Hollywood Sightseeing Flight Goes Wrong...

FlyingMonkey

Pre-takeoff checklist
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The forward baggage door popped open on a recent sightseeing flight over Hollywood. Hope this video is a useful reminder of the power of a good preflight!


Eric

 
a great reminder of potential traps when you rush a preflight. Also a reminder that, pilot or controller, its easy to say and hear one thing, and understand another. I think both you and controller understood that you wanted to make a left 180 to the runway. but the controller even instructed you to make a left 360, cleared to land. thats not gonna work if you are heading away from the airport!


Great job remaining calm and remembering your ADM. thats interesting (and fortunate!) that nothing fell out.
 
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If you were concerned about stuff falling out, why didn't you inform ATC and land immediately?
 
If you were concerned about stuff falling out, why didn't you inform ATC and land immediately?
The closest airport was Burbank and the runway configuration would have me making some right turns...or asking BUR tower for all left turns potentially causing more traffic conflicts with large commercial jets. My home airport is literally 2 minutes flying farther than Burbank and I would not have to change heading or configuration to get there- I was already on a perfect course to reach it so I thought it would be easier in the long run and I would have an easier time with an all left turn plan at the smaller airport in less busy airspace. Looking back I should have notified ATC sooner about the situation and I am examining why I didn't.
 
Click bait
I'm sorry you feel the title and description are click bait. I went on a flight- there was a loud bang, the baggage door popped open, it was not a good situation. Not sure how the title, description, or post is misleading in any way. I could have used "Hollywood Sightseeing Flight Goes TERRIBLY wrong" or a lot of other exaggerated phrases...or maybe just used a thumbnail of a girl in a bikini...LOL I have found that no matter what I do there will be some people like you that won't be happy. And that's ok - it's your prerogative. I'll still enjoy making videos and connecting with others in the aviation community to have interesting and productive discussions around the situations presented on these flights. :)
 
The closest airport was Burbank and the runway configuration would have me making some right turns...or asking BUR tower for all left turns potentially causing more traffic conflicts with large commercial jets. My home airport is literally 2 minutes flying farther than Burbank and I would not have to change heading or configuration to get there- I was already on a perfect course to reach it so I thought it would be easier in the long run and I would have an easier time with an all left turn plan at the smaller airport in less busy airspace. Looking back I should have notified ATC sooner about the situation and I am examining why I didn't.

I understand questioning the decision to not call ATC sooner. But honestly, what more were they going to do for you? Were they going to extend their magical hand and close the door for you, or were they going to alert the authorities that something might fall onto an unknown point on the ground? You were already getting all the cooperation you needed from ATC. I am sure that you would have declared an emergency at the first sign of resistance. Your reasoning to fly an extra two minutes to avoid perturbing the steady state that was already working for you seems as sound especially for someone in your unexpected situation.
 
Eric,

You were aware of the situation, assessed, extended an extra few minutes to get it on the ground, at home. If you didn't get what you needed you could have declared but ATC seemed accommodating. There will always be haters....and people who are not happy unless they are bitching. As long as they don't pay your bills it doesn't matter and who really cares.

Keep the videos coming, I enjoy them.
 
I understand questioning the decision to not call ATC sooner. But honestly, what more were they going to do for you? Were they going to extend their magical hand and close the door for you, or were they going to alert the authorities that something might fall onto an unknown point on the ground? You were already getting all the cooperation you needed from ATC. I am sure that you would have declared an emergency at the first sign of resistance. Your reasoning to fly an extra two minutes to avoid perturbing the steady state that was already working for you seems as sound especially for someone in your unexpected situation.
As presented, this was an emergency. And it can only help if the guy on the ground knows that the pilot is having an emergency. If the pilot can't turn left, don't you think the controller would like to know that before he gives him a left turn for traffic rather than after? And if he needs to only make right turns, the controller can accommodate while getting him down at the nearest airport. Another two minutes flying is how many thousand more people below who might take a tow bar to the cranium?
 
As presented, this was an emergency. And it can only help if the guy on the ground knows that the pilot is having an emergency. If the pilot can't turn left, don't you think the controller would like to know that before he gives him a left turn for traffic rather than after? And if he needs to only make right turns, the controller can accommodate while getting him down at the nearest airport. Another two minutes flying is how many thousand more people below who might take a tow bar to the cranium?
I totally agree that it would have been better to let them know sooner so they could anticipate. Definitely a big takeaway for me. Continuing on with the airplane in a stable configuration with no heading , power, altitude, or otherwise changes to an airport I have landed at hundreds of times to me was preferable over making possibly more turns and heading to Burbank, a busier airport that I have a handful of landings at only on one of the runways...
 
Click bait

I didn't think so. Would I have done differently? Maybe landed earlier, but the OP knows his area better than I do. I would be concerned about losing that door ... am guessing it's a piano hinge and a little stronger than just a couple of hinges.

Now if the OP had performed a NASTY positive rate LEFT aileron roll and slammed that effing door closed, I'd give it the internet win for the day;):p:p:p:p:D:D:D
 
I didn't look at the video yet, I'm at work, but what difference does it make which way you turn as long as it's a coordinated turn?
I suppose a coordinated right turn would keep things glued down but I didn't want to take the chance.
 
I didn't think so. Would I have done differently? Maybe landed earlier, but the OP knows his area better than I do. I would be concerned about losing that door ... am guessing it's a piano hinge and a little stronger than just a couple of hinges.

Now if the OP had performed a NASTY positive rate LEFT aileron roll and slammed that effing door closed, I'd give it the internet win for the day;):p:p:p:p:D:D:D
Haha- that one never crossed my mind....
 
As presented, this was an emergency. And it can only help if the guy on the ground knows that the pilot is having an emergency. If the pilot can't turn left, don't you think the controller would like to know that before he gives him a left turn for traffic rather than after? And if he needs to only make right turns, the controller can accommodate while getting him down at the nearest airport. Another two minutes flying is how many thousand more people below who might take a tow bar to the cranium?
If you're saying that you would declare an emergency to get left turns only to the busier airport nearer to the pilot, then I agree with you. On the other hand, the pilot felt safer continuing straight so as to not changing anything. Now that I have read your response and seen this video, an additional variable would be the area surrounding each airport. For example, if the second (further airport) was in the middle of no-where as opposed to an urban area, I'd elect to just go straight towards that. All things being equal in that regard, now that I've seen this video, I'd go for the nearer busier airport. Who knows what any of us would do when faced with the same circumstance for the first time?
 
Really? I'm not sure if that's good or bad...
It's neither. More of a realization on my part. I've flown sightseeing trips plenty, and I fly solo plenty (many times just burning holes--but usually with proficiency flying included), but I don't think I've ever gone up solo with the intent of purely sightseeing.
 
I suppose a coordinated right turn would keep things glued down but I didn't want to take the chance.
A coordinated right turn would be fine, just as a skidding left turn would be bad in this situation. Equal risk either direction.
 
I think you handled the situation very well. Something so straightforward as a baggage door opening can produce bad results either of its own accord or when a pilot makes it worse. It didn’t cause a big problem and you didn’t make it worse. Kudos.
 
I’m with Gary and others... I like your videos. My kid does too. The only one I don’t like is the one where you fly the PnP flight and your daughters end up getting y’all another dog. Now all my kid wants to do is PnP flights since she thinks we are gonna get another puppy. :)

kidding of course. Seriously, I do like your videos. I like how you show the family side of flying and how fun it can be as a family activity.

And the one where you demoed the Trutrak helped me out when we first got our Arrow. Probably the best video out there on practical use of that autopilot. Keep em coming.
 
Thanks for posting this. I appreciate being able to learn from other’s experiences.
 
It's neither. More of a realization on my part. I've flown sightseeing trips plenty, and I fly solo plenty (many times just burning holes--but usually with proficiency flying included), but I don't think I've ever gone up solo with the intent of purely sightseeing.
You're not making YouTube videos.
 
You're not making YouTube videos.
Haha- I actually did not intend on making a Youtube video out of this flight. I normally have 3 more angles than what I used in this video. You can see the empty camera frame and mount next to my head...I just decided to roll the ones I happened to have in my backpack with the limited battery each had. I have been flying this are for 5 years and only flown near the Hollywood sign a couple times since I really don't like flying over that area as yo must stay low with very few emergency landing options. I generally avoid it, unless I am showing friends around but thought it would be fun to fly that route at sunset.
 
If you're saying that you would declare an emergency to get left turns only to the busier airport nearer to the pilot, then I agree with you. On the other hand, the pilot felt safer continuing straight so as to not changing anything.
There's no need to declare anything. If it occurred as stated in the video, it was an emergency. What is the possible benefit of keeping that information from the controller who the pilot is already in communication with? Just say, my baggage door came open, I'd like to land [where] with no right turns.
 
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Great video and I learned a thing or two also. I’ve enjoyed your videos. Glad you have thick skin and can ignore the negativity: I don’t know why you and others do it but I’ve learned from several and appreciate it.
 
Had my unsecured baggage door pop open in flight. Didn't realize it for awhile, indeed I was about halfway to my destination before I figured out what was going on (slight breeze, about 5 knots slow). I thought about diverting, but I realized that by the time I was able to make the descent I'd be at my destination, so I just kept going. Had a little paint worn off the baggage door latch, and of course the embarrassment of landing with the thing open in front of my friends. Lucky me. There's a video of a Mooney in Europe losing the baggage door. Thing go caught on the empennage and nearly made the aircraft uncontrollable.

Sometimes your nearest doesn't make that much sense. If the airplane is still flying doing an emergency maneuver can make things worse.
 
That's one thing I like about our little cessnas, you could leave any or all the doors unlatched and fly them and they wouldn't care. Not like others where the door pops then departs and hits the horizonal or vertical stabilizer on the way by, causing thousands of $ in damages.
 
The closest airport was Burbank and the runway configuration would have me making some right turns...or asking BUR tower for all left turns potentially causing more traffic conflicts with large commercial jets. My home airport is literally 2 minutes flying farther than Burbank and I would not have to change heading or configuration to get there- I was already on a perfect course to reach it so I thought it would be easier in the long run and I would have an easier time with an all left turn plan at the smaller airport in less busy airspace. Looking back I should have notified ATC sooner about the situation and I am examining why I didn't.

You definitely should have notified Burbank sooner. Not necessarily ‘declare,’ but tell them what you need about not wanting right turns other than very gentle ones. They may have had a situation where giving you a turn in either direction would have resolved it but right was easier. That is not the time to start the discussion about your problem. You would have reduced potential conflicts with commercial jets by getting East of BUR. And that would have set you up for left downwind to 12 at WHP

EDIT: Lol. If I had kept reading all I’d a had to have done was just said “yeah that” to some other posts
 
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I love your videos. My nervous flying wife even watches some of them and says your family adventures look fun. They are informative and entertaining, and the production quality is better than anything else out there in my opinion. I think you definitely have the right mindset in trying to glean learning moments from your flights. In the end, you made a decision that ended in a safe return to the ground.
 
I suppose a coordinated right turn would keep things glued down but I didn't want to take the chance.
Ask any banner pilot or jump pilot . Anything that didn't get sucked out as soon as the door opened will likely stay right where its at. Keeping it coordinated will definitely help in that respect, but going negative is what you really want to avoid. Don't ask how I know this. :oops:
 
Eric, you are the same guy who had the cabin door pop open near Sedona right?

If so, there's an unhealthy pattern developing here.

To me it suggests one of two things, neither one of which is all that charitable - my apologies in advance:

1) You need to reconsider what you are doing in aviation as you apparently have some behavior patterns that make you very incident prone; or
2) You're working hard (consciously or otherwise) to create material that is video worthy.

If it's Number 1, maybe a Cherokee Six is a little too complex for your present ability level and you might want to back off a bit and fly something simpler and less task loading both on the ground and in the air.

I had a flight surgeon once who hung up his wings after a number of incidents like this when he recognized he was just too distracted most of the time to be able to focus on flying. I had another flight surgeon who was just as distracted but didn't recognize the issue. he crashed his 210 about a mile short of the runway on an instrument approach.
 
1) You need to reconsider what you are doing in aviation as you apparently have some behavior patterns that make you very incident prone; or
2) You're working hard (consciously or otherwise) to create material that is video worthy.

The most recent video with the baggage door presents a learning point. The OP made an error during pre-flight. Let's all learn from it.

I just rewatched the open door video. At around 10:15 on that video, his wife closes the door, and the OP notices that it's not latched. He then has it latched and confirms it. Things happen. In fact, it's happened to me in a PA-28-161 back in 2013.

I find your accusations asinine. There is no need to even insinuate the possibility that this man ever put his family's life or the public's life in danger to make a YouTube video. To anyone not on the spectrum, he seems like a caring, loving father and conscientious pilot that is not only willing to learn from his mistakes but is gracious enough to share them with us. I hope that he continues making this great content that we can all use to debrief and learn something that could have happened to any of us.
 
....maybe a Cherokee Six is a little too complex for your present ability level and you might want to back off a bit and fly something simpler and less task loading both on the ground and in the air....

so you're saying a door latch on a cherokee 140 or cessna 172 is simpler or less prone to unlatching? gotcha.
 
The only way to secure my baggage door is to lock it, there is no latch to use unlocked.
 
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