When was your first scare?

I had just bought my first plane: I was 26, and I had less than 50 hours TT, and it was mid-winter in Michigan. I wanted to show off and took my future brother in-law for a flight. At about 4000 agl he asked what would happen if the engine quit, so I decided to show him, pulling the power to idle and gliding down and down until finally over a farm field to about 100 feet agl. I did this without ever "clearing" the engine all the way down in the cold. When I finally pushed the throttle forward, the engine sputtered and coughed but wouldn't "catch", obviously completely cold from the 5 minute glide at idle. After what seemed like an eternity, I was able to get it to full rpm by pulling the throttle back to idle, then slowly pushing it forward again, probably getting to within 5 feet agl...at least I was over a plowed field at the time!
 
Ken Thompson said:
I know this is an old thread but...

I soloed in 1972 at age 19 with 5.1 hours when my 200 pound CFI jumped out of the C150 and said "take it around once and park it" so I taxied out, lined up, gunned it, rotated and.... my seat slid all the way back in its track!

As I could not reach the pedals and could barely reach the yoke with my finger tips, I pushed the nose down to level and quickly pulled my seat back into position then continued my climb out, flew the pattern, landed and parked the plane.

I went back the next day and immediately soloed three touch and goes, then flew with my instructor for an hour. (Get back on that horse.)
You can bet that, on all future flights, I have checked to make sure my seat was locked into place becausse I realized that had I not been fairly tall, with long arms, I would have most likely died that day.
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Dang, you must be a small guy. I can't even fit in a 150 without having the seat all the way back.

To this day, it's part of my preflight briefing in any Cessna single for me and the right seat to do the "Cessna Butt Wiggle."
 
Flap pin broke in a Cherokee 140 on short final. Bounced off runway really hard.
 
It wasn't me, but I watched someone attempt a landing yesterday in the terrible conditions of 10 knots wind right down the runway. 172 crosses the fence with the right wing quite low, plops on the runway, bounces, lets the left wing just as low, then plants it on the runway left wheel first. I was sure he would drag a wingtip, but he didn't. Then, after such a crappy landing, he gunned the engine for a touch'n'go and took off again.

I guess that's not quite as scary to watch as the people who float 1500 feet down a 2400 foot runway and then try a plop'n'go, clearing the fence by inches.
 
I guess I had about 25 hours, and was flying in the practice area solo doing slow flight, and stalls, clean and dirty. I noticed the C-152 I was training in was out of rig because I had to keep in left rudder to keep the ball centered in straight and level flight. Well, I let it get uncoordinated during slow flight, and it dropped a wing real fast, and found myself looking straight down at a spinning patchwork of green, and brown farmer's fields. I came out of it pretty quickly, but it still shook me a bit. I should have just returned to the airport and squawked the plane.

Another time, I think in the same C-152, after I got my ticket, I had the seat rails break, well the pin actually, on climb out. The seat flew straight back, but I compensated by pushing the yoke forward, and kept the plane flying. I had my wife shove my flight bag behind the seat, and returned to the airport immediately. I remember telling one of the FBO employees what happened as I was filling out the squawk sheet, and he said "Oh yeah that happens sometimes on Cessnas". WTF??? Maybe tell some body to check it during pre-flight?
 
Arbiter419 said:
I almost died this week. I flew with another private pilot (non instrument rated) who was perfectly complacent with making 45° bank angle S-turns on final. I will never fly with him again. Ironically, he said he would never fly with me again because I had the guts to question his decision making. I reported him to the FSDO. Turns out I'm not the first guy he's done this to.
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I am always surprised how many people make very steep uncoordinated turns in the pattern at low airspeed with the ball no where near the center as they try to cheat the turn in with the rudder
 
Right after I got my private, I decided to get my tailwheel endorsement (160hp super cub). On my solo I came in for a landing, and once I touched down I failed to get the stick back. I started to slide sideways on the runway, and the cub started to go towards the edge of the runway. I gave it full throttle, and my mains left the ground right at the edge of the runway. I went around and had an uneventful landing.

I learned to get that stick back on every landing! No more ground loop close calls for this guy since then!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
About 200 hrs. I forgot to turn off my ANR headset after a flight one morning and returned to the airport to turn it off. Was still working, so all was good. Fast forward to my next flight. Was returning to my home drome when all of a sudden the engine noise level increased at least 3x. First thought was a cracked exhaust pipe somewhere, with hot exhaust spewing onto something not good. Scan of engine parameters showed all good. Made a beeline to a normal landing. Yup. ANR battery died. Was a good excersise in trouble shooting yet flying the plane.
 
Anthony said:
I remember telling one of the FBO employees what happened as I was filling out the squawk sheet, and he said "Oh yeah that happens sometimes on Cessnas". WTF??? Maybe tell some body to check it during pre-flight?
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Sounds like someone at that FBO needs to be reminded what a recurring airworthiness directive is. The pins don't BREAK if they actually get inspected once in a while. That comment by itself is worth a call to the FSDO.
 
MAKG1 said:
Sounds like someone at that FBO needs to be reminded what a recurring airworthiness directive is. The pins don't BREAK if they actually get inspected once in a while. That comment by itself is worth a call to the FSDO.
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That's why there's an AD on the silly things now with exciting things in it like measurements... heh. Get out the micrometer...
 
MAKG1 said:
Sounds like someone at that FBO needs to be reminded what a recurring airworthiness directive is. The pins don't BREAK if they actually get inspected once in a while. That comment by itself is worth a call to the FSDO.
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This happened in 1994, and that FBO is long gone.
 
MAKG1 said:
Sounds like someone at that FBO needs to be reminded what a recurring airworthiness directive is. The pins don't BREAK if they actually get inspected once in a while. That comment by itself is worth a call to the FSDO.
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Really? My pilot seat pin broke and there was no way to see it coming. When mine broke the seat didn't move. That's a worn seat track or improperly seated lock pin issue. When the pin breaks the seat is stuck and won't slide back. The Cessna locking reels work really well for the seat slide issue. So well that when I picked the broken pin out of the track and freed the seat? I added my old Aerostop on the track for redundancy and went flying. The Cessna locking reel held the seat perfectly. The only bad thing is the locking reel doesn't check forward movement, but that wasn't an issue that day. Not something I'd do for normal ops. Replacement pins are in the seriously expensive airplane part category. For what it is, anyway.

Another scare, much later in my flight experience. Sitting in my plane, loaded with wife, dog, fuel, etc. My engine backfired and the engine compartment went up in flames, and I mean right now. Instinctively I lifted the seat lever to slide back and get out. I had an Aerostop on the track and the seat jammed against it. Now the seat wouldn't go forward or backwards. I climbed out and got the fire out with only single digit thousands of dollars in damage. I lost the Aerostops and added the Cessna reels as a result of that day. Properly maintained Cessna reels allow you to get out quickly with one motion. Good stuff.
 
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On my first unsupervised solo in a 152 at Kadena Air Base coming back from the practice area for landing. My cross wind limit was about 6 or 8 for a student. The cross wind was gusting to nearly 20 when I got back. On my first attempt, I ran out of rudder and went around but flew directly over a crew that was working on the PAPI or VASI lights - they dove into a ditch. I came back around for a second attempt and landed at about a 20 degree angle to the runway. Fortunately the runway was wide enough that I saved it before going off the side. I parked it and kissed the ground.
 
MAKG1 said:
Sounds like someone at that FBO needs to be reminded what a recurring airworthiness directive is. The pins don't BREAK if they actually get inspected once in a while. That comment by itself is worth a call to the FSDO.
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Mine were checked every year at annual per AD, and they broke as well. My mechanic recommended these:

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Those are really bad for quick exiting. Especially for passengers who aren't familiar. Aerostops are way better but locking reels make the discussion moot.
 
One of the first scares for me, I had just got my private and was in the process of adding hours to start instrument and commercial training. It was a night flight in a C-152. Smooth cool air, this was going to be a nice flight.

I just got to cruising altitude of 4500, pulled the power to set cruise and BATATATATATATAT...!!! As soon as I pulled power a terrible racket coming from the airframe. Hmmmm....undo what I just did.... I added power and the noise stopped, pulled a little power and the noise is back. Ok, somehow the cowling had slipped and the prop is hitting it, man, those stars are bright tonight.!!

Ok, back to the problem.... time to return to the airport. So....as a good student should do, I pulled the emergency checklist. Ok, checklist doesn't cover cowling being hit by the prop. That's when I learned that checklist for trainers are pretty generic and only covers common emergencies. Back to common sense, step 1, seatbelts. Ok, seatbelts are.....are.... where the heck are the seatbelts..???

Step 2, open the door, step 3, pull the belt back in, step 4, close the door, step 5, fasten seatbelts, Ok, where are we..??? Still at altitude and still on course, no more noise, lets keep going.
 
To the seat lock, I paid my money and added the lock reels on the passenger side, too. (Cessna did the pilot side for free.) My wife has has a seat slide back twice. I take the seat limit stop out because I remove the right seat often. When her seat slid it went all the way back off the track until she flipped backwards. Both times when it broke loose she grabbed the yoke. Lucky for me both events were while taxiing. Your passenger is more likely to improperly lock the seat and more likely to grab the yoke when the seat slides. Scary stuff. Locking their seat with a thumbscrew Saf-T-Stop is a pee-poor solution. It won't end well if they need to get out in a hurry. My family deserves better.

Once my wife's door popped loose in flight. It didn't open because of the air pressure but it was noisy and it scared the heck out of her. Again she grabbed at the yoke in fear of falling out. That time I chopped her arms off the yoke and restrained her behind my arm while I latched the door. Stuff happens fast.
 
Stewartb said:
To the seat lock, I paid my money and added the lock reels on the passenger side, too. (Cessna did the pilot side for free.) My wife has has a seat slide back twice. I take the seat limit stop out because I remove the right seat often. When her seat slid it went all the way back off the track until she flipped backwards. Both times when it broke loose she grabbed the yoke. Lucky for me both events were while taxiing. Your passenger is more likely to improperly lock the seat and more likely to grab the yoke when the seat slides. Scary stuff. Locking their seat with a thumbscrew Saf-T-Stop is a pee-poor solution. It won't end well if they need to get out in a hurry. My family deserves better.

Once my wife's door popped loose in flight. It didn't open because of the air pressure but it was noisy and it scared the heck out of her. Again she grabbed at the yoke in fear of falling out. That time I chopped her arms off the yoke and restrained her behind my arm while I latched the door. Stuff happens fast.
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Not sure why you couldn't get out...I had no problems...But then, I didn't have to move/remove them to get out. Oh wait...maybe you're talking 172, while I had them in a 150???
 
In my 180 I get in and slide the seat forward about 18". The intent of seat rail locks is to slide them up and lock them so the seat can't slide back inadvertently, like during acceleration during takeoff. With the 180 seat forward in flight position my seat bottom cushion is pressed against the forward door post. Getting out requires moving the seat back. Loosening that thumb screw is neither intuitive or quick, especially in a stressful moment.
 
Stewartb said:
In my 180 I get in and slide the seat forward about 18". The intent of seat rail locks is to slide them up and lock them so the seat can't slide back inadvertently, like during acceleration during takeoff. With the 180 seat forward in flight position my seat bottom cushion is pressed against the forward door post. Getting out requires moving the seat back. Loosening that thumb screw is neither intuitive or quick, especially in a stressful moment.
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Ah ok, like I thought. Yeah, they worked like a charm in my 150 though.
 
Zeldman said:
Step 2, open the door, step 3, pull the belt back in, step 4, close the door, step 5, fasten seatbelts, Ok, where are we..??? Still at altitude and still on course, no more noise, lets keep going.
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I never did that with a seatbelt, but I did have a right-seater leave the oxygen tank strap hanging out the door once.

The sound telescoped overhead somehow, and I was convinced it was a fuel cap flapping in the breeze. So, I went around and landed, overweight. On leaving the plane, we found the oxygen tank strap. Oops. The fuel caps were both fine. No damage to the airplane, but it did have to have its gear inspected due to the overweight landing.
 
painless said:
Fast forward to my next flight. Was returning to my home drome when all of a sudden the engine noise level increased at least 3x..
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Had that happen to me as a student pilot on short final pre solo...CFI could not figure out what I was suddenly so concerned about trying to figure out what the heck was going on!

...just another lesson in real world distractions!
 
Shortly after I got the IR. Trip in a Cherokee 140 from FDK to Ft. Lauderdale in the month of May. Entered solid IMC over Lumberton NC. Lost comms, no problem fly the clearance. Lost ASI, no problem, fly attitude, nail the dot to the AH, keep the vacuum guage in the scan and pray it doesn't fail. No autopilot to help out. Started to get real dark, and rain really hard, like so hard water was puddling on the carpets. Started to get a little bumpy, then a little bumpier. No convective activity was in the forecast, but this is the South, after all, and no way to get any vectors or wx info, long before ADS-B and cockpit wx.

Knew I was heading toward better wx, but Jaysus, c'mon. This suckdom went on for what seemed like forever
before I broke out a little north of SSI. Out of the wx I was able to raise an airliner on the handheld to relay my situation to ATC. Good vfr the rest of way to OMN fuel stop.

Sweat a bit that trip.
Fly the airplane.
 
Mine was as a solo student out of CRQ.. The marine layer was coming in slowly as it is wont to do in June, and found a hole in the broken layer, climbed through it, flew around doing maneuvers for an hour or so, and found my hole was long gone.. had to go out east to get under the now overcast ceiling. My CFI wasn't happy with me when I landed and told him what I did
 
About 5 hours after getting my license. First XC with my wife. Got under a descending overcast. Never went IMC or *too* low, but mighta been skimming the top of the wing till we broke out.

Edit: Eh I already answered this the first time this post came out. The first post was scarier...
 
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Stewartb said:
The Cessna locking reels work really well for the seat slide issue.
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Have to agree. They can get out of adjustment and be a PITA until re-adjusted, but for a freebie from Cessna to limit their liability, we can't complain. They paid for it, so we put it in a number of years ago. On the left side, anyway.
 
In 1800+ hours, I don't ever remember being truly scared... Just raised my heart rate a few times!

I think my first, and probably biggest, scare was pretty much a non-event. It was the first time I picked up ice. I was working on my instrument rating with my instructor aboard. Looking back, it really wasn't a big deal, but the frequency was busy and I couldn't ask ATC for a different altitude for what was probably 15-20 seconds but felt like 20 minutes.

Lesson learned: Breathe. If the plane's still flying, there's no need to freak out about anything, ever. Take a breath, and then deal with whatever situation is at hand.

I guess learning that lesson that way is probably why I haven't felt particularly scared of anything since.
 
Flew my old friend in his C-182 to check his horses. Only gone about 15 minutes. During the extremely short flight, a front blew in and the wind changed 180 degrees. However, since we were only gone a few minutes, I didn't bother to look at the wind sock on the way back and proceeded to land on the same runway I took off on. Now instead of the 10 knot headwind I had on take off, we had a 25 knot tailwind. I used 3,099 ft of the available 3,100 ft of runway.

What I learned: Always look at the wind sock.
 
haha... First scare was within my first hour!
1998 Teterboro Airport.

After a week of ground school, studying aerodynamics, the principles of a stall and how dangerous they are (without sufficient altitude to recover)...
I was utterly terrified of the concept, and what does my CFI do? He takes me up on my first lesson to practice slow flight and STALLS!
After demonstrating the first stall and recovery, he says, "your turn". I timidly ease into a full stall (C172), but at the break, I panic and not only push the throttle to full power, I PUSH THE YOKE FULL FORWARD AS WELL!

Hanging from the seat belts, with a window full of earth in my view (from three thousand feet), scared the crap out of me! I managed to do that twice before he said..."ok lets head back to the airport and discuss what's going on", lol.

After we landed and debriefed (I'm sweating bullets), I left the school and started questioning myself on the drive home. Seriously considered if this was really for me. I quickly answered that question with a resounding YES. I wanted to learn to fly for as long as I can remember. Now that I finally had the opportunity at 32, I wasn't about to let that first scare deter me. Next lesson, I was over that hurdle and the stalls and recoveries were nothing.

Next scare was several lessons later when I forgot to retract the flaps during a solo T&G. As the nose ballooned up and I approached a stall, my training kicked in and I immediately remembered to push the nose over and retract the flaps one notch at a time.

Whew...never made those mistakes again:D
 
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I was already a CFI. I was doing a lesson in a 152 and we lost power shortly after takeoff. Not all of it, but enough that we were coming down although we had some room to maneuver. It was far enough way that a 180 would not have been a power off option.

I took the controls (it was the student's second or third lesson). We turned back toward the airport, winding our way through some construction areas, and trying to keep possible landing sights within glide distance. Reached the end of the runway at 25 AGL.

Scarier in retrospect. I was too busy at the time to be scared.

Best line was the student's. We were coworkers and he told everyone about it. Asked how low we were, he said, "the construction worker had blue eyes."
 
OkieFlyer said:
Flew my old friend in his C-182 to check his horses. Only gone about 15 minutes. During the extremely short flight, a front blew in and the wind changed 180 degrees. However, since we were only gone a few minutes, I didn't bother to look at the wind sock on the way back and proceeded to land on the same runway I took off on. Now instead of the 10 knot headwind I had on take off, we had a 25 knot tailwind. I used 3,099 ft of the available 3,100 ft of runway.

What I learned: Always look at the wind sock.
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I had the dang tower do that to me the other day, 21 on the tail. LOL. Wind switched, they switched runways, cleared me to do a 180 in the downwind, and cleared me to land, and I noticed the sock on short final and thought... "this is going to be a really long roll out..."

Quizzed him about it after landing, "Change the runway a little too soon?" He apologized and said they got busy changing it back... without telling me. :)

Oh well. :)
 
Stewartb said:
To the seat lock, I paid my money and added the lock reels on the passenger side, too. (Cessna did the pilot side for free.) My wife has has a seat slide back twice. I take the seat limit stop out because I remove the right seat often. When her seat slid it went all the way back off the track until she flipped backwards. Both times when it broke loose she grabbed the yoke. Lucky for me both events were while taxiing. Your passenger is more likely to improperly lock the seat and more likely to grab the yoke when the seat slides. Scary stuff. Locking their seat with a thumbscrew Saf-T-Stop is a pee-poor solution. It won't end well if they need to get out in a hurry. My family deserves better.

Once my wife's door popped loose in flight. It didn't open because of the air pressure but it was noisy and it scared the heck out of her. Again she grabbed at the yoke in fear of falling out. That time I chopped her arms off the yoke and restrained her behind my arm while I latched the door. Stuff happens fast.
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Sorry, the flipping backwards thing made me laugh. Serious at the time. I know my wife would NOT have been amused (nor me at the time). Good lesson for me, cuz I was thinking, who needs seat stops on the passenger side?!
 
"Your passenger is more likely to improperly lock the seat and more likely to grab the yoke when the seat slides."
 
DavidWhite said:
top 5
5. sucking a valve at night
4. smoke in the cockpit at night
3. landing in a 45 knot crosswind at night on an icy runway (noticing a pattern yet?)
2. Cylinder started separating from the case......at night
1. tail stall in severe icing in a caravan......at night (and one of the big reasons I don't fly at night anymore)
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Fixed that for you...
 
My first real scare was after I busted my PP check ride (MCA troubles). I was working on MCA with the instructor and stalled while uncoordinated. The right wing dropped and we did about a 1/2 turn before I recovered it. I was not expecting it, I was not prepared for it and it scared the heck out of me. But I pay a great deal more attention to centering the ball a low speeds ever after.
 
Stewartb said:
To the seat lock, I paid my money and added the lock reels on the passenger side, too. (Cessna did the pilot side for free.) My wife has has a seat slide back twice. I take the seat limit stop out because I remove the right seat often. When her seat slid it went all the way back off the track until she flipped backwards. Both times when it broke loose she grabbed the yoke. Lucky for me both events were while taxiing. Your passenger is more likely to improperly lock the seat and more likely to grab the yoke when the seat slides. Scary stuff. Locking their seat with a thumbscrew Saf-T-Stop is a pee-poor solution. It won't end well if they need to get out in a hurry. My family deserves better.

Once my wife's door popped loose in flight. It didn't open because of the air pressure but it was noisy and it scared the heck out of her. Again she grabbed at the yoke in fear of falling out. That time I chopped her arms off the yoke and restrained her behind my arm while I latched the door. Stuff happens fast.
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I was flying a 206 when the seat back broke. I mean just SNAP and I fell backwards. The plane trimmed out well for a Alaska 206 so I really didn't have a hand on the yoke. I pulled myself back upright, made sure the plane was still on altitude and on course, then unfastened the belt and switched seats. Switching seats in flight proved not an easy task.

I know what you mean, I do not like the Saf-T-Stop device either. I flew a couple planes with them. I told the boss that if I have to make an emergency egress that I will probably do mucho damage to the plane on the way out.

If I have to have a passenger in the right seat, I have them wiggle back and forth to make sure the seat is locked in place. Several times it has locked in place even after the passenger thinks it is already locked.
 
jsstevens said:
My first real scare was after I busted my PP check ride (MCA troubles). I was working on MCA with the instructor and stalled while uncoordinated. The right wing dropped and we did about a 1/2 turn before I recovered it. I was not expecting it, I was not prepared for it and it scared the heck out of me. But I pay a great deal more attention to centering the ball a low speeds ever after.
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Would have been funny if you asked the DPE to put a spin awareness training endorsement in your logbook post-flight. ;)
 
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