Made the plane go backwards

Morne

Morne

Line Up and Wait
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Sep 18, 2011
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Morne
...and sadly not by slow flight into a stiff breeze.

Was out messing around Saturday, just enjoying the good weather. Landed at a couple of new airports for me, the last of which was 10G (Holmes County, OH). Taxied over to a parking spot and shut down. Slid the seat back to get out and the bird started rolling backwards! Yes, I was on a bit of a slope, but it was still a surprise.

So I dropped down in front of the seat and jammed back on the brake pedals. Just about the time I was starting to think that I would have to start the plane back up and taxi to a flatter spot the FBO crew ran out and chocked my wheels. Whew!

That was a very odd feeling. Anybody else had a plane roll unexpectedly while solo?
 
Sorry but no, my airplane has a parking brake. Have had it not roll when it was supposed to for a number of reasons, some utterly stupid on my part.
 
It doesn't take a lot of wind to move my ride - trying to put gas in a moving target is fun. :D

When I pull up in front of the hangar, (lining up leaves the tailwheel unlocked) by the time I open the door it can be pointed in a different direction. I usually just let it move - but I do carry chocks.

It helps to put the tailwheel over the edge of the ramp on the grass if that is an option.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
It doesn't take a lot of wind to move my ride - trying to put gas in a moving target is fun. :D

When I pull up in front of the hangar, (lining up leaves the tailwheel unlocked) by the time I open the door it can be pointed in a different direction. I usually just let it move - but I do carry chocks.

It helps to put the tailwheel over the edge of the ramp on the grass if that is an option.
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"Bad example: It's a tough job, but someone has to do it."​

Reminds me of my driving motto: "Drive offensively - be the other guy."
​
 
steingar said:
Sorry but no, my airplane has a parking brake. Have had it not roll when it was supposed to for a number of reasons, some utterly stupid on my part.
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My CFI so drilled it into my head to never trust the parking brake that I just don't use it.

I had chocks in my baggage compartment, but the trick would have been getting to them before my plane rolled back into the valley...
 
The opposite is interesting as well. The line crew at Hooks in Houston is quite diligent about chocking airplanes on the ramp. One night I pulled the nose-wheel chocks on my King Air prior to departure, and they reset the chocks before I could get the door shut and walk through the aisle to the cockpit.
 
@Wayne... reminds me of the schmancy eateries where one small sip of your water glass brings out a flock of busboy's to refill it.
 
I had an interesting experience in this vein, once.

The club Debonair was fresh out of the shop with a brand spankin’ new 550 in it; nice day, I needed to fly, so I just took it out and flew it, a round-robin flight to a few nice country airports.

One of the airports at which I stopped was Decatur, Texas (KLUD), where I parked on the ramp and commenced to wandering around the open T-hangars, looking at airplanes both nice and abandoned, and generally just enjoying the spring day and the quiet joy of being a pilot. After thirty minutes or so of wandering about, I strolled back to the ramp. Noting the late afternoon sun made a nice sight, I took a number of pictures of the plane - some real gems.

I stepped back behind the right wing, preparing to board and fly back home, and as I stood there, I felt the wing nudge the back of my leg... rolling downhill. It was just starting to roll. Between the plane and the edge of the ramp, there was nothing, then from the ramp to the runway, a gentle but significant slope, then the runway, then a pretty good slope into a creek.

Why I did not tie down or chock, I can’t say... why the plane did not start rolling until I was standing there (I had not touched it), also unknown. But it sure could have been ugly!

That was a nice plane, sweet and well-balanced, climbed like a homesick angel and once trimmed out, you could fly it all day long with a gentle nudge of the rudder pedals. Sadly, she was destroyed, with four souls on board, not long thereafter, but that’s another story entirely.
 
Never been caught unawares (by that particular problem, anyway)... and sometimes, it can be handy.
I used to rent from a school that parked their small feet on the downslope edge of a gently sloped apron, with the tails overhanging the grass. I got pretty good at turning a Cessna around at just the right spot so that it would slowly back itself into the parking space. :D
 
SCCutler said:
That was a nice plane, sweet and well-balanced, climbed like a homesick angel and once trimmed out, you could fly it all day long with a gentle nudge of the rudder pedals. Sadly, she was destroyed, with four souls on board, not long thereafter, but that’s another story entirely.
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Well that really s*cks. :(
 
In a single, once, at the fuel pumps at Friday Harbor there is a nice little slope. Not owning a Bonanza, (Just a poor Comanche 250 pilot), I wasn't authorized to walk off leaving the pumps blocked to see about a tiedown, so I had my wife walk the tail as I let off the brake and we rolled backwards out of the way. In the old Hercs I used to drive, any time I lifted the throttles to the Beta detent!!!
 
My father was flying a 60 Saberliner in the early 70s and had the surprise of finding it rolling across the ramp at Wiley Post one day. The line crew had just pulled it out of the hangar and didn't chock it. He got the big brute stopped before it hit anything.
 
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