other flying paranoias

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
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kojc, kixd, k34
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Matthew
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K34
We have one guy with a fear of wing spar failure.

Mine is the base-to-final stall/spin. I don't know why, but it is. I did watch someone spin in from low altitude, maybe that has something to do with it.

Other than the normal "Astronaut's Prayer", anybody have anything else?
 
Loosing my medical,while still making payments on my plane.
 
frfly172 said:
Loosing my medical,while still making payments on my plane.
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Sign a $7,500 check to pick my plane up from the avionics shop on Monday and renew my medical next week. I don't anticipate any issues but it would royally suck to have my new panel and not be able to play with it.
 
In most airplanes, mid-airs. Seems like the first tasks that gets off-loaded when attention is required elsewhere is scanning for traffic.

In taildraggers, ground loop. Probably wouldn't kill me, but I just really, really don't want to let that happen to me.

In helicopters, wires.
 
I get the heebie geebies sometimes, undefinable. They seem to disappear once airborne.

Fear of the unknown? Also, I don't like the feeling of being lost.
 
Engine failure on departure. My prayer before takeoff goes something like "Dear God, if the engine is destined to fail today please let that happen at pattern altitude or greater."
 
Mid-airs.

A traffic alert system was recently installed in one of the club airplanes. It didn't help my fears. There's A LOT of airplanes out there and I usually never see them.
 
Missing something obvious on a preflight.

Also not being able to recover from a spin. Was a bit shocked when I read multis don't have to demonstrate spin recovery :yikes:
 
Throw me down for wing spar failure. Especially the first time I looked back at the wings on an F/A-18B during high-g maneuvering. The CATM-9 on the wingtip was shaking like a leaf!

Structural failure is probably my biggest paranoia while flying, probably because it is the factor that I feel I have the least amount of control over...
 
Engine fire or cockpit fire hangs in my head more than most.

I carry fire suppressants overboard a little.

I wouldn't mind having a firewall forward suppression system even though I know the chances of it ever being used is slim to none.
 
Old Geek said:
Engine failure over mountainous terrain.
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Had one at TPA after takeoff, engine failure that is. Flew 2.5 today without an engine, so no, a TPA engine rollback was no issue. But over mountains? Yes that would be an issue.
 
I'm not so afraid of catastrophic control or airframe failure at 1000' or above considering the plane I fly has a ballistic chute. Midair collisions definitely top the list but I've got constant awareness and a TCAS to back that all up. I suspect that I would probably never see a midair collision coming if it occurred, and it would most likely incapacitate or kill me instantly, or result in a fire. All of which are scenarios in which the BRS wouldn't be able to be deployed or would do more harm than good.

A good pilot has to accept that flight comes with inherent risks.
 
jordane93 said:
having the door open mid flight..wait that already happened to me
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My now paranoia happened to me on my first lesson:hairraise:. Climbing out at Vx, the pax door popped open and out at 100ft AGL. Didn't bother me until the CFI physically leaned WAY out of the 152 to close it & I realized my instructor was dangling out in open air, with the only thing between me and an unscheduled solo at 0.2 hours was a fraying 20 y/o lap belt.
 
After seeing other responses, I have to admit that every time I fill out my medical before heading to my AME, I wonder if it'll be my last time.

A fear of a midair fire is something else that crops up on occasion.

And every time I take a non-pilot passenger I really take a deep breath, it's a big responsibility.
 
warthog1984 said:
My now paranoia happened to me on my first lesson:hairraise:. Climbing out at Vx, the pax door popped open and out at 100ft AGL. Didn't bother me until the CFI physically leaned WAY out of the 152 to close it & I realized my instructor was dangling out in open air, with the only thing between me and an unscheduled solo at 0.2 hours was a fraying 20 y/o lap belt.
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Ah yes, the old "dangling out the door in open air" fear. You need to watch the first few minutes of this old Ripcord TV episode:

 
vdehart said:
Engine failure on departure. My prayer before takeoff goes something like "Dear God, if the engine is destined to fail today please let that happen at pattern altitude or greater."
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Yes and you should add especially when I am actually in the pattern..
 
My wife realizing what airplanes actually cost and her wanting to spend an equal amount on something frivolous! :yikes:
 
N747JB said:
My wife realizing what airplanes actually cost and her wanting to spend an equal amount on something frivolous! :yikes:
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That one makes me lose sleep, too.

The thought of in-flight structural failure doesn't seem to bother me that much. Probably because, unless I put myself in a stupid situation and cause it, there's nothing I can do about it other than fly whatever is left of the plane.
 
vdehart said:
Engine failure on departure. My prayer before takeoff goes something like "Dear God, if the engine is destined to fail today please let that happen at pattern altitude or greater."
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Same here. Engine failure in flight is something I can deal with. On departure, options are fewer.

At least with it being winter, I have two good sized frozen lakes to land on South and West of the airport:)
 
MadseasoN said:
Mid-airs.

A traffic alert system was recently installed in one of the club airplanes. It didn't help my fears. There's A LOT of airplanes out there and I usually never see them.
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:yeahthat:

Also surviving the impact and dying in the post-crash inferno. Man, I don't think I should fly anymore...or even leave the house. :yikes:
 
warthog1984 said:
My now paranoia happened to me on my first lesson:hairraise:. Climbing out at Vx, the pax door popped open and out at 100ft AGL. Didn't bother me until the CFI physically leaned WAY out of the 152 to close it & I realized my instructor was dangling out in open air, with the only thing between me and an unscheduled solo at 0.2 hours was a fraying 20 y/o lap belt.
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Not to contradict you but I've had doors pop open during initial climbout more than once in both Cessna 170 and Taylorcraft, tends to trail about 2 inches open, hard to push it out into the airstream far enuf' to get a good "slam" to shut it again. Biggest danger is if you're alone in the airplane don't let it distract you so much you lose control of the airplane.
 
peerlesscowboy said:
Not to contradict you but I've had doors pop open during initial climbout more than once in both Cessna 170 and Taylorcraft, tends to trail about 2 inches open, hard to push it out into the airstream far enuf' to get a good "slam" to shut it again. Biggest danger is if you're alone in the airplane don't let it distract you so much you lose control of the airplane.
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Yeah, for whatever reason that door decided to be contrary *shrug*. The door popping open didn't really distract me- the thought of the CFI slipping through the lap belt and going bye-bye started to take a toll on my sanguine nature, however.
 
Engine failure on departure for me too. Especially with nothing but trees and crowds below.
 
Geez. Now you guy are making me paranoid of engine failures right after takeoff. Something else to add to my list.
 
Matthew said:
We have one guy with a fear of wing spar failure.

Mine is the base-to-final stall/spin. I don't know why, but it is. I did watch someone spin in from low altitude, maybe that has something to do with it.
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Sounds like you need a good AoA system.:D
 
gismo said:
Sounds like you need a good AoA system.:D
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The thing is, because I'm hyper aware of it it'll probably never happen. But since I've seen what CAN happen, I think it really makes me understand what can happen if I mess it up. So I end up putting a lot of extra pressure on myself not to mess up.
 
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