Stoopid Stuff

Daleandee

Final Approach
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Mar 4, 2020
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Dale Andee
We have recently witnessed several threads about people doing things that are not very smart. Here's your opportunity to add to the list. I'll begin with this:

 
I'll go!

23xp-plane-photo01-superJumbo.jpg
 
Also, applying speed tape in sight of the paying passengers...

Years ago we had a lot of cooling issues on the gopher engine in my Navion. The problem was that the cooling box over the top of the engine was very leaky and blowing itself apart because of poorly designed seams (rather than using the pressure to push the pieces together, it used dzus fasteners that tried to restrain the parts on top from blowing off. I was warned that we could fix up the box but it wouldn't help much. I had an A&P student all set up to make me a new box if it would work.

So, I decided to do a test. I got a roll of duct tape and used it to seal up all the seams on the box. This isn't that unsafe because it's not particularly warm at that point (it's on the intake side of the cooling system). But here I am standing in my tiedown at VKX pulling long strips of duct tape off the roll and reaching into the engine compartment. It was attracting some attention. I offered people rides, but they decided to forgo it.

Amusingly, it helped a lot. It was a hot day and I could get the cowl flaps closed and keep the temps in the green. We flew up the GAI for lunch and then on the way back one of the duct tape seams must have popped the tape as the temperatures near instantly went up again.

Sadly, that engine broke not long after that incident and I put the IO-550 in with a completely different cooling system.
 
Also, applying speed tape in sight of the paying passengers...

Photo-of-airport-worker-using-TAPE-on-engine-shell-of-easyJet-plane-moments-before-take-off.jpg

Ha. That is no big deal. I had to remove a flap fairing one time and place it on CDL with a full load of passengers onboard after it was damaged just before pushback. I’m sure those pax were thinking WTF?!
 
One time on the old US Air the pilot announced after boarding and before we moved that they were having a hard time getting the door shut where they service the lavatories. He said they had a mechanic removing the door. After a short pause, he added that this was an approved repair for the problem.
 
Me, standing in front of class, after teaching a subject: When I give an oral exam, these are the questions I ask on this topic.

Me, standing in front of class: Bob (not his real name), I expect you to know this, since this is a topic specific to the oral exam you’ll be taking.

Bob (still not his real name) on the oral exam discussing these two topics, among others: :oops:
 
Me, standing in front of class, after teaching a subject: When I give an oral exam, these are the questions I ask on this topic.

Me, standing in front of class: Bob (not his real name), I expect you to know this, since this is a topic specific to the oral exam you’ll be taking.

Bob (still not his real name) on the oral exam discussing these two topics, among others: :oops:
I know a guy just like that and Bob is his actual name.
 
While the group initially wanted to vote for cspan, there is no doubt that this is the clear winner of the uber stoopid stuff category 2022... unless there are objections?

Don't know if this is in a class by itself ... but if not, it sure don't take long to call the roll! :eek:
 
C/SPAN isn't stupid. It exposes the stupidity to anybody in need of sleep who cares to watch it.
 
As for aviation related stoopid stuff ... this short video is a few years old but the story unfolds in the first minute or so. Really difficult to imagine how in the world this happened or the conversations that had to take place afterwards:

 
As for stoopid stuff, I don't do anything stoopid anymore.

I have already done all the stoopid stuff that can be done...
 
Well, I just got back from a long road trip driving a 31' Class A motorhome towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee. In other words, I was driving at least 6 tons of vehicle. Where do you want me to start on the stoooopid stuff? My personal favorite was the motorcyclist, girlfriend on back, neither wearing helmets, who zipped in front of me to stop at the stoplight I was slowing for, thus shortening my available stopping distance by 8' at a critical time. All I can say is, even though the motorhome looks like h***, it's got good brakes, fortunately for him and his girlfriend.
 
As for stoopid stuff, I don't do anything stoopid anymore.

I have already done all the stoopid stuff that can be done...

I believed that at one time but I still find ways to amaze myself ... :D
I occasionally surprise myself, but other people can still outright amaze me.
 
Well, I just got back from a long road trip driving a 31' Class A motorhome towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee. In other words, I was driving at least 6 tons of vehicle. Where do you want me to start on the stoooopid stuff? My personal favorite was the motorcyclist, girlfriend on back, neither wearing helmets, who zipped in front of me to stop at the stoplight I was slowing for, thus shortening my available stopping distance by 8' at a critical time. All I can say is, even though the motorhome looks like h***, it's got good brakes, fortunately for him and his girlfriend.
I’m looking forward to that level of stoopidity. Managed to not see it so far, but haven’t got the towed vehicle behind yet, so I’m sure they’re just saving it.
 
My personal favorite was the motorcyclist, girlfriend on back, neither wearing helmets,

As a motorcyclist it irritates me to see riders with no helmets. I guess if the rider wants to be stoopid that's one thing but the passenger on a bike is like the passenger in a plane and the operator has a responsibility to see that they arrive alive.

Not so long ago on a four lane through town posted at 45 mph with a paved median came a moped with two fat oversized riders, neither wearing a helmet and both with a cigarette hanging from their mouth as they weaved in & out of the stop and go traffic. The poor moped could hardly go as they drove around searching for a Darwin Award.

I'm still disturbed by an accident where a rider had his young girl friend on the back of his bike with no bar and no helmet. As he came around the on ramp to the interstate he nailed the throttle. She was in her shorts, tank top, and flip flops when she came off the bike and slammed her head into the pavement. Useless and preventable tragedy. :(
 
My personal favorite was the motorcyclist, girlfriend on back, neither wearing helmets, who zipped in front of me to stop at the stoplight I was slowing for,....


Proving once again that if a motorcyclist thinks his brain isn’t worth protecting with a helmet, he’s absolutely correct.
 
Our cabin is on one side of a lake, on the other side is the road... which unfortunately has made some lists like "top 10 senic drives" in NY or the northeast or whatever, and "top 10 motorcycle rides". It used to be quiet, now crotch rocket bikers post youtube videos of their speed run trying to top each other, and evening cocktails on our porch sounds like the infield at a bike race... and there's at least one wreck per week with frequent fatalities, I think it was about one death per month last year. I'm not a slow driver (in my car) and it's normal to be passed by bikes on blind turns. Our park ranger neighbor got REAL tired of scraping bodies off the rocks before he got a different job. Though sometimes they go the other way and end up in the lake.

We passed one the other night on our way to dinner, one bike in the rocks and another down on the pavement.

The stooopid part is the state refusing to do anything to enforce the speed or noise rules.
 
motorcyclist, girlfriend on back, neither wearing helmets, who zipped in front of me to stop at the stoplight I was slowing for, thus shortening my available stopping distance by 8' at a critical time. All I can say is, even though the motorhome looks like h***, it's got good brakes, fortunately for him and his girlfriend.

A few months ago I was moving a car hauling trailer, a 5th wheel that carries 3 cars, for a friend of mine. He bought the trailer and did not have a 5th wheel hitch. It was in what is laughingly called the industrial park here. I had to make a right turn to leave the parking lot and 20 feet later make an immediate left turn. Did I mention the roads are barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other without swapping side view mirrors?

Well, in the middle of the left turn, where the trailer wheels were going to go into the ditch, a motorcyclist came up behind me and tried to cut the corner and pass me. He made the left turn, I honked the horn, he twisted around to show me his IQ with one finger, ran off the right side of the road and into a culvert. He went over the top resulting in minor scrapes and bruises and destroyed his bike.

Just to add to the fun, the new owner of the trailer is a former deputy sheriff in the county. He immediately called 911, and a state trooper was the first one to show up. Here in this county, when a state trooper shows up someone of getting a ticket or going to jail. Mostly because the the city police are a little lacking.

The biker was blaming me for his accident, even though I was still blocking the intersection and road and his tire tracks were very noticeable where he went through the ditch. An ambulance had showed up by this time and the biker refused to be checked out. Then the state trooper wanted to do a sobriety check. Failed.

So biker guy, all because he wanted to show his IQ, wrecked his bike and was arrested for dwi, causing an accident and went to jail. All before lunch.
 
A few months ago I was moving a car hauling trailer, a 5th wheel that carries 3 cars, for a friend of mine. He bought the trailer and did not have a 5th wheel hitch. It was in what is laughingly called the industrial park here. I had to make a right turn to leave the parking lot and 20 feet later make an immediate left turn. Did I mention the roads are barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other without swapping side view mirrors?

Well, in the middle of the left turn, where the trailer wheels were going to go into the ditch, a motorcyclist came up behind me and tried to cut the corner and pass me. He made the left turn, I honked the horn, he twisted around to show me his IQ with one finger, ran off the right side of the road and into a culvert. He went over the top resulting in minor scrapes and bruises and destroyed his bike.

Just to add to the fun, the new owner of the trailer is a former deputy sheriff in the county. He immediately called 911, and a state trooper was the first one to show up. Here in this county, when a state trooper shows up someone of getting a ticket or going to jail. Mostly because the the city police are a little lacking.

The biker was blaming me for his accident, even though I was still blocking the intersection and road and his tire tracks were very noticeable where he went through the ditch. An ambulance had showed up by this time and the biker refused to be checked out. Then the state trooper wanted to do a sobriety check. Failed.

So biker guy, all because he wanted to show his IQ, wrecked his bike and was arrested for dwi, causing an accident and went to jail. All before lunch.
In a year or so he’ll be on the medical issues page complaining about this idiot with the trailer who wrecked his motorcycle and can he become an airline pilot with a DUI.
 
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