dumbest thing you've ever done

[eman1200]

Go ahead, fess up. I'll start.....

Cruise to Cozumel planned for the whole family...bro and wife coming in from Cali, I flew from Charlotte to my parents place in West Palm Beach FLA. Realized I forgot my passport at home. Checked all flights back to CLT between last night and today. The one flight I needed was fully booked.
So now I'm sitting in fla with nothing to do but beat myself up over and over.

I'm a stupid, stupid A-hole.

Ok, your turn.

 

[ClimbnSink]

If you aren't in a wheelchair or the icu it is all minor annoyances.

 

[Corpsmaide]

Go ahead, fess up. I'll start.....

Cruise to Cozumel planned for the whole family...bro and wife coming in from Cali, I flew from Charlotte to my parents place in West Palm Beach FLA. Realized I forgot my passport at home. Checked all flights back to CLT between last night and today. The one flight I needed was fully booked.
So now I'm sitting in fla with nothing to do but beat myself up over and over.

I'm a stupid, stupid A-hole.

Ok, your turn.

Wow. I will be enroute to west palm tomorrow (in laws). Then going on a cruise to Cozumel later in the week, probably the same boat you were supposed to be on. At least you are not stuck in another countries jail somewhere.

 

[pbramlett]

Go ahead, fess up. I'll start.....

Cruise to Cozumel planned for the whole family...bro and wife coming in from Cali, I flew from Charlotte to my parents place in West Palm Beach FLA. Realized I forgot my passport at home. Checked all flights back to CLT between last night and today. The one flight I needed was fully booked.
So now I'm sitting in fla with nothing to do but beat myself up over and over.

I'm a stupid, stupid A-hole.

Ok, your turn.

Why not fly to New Orleans and get a new passport!

http://travel.state.gov/passport/npic/agencies/agencies_911.html

oops, M-F hours only.

 

[Corpsmaide]

Go for a ride along with the sheriffs office. Ask for Dwight. He will get you set up. Run radar on jog road.

 

[Ken Ibold]

It took my wife and I four years to go on our honeymoon, during which time 2 kids were born. So we loaded up the Mooney on Saturday to drop the kids off with Grandma and Grandpa in Atlanta (we lived in Hell ... er, Nashville ... at the time.) We were then flying by airline the next day (Sunday) to the Virgin Islands, where we had chartered a crewed sailboat for 10 days. Sitting around Saturday night, I realized that the cash we required to pay for half the trip was still in Nashville in a drawer. (It was one of those "half down when you book, the second half in cash when you get there" deals.)

You know you can't get $3,000 out of an ATM, right? I had enough time to fly back to Nashville, but instead I pulled out my company-issued American Express Gold Card and arranged for a cash advance to be waiting for me when I got to the Virgin Islands. Course, I didn't really think of what my boss in Corporate in NY was going to say to me about the company credit card when I got home. Ouch.

 

[denverpilot]

If you aren't in a wheelchair or the icu it is all minor annoyances.

Heh. I usually say, "If no one is bleeding out on the floor it's not an emergency." Usually in response to computer server or system type crashes and people overreacting emotionally.

 

[denverpilot]

Hmm. May have told this one before but it belongs in this thread...

Trip planned to fly to Vegas from Denver for a friend's wedding. Want to leave fairly early to avoid heat in July.

Get to hangar, pre-flight, load baggage, push airplane out. Go to hop in the Jeep and slam my shin into a radio mount bracket mounted lower left below the console. Look at it. Not bleeding too much. Hop out and it looks kinda deep. Decide to go put a mechanic's bandage on it. Nurse/Wife looks at it. "You need stitches."

Hold blue shop paper towel on leg as it finally starts to bleed, pushing airplane in. Urgent Care is 1/4 mile from the hangar. Drive over, wait for nice Doc to stitch up while making sure he uses absolutely nothing but a local anesthetic, drive back, launch for Vegas two hours late.

Temps in the cockpit later in the day went above 100. LOL. Good god.

Arrived Vegas just at dark. Vegas controllers were their usual surly and non-helpful trying to descend me into terrain at night. Only time I've used "unable" in anger in many years.

Had a lovely time at the wedding and flew home in more heat. No more desert trips in July.

 

[alfadog]

Go ahead, fess up. I'll start.....

Cruise to Cozumel planned for the whole family...bro and wife coming in from Cali, I flew from Charlotte to my parents place in West Palm Beach FLA. Realized I forgot my passport at home. Checked all flights back to CLT between last night and today. The one flight I needed was fully booked.
So now I'm sitting in fla with nothing to do but beat myself up over and over.

I'm a stupid, stupid A-hole.

Ok, your turn.

Couldn't you have someone retrieve it from your house last night and FedEx it to you?

edit: http://www.usacouriers.com/air_first_flight.htm

 

[Tom-D]

Departing BFI to the north, the SEA airspace starts at 1800'. BFI tower calls and says 2801C you are now 2300" and well into SEA airspace, I dive to below 1800' and thank them for the heads up, and sweat for the next few months hoping I would not hear from FSDO.

 

[alfadog]

And regarding stupid things, I have done more than my share of them but I don't dwell on them in general nor confess the pilot-related ones on a public bb.

 

[Captain]

I had a sprinkler system stop working. The motor was pretty worn and rusty so I bought a new one. Installed the new pump and still nothing. So I replaced the relay as its cheaper than the control panel. Got the new relay in and still nothing.

So the control panel was all that's left. Bought a new electric model and that meant I had to replace all the zone valves since they are hydraulic. I couldn't even get a hydraulic panel as its too old. The valves were scatter shot all over the yard and were a major PITA to find. Trenches and holes dug all over the yard I finally found them all.

So, new pump, new relay, new zone valves and a new control panel all installed. I turn it on and nothing. Still doesn't work! How could that be? It's all NEW!

I looked again at the wiring and saw an odd wire. I followed it up. Up and out of the box and up to the roof...right into the rain sensor. I cursed myself and went to get a ladder. Sure enough, it was full of water. The pump wasn't working because of the heavy rain we received the week before.

I did get a new system out of the deal, but man I felt dumb.

 

[alfadog]

Here is a stupid thing I did though by no means the dumbest.

When I was much younger, I took a job building Glassic cars. I started in the fiberglass shop laying up the cars. There were two chopper gun layup bays and we would put used oil on the floor to facilitate removing hardened overspray periodically. So we had this 55-gallon drum of used oil with a hand pump on it. Needless to say, the top of the drum and pump were covered with oil from sloppy usage and leaky seals. Anyway, on one of my first days the foreman hands me an oil can and tells me to go oil the pump shaft because it was sticking or something. So I dutifully get to it while everyone laughs. Same kind of idea of sending the n00b to have the metallic paint demagnetized or ask stores for the panel stretcher.

I ended up as chopper op and lead worker there and later foreman of one of the top composite shops in the country at the time (though we did not use that term yet).

 

[Threefingeredjack]

There are so many contenders but here is ONE instance of my epic fumbles:

As a young middie I had the temerity to ask the daughter of a senior officer to a formal occasion. Things went well, right up to the time we decided to watch the submarine races on the river and while removing her corsage I poked the ball of my thumb with the pin. As we walked up to her front door her father flicked on the porch light to reveal the bloody evidence of where my hand had been on her white gown.

Not the most brilliant career move I ever made.

 

[alfadog]

There are so many contenders but here is ONE instance of my epic fumbles:

As a young middie I had the temerity to ask the daughter of a senior officer to a formal occasion. Things went well, right up to the time we decided to watch the submarine races on the river and while removing her corsage I poked the ball of my thumb with the pin. As we walked up to her front door her father flicked on the porch light to reveal the bloody evidence of where my hand had been on her white gown.

Not the most brilliant career move I ever made.

Just how many prints were there on the gown? LOL.