were down to 180kts and the engines were at their temp limits. We were down to 160kts at max continuous power by the time we got our vector onto the LOC. Clean, with the gear up until 1000feet, we could only just hold REFice on the slope with max power.

No flare, just flew it into the ground with a mighty THUMP as the wings and tail dropped several hundred pounds of ice on the 1000 footers.

It took us 20 mins to knock the chunks off by hand, and 10 mins per wing for the deice truck with 180 degree Type I to clean the rest off.

Nothing beats the look on the passengers' faces after 40 minutes of listening to baseball size ice chunks from the prop hit the side of the plane at roughly Mach 7.
 
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