drgwentzel
Pre-takeoff checklist
Flyers,
I thought I’d relate an incident that happened to me today (11-25-12). I was flying two friends down to Long Beach Island and Seaside Heights, NJ because one was former homeowner and he wanted to see his old house and the area from the air (he’s 94, a pilot, former ’63, Mooney and 210 driver and hasn’t flown in a couple decades. He also bought the house in 1960 and two years later got hit by *The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962*, but I’m really digressing here).
After our sightseeing trip, we were entering the pattern back at my home airport and I reduced power to slow down. I was just a bit below 150 mph and I reached for the flap handle and said, “Below 150, Flaps 10”. Normally after that, it takes a few seconds to get below 140 to put the gear out, but today I looked at the airspeed indicator and it was well below 140 immediately. Hmmm…I put the gear out. Next thing I noticed is that the airspeed was now about 80 mph and the plane was struggling to maintain that speed. I added power and looked at the flap switch. I was in the 10 degree position and the little indicator showed 10 degrees as well. I looked over my left shoulder and saw what looked like 20 or 30 degrees of flaps. I raised them to 0 and immediately set 10 degrees again. Same thing happened, 20 to 30 degrees came out.
I just added power and dragged the plane on downwind and base and once on final I did a normal landing. On the ground I tested it and sure enough setting any flap position except 0 resulted in 30 degrees of flaps coming out.
Now I was asking myself, “What flap setting came out on our take-off? 10 degrees, or 30?!” Fortunately, because this was a sightseeing trip I had two video camera running looking out of each side window for the entire flight. I reviewed them and luckily there was only 10 degrees out on take-off. I started to wonder the “what if’s”.
What if I said yes to my one friend’s request who wanted his wife to come along (add 180 pounds). I said no because that would put us about 20 pounds overweight with that. But I considered saying yes and taking out a little fuel and emptying the rear cargo area and we could have been at 2800 pounds, my max gross weight. What if she came AND the 30 degrees of flaps came out on takeoff and escaped my notice? Moreover, it was windy/gusty today in the NE and the winds were 10 knots gusting 20 when we took off. I strong gust could have gotten us in the air and then suddenly stopped compounding the problem. How fast would I have figured it out? Would I have figured it out before any real trouble started to bite? It could have been an accident chain that fortuitously did not assemble itself this day, but the potential was there!
This is what I learned: When I set the 10 degrees of flaps for take-off, I do it during the run-up so I can check the amp meter. So my eyes are on the gauge and not the flaps and I just leave them at 10 degrees because that is what my plane calls for on a normal takeoff. Almost all the time I also look over my shoulders to see that 10 degrees indeed came out and that they are symmetrically extended. I truly cannot remember if I did this or not on this flight. Maybe I did, but I made no mental note of it.
So my advice to the group is to make this part of your pre-takeoff check list. If you have to set flaps for your takeoff, before you move on to the next item, look at the flap switch, look at the indicator next to it and look over your shoulders and make sure they all agree.
Gene Wentzel – 1971 Cessna Cardinal RG
PS: My mechanic said that there is a spring behind the switch that probably broke and needs replacing. He said if this happens you will get All or Nothing as far as flaps go.
I thought I’d relate an incident that happened to me today (11-25-12). I was flying two friends down to Long Beach Island and Seaside Heights, NJ because one was former homeowner and he wanted to see his old house and the area from the air (he’s 94, a pilot, former ’63, Mooney and 210 driver and hasn’t flown in a couple decades. He also bought the house in 1960 and two years later got hit by *The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962*, but I’m really digressing here).
After our sightseeing trip, we were entering the pattern back at my home airport and I reduced power to slow down. I was just a bit below 150 mph and I reached for the flap handle and said, “Below 150, Flaps 10”. Normally after that, it takes a few seconds to get below 140 to put the gear out, but today I looked at the airspeed indicator and it was well below 140 immediately. Hmmm…I put the gear out. Next thing I noticed is that the airspeed was now about 80 mph and the plane was struggling to maintain that speed. I added power and looked at the flap switch. I was in the 10 degree position and the little indicator showed 10 degrees as well. I looked over my left shoulder and saw what looked like 20 or 30 degrees of flaps. I raised them to 0 and immediately set 10 degrees again. Same thing happened, 20 to 30 degrees came out.
I just added power and dragged the plane on downwind and base and once on final I did a normal landing. On the ground I tested it and sure enough setting any flap position except 0 resulted in 30 degrees of flaps coming out.
Now I was asking myself, “What flap setting came out on our take-off? 10 degrees, or 30?!” Fortunately, because this was a sightseeing trip I had two video camera running looking out of each side window for the entire flight. I reviewed them and luckily there was only 10 degrees out on take-off. I started to wonder the “what if’s”.
What if I said yes to my one friend’s request who wanted his wife to come along (add 180 pounds). I said no because that would put us about 20 pounds overweight with that. But I considered saying yes and taking out a little fuel and emptying the rear cargo area and we could have been at 2800 pounds, my max gross weight. What if she came AND the 30 degrees of flaps came out on takeoff and escaped my notice? Moreover, it was windy/gusty today in the NE and the winds were 10 knots gusting 20 when we took off. I strong gust could have gotten us in the air and then suddenly stopped compounding the problem. How fast would I have figured it out? Would I have figured it out before any real trouble started to bite? It could have been an accident chain that fortuitously did not assemble itself this day, but the potential was there!
This is what I learned: When I set the 10 degrees of flaps for take-off, I do it during the run-up so I can check the amp meter. So my eyes are on the gauge and not the flaps and I just leave them at 10 degrees because that is what my plane calls for on a normal takeoff. Almost all the time I also look over my shoulders to see that 10 degrees indeed came out and that they are symmetrically extended. I truly cannot remember if I did this or not on this flight. Maybe I did, but I made no mental note of it.
So my advice to the group is to make this part of your pre-takeoff check list. If you have to set flaps for your takeoff, before you move on to the next item, look at the flap switch, look at the indicator next to it and look over your shoulders and make sure they all agree.
Gene Wentzel – 1971 Cessna Cardinal RG
PS: My mechanic said that there is a spring behind the switch that probably broke and needs replacing. He said if this happens you will get All or Nothing as far as flaps go.
