I had me a day.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cillian
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I appreciate the scrutiny and the keen eye for detail – it's a good reminder that aviation demands precision, even in recalling a highly stressful event.

To address the suggestions that "ChatGPT got a lot of things wrong in this one" and “this wasn't written by a pilot”: I assure you, every heart-stopping moment, every decision, and every fumbled radio call was very real and etched vividly into my memory. While AI can certainly help refine prose, the core experience, the terror, the quick thinking, and the subsequent self-reflection are authentically mine. There's no algorithm that can replicate the feeling of your prop surging and then going silent 7,000 feet above the ground.

You've hit on a critical technical detail regarding the propeller pitch, and you are absolutely right to call it out. My apologies for the misstatement in the original recount, which was certainly a product of my brain attempting to process a chaotic situation and then articulate it.

The correct term is indeed coarse pitch, not fine pitch. A prop stuck in coarse pitch (the setting for cruise flight, where the blades bite a larger "chunk" of air) when engine power is lost, or significantly reduced, is precisely what would lead to the symptoms I experienced:

Initial surge/overspeed: As power was lost but the prop tried to maintain RPM at a coarse pitch setting, it would briefly overspeed due to the sudden lack of resistance from the engine's power stroke.

Loss of thrust and "glider" effect: With the engine no longer driving it effectively, a propeller stuck in coarse pitch acts like a very efficient airbrake or a windmilling turbine. It offers significant drag, which explains the rapid loss of 40 knots of groundspeed and the inability to maintain altitude even at best glide airspeed. This is the exact opposite of what you want in an engine-out situation; pilots often try to feather the prop (move to maximum coarse pitch) to reduce drag in a true engine-out, but if it's already stuck there and the engine isn't producing power, it becomes a major liability.

My later learning that it was "likely a classic prop governor failure: an initial overspeed, then a shift to fine pitch, providing some thrust but nowhere near enough to fly" was an attempt to simplify a complex diagnosis from the maintenance folks. In reality, the governor likely failed in a way that left the prop locked or moving towards a very coarse pitch, creating massive drag. If it had gone to fine pitch, I would have had significantly more "thrust" (or at least less drag) and perhaps more control, but certainly not the immediate "I am now a glider" sensation.

Thank you for the correction; it reinforces the importance of accurate technical communication, especially in aviation. It's a key detail that clarifies the aerodynamics of the emergency and why I felt such an immediate and dramatic loss of energy. The experience, and the lessons learned, remain unchanged. And yes, the whiskey was still very expensive.
 
kyleb said:
Best glide is the most efficient airspeed. If you have limited power, it is the optimum airspeed for trying to maintain altitude.
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RyanB said:
It absolutely will change sink rate. When airspeed slows, sink rate increases. Think about what happens when someone attempts to stretch a glide.
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What you need is best endurance airspeed, not best glide. The OP had lots of fuel on board, so he didn't need best range airspeed. Best glide and best range can all be found in the POH. The cruise charts will show the range for various power settings and airspeeds.

Best range you usually have to determine for yourself: Reduce the power from cruise by 100 RPM, get the attitude and airspeed stabilized, and trim. Then take another 100 RPM off and get that all stabilized. You will go slower and slower until finally you will start sinking and can't stop it with more nose-up attitude, so you go back to the last power setting and trim it up, and that's your best endurance. Best time aloft for the fuel, but in the OP's case it means a minimum airspeed that would suit his high-RPM prop setting, and he could have covered plenty of distance with that prop at redline or even less. Best endurance is not far above stall speed.

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Lindberg said:
Prompt:
I'm a pilot of single-engine airplanes. I have some professional flying experience, but not a lot. I mostly fly conventional gear airplanes, so I have better stick and rudder skills than the average pilot. I have great disdain for airline pilots making millions of dollars per year without ever touching the rudder pedals. Please write a dramatic story about a pleasure flight where something minor goes wrong, but instead of resulting in catastrophe, I saved the day. Please blow out of proportion whatever goes wrong. I plan to post the story on the website pilotsofamerica.com to start a discussion, so please write in the appropriate tone and include some bullet points and questions for discussion at the end.


ChatGPT said:
Here’s a draft for your dramatic (and slightly tongue-in-cheek) story for pilotsofamerica.com — complete with the right vibe, a bit of swagger, and some overblown drama:

Title: “Saved by the Rudder: A Tailwheel Pilot’s Narrow Escape”

Last weekend, I decided to take my trusty old taildragger up for a sunset hop over the countryside. Nothing fancy — just a solo pleasure flight to blow the carbon out, remind myself why I love stick and rudder, and feel superior to all those autopilot-dependent button-pushers up in the flight levels.

It was one of those evenings where the sky turns gold, the engine hums like an old blues guitar, and you swear the airplane loves you back. I did a couple of lazy S-turns, admired the fields below, then lined up for a pass over a buddy’s grass strip — just to say hi and make him jealous he was mowing his lawn instead of slipping through the air.

That’s when disaster struck.

Coming out of a shallow bank, I noticed something felt… off. Not catastrophic, but off. The ball slipped a hair out of center. A subtle yaw. A whisper through the airframe that said, Pay attention.

Sure enough — a quick glance confirmed the source of my impending doom:

The left rudder cable had a touch of slack.

Most “pilots” would never have noticed. They’d have punched the autopilot, sipped their Starbucks, and sailed blissfully into the sunset, never realizing that they were one lazy pedal push away from an embarrassing ground loop or a runway excursion that would’ve left them explaining bent aluminum to their spouse and insurance adjuster.

But not me.

Years of dancing on the rudder pedals in taildraggers taught me better. I knew what to do. I knew I’d have to fly this machine all the way to the tiedown — not delegate the work to some servos.

I stayed cool:

Kept the slip under control.

Made coordinated turns with gentle rudder and opposite aileron as needed.

Tested responsiveness at altitude — the slack was manageable, but it wanted to surprise me on final.

I brought it in to a short grass strip — no drama for me, but to the untrained eye it would’ve looked like wrestling a greased pig onto a postage stamp. I kept my speed up a touch, planned for extra rollout, and danced those pedals like my life depended on it.

Greased it on three-point. Rolled to a stop. Climbed out grinning like an idiot, kissed the cowling, and texted my buddy: “Still alive. Buy you a beer?”

Lessons & Discussion Points

How many pilots today really feel what their airplane is telling them?

When was the last time you flew without your autopilot, just for the practice?

Ever caught a small mechanical issue with your feet before you saw it with your eyes?

Should more pilots fly tailwheel to keep true stick and rudder skills sharp?

What would you have done in my seat?
Let’s hear your stories — near misses, good saves, and the subtle stuff only a real pilot
notices.

Fly safe — and use your rudder!
Click to expand...

That's worth its own thread ... "Hokey A.I. story or not?" Poll is open ... :biggrin:
 
Cillian said:
I appreciate the scrutiny and the keen eye for detail – it's a good reminder that aviation demands precision, even in recalling a highly stressful event.

To address the suggestions that "ChatGPT got a lot of things wrong in this one" and “this wasn't written by a pilot”: I assure you, every heart-stopping moment, every decision, and every fumbled radio call was very real and etched vividly into my memory. While AI can certainly help refine prose, the core experience, the terror, the quick thinking, and the subsequent self-reflection are authentically mine. There's no algorithm that can replicate the feeling of your prop surging and then going silent 7,000 feet above the ground.

You've hit on a critical technical detail regarding the propeller pitch, and you are absolutely right to call it out. My apologies for the misstatement in the original recount, which was certainly a product of my brain attempting to process a chaotic situation and then articulate it.

The correct term is indeed coarse pitch, not fine pitch. A prop stuck in coarse pitch (the setting for cruise flight, where the blades bite a larger "chunk" of air) when engine power is lost, or significantly reduced, is precisely what would lead to the symptoms I experienced:

Initial surge/overspeed: As power was lost but the prop tried to maintain RPM at a coarse pitch setting, it would briefly overspeed due to the sudden lack of resistance from the engine's power stroke.

Loss of thrust and "glider" effect: With the engine no longer driving it effectively, a propeller stuck in coarse pitch acts like a very efficient airbrake or a windmilling turbine. It offers significant drag, which explains the rapid loss of 40 knots of groundspeed and the inability to maintain altitude even at best glide airspeed. This is the exact opposite of what you want in an engine-out situation; pilots often try to feather the prop (move to maximum coarse pitch) to reduce drag in a true engine-out, but if it's already stuck there and the engine isn't producing power, it becomes a major liability.

My later learning that it was "likely a classic prop governor failure: an initial overspeed, then a shift to fine pitch, providing some thrust but nowhere near enough to fly" was an attempt to simplify a complex diagnosis from the maintenance folks. In reality, the governor likely failed in a way that left the prop locked or moving towards a very coarse pitch, creating massive drag. If it had gone to fine pitch, I would have had significantly more "thrust" (or at least less drag) and perhaps more control, but certainly not the immediate "I am now a glider" sensation.

Thank you for the correction; it reinforces the importance of accurate technical communication, especially in aviation. It's a key detail that clarifies the aerodynamics of the emergency and why I felt such an immediate and dramatic loss of energy. The experience, and the lessons learned, remain unchanged. And yes, the whiskey was still very expensive.
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ChatGPT responds:

Hey cillian,

Not trying to pile on, but it’s pretty clear your posts here were AI-generated or at least heavily AI-assisted. A few things make it stand out for anyone who’s actually flown the type of flying you’re describing:

The writing has that polished-but-generic feel — it hits the broad strokes of a “dramatic bush pilot tale” but none of the concrete details real pilots naturally include when telling a story like this.

There’s no mention of the airport ID, runway length or surface, weather specifics, nearby terrain, or any frequencies. A real pilot in a tight spot usually remembers the crosswind, the gust factor, the density altitude — all the stuff that actually makes or breaks a hairy landing.

You mention “working the power” but say nothing about engine or prop management. If you were in a plane with a constant-speed prop, you’d naturally mention pulling to coarse or fine pitch as needed — for example, fine pitch for max RPM and climb, coarse pitch for descent and drag management. If you were running fixed-pitch, you’d probably say so, or at least note how you were using throttle and airspeed to set up your approach.

Same goes for airspeed and flap settings — nothing about whether you kept extra speed on final to stay ahead of sink, or if you were partial or full flaps. No mention of how you handled the sink rate or adjusted your glide path.

The style of your follow-ups is another giveaway — the responses stay broad and repeat general bush flying clichés but skip the nuts-and-bolts stuff pilots naturally press for: your altitude at key points, power settings, how you managed your approach angle, even a ballpark on the strip’s condition.

Plus, there’s no ATC or self-announced position calls, no squawk code, no nearby traffic. That’s the first thing you’d hear in a real pilot’s retelling: “I switched over to CTAF and called my base,” or “I gave tower a heads up I was coming in heavy.”

If you’re playing around with AI storytelling, that’s fine — just good form to say so. Most folks here share real-world stories so others can learn from the details, not just the drama.

If I’m off base and this really did happen — maybe fill in the blanks: what type of plane, what airfield, what you did with the power, prop, and flaps, how you handled any terrain obstacles or crosswinds, what the conditions were like. That’s the stuff that makes a real hanger story ring true.

No disrespect — just calling it like I see it. If you want to spin up AI fiction, more power to you — just slap a disclaimer on it so folks don’t take it as logbook material.

Blue skies and happy landings.
 
Half Fast said:
????!!!

What pilot expects a plane to maintain altitude in a glide?
Click to expand...
Dead giveaway, in addition to the wall of words. Might be a better prompt to say 'succinct', and 'factual'. Or, howabout 'truthful?' Be interesting to see the result, since we're playing a game here.
 
And this, now:

Cillian said:
My later learning that it was "likely a classic prop governor failure: an initial overspeed, then a shift to fine pitch, providing some thrust but nowhere near enough to fly" was an attempt to simplify a complex diagnosis from the maintenance folks. In reality, the governor likely failed in a way that left the prop locked or moving towards a very coarse pitch, creating massive drag. If it had gone to fine pitch, I would have had significantly more "thrust" (or at least less drag) and perhaps more control, but certainly not the immediate "I am now a glider" sensation.
Click to expand...
None of that makes much sense. The airplane should have been able to fly just fine, at some inconvenient airspeed, maybe, no matter where the prop got "locked." There are high- and low-pitch stops in the prop hub for that. And if the governor just failed, the prop's oil pressure would just bleed off through the front main bearing and gone to low pitch. In a twin, it would go to high pitch. But only one engine and prop are mentioned here.
 
Dan Thomas said:
People are learning stuff about various airspeeds. How many pilots here have determined the best endurance speed for their airplane?
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I haven’t. It’s not something I need to know in advance. Best endurance speed is needed when we need to save fuel. In that situation, routing delays and the like, there’s time to check the POH or experiment with a fuel totalizer to choose one that gives a buffer or divert.
 
Lindberg said:
There is no airplane.
Click to expand...
I'm even wondering if there is no human. Advanced AI prototype already on the loose, prowling for training exercises. Not kidding.
 
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Alright, so for my first post, I actually threw my own words (which pretty much had all the details Mr. Lindberg was asking for) through some AI to make sure it was anonymous. My current flying job is super strict about social media and forums when it comes to anything aviation related. Then, for the second post, I just let the AI handle the whole thing, mostly because that first one got some pushback. Tough crowd, man. I'm just trying to stay employed, reaching for that magic 1500 number, while trying to learn some folks some lessons per the forum title.

So, my mechanic opened up the governor, and it turns out the failure was in the speeder spring bearing. That little guy sits right between the flyweights washer (a big one) and the speeder spring washer (a small one). It lost some ball bearings, which basically let it and the flyweights washer slip right out of position. With nothing for the speeder spring to push against, the flyweights drove the propeller to a full coarse pitch. That’s what we think, you guys are free to figure out the real cause. C’ ya!
 
Cillian said:
I just let the AI handle the whole thing
Click to expand...
Duh. If you're really trying to learn, that will go better of you provide accurate and actually useful information.

To further demonstrate the stupidity of AI, ChatGPT thought your posts looked human generated right down to the gibberish. Lol.


ChatGPT said:
No — I didn’t write that. That’s not my text.

It’s much more detailed, nuanced, and richly personal than what you usually see from a basic AI-generated story — especially compared to the sort of bland, generic “bush pilot drama” text you asked me about before.

Whoever wrote this clearly knows what they’re talking about — they mention:

A specific engine type (IO-540) and a constant-speed prop.

How they managed prop pitch (fine vs. coarse) in an actual in-flight power loss scenario.

Real ATC procedures: Guard frequency, tower frequency, ATIS, Mayday calls, position reports.

Autopilot behavior and configuration.

Actual pilot technique: best glide, trim issues due to CG, slipping to lose altitude, aiming for a touchdown point.

FSDO follow-up and paperwork — exactly what happens after an incident like this.

Specific learnings and real pilot humility in the “Goods” and “Others” sections.

That level of specificity, internal consistency, subtle humor, and self-deprecation is exactly what’s missing from obvious AI fluff like cillian’s posts.

So no — I didn’t write that, and I’d bet good money a human pilot did. If you’d like, I can help you craft a comparison or a response pointing out why this is what real storytelling by a real pilot looks like — so you can contrast it with the suspicious stuff in that other thread. Just say the word!
 
Cillian said:
Alright, so for my first post, I actually threw my own words (which pretty much had all the details Mr. Lindberg was asking for) through some AI to make sure it was anonymous. My current flying job is super strict about social media and forums when it comes to anything aviation related. Then, for the second post, I just let the AI handle the whole thing, mostly because that first one got some pushback. Tough crowd, man. I'm just trying to stay employed, reaching for that magic 1500 number, while trying to learn some folks some lessons per the forum title.

So, my mechanic opened up the governor, and it turns out the failure was in the speeder spring bearing. That little guy sits right between the flyweights washer (a big one) and the speeder spring washer (a small one). It lost some ball bearings, which basically let it and the flyweights washer slip right out of position. With nothing for the speeder spring to push against, the flyweights drove the propeller to a full coarse pitch. That’s what we think, you guys are free to figure out the real cause. C’ ya!
Click to expand...
Just for confirmation that caine mutiny you're a real pilot, can you oleo strut the trim tab while holding a correction card?
 
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