Stupid things we have seen pilots do

Glad I'm not the only one. I did the tow bar on a PA28 once.

My instructor put foam wrap on all his tow bars after that "in my honor". Supposedly he stopped calling it the Rob O modification after a year or so :)
 
ETres said:
Taxi up nose-first to the hangar to get out and address a minor MX issue. Get back in plane, start up, and... There really oughta be a reverse gear on small planes.
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You mean like this?
 
Well, I have to admit guilt. Was starting an old Cherokee to bring it to the hangar for an oil change. Naturally, there was an audience. Three tries with no luck and I started walking back to the hangar. Realized on the way that I had not pushed the mixture control in. I waited for the audience to leave before trying again.
 
Working near battery cables, came out slinging a bright, glowing wedding band. It burnt to the bone and would not come off. As an A&P and now HVAC guy, I have not worn any jewelry since day 2 in 27 yrs.
 
I was told about, but didn't actually see, a newly certificated pilot who landed on 27 at my former home base, taxied to the end of the runway, turned around, and immediately took off on 09 while another aircraft was on final for 27. Or maybe it was the reverse, landed on 09 took off on 27. He was acquiring quite the reputation around the field for doing stupid things.

(Yes, it's a wonder he passed his checkride. I don't know who his DPE finally was but I know at least one DPE refused to do his checkride. Definitely a Darwin candidate.)
 
Norman said:
Well, I have to admit guilt. Was starting an old Cherokee to bring it to the hangar for an oil change. Naturally, there was an audience. Three tries with no luck and I started walking back to the hangar. Realized on the way that I had not pushed the mixture control in. I waited for the audience to leave before trying again.
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Hell you're an A&P, just could've walked back w/ a few tools and pretend you fixed the problem, I would've fell for it! :D
 
FlySince9 said:
Preflighting my Skyhawk at n51 in New Jersey.... I hear this "WOP WOP" sound as, what I think was a Pan AM Shuttle Westland 30 lands in the grass between the taxiway and the runway... One of the crew, with his white shirt and epaulet's clamors out and runs up to me... "You got any Duct-tape?" "No, sorry." Clamors back in, and off they went!
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Other than the obvious duct tape fix, I don't get it. o_O
 
"Stupid things I've seen other pilots do"

Staying in a seemingly decent paying blue collar flying job because they think they're too cool to get to a major airline job via the regionals.

That's about the worst.
 
Art VanDelay said:
"Stupid things I've seen other pilots do"

Staying in a seemingly decent paying blue collar flying job because they think they're too cool to get to a major airline job via the regionals.

That's about the worst.
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My sim partner in initial called me like 2 weeks ago and I found out he's quitting the airlines to go back to 135. His reasoning was he hates reserve and commuting. At his 135 he'll have 5 hard days off a month and the rest he'll be on call. So I guess 5 hard days off is better than 11 hard days off.:confused: Plus he won't have any travel benefits and has to move to Omaha. Whatever makes him happy though.
 
A guy at our field taxied a really nice rental Archer with his parking brake on. Hydraulic fluid caught fire and ignited the fuel tank. Luckily for him, it was the left wing and not the right.
 
Art VanDelay said:
"Stupid things I've seen other pilots do"

Staying in a seemingly decent paying blue collar flying job because they think they're too cool to get to a major airline job via the regionals.

That's about the worst.
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I met a guy through an acquaintance once, who could only be best described as, "Perfectly suited for single-pilot operations, preferably flying cargo."

Someone invited him to lunch.

THAT guy... I think you'd be quite happy if he stayed away from your 121 cockpit... seriously. Weirdest pilot I've ever met.

Heh... not really kidding.
 
Tom-D said:
I'll start :
leaving a towbar on a nose wheel then starting the engine.
powering up while blowing on a open hangar.
allowing the aircraft to get away while hand propping.

I know you've got plenty more.
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Knew a guy whose tail tiedown was anchored to a manhole cover. Forgot to untie tail and was dragging it to runway. Fortunately the tower noticed. Would have been a lot of nose up trim.
 
I did the tow bar deal on my 2nd or 3rd lesson I think. Did the preflight and was in the cockpit waiting on the CFI. He walks up, seems from the front of the plane too, gets in, I crank up, ding ding ding! I'm clueless. He kills the engine, goes out and removes the tow bar. :D
 
Years ago one of our customers left the tow bar on his Travleair and flew from DTW to PTK. Only damage was a shear-pin in the nose gear and to his ego.
 
There was once this pilot who let me work on his airplane... well, there are a lot of those pilots. Bunch of fools, I tell ya! And they keep coming!
 
Norman said:
Years ago one of our customers left the tow bar on his Travleair and flew from DTW to PTK. Only damage was a shear-pin in the nose gear and to his ego.
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Several years ago, a NASA Callback issue related the account of a pilot who took off with a cement-filled tire still tied to the tail. It set up a slight nose up/down oscillation during flight and eventually snapped the rope during landing.

geneseib said:
Knew a guy whose tail tiedown was anchored to a manhole cover. Forgot to untie tail and was dragging it to runway. Fortunately the tower noticed. Would have been a lot of nose up trim.
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I once flew with the Pitot tube cover in place. Even had the big dangling "remove before flight" flag. Everything seemed normal till I was on short final and my IAS dropped a little faster than I expected. I was panicking and couldn't figure out how my AS was so low but my pitch and visual GS seemed so nice and adequate. Anyways, I quickly powered up and did a go around to regain my composure and made a circle in the pattern and came around for a normal landing. I was very thankful for my CFI failing my AS indicator on a couple different occasions.
 
arkvet said:
I once flew with the Pitot tube cover in place. Even had the big dangling "remove before flight" flag. Everything seemed normal till I was on short final and my IAS dropped a little faster than I expected. I was panicking and couldn't figure out how my AS was so low but my pitch and visual GS seemed so nice and adequate. Anyways, I quickly powered up and did a go around to regain my composure and made a circle in the pattern and came around for a normal landing. I was very thankful for my CFI failing my AS indicator on a couple different occasions.
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What did your ASI indicate on takeoff and downwind? I have a hard time understanding why the problem would not present itself until short final.
 
Wasn't the pilots (Crew chief and engine guy, I think) - one of our C-130E's climb right over the chocks on a maintenance run-up. The fire guard guy saved them from eating the fire bottle, as they went right, and he went right. I heard it was "dramatic" to watch.

I left a seat belt hanging out the pax side on a C-150 at Norton AFB; they start to beat against the side of the airplane just after rotation. I still had a mile and a half of runway, so I sat it back down and fessed up.

I missed-keyed a freq in the DC SFRA (ADIZ then, I think) and was skirting the FRZ; after wondering why Potomac was so quiet and ignoring me, I finally looked at the radio display. God bless the controller - he was more relieved than angry. It took me way, way too long to notice the error, which is what really embarrassed me. He'd been calling me me for a couple of minutes. . .

Funny, cause it was severe VFR, but two CAP airplanes with nearly identical call signs (last two number switched) were arriving at KHGR, with another gaggle in the pattern. Tower controller confused both call signs, multiple times, neither pilot noticed, even though the controller was asking them to report from directions that didn't make sense. Then one of the pilots "adopted" the other aircraft's call sign (he flew that one a lot, as well), and it degenerated into one call sign, two airplanes, three voices, and two in-trail on short final. Eyeballs won out, and "Number 2" and tower got on the same page. Number one remained oblvious. . .
 
SkyDog58 said:
What did your ASI indicate on takeoff and downwind? I have a hard time understanding why the problem would not present itself until short final.
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I honestly don't remember exactly but I was still a student pilot at the time (practicing pattern work TO's landings). Just like I was taught I have always based my rotation speed and climb on the IAS. Not most of the time but 100% of the time. Therefor there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the IAS was at least close enough for me to not notice any issues with performance (TO roll and climb felt completely normal). The only time I may have not been watching the AS really closely was during level flight on downwind. Abeam the #'s I'd have been watching AS again as it dropped enough to lower flaps. Everything seemed relatively normal until I began my final descent. From 1100 (pattern altitude) to IDK 700 or so my AS went from 85 mph to 50 mph (estimates) with zero input from me to slow AS. My pupils had to be HUGE as I glanced out the side window to make sure the houses beneath were still passing by at the regular quick pace... Somewhere below the 50 mph (and dropping fast!) mark I simply had to call BS on the gauge but I was still too shook up to complete the landing.

The way I understand it if the Pitot tube clogs but static is open the AS indicator will act as an altimeter and will show an increasing speed when climbing and a slowing speed when descending. I guess luck would have it that the "altimeter like AS" happened to be very close to my usual 120 mph in the pattern. IDK why it shows AS during the roll but I can assure you I was watching it increase and rotated at the correct IAS.

Had I climbed higher than pattern altitude I'm sure the continual increase in AS would have been very notable.

Here's an article that suggests what I witnessed would be pretty normal.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2014/october/pilot/ppilot
 
arkvet said:
I honestly don't remember exactly but I was still a student pilot at the time (practicing pattern work TO's landings). Just like I was taught I have always based my rotation speed and climb on the IAS. Not most of the time but 100% of the time. Therefor there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the IAS was at least close enough for me to not notice any issues with performance (TO roll and climb felt completely normal). The only time I may have not been watching the AS really closely was during level flight on downwind. Abeam the #'s I'd have been watching AS again as it dropped enough to lower flaps. Everything seemed relatively normal until I began my final descent. From 1100 (pattern altitude) to IDK 700 or so my AS went from 85 mph to 50 mph (estimates) with zero input from me to slow AS. My pupils had to be HUGE as I glanced out the side window to make sure the houses beneath were still passing by at the regular quick pace... Somewhere below the 50 mph (and dropping fast!) mark I simply had to call BS on the gauge but I was still too shook up to complete the landing.

The way I understand it if the Pitot tube clogs but static is open the AS indicator will act as an altimeter and will show an increasing speed when climbing and a slowing speed when descending. I guess luck would have it that the "altimeter like AS" happened to be very close to my usual 120 mph in the pattern. IDK why it shows AS during the roll but I can assure you I was watching it increase and rotated at the correct IAS.

Had I climbed higher than pattern altitude I'm sure the continual increase in AS would have been very notable.

Here's an article that suggests what I witnessed would be pretty normal.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2014/october/pilot/ppilot
Click to expand...

Your pitot tube cover has a (big) hole in it, or it would be reading zero during the takeoff roll. Might as well not use the cover.

The article you cite is about a plugged static system, which behaves quite differently.
 
Sundancer said:
Funny, cause it was severe VFR, but two CAP airplanes with nearly identical call signs (last two number switched) were arriving at KHGR, with another gaggle in the pattern. Tower controller confused both call signs, multiple times, neither pilot noticed, even though the controller was asking them to report from directions that didn't make sense. Then one of the pilots "adopted" the other aircraft's call sign (he flew that one a lot, as well), and it degenerated into one call sign, two airplanes, three voices, and two in-trail on short final. Eyeballs won out, and "Number 2" and tower got on the same page. Number one remained oblvious. . .
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I wish that were rare, but it isn't.

The way CAP assigns callsigns, differences are almost always in the last two digits, and they can be quite similar. I've done orientation rides with both CAP 481 and CAP 483 present. And since pilots very often switch airplanes, it takes a conscious glance at the label on the panel to get straight which plane you're in.

It gets real fun at large events where there are a dozen or more planes in the air, and they all have very similar callsigns.
 
arkvet said:
I honestly don't remember exactly but I was still a student pilot at the time (practicing pattern work TO's landings). Just like I was taught I have always based my rotation speed and climb on the IAS. Not most of the time but 100% of the time. Therefor there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the IAS was at least close enough for me to not notice any issues with performance (TO roll and climb felt completely normal). The only time I may have not been watching the AS really closely was during level flight on downwind. Abeam the #'s I'd have been watching AS again as it dropped enough to lower flaps. Everything seemed relatively normal until I began my final descent. From 1100 (pattern altitude) to IDK 700 or so my AS went from 85 mph to 50 mph (estimates) with zero input from me to slow AS. My pupils had to be HUGE as I glanced out the side window to make sure the houses beneath were still passing by at the regular quick pace... Somewhere below the 50 mph (and dropping fast!) mark I simply had to call BS on the gauge but I was still too shook up to complete the landing.

The way I understand it if the Pitot tube clogs but static is open the AS indicator will act as an altimeter and will show an increasing speed when climbing and a slowing speed when descending. I guess luck would have it that the "altimeter like AS" happened to be very close to my usual 120 mph in the pattern. IDK why it shows AS during the roll but I can assure you I was watching it increase and rotated at the correct IAS.

Had I climbed higher than pattern altitude I'm sure the continual increase in AS would have been very notable.

Here's an article that suggests what I witnessed would be pretty normal.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2014/october/pilot/ppilot
Click to expand...

Makes no sense except for the possible explanation that MAKG1 gave. You might want to refresh your knowledge on the pitot-static system.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Makes no sense except for the possible explanation that MAKG1 gave. You might want to refresh your knowledge on the pitot-static system.
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Naw, just get one of dem AOA deals.
 
MAKG1 said:
I wish that were rare, but it isn't.

The way CAP assigns callsigns, differences are almost always in the last two digits, and they can be quite similar. I've done orientation rides with both CAP 481 and CAP 483 present. And since pilots very often switch airplanes, it takes a conscious glance at the label on the panel to get straight which plane you're in.

It gets real fun at large events where there are a dozen or more planes in the air, and they all have very similar callsigns.
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It was a real search, maybe 15 or more aircraft from several states, half a dozen of us arriving in a narrow window, all "CAP 18xx"; One of our PA colleagues decided to stick with the N number as call sign, when it got too crowded.
 
My turn...

First time refueling a rental 162 down at KFMY. Taxi over to the fuel pumps and grab the step ladder, pull the pump over to the wing and start wondering why the nozzle won't actually fit in the hole for the tank. Figure I'm doing something wrong, ah well.

Start pumping fuel and it's going REAL slow, I start thinking man this is gonna take forever! Pull the nozzle out slightly and start again, just then the plastic cap on the end of the nozzle popped off spraying AVgas all over my arm. Hurt like a .....

Pro tip: Remove the nozzle before refueling the plane.

Luckily no one was around to see my dumbassery in action...
 
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