Can you fly a Baron with the towbar still attached?

Inverted said:
Sure you can, the landing just doesn't go as planed.
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If you managed get airborne without tripping over the towbar I think you'd be fine as long as you didn't retract the gear. If you do raise the gear, the nosewheel will jam and you could lock the entire gear system part way up.
 
gismo said:
If you managed get airborne without tripping over the towbar I think you'd be fine as long as you didn't retract the gear. If you do raise the gear, the nosewheel will jam and you could lock the entire gear system part way up.
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Sacrificing a little cruise speed saves time retrieving and hooking up the tow bar every time. Perhaps Beechcraft should have made this an option?
 
From that video I'd have to say I have no fracking idea, in fact I didn't even see a Baron that I could identify. The scariest part was when all those ground vehicles were converging at the end - I thought there might have been a terrible accident, albeit at a great distance.

But it lead to another question that manifested itself in the end:

Can you drive a Ferrari Enzo in the dirt?
 
gismo said:
If you managed get airborne without tripping over the towbar I think you'd be fine as long as you didn't retract the gear. If you do raise the gear, the nosewheel will jam and you could lock the entire gear system part way up.
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Unfortunately, they did retract the gear. The real trouble started when the lowered the gear for landing and only got 2 green lights. Apparently, the towbar jammed the nose gear doors, preventing the nose gear from coming back down.
 
Very expensive mistake, I almost did that with the power tow on my Arrow once. I now do a 360 walk around before boarding the plane after my pre-flight is completed.
 
tmyers said:
Very expensive mistake, I almost did that with the power tow on my Arrow once. I now do a 360 walk around before boarding the plane after my pre-flight is completed.
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That would have been a short trip!

Working at a flight school I've come running out on to the ramp waving my arms a time or two:lol:
 
tmyers said:
Very expensive mistake, I almost did that with the power tow on my Arrow once. I now do a 360 walk around before boarding the plane after my pre-flight is completed.
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My solution is to NEVER leave any towbar attached to the airplane when it's outside the hangar unless I'm actually moving the airplane. If I have it attached and want to leave the nose, I unhook it and set it on the ground or carry it with me.
 
tmyers said:
Very expensive mistake, I almost did that with the power tow on my Arrow once. I now do a 360 walk around before boarding the plane after my pre-flight is completed.
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Working on a family and flying have a lot in common. I learned a long time ago to do a walk around after hooking up to a trailer, tillage equipment, mowers ect. Anything that gets towed ot flies I do a walk around every time I get in. You cannot be very how much money I have saved! :D

Yet, I have still taken off twice without the fuel cap on my -12. Pretty sicken feeling when I take off and feel it in my pocket. :rolleyes2:
 
Geico266 said:
Working on a family and flying have a lot in common. I learned a long time ago to do a walk around after hooking up to a trailer, tillage equipment, mowers ect. Anything that gets towed ot flies I do a walk around every time I get in.
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You do a walk around inspection before "working on a family"? Don't you find that it kills the mood? :eek:
 
About 5 years ago, while we were waiting for our passengers to show up, I noticed a new Cirrus SR22 out on the ramp. I needed something to do so I wandered over to take a look at it. As I walked over, I noticed that something was amiss - the nose wheel pant was broken and the propeller had "fuzzy" tips. I asked the line guy what the deal was. Evidently, the pilot had taken off from some airport and had landed there for fuel. Apparently, he didn't remove the towbar prior to taking off and didn't discover his "mistake" until after he had landed and shutdown. You have to ask yourself how could you not tell something was amiss? How do you taxi a Cirrus with the towbar attached? Even in a Baron, that towbar would certainly make itself known by feed back through the rudder pedals. Are we brain dead? News Flash!!! If something doesn't seem quite right, it probably isn't.

Over the years, I've developed a habit that I call the last chance walk-around. Simply put, I never climb into an airplane without walking completely around it first. (This is even if I have just completed the normal pre-flight inspection.) You'd be surprised at the things I've found over the years. Some days it can be a couple of hours between the preflight and when the passengers finally show up. Things can and do happen in the meantime. This practice has kept me from embarrassing myself on more than one occasion.
 
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