Complacency

A

Ah well

Guest
Well, it finally happened. Yep, I'm now "that" guy. I forgot my cowl plugs in the plane and chucked them across the ramp with the prop. I was lucky this time, no damage to the cowl or prop, and luckily the string didn't break and leave them installed.

That being said I've noticed myself becoming more and more complacent as I approach 1000 hours. Any tips on staving that off? It's not a matter of "use the checklist" it's dumb things here or there I find myself forgetting that are more common sense and aren't checklist items.
 
I make my own checklists... when I catch myself forgetting something I either add it to, or emphasize it on, the checklist. I'm up to version 8, and I haven't even hit 100 hours yet :rolleyes:. I will admit to missing the chocks on my last flight so it's not a fool proof plan.

I always thought the little flags you can see from the cockpit are a good idea on cowl plugs.
 
There are multiple levels of complacency.

You have arrived at another level.

Use your checklist.
 
I've pulled the plane out of the hangar with the battery charger still plugged in.

I'm so ashamed. :(
 
You identified the problem, now correct it. It sounds simple because it is.

And you're not alone. I've owned my own plane for awhile now, and there was a point where my pre-flights were getting a bit lax. I mean, its my plane, and I know I put it away in the locked hangar in flyable condition, so why do a controls check to confirm the controls aren't cross-rigged? And why check the fuel, when I know I always gas it up before putting it away. I one day took a friend up (non-pilot), and even he commented on my skimping pre-flight, "I thought you guys spent 30 minutes, not 5, checking the plane over before takeoff?" It embarrassed me, and I stopped skimping (lucky for me, and you, we got away with it before it bit us in the rear end).
 
It's one of those deals you will do once and will forever be ingrained in your head to double check. Kind of like your first time leaving the chocks under the tires.
 
When I had about 200 hours total, I was preflighting one of the club planes. I was musing to myself, in all the preflights I'd done I'd never caught any unairworthy items. When I pulled the drain on the gascolator, nothing came out. Nothing at all. I did a little more checking, called the club president to report and he told me "Yeah. It's down with a fuel system problem." Well, duh! But I DID catch it.

To me the funny part was, I was mentally wondering "Why bother? I never find anything." and then to have it happen on that flight!

There's no magic bullet, only discipline.

John
 
Jim K said:
I make my own checklists... when I catch myself forgetting something I either add it to, or emphasize it on, the checklist. I'm up to version 8, and I haven't even hit 100 hours yet :rolleyes:. I will admit to missing the chocks on my last flight so it's not a fool proof plan.

I always thought the little flags you can see from the cockpit are a good idea on cowl plugs.
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Exactly!

Checklists are for items that YOU are like to forget, that's why generic checklists lose their effectiveness over time.

Make a new checklist every time you find yourself forgetting something.
 
After you get done with your preflight, do something else. Call the Mrs., look up some porn, clean up something in the hangar, take a leak, whatever. Then, come back and do a really careful walk around the aircraft. Hopefully the break between preflight and final examination will break the routine and give you a fresh mindset.
 
After I am finished loading and before I get into the plane, I do a final walk around to check for anything I missed.

Over the years I have found a wing locker not completely latched a few times, and a nose baggage door not completely latched, a broken hinge on a nose compartment door and after missing a wheel chock more than once I look for those. (darn linemen that do their job correctly..:lol:)

And more than a few bottles of alcohol trying to go to places they are not allowed...

Ah well said:
Any tips on staving that off? It's not a matter of "use the checklist" it's dumb things here or there I find myself forgetting that are more common sense and aren't checklist items.
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As others have mentioned, write your own checklist. Keep updating and changing as you find you need.

Oh yeah, now that you have joined the club of ''those that have'', try to avoid the club of ''those who will again...'' :lol::lol:
 
You are right that as you get more experience some complacency can creep in. I find that sometimes when I have a lot on my mind, and I am going out to the plane for preflight, etc. I have to remind myself to focus. On the other hand after flying for 40 years I am aware of a lot more that is going on with the big picture like weather than I was as a low time pilot.
I really have to concentrate when driving, having done it for many decades I don't even think about how to drive, just where I am going and sometime I need more than that. I live in a small town where other than weather and some traffic congestion sometimes, driving is easy.
 
Ah well said:
Well, it finally happened. Yep, I'm now "that" guy. I forgot my cowl plugs in the plane and chucked them across the ramp with the prop. I was lucky this time, no damage to the cowl or prop, and luckily the string didn't break and leave them installed.

That being said I've noticed myself becoming more and more complacent as I approach 1000 hours. Any tips on staving that off? It's not a matter of "use the checklist" it's dumb things here or there I find myself forgetting that are more common sense and aren't checklist items.
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Write 100 times "thou shalt not start thy engine until thoust has preflighted the plane and then done one last walk around." Then go get the cowl plugs and take them with you every you go for one week including sleeping with them. That should hammer it home.
 
For me it's not deviating from the checklist and if I do, starting again from the top. I did the very same thing you did about a year ago and the reason why was because I decided to leave the cowl plugs in "until the last moment" because it was breezy and I wanted to conserve my preheat. Stupid in retrospect. I almost always do a final walk around (and have yet to find something amiss), but this time I didn't and Murphy's law applied...
 
When I was a student pilot, my instructor told me about a situation where he did a pre-flight and missed the tail tie down. Fired up the engine and tried to taxi but plane wasn't going anywhere.

Was a good lesson for me. When I was learning I didn't know much about prop health (as in, what is and is not a major issue). Doing my pre-flight with the same instructor I noticed a bunch of burrs on the tip of the prop, made it look fuzzy. Didn't think much about it and we were about to get into the plane and I offhandedly remarked about it and he said "Wait, what?". Turns out the plane had a prop strike by a renter who never reported it. Guess he porpoised it. Took the plane out of commission for over a month to get a tear down and checks. Which SUCKED for me since that was one of the only LSA's that I could even rent and I had to share it with a dozen other people. Had to switch to a 172 and start over.
 
For you and @birdus who took off without a fuel cap — never walk away from the plane leaving it in an unairworthy state. No: dipsticks loose, oil filler doors open, fuel caps off, keys in the baggage door, etc., even if you're just going inside to fetch a quart of oil. If you aren't in the habit of buttoning it up, it's only a matter of time. Then, maybe the keys fly out on takeoff and go through a jet engine, or worse things. A final walk around is added insurance.
 
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When I was about a 300 hour pilot, I was negotiating to buy a plane, and pretty excited as it was a "77 Mooney 201 and a really good plane and a step up from trainers. The salesman was fly in and meet meet at Denver Jeffco and we looked at the plane that eveing and I was to do the flightin the morning. We went out to the plane and I started to drain the fuel sumps and he said we didn't need to do that as it never got any water. I hesitated since I was very new and he had decades of experience, But then I decided to do it the way I knew was correct. You should see his face when I drained about 3 fills or water out of the sumps. I did buy the plane and flew it for 10 years.
 
azure said:
Or leaving the pitot tube cover in place... :oops:
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The most experienced guy at my club just did this. He has about 25,000 hours, 60 years of flying, nearly every rating including helicopter except balloon and powered parachute (which he is studying for fun).
 
Not technically a pre-flight, but a prebuy. The seller was harassing my ap doing the prebuy, say that this was taking too long and that a Warrior is very simple and should take less than an hour. I offered to walk away, which quieted him down for a little. Poking my head in behind the baggage compartment, I came across what looked like a broken turnbuckle. MY AP confirmed that it was in fact the up stabilator cable that was hanging on by a single strand of safety wire. The seller turned white as a sheet because he had flown it that way the other day. no more whining from the seller and I got a large reduction in price and a new cable installed.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
The most experienced guy at my club just did this. He has about 25,000 hours, 60 years of flying, nearly every rating including helicopter except balloon and powered parachute (which he is studying for fun).
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I believe it, it's easy to do. Less easy if you always do a final walkaround like I do, but still possible. Now I ALWAYS remove the pitot tube cover during my initial pre-flight.
 
dtuuri said:
For you and @birdus who took off without a fuel cap — never walk away from the plane leaving it in an unairworthy state. No: dipsticks loose, oil filler doors open, fuel caps off, keys in the baggage door, etc., even if you're just going inside to fetch a quart of oil. If you aren't in the habit of buttoning it up, it's only a matter of time. Then, maybe the keys fly out on takeoff and go through a jet engine, or worse things. A final walk around is added insurance.
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I agree with practically everything you say, but not leaving the keys in the baggage door? Seems that depends on where the ignition key is. If it's in the same bundle, I don't see the risk (unless, of course, there's reason to be concerned about airplane thieves)...
 
No matter how much I’m rushing, How many kids running around, phone going off. When I walk to the prop to start my preflight phone silenced, kids told to get in car, deep breath and relax. If it gets interrupted. Start over. Plus then I take the preflight leak when done then take a final walk around.
Funny but not so funny story... not following protocol buddy had hangar half open. Forgot it was half way open and went to pull his twin turbine out. Prop on right side caught hangar door- bent it back about two inches. Plane was down for two weeks and sure cost a pretty penny to fix.
 
azure said:
I agree with practically everything you say, but not leaving the keys in the baggage door? Seems that depends on where the ignition key is. If it's in the same bundle, I don't see the risk (unless, of course, there's reason to be concerned about airplane thieves)...
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I always take the position of establishing habits that work for all the planes you may ever fly someday, if possible. My Citabria had no ignition key. Neither did the Learjets or a Citation I used to fly, nor a Turbo Commander, B-727 and 1946 Cessna 140, IIRC. Unlocked baggage doors can kill ( https://www.flyingmag.com/safety/accident-investigations/open-door-disaster/ ). Why would you leave the key in a locked one?

To your point, using something physical as a reminder, I used to invert a Styrofoam coffee cup over the left throttle of the Turbo Commander whenever I installed the external rudder lock. When it's cold and blowing in the snow belt and the passengers are late, you don't want the rudder slamming stop to stop after the plane has been preflighted. More than that, though, you don't want to forget to remove the gust lock because of being in a hurry to get in the cabin and shut the door.
 

This was blamed on a control lock left in place.

The voice at the end is reported to be the pilots father.

Ever since I saw this I double, triple check control locks.
 
I always check to make sure the baggage door is closed. It's not a fatal error in the Navion but embarrasing (and probably might damage the door). Nothing like your neighbor calling you on the radio and saying "Oh, by the way your baggage door is flapping" after you take off.
 
Weekend Warrior said:
I mean, its my plane, and I know I put it away in the locked hangar in flyable condition, so why do a controls check to confirm the controls aren't cross-rigged? And why check the fuel, when I know I always gas it up before putting it away.
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I pulled that stunt with a gun. After shooting at the range I unloaded my gun like I always do, and zipped it up in the range bag. When I got to my car I realized I didn’t have my regular concealed weapon and was facing a long drive alone at night, so I unzipped the range bag, loaded the gun, and left it there within reach. When I got to the house I zipped up the bag to carry it into the house, put it down and forgot about it.

Well you know what happened. Later when it was time to clean my guns, I unzipped my range bag and there was my gun that I always unload at the range. Totally forgot about what I’d done in the car. Because I “knew” the gun was unloaded when I put it in the bag, I picked it up and started fooling around trying to take it apart to clean, muzzle sweeping myself all over the place. It finally dawned on me, with horror, why it was not coming apart - it was loaded with one in the chamber!

I had broken the first rule of gun safety. But the second rule saved me - I kept my finger away from the trigger at all times. You can bet I never, ever will break the first rule ever again.

It’s the exact same thing with your airplane. You can never assume anything even when “I’m the one that put it away last.” The thing that messed me up with the gun was that I’d broken the routine and done something unusual and different. Memory is a tricky thing. When you perform the same act over and over, they tend to run together in your mind and you will “remember” doing something the usual way even if you varied one particular time.

One of my CFIs screwed up big time with this, looking into the fuel tank and “seeing” it full, because he was so used to always seeing it full. You get in a hurry and don’t mindfully pay attention when you preflight, your brain plays tricks on you, when it comes to things you’ve done repeatedly, it tells you it is like it always is. And then one day it isn’t and you fail to notice.
 
Just don't let complacency turn into a "lack of situational awareness". I bought a wrecked airplane years ago. Pilot forgot to remove both wing tie-downs. He was puzzled when the aircraft would not move. He decided to continue to add rpm instead of stopping and evaluating what was wrong. He kept adding power until both chains snapped and aircraft shot forward into 2 parked fuel tankers. Fortunately, no fire and no injuries, but 1 airplane and 2 fuel trucks totaled.
 
I'm trying to picture how the cowl plugs got chucked onto the ramp. I assumed they would melt on the cylinder fins before cooking your CHTs. :D

It's why I don't use the things. Bird nests are frangible and less of a threat to operational safety. eggs, nests, and hatchlings are all safely ejected from the cowl flaps.
 
I got to watch a foam and red vinyl intake plug go through a turboshaft engine. Parts were pooped out the tailcone and bleed bands. I was behind them as they tried to apply power to taxi and noticed their PTIT was high. The intake screens were installed by a different crew than the engine installers...
 
schmookeeg said:
I'm trying to picture how the cowl plugs got chucked onto the ramp. I assumed they would melt on the cylinder fins before cooking your CHTs. :D

It's why I don't use the things. Bird nests are frangible and less of a threat to operational safety. eggs, nests, and hatchlings are all safely ejected from the cowl flaps.
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You always drape the cowl plug lanyard over the up-moving blade and under the down-moving blade, for this reason. Once you crank the starter, it'll just yank em out in the first revolution and chuck em away before the engine ever fires over.
Got a stern lecture about putting them in with the lanyard just hanging under/behind the prop very early in my PPL and never did it that way again. That's now they get permanently forgotten and likely melt and/or start a fire on climb-out. Bird nests are also a huge fire hazard. Frangible but often very large/dry and likely won't fall out of the cramped engine bay before hitting the exhaust. That's why we use cowl plugs.
 
I slung a set of cowl plugs about 200' on start up. No preflight, because I wasn't going flying. Had just landed and pulled into tie down spot. Unloaded baggage area, and put in plugs. Then I saw the tie-down spot had been "claimed" by my cousin because I noticed his tie-down ropes and stuff under the wings when I went to tie down. The grass was tall enough and the ropes were the right color that they didn't jump out when pulling in. I thought "well this would be a dick move to take his tie down spot" so I quick hopped in the plane just to move it to the next tie down spot and upon cranking the engine I saw the cowl plugs go flying.

Not sure if, how, or what I would have done different because I was 100% not going flying (wallet and everything was with the baggage in the truck) so there was no reason to do a pre-flight or walk around.
 
This very thing happened to me last Saturday. I spooled up, got the ATIS, but couldn't hear anything on ground. I tried with the number 2 comm, checked everything. Finally I shut down. I was certain I'd done something foolish, so I just broke the chain and put the airplane to bed. I hadn't planned to do anything more than a couple landings (no where to go), so no harm done. I went back last night and discovered that I'd just transposed two digits in the ground control frequency, which is why I couldn't hear anyone. I couldn't see that I'd done that Saturday. So I flew last night instead, and had a really nice flight.
 
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