other flying paranoias

Yesterday on the (Why Airplanes Crash) show they said that MIT conducted a study about Mid air collisions and said that statistically a human being needs to fly for 11 thousand years in order to be involved in one.
 
Mid-airs have caused more concern for me than anything else. I find myself feeling like I'm not being diligent if I'm not constantly scanning and only taking short breaks to check instruments, sometimes it can make flying feel very much like a chore and honestly a little less fun.
 
wrighthenry said:
I hate having traffic called out on the Zaon and never finding it. Unnerves me.
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SERIOUSLY!!!!!

And the false alarms it gives. Thing does more harm than good.
Out of nowhere it tells me I have an aircraft at my same location / alt

I am going to throw it out the window.
 
Mid airs scare me.
One time I was number 2 on final and an inbound student was told he was number 3 behind me. He said he had me in site and was taking the number 3 position and promptly became number 2 mistaking the first plane for me. Scared the ever loving hell out of me.

And what got me the most was the Tower said "Six Papa Charlie there is another aircraft in your vicinity" I am of the opinion that they should have been telling the other plane to descend, climb, stall/spin it into the ground, or whatever.

Telling me I have traffic in my vicinity gives me no indication of where or what to do.

Closest I have ever been to another plane in the air. I called it a day. landed and went home.
 
One day I gave a position report while overflying an airport and got another report in return. We were head to head and he was climbing into me (he was overflying the same airport), but I couldn't see him yet. I let him know, he just said, "I have you on the fish finder." I never did see him and I've always wondered if he ever saw me.
 
White Bird said:
Yesterday on the (Why Airplanes Crash) show they said that MIT conducted a study about Mid air collisions and said that statistically a human being needs to fly for 11 thousand years in order to be involved in one.
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Found the report.

"A person who flew continuously on a jet transport aircraft in today's environment could expect to survive more than 11,000 years of travel before becoming the victim of a mid-air collision."

https://www.ll.mit.edu/publications/journal/pdf/vol16_no2/16_2_04Kuchar.pdf

Unfortunately I think most of us private pilots are in a different risk group.
 
I have this fear that I might inadvertently take a zombie along as a passenger.

But let's say you did.... Do you jump out the door and fall to death immediately, or do you let him bit some leg off so you won't die when you crash?
 
Only once ever had another plane fairly close. One clear sunny day while flying VFR just burning holes in the sky I saw him about the same time he saw me. A white twin with yellow trim two passengers in the front about the same altitude closing fast. I know head on aircraft are supposed to go right but he was slightly angling to my right so I decided to go left and down. I saw him go to his left as well.

Not what I would call scary close but when you can see the guys face in the other plane lets just say it was a little disconcerting. :eek:

Always have to be looking. A plane coming head on can be hard to see.
 
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Animals and airplanes....
Like deer jumping out onto runway at night. (2 incidents at our airport in last 2 years)
Or birds flying up out of trees during take off or landing ( twice last week)

Just as bad is when atc identifies something at 12:00 1 mile at same altitude and ends up being flock of birds.... (2 weeks ago)

But hey it's michigan...I'm getting used to flying with the wildlife and I seem to be attracted to them....

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Bird strike. Not long ago I had a bird strike with my car driving to the airport.
I know I'll hit one eventually, probably not far into the future.
They're just all over the place!
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Mid airs scare me.
One time I was number 2 on final and an inbound student was told he was number 3 behind me. He said he had me in site and was taking the number 3 position and promptly became number 2 mistaking the first plane for me. Scared the ever loving hell out of me.
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The airport I fly out of has few options on any of the runways should an engine out occur on departure - sans landing on Interstate 35 just north of Austin, TX which is packed just about 24 hours a day now... There are a few golf courses but a ton of trees in them so anything would be dicey. That's probably the thing that scares me the most.

Mid-airs are probably next. I pickup FF 98% of the time so that helps some but still sucks when they tell you exactly where the bogey is and you can't see it..especially when he's close.

I flew up to 52F with a couple of my Partners a few months ago and that little airport is crazy. Non-towered and they do more flights per day than the towered field I operate out of. Getting in the pattern reminded me of what WW2 pilots must have seen with planes all over the place back in the day...several of them weren't on the radio and just about everyone that called in to the CTAF asked, "...anyone else in the pattern?" or something similar. One dude is flying just above pattern altitude right down the middle of the field apparently trying to stay under the DFW Bravo and isn't talking to anyone. That kind of stuff scares the bejesus out of me. Luckily I had two other sets of eyes - both pilots - in the plane.
 
kenjr said:
I flew up to 52F with a couple of my Partners a few months ago and that little airport is crazy. Non-towered and they do more flights per day than the towered field I operate out of. Getting in the pattern reminded me of what WW2 pilots must have seen with planes all over the place back in the day...several of them weren't on the radio and just about everyone that called in to the CTAF asked, "...anyone else in the pattern?" or something similar. One dude is flying just above pattern altitude right down the middle of the field apparently trying to stay under the DFW Bravo and isn't talking to anyone. That kind of stuff scares the bejesus out of me. Luckily I had two other sets of eyes - both pilots - in the plane.
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HAHAH That is my home field. Everyone thinks they are in the air force and are doing overhead breaks. "Anyone in the pattern please advise" is the only radio call people use in the pattern.

Honestly, I'm scared flying in and out of 52F but $150 / month for hangar space...
 
I agree with fear of Midairs in the pattern. On the pre-checkride flight with my CFI, I was working the RH pattern to 16 at a quiet uncontrolled field after checking the windsock and the nearest ATIS and on downwind of our 2nd pattern we had a radioless taildragger decide that he needed to setup a LH downwind for 34!:yikes:

Language used in the cockpit is not reprintable; but that fear will stay with me for a good long while.
 
Never been that paranoid about particular incidents (maybe I should be). What scares me is the thought that someday i could let my gaurd down, do something really stupid, and be responsible for the death of some of my friends. I guess this is just one of the things you have to always live with when you become a pilot. Hopefully it will serve as motivation to NEVER become complacent.


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Tmpendergrass said:
Never been that paranoid about particular incidents (maybe I should be). What scares me is the thought that someday i could let my gaurd down, do something really stupid, and be responsible for the death of some of my friends. I guess this is just one of the things you have to always live with when you become a pilot. Hopefully it will serve as motivation to NEVER become complacent.


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I have this battle in my head when I am flying my kids.
"Let's go have a fun day of flying, sightseeing and grab some lunch"

Then we get up and I start thinking that they have no idea that there is any risk in this activity. Gives me pause from time to time.
 
Having a pet or my child in the plane. ..baggage door accidentally pops open...no more pet or child.

When I used to fly with my dog Piper, I would actually put a board across the baggage door just in case.
 
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