What was your closest call?

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

May the force be with you
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Been a crappy couple weeks for GA

Anyone here have a story and what they learned from it? Care to share for the benefit of others?

Bird strikes?
Engine out?
Engine out at night???
Anyone survive a crash?

So anyone have an incident where they can point to a key factor that was the difference between a bad ending and a less bad ending? "the reason I was able to walk away was because I did..."

If so how did it change your flying and perception about flight safety?
 
I was umpiring in a tournament and there was a bang-bang play at first. I called the batter-runner out.

I thought about that call while flying later on.
 
I literally held the phone right to my ear the other day trying to hear over the background noise. It was a pretty close call.
 
I had unreported wind shear -- with a sudden 15 knot loss over the fence in a short field landing.

Do the math -- 60 KIAS approach speed, 15 knot loss, 47 knot stall speed (max gross). Fortunately, I was light (solo, fuel to tabs) and it only mushed. But it did plop on the runway and bounce, with a successful go-around on the bounce. No prop strike nor gear damage. Got very lucky.

It went from a really nice short field approach to the stall warning blasting, with sudden sink and pitch down, very close to the runway. It's somewhat comforting that the reflexive response I had was to firewall the throttle -- it was gunned before I realized what was going on, and this almost certainly softened the bounce and moderated the pitch.

The next approach was done with half the (unreported) gust factor and was uneventful. A careful inspection of the aircraft showed no damage. Not even a new flat spot on the tires (that really surprised me).

Lesson: Look at the **** wind sock on short final and don't believe Tower's wind check even if you ask (I did).
 
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Instructing from the back seat of a Citabria out of Opa Locka, we were given a left downwind departure to the practice area by the tower.

There was a sudden WHUMP! as a helicopter passed just over us from the right rear, where both of us would be totally blind anyway. Felt it before we heard or saw it. I'd say the vertical separation was no more than about 25'.

Sadly, there was a similar, fatal crash there later:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...n8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dmUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2859,3107976
 
Don't really have anything except an uneventful alternator failure.

I wasn't flying but was in the right seat with a pilot practicing stalls in a 172. We must have not been coordinated when it broke because one wing dipped and the onset of a spin occurred. Probably about 3/4 of a full turn before we got out of that probably didn't lose more than 600 ft out of 3,000 but being presolo at the time it was very startling to see the pilot working the ailerons and rudder without an immediate effect.

Lesson learned is do NOT stall the plane in a skidding turn to final. Even 3/4 of a turn and 600 feet will be too much when you're that low.
 
Engine failure at night in helicopter(from a hover.) Was a passenger on a twin that lost a wheel landing and departed the runway in the Philippines. Parachute related shenanigans too numerous to count.
Lessons learned, **** happens, sporty stuff is fun, and every day is a good day to die.
 
1964 Tablada Air Base Sevilla Spain. I was making a guest jump out of a Stinson 108. I was in the back, the door was off, the right hand seat back was removed but the seat was still there. This was the first time I had jumped with them. I was used to every one bombing out at the cut.

When the throttle was cut my buddy Juan Jo left and the pilot advanced the throttle. I was hurrying climbing over the seat bottom when my reserve handle caught on something and popped me out of the plane. My reserve went UNDER the tail rather than on top. The pilot was not wearing a chute.

Paul
Salome, AZ.
 
I am not familiar with skydiving so I will ask. What does all that mean?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I am not familiar with skydiving so I will ask. What does all that mean?
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His parachute opened while he was in the plane and dragged him out. Sometimes when this happens the parachute goes over the tail destroying the airplane and or killing the jumper. Hence him mentioning the pilot was not wearing a bailout parachute(required via stc in some jump planes.) Unpleasant stuff.
 
I caught a runway irregularity at an inopportune moment departing a narrow grass strip one day about 15 years ago. The airplane made a substantial yaw towards the edge of the runway (and most importantly a hangar). It took a lot of piloting in 4 or 5 seconds and right at stall speed to miss the hangar. By the time I reached the hangar, I knew I was going to miss it, but it was pretty close. Witnesses thought the wingtip missed the hangar by 5' or so.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Been a crappy couple weeks for GA

Anyone here have a story and what they learned from it? Care to share for the benefit of others?
Click to expand...

I've posted this before. This is probably the closest call I know of.

On a very dark moonless night flight over darkest Missouri, I had planned to have a 45 minute reserve at our refueling airport.

The headwind began earlier in the flight than expected. Reserve was then down to 30 minutes.

We arrived at the destination airport. I gave the mic 5 clicks a couple times, and the runway lights would not come on. Turns out that it was one that took 7 clicks. I knew some took 7 to change intensity, but had never run into one in my years of flying that took 7 to turn on, so that didn't even cross my mind. There was an airport where lights stayed on continuously 12 minutes away, so rather than waste my 30 minutes of dwindling fuel troubleshooting lights I headed there.

The link in the chain that I was not aware of at the time is that I had incorrectly remembered flying 2.3 instead of 2.6 hours on the previous flight. The 30 minutes I thought I had was 10. The first tank went dry almost immediately and the second 4 miles short of the airport (exactly when it should have). By the grace of God we made it to a highway and set down with no damage to us or the plane. Passed under a power line on roll out. Another circle at the first airport and we'd have ended up in a black hole of lakes and trees.

Could have been so easily prevented. Should have been so much worse. The Highway Patrol and FAA were wonderful. A letter listing my "violations" was put in my file and expunged 2 years later.

Never, never let the little things pile up. They gnaw away at your survival.
 
3 engine outs in ultralights, 2 stroke engines seized up, ran out of gas once.

Canopy opened in flight on a single seat. Had to hold the canopy with one hand and kill the engine over the airport and dead stick the plane in.

Got caught on top flying CC down in Mississippi. Kept climbing to 12500' to stay above the clouds looking for VFR and found none. Called ATC and they vectored me to a place where there there were 3,000' clouds AGL. Took me 15 mins in the clouds descending, picking up ice on the way down, until I broke through the clouds and scud run for 2 hours. ATC was great.

Had a plane come over the top of me when I was on final. He never saw me.

Been luckier than most, but never felt out of control. Keep my options open and realized I was in trouble and asked for help when I could.
 
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Geico266 said:
3 engine outs in ultralights, 2 stroke engines seized up, ran out of gas once.

Canopy opened in flight on a single seat. Had to hold the canopy with one hand and kill the engine over the airport and dead stick the plane in.

Got caught on top flying CC down in Mississippi. Kept climbing to 12500' looking for VFR and found none. Called ATC and they vectored me to a place where there there were 3,000' clouds AGL. Took me 15 mins in the clouds descending, picking up ice until I broke through the clouds and scud run for 2 hours. ATC was great.

Had a plane come over the top of me when I was on final. He never saw me.

Been luckier than most, but never felt out of control. Keep my options open and realized I was in trouble and asked for help when I could.
Click to expand...

Why does an open canopy require a dead stick landing?
 
Crew chief on a helicopter in W. Germany in a snow storm. Landed in a field, stayed warm by cranking the APU every 30 minutes, woke up to a 1000' tower in front of us the next morning. A cable was 300' away. I am still in touch with the CW4 that saved our bacon that evening.

Landed an underpowered 172 into a headwind on a small mountain top runway failing to understand how air flows like water. I was at full power on long final and could not remain on glideslope. I came in much higher the next time in there.

Checked wx, preflighted, took off on a 20 min flight in a 172 on a very hot humid day with bkn to ovc at 5000'. Half way there, dark rain shafts then dust clouds formed in all directions within a few minutes. I believe the prop vibrations were the cause. My wingtips were real close to touching the ground during that wild landing. I started studying weather in depth and purchased xm wx after that.

Flying at 2,500' msl in a new to me old 172 on our first "unplanned" family night flight we all started hearing country music in our headsets. Now, I check notam's every flight(especially for unlit 1200' towers), always fly several hundred feet above MEF at night and usually several thousand feet above, carry two flashlights, always have 2-3 gps's on board, know what time the sun sets at the destination and know how to find the door post light switch or interior lighting.

Those first 100 hours were rough. I wish I had all of you mentors on here back then when I did not know of POA. All of you newbies...please pay close attention to this thread.
 
ebykowsky said:
Why does an open canopy require a dead stick landing?
Click to expand...

I had to hold it shut with one hand. If it went up again it could have broken off and hit the tail. It was a "turtle deck" canopy that tipped to the side, not up. You can't fly an RV-3 with one hand. :nono:
 
geneseib said:
I've posted this before. This is probably the closest call I know of.

On a very dark moonless night flight over darkest Missouri, I had planned to have a 45 minute reserve at our refueling airport.

The headwind began earlier in the flight than expected. Reserve was then down to 30 minutes.

We arrived at the destination airport. I gave the mic 5 clicks a couple times, and the runway lights would not come on. Turns out that it was one that took 7 clicks. I knew some took 7 to change intensity, but had never run into one in my years of flying that took 7 to turn on, so that didn't even cross my mind. There was an airport where lights stayed on continuously 12 minutes away, so rather than waste my 30 minutes of dwindling fuel troubleshooting lights I headed there.

The link in the chain that I was not aware of at the time is that I had incorrectly remembered flying 2.3 instead of 2.6 hours on the previous flight. The 30 minutes I thought I had was 10. The first tank went dry almost immediately and the second 4 miles short of the airport (exactly when it should have). By the grace of God we made it to a highway and set down with no damage to us or the plane. Passed under a power line on roll out. Another circle at the first airport and we'd have ended up in a black hole of lakes and trees.

Could have been so easily prevented. Should have been so much worse. The Highway Patrol and FAA were wonderful. A letter listing my "violations" was put in my file and expunged 2 years later.

Never, never let the little things pile up. They gnaw away at your survival.
Click to expand...


Just Wow!
That is a coin flip, and yours landed on the right side.
damn.
 
RV10flyer said:
Flying at 2,500' msl in a new to me old 172 on our first "unplanned" family night flight we all started hearing country music in our headsets. Now, I check notam's every flight(especially for unlit 1200' towers), always fly several hundred feet above MEF at night and usually several thousand feet above, carry two flashlights, always have 2-3 gps's on board, know what time the sun sets at the destination and know how to find the door post light switch or interior lighting.
Click to expand...

:yikes::yikes::yikes:
 
Geico266 said:
I had to hold it shut with one hand. If it went up again it could have broken off and hit the tail. It was a "turtle deck" canopy that tipped to the side, not up. You can't fly an RV-3 with one hand. :nono:
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So by "kill the engine", you mean pull it to idle, not cut the mixture I assume.
 
RV10flyer said:
Flying at 2,500' msl in a new to me old 172 on our first "unplanned" family night flight we all started hearing country music in our headsets. Now, I check notam's every flight(especially for unlit 1200' towers), always fly several hundred feet above MEF at night and usually several thousand feet above, carry two flashlights, always have 2-3 gps's on board, know what time the sun sets at the destination and know how to find the door post light switch or interior lighting.
Click to expand...


I don't understand this one.. Country music?
 
1. In a 172 doing instrument training with a student non-radar and VFR. I heard an engine noise that was not ours. Saw a flash out the right window of a CAP 182, his wing just missed our strut. He was on the wrong UNICOM and doing G1000 training so no one was looking out the window.
2. Flying in Kuwait right by a Patriot missile battery I heard "Aircraft squawking 1234, this is Kuwait Air Defense on guard. Identify yourself immediately or you will be fired upon." I thought nothing of it since we were on the air tasking order until my crew chief looked over my shoulder at the transponder and said, "Sir, that's our squawk. They're talking to us." For a few moments I thought the last thing I would see in this life would be a flaming telephone pole streaking toward me.
 
FastEddieB said:
Instructing from the back seat of a Citabria out of Opa Locka, we were given a left downwind departure to the practice area by the tower.

There was a sudden WHUMP! as a helicopter passed just over us from the right rear, where both of us would be totally blind anyway. Felt it before we heard or saw it. I'd say the vertical separation was no more than about 25'.

Sadly, there was a similar, fatal crash there later:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...n8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dmUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2859,3107976
Click to expand...

An irony that the accident was in Florida, but Google located the story in the Lewiston(Maine) Daily Sun.

HR
 
I learned that a Piper Tomahawk would carry an inch of ice. No one should know that a Tomahawk will carry an inch of ice.
 
Kristin said:
I learned that a Piper Tomahawk would carry an inch of ice. No one should know that a Tomahawk will carry an inch of ice.
Click to expand...


Unfortunately, I found that out the hard way as well.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
MarkZ said:
Unfortunately, I found that out the hard way as well.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I was fortunate to have a large runway available. I hope you were as lucky.
 
FastEddieB said:
Instructing from the back seat of a Citabria out of Opa Locka, we were given a left downwind departure to the practice area by the tower.

There was a sudden WHUMP! as a helicopter passed just over us from the right rear, where both of us would be totally blind anyway. Felt it before we heard or saw it. I'd say the vertical separation was no more than about 25'.

Sadly, there was a similar, fatal crash there later:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...n8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dmUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2859,3107976
Click to expand...

I hope they improve safety procedures at your airport.

From the article '...the Opa-Locka airport and another near Van Nuys is competing for busiest in the nation'....did they forget about KATL?
 
Simultaneous electrical fire and control system hydraulic leak at sea in a H-46. Had to set it on a deck while the controls were unstable. The deck crew chained us down while it was still running so we wouldn't go over the side, the bravest thing I've ever seen.

Got clouded in while flying below the ridge line of a mountain pass in Japan, too close to 10000 feet to climb, nowhere to land (valley descended into a sharp V). Had to scud run at low speed, we passed houses above us on the ridge. Tried to get radar vectors, the controller could not see us, I could hear the sorrow in his voice. Finally broke out into a valley, the ceiling lifted and we completed the flight.

I sweated through my flight suit both times.
 
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IMC, daytime. I was inside a cloud shelf, but it was beautiful VFR right where I was headed. That's where a Bonanza was cruising along, at 90 deg to me. Controller gave a frantic traffic alert, my CFI and I cranked in a hard turn. We popped out of the cloud, saw what was written on the other pilot's kneeboard, then popped back in. VFR cloud clearances are there for a reason.
 
RV10flyer said:
Radio towers must put out some serious power.
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FM is very close in frequency to the aviation band. Not difficult to have inter modulation or image frequencies show up in your radio if you get close. And they do put out up to 100,000 watts.

In the days of analog TV with transmitters that put out 5 million watts, I could circle an antenna and hear the sync buzz on my radio. Could even determine the direction of maximum radiation from a directional antenna. Fried my first GPS that way, but it was still under warranty. ;)
 
A few almost-midairs... One was a Bo called as traffic by ATC while I was doing my IR training. II didn't see him, I pulled the hood off just in time to see him come from about our 4:00 and go about 100 feet in front of us and 20 feet below.

Then there was the Cessna that was at a 90-degree angle to us over the northwoods - Probably less than 100 souls within 100 miles, but there was a Cessna at my altitude, passed right to left a few hundred feet in front, same altitude. CFI passenger never saw them.

The worst close call was not really a midair but would have been a runway incursion accident. I was taking off from an airport that was way below VFR mins and I had gotten my clearance already. Out of habit, I looked up final before I pulled onto the runway - Couldn't see a thing except gray. Pulled onto the runway and as I reached for the throttle a Bonanza roared about 30 feet over me and then back up into the clouds. :mad2:


I think the time that I was the most scared was when I'd painted myself into a corner - Flying IFR through a saddle near the Big Horn range, MEA on the airway 12,000 feet. It was August, so I hadn't even thought about ice, but the clouds didn't care, and I did start picking up ice. Didn't know how high the tops might be or how high the ice might go, but that high I didn't think I'd have the performance to climb out of it. I was already at the MEA, so couldn't go down. It was only a trace of ice, but it made my heart race more than any other time.
 
No close aircraft calls, but took a deer strike on the motorcycle and didn't go down, didn't even damage the bke. Damned lucky and my closest call yet. I hate deer, shoot all you want!
 
Jaybird180 said:
From the article '...the Opa-Locka airport and another near Van Nuys is competing for busiest in the nation'....did they forget about KATL?
Click to expand...

At the time, I recall that in terms of daily aircraft operations, Opa Locka was one of the busiest airports in the country.

There was a very large flight school, Burnside-Ott, that I taught at for a while. Plus a handful of smaller schools. It was possible to have up to 10 or so planes in the touch and go pattern at any time.

It was a very busy place. So much so test in 1970 they opened Opa Locka West.

Now closed, I did a LOT of touch and goes there.

The below-linked article attests to the busyness of Opa Locka in the 1960's.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/FL/Airfields_FL_Miami_N.htm
 
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While securing the aircraft after a one of my student solo flights..I noticed the dome light was on in the cabin while moving the prop into the vertical parking position.....

A new undergarment purchase soon followed....
 
Owad1971 said:
While securing the aircraft after a one of my student solo flights..I noticed the dome light was on in the cabin while moving the prop into the vertical parking position.....

A new undergarment purchase soon followed....
Click to expand...

One of the best ideas I've seen along these lines is attaching the tow bar pin to the key ring. This makes it impossible to tow the aircraft with the keys in the ignition (though the mags can still be on if the lock is worn or there is a wiring problem).

I don't like to turn props. Period.

Unless you stopped the engine with the mags, the engine was unlikely to fire as there was no fuel. But you used up all your backups, so it's not good.
 
Bill Jennings said:
No close aircraft calls, but took a deer strike on the motorcycle and didn't go down, didn't even damage the bke. Damned lucky and my closest call yet. I hate deer, shoot all you want!
Click to expand...

That's SOME balance there!
 
Here's the scenario from a flight I had last August:

I'm approaching a towered airport with parallel runways.
We're cleared to land on the right side.
Plane #2, a low wing Piper, is cleared to land on the left side.
I'm on a 1/2 mile final to the right side at 400' AGL and suddenly I see a plane flying under me and flaring over the numbers on the right side.
I inform the tower of the situation and tell them I am going around.
Afterwards, they instruct pilot #2 to call the tower. He admits to the mistake and apologizes.
 
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