jkaduk said:
That's quite a story. Do you mind giving a few more details? Cause, NTSB report etc. I understand if not. Did you have any trepidation when you learned to fly?
It's one of those "I wish I knew then, what I know now" stories. The cause was the plane was over gross and the pilot did terrible flight planning (although he still argues about that I'm told). Had I had even an little bit of ground school before then, I'd have never gotten in the plane that day. Looking back, I can remember how upset the pilot was that the fueler had put more fuel in the right tank that he asked for, and instead of having it pumped out, he decided to attempt the flight anyway. He said he redid his calculations and we'd be fine. He was supposed to be the expert, so I didn't question him.. stupid!
Anyway, the NTSB report is here:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X25252&key=1
As far as it causing trepidation during my flight lessons later on, I did have MAJOR trouble with stall practice. During the accident, I can remember the right wing dropping, and it felt like I was looking straight down at the runway, it did it twice, and I just knew I was going to die at that point.
When I started taking flying lessons later on, and that right wing would break in the stall, I'd be near panic. White knuckles was an understatement. I didn't think I'd make it through that part of training. I was convinced that the next thing that happened would be us falling out of the sky. My instructor asked me if I would go up with him for an hour of aerobatic instruction in his Citabria with stalls/spin practice so that I could see for myself that the plane could be recovered and we wouldn't just fall out of the sky. I agreed, but I was worried. Turns out I had a blast. We did an hour of spins, loops, rolls and anything else he could think of. He did the maneuver first, and then let me do it.. and I had fun. After that, I didn't have a problem with stalls. I even talked him into another hour a few weeks later just to make sure
Lisa
