Flight with Aggie Mike

SixPapaCharlie

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Thought I would take a moment to Brag on Aggie Mike.
I had the privilege of flying with him yesterday. It turned out to be a very interesting flight and I learned quite a bit. I will do my best not to exaggerate so Mike, let me know if this all seems accurate.

So there we were in Full IMC. We had just lost the left wing. I screamed "We're gonna die!" Mike rolled his eyes and said "I've got this!" He punched his fist through the window and held his left arm straight out. It took a couple seconds of playing with the angle of incidence but he got his hand angled just right and the plane started to level off. I couldn't believe it. I just looked at him in amazement and said "You know that window opens right?"

He just asked if I was going to keep being a little girl. I stopped crying and said, "Ok, I trust you lets finish the flight" He stared ahead and said "Flight? This is nothing. I don't even log a flight unless I take a lightning strike."

The winds were out of the north at 120 kts and out of the south at 80 kts. we were flying sideways with the nose pointed straight up between the battling winds. Then it happened. "THUNK!" Bird strike on the right wing. It knocked part of the flap loose and we started pulling to the right. The right flap was partially deployed and causing a lot of drag.

I asked Mike "Is this a problem?" He responded "Let me show you a little trick I learned at the culinary academy."

He pitched down toward the flock of birds (rare breed that only flies south through freakish storms)

"What are you doing?" I screamed. He said "we have two choices. One is a tail-slide into the flock of birds hoping for a strike on the back side of the right wing which will reverse the damage. Or we can do this."

We dove into the flock with his left wing er... um arm targeting the flock of birds. I closed my eyes. THUNK!

I opened my eyes and saw he had grabbed one of the birds (a large duck) out of the flock. He said this would create an equal amount of drag on the left side so we can press on. We had a couple hours left to fly and doing this would make the trip more fuel efficient.

It was quiet for awhile. Mike was flying, I was scared. The duck was pi$$ed. I was taking it all in and I just said "You are like the Chuck Norris of flying."

Mike said: "Who?"

"Nevermind."

We had flight following and mike spent most of the flight letting the tower know about traffic advisories. We had the airport in sight and Mike asked for frequency change and the tower kept asking mike to stay on with them. Mike told the tower he couldn't and had the tower squawk VFR.

We lined up for the only runway available, 39 and the wind was directly across the runway but it was mountain wave so for most pilots certain death. He lined up, and the plane started to tip right as we slowed down. I said "what is happening?" He said not to worry, that his arm has a lower stall speed then the wing. He added left aileron to create more drag on the right wing. Just then, the left wheel departed the aircraft. He was too focused to care.

He talked me through the landing.
"Okay, I am over the numbers"
"Rounding out"
"Just before we touch down, I will release the duck to increase drag on the right wing will allow us to land on the one good gear on the right."

We flared, He let go of the duck. It flew off quacking loudly and sadly was immediately struck by lightening and killed.

Rolling down the runway holding level with his hand and aileron deflection, slowing down, he kicked the door open and put his left foot down to prevent damage to the belly if the aircraft. I could smell the rubber burning off his shoe as it dragged along the pavement. Then I could hear his foot cutting a ridge in the runway after all of his shoe had burned off.

The plane stopped and we taxied to parking. We grabbed lunch and headed back to the airport. The flight back was pretty uneventful. I think we both slept through most of it.

At any rate, I thought I would share.


Ok, all B.S Aside, I did see the most intense crosswind landing yesterday. I think it was 22 gusting to close to 35 (feel free to correct those numbers mike). Mike will tell you I was pretty contorted, looking for things in the plane to hang onto while he was slipping it in. I was stressing out but he worked hard and did an amazing job of landing that plane without so much as a bump.

Very good flight. Great learning experience.
Thanks Mike.
 
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What skills,like the picture.hope to be that good some day.
 
In all seriousness, I haven't flown with many pilots (CFIs excluded) was good to fly with a more experienced pilot and watch how he works.

He showed me a lot of cool things that would not have occurred to me.
I would suggest anyone that has the chance to fly with other pilots, to do it and see what things they do in their routine that you might benefit from.
 
Awesome story! You'd better duplicate the flight to make sure it was not a fluke!

David
 
All good legends start with a small fact and then get significantly enhanced with each retelling. I think a certain yachtsman and pilot might another be another great example :lol:

Borger was fun. If you find my historical METAR question/thread, you'll see thee winds were something like 25 gusting 40 and we were on runway 21.

I didn't even consider warning Bryan I was going to do a forward slip for the entire ride down final, I just did it. It was a definite right wing low, full left rudder (nearly all of it), plan for a one wheel landing but quickly react and take both when the gust subsided. All the time, Bryan was white knuckling the "OH MY GOD!" handle and glare screen, bracing himself like he might fall out thee door.

The landing did a lot to prove that my skills are improving as is my confidence to deal with a situation that 15 seconds ago was not in my comfort zone. It made me happy I paid attention to my instructor and that I will go out and do pattern laps on crosswind days.

---------------------------

And I'll echo the comment about going out and fly with other pilots. Every time I do, I always learn something useful that I can apply to myself.
 
All good legends start with a small fact and then get significantly enhanced with each retelling. I think a certain yachtsman and pilot might another be another great example :lol:

Borger was fun. If you find my historical METAR question/thread, you'll see thee winds were something like 25 gusting 40 and we were on runway 21.

I didn't even consider warning Bryan I was going to do a forward slip for the entire ride down final, I just did it. It was a definite right wing low, full left rudder (nearly all of it), plan for a one wheel landing but quickly react and take both when the gust subsided. All the time, Bryan was white knuckling the "OH MY GOD!" handle and glare screen, bracing himself like he might fall out thee door.

The landing did a lot to prove that my skills are improving as is my confidence to deal with a situation that 15 seconds ago was not in my comfort zone. It made me happy I paid attention to my instructor and that I will go out and do pattern laps on crosswind days.

---------------------------

And I'll echo the comment about going out and fly with other pilots. Every time I do, I always learn something useful that I can apply to myself.


Yeah, I am more of a crab it in kind of guy. The wing low version always gets me. Which is weird because in a non crosswind situation, I love slipping to a landing.

Either way, I wish I was filming.
I did film the base leg back to KDTO and you can see the 30-40 degree angle as compared to the road on that base leg in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ku287e6Nbo
 
Careful giving an Ag a big head these days,
it could lead to the largest stadium in the SEC...oh wait....

Go Gators!

(we'll be back.)
 
sounds like u got a dang chain saw in the cockpit!

Mike always flies with a running chainsaw.
I always tell my passengers "Don't touch the red knob"

Mike just carries that saw and says "Go ahead, touch it. Please."

My CFI always told me to hold the yoke w/ 3 fingers.
Now I have no choice...


... I touched the red knob
 
Believe or not, I use that chainsaw noise as an audio cue I'm at 80mph airspeed. 55WB has always made that noise at that low speed.

And flying the base leg in a 45 degree crab is another one of my favorite things to do in an airplane.
 
Sounds like Mike will going straight to heaven when he passes - everyone he flies with is praying the entire time . . .

Maybe we should send him to the Middle East and have his take every single Muslim for a ride - they'lll all convert to Christianity after a single 'o' ride . . .
 
Cool story. I have silly question, since iv never flown a high wing plane, How do you see the runway turning base, does wing get in the way?
 
Cool story. I have silly question, since iv never flown a high wing plane, How do you see the runway turning base, does wing get in the way?

hold the wings level, then pull your left arm back in the cockpit, preferably holding on to the duck so that it can be used during the flare.

The game changes if it's right traffic though.

No, you can't see the runway. My first 100 hours or so was in high wings, I never realized it was a problem with high wings until someone told me it was.
 
Cool story. I have silly question, since iv never flown a high wing plane, How do you see the runway turning base, does wing get in the way?

It is not that bad. You can see it on base and the wing only obscures it for the first 1/4 (maybe) of the turn.

I flew a high wing for about 20 hours and didn't bug me much.
 
Cool story. I have silly question, since iv never flown a high wing plane, How do you see the runway turning base, does wing get in the way?

XRay vision.

But I get to cheat on 55WB. It's one of the C182's that has the skylights installed. When in a right pattern, I've taught myself to look up as well as out.

But like Bryan said, it's only blocked for the first part of the turn and it's easy to keep imagining where it should be before it reappears. Kinda like knowing where the corners of your automobile are as you park.
 
60 miles east of you, but i took the sport pilot route which im thinking is a stepping stone to a PPL. I see very badly at night so i took that option, did not consider the only limitation i dislike. I'm very limited on what i can fly.
 
I'll leave it to the AME's to determine if you can get a regular 3rd with a night vision restriction. But if you can, then our club is still an option....

If you're near Greenville Majors, there is a real strong flight club out that way. www.majorsflyingclub.org

I've met a few of their members and they are good folk.
 
Three miles from majors, I have great vision, just not in the dark.
 
Someone on the ground snapped a photo of the landing.
Ok the story had me falling out of my chair laughing, but I just about busted a nut after I opened up the picture. That was good!!

In all seriousness Kudos to mike on the landing:yes:
 
What Bryan has yet to share was our pattern when we returned to Denton. Wind was a strong 18025G35 on the surface and a bit more at TPA as we were cleared to land on RWY18.

I got to show off "flying sideways" on the base leg along HWY 380 by being in a level 45-degree crab.

It was an adventure for me as much as him... and help to boost my confidence a bit that I can safely operate in conditions like that.
 
Chuck Norris and superman got into a fight. Before the fight they made a bet, the looser had to wear his underpants on the outside.
 
Chuck Norris and superman got into a fight. Before the fight they made a bet, the looser had to wear his underpants on the outside.

OK, I'm laughing. I don't know exactly why, but I am...
 
You would have to, if you're looser, they wouldn't fit right on the inside of the pants.
 
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