Captain
Final Approach
Heading to the Paint Sho
My 'flew without a license' thread reminded me of another time I bent the rules a bit.
When I was a kid my dad had a C172. I flew it often with him and did several solo flights before I got around to 'formal' training. Anyway, the plane was going to the paint shop. It had been stripped and sanded down. My dad wanted me to take it once around the pattern to blow out all the dust and debris.
So, the plan is to just take it around the patch once. Problem was there weren't any seats installed. The idea was to sit on a milk crate turned upside down. It probably would have worked out okay, except I was an indestructible teenager with a curious mind.
I got it to the downwind without a problem and my mind turned to an aileron roll. I thought to myself it's a 1 G maneuver so, in principle, it could be done while sitting on a milk crate sitting on the floor. Then I'd think, "no...that's stupid, you'll kill yourself". Back and forth it went in my mind until finally I was daring my self to do it. "You're a **** if you don't" I remember telling myself.
So I did it. Just one in the downwind abeam the runway. It's an uncontrolled field and no one else is flying. My dads on the ground in the hangar working. The maneuver was going fine until I was exactly inverted. I guess I pushed a tad too much on the yoke.
The instant I did the milk crate came unstuck from the floor and I was airborne and crashed head first into the ceiling. I don't really remember how it all happened as it happened so fast but the next thing I remember I was in the back of the plane looking at the now empty cockpit with the airport filling the windscreen. I'll never forget that sight, I remember thinking how much it looked like the airport diagram.
I clawed at anything I could trying to drag myself back into the cockpit as the ground got closer and bigger. At what had to be a nanosecond before it was too late my right hand got ahold of the yoke while I was still crouched behind where the seat should be. With one arm I twisted to level and pulled all the way back. My body slammed into the floor but I held it.
The plane pulled out directly over our hangar and missed it by less than a hundred feet. Dad saw the whole thing and never told mom about it.
So, think I should have filled out a NASA report?
My 'flew without a license' thread reminded me of another time I bent the rules a bit.
When I was a kid my dad had a C172. I flew it often with him and did several solo flights before I got around to 'formal' training. Anyway, the plane was going to the paint shop. It had been stripped and sanded down. My dad wanted me to take it once around the pattern to blow out all the dust and debris.
So, the plan is to just take it around the patch once. Problem was there weren't any seats installed. The idea was to sit on a milk crate turned upside down. It probably would have worked out okay, except I was an indestructible teenager with a curious mind.
I got it to the downwind without a problem and my mind turned to an aileron roll. I thought to myself it's a 1 G maneuver so, in principle, it could be done while sitting on a milk crate sitting on the floor. Then I'd think, "no...that's stupid, you'll kill yourself". Back and forth it went in my mind until finally I was daring my self to do it. "You're a **** if you don't" I remember telling myself.
So I did it. Just one in the downwind abeam the runway. It's an uncontrolled field and no one else is flying. My dads on the ground in the hangar working. The maneuver was going fine until I was exactly inverted. I guess I pushed a tad too much on the yoke.
The instant I did the milk crate came unstuck from the floor and I was airborne and crashed head first into the ceiling. I don't really remember how it all happened as it happened so fast but the next thing I remember I was in the back of the plane looking at the now empty cockpit with the airport filling the windscreen. I'll never forget that sight, I remember thinking how much it looked like the airport diagram.
I clawed at anything I could trying to drag myself back into the cockpit as the ground got closer and bigger. At what had to be a nanosecond before it was too late my right hand got ahold of the yoke while I was still crouched behind where the seat should be. With one arm I twisted to level and pulled all the way back. My body slammed into the floor but I held it.
The plane pulled out directly over our hangar and missed it by less than a hundred feet. Dad saw the whole thing and never told mom about it.
So, think I should have filled out a NASA report?
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