When I flew over that river as a student

TooDiabeticToFly

Filing Flight Plan
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TooDiabeticToFlyButWish
It's been about 10 years since I last flew any kind of plane, but this story seems like telling after the flight I just took (And yes, the pilot skipped and I asked him how many landingings he was going to log. LOL)

When I was 14 I was flying a 172. At this point I already had more hours than most of the pilots at the place I was getting lessons from. My teacher was freelance so we were just renting space at Sawyer at PHX. We went from PHX to my most hated place on the planet Deer Valley. The thing has mountains, a valley, and a fricking canal at the end of 7R. As a student we were doing touch and go's at different ports as I learned to navigate.

Doing our first take off we hit the mother of all air pockets and plummeted like a meteor. When we hit the canal we must have hit a gust off the mountains mixed with a temp change from the canal and we sunk. Tower said we lost 1500 feet in seconds. I remember clearly the voice of the tower guy saying "17 are you still there?" We had fallen so fast that the radar didn't see us for a few seconds. We had to land and drive back. We fell so hard that it did damage to the doors on the plane. It was still flyable but the door locks and whatever else is in the stuff that keeps doors closed, was broken. Wings kinked up almost .5°

It was the most memorable thing I remember before I got my blood tested for my licence and they said I was too diabetic and underweight. My bloodwork was better than my helicopter pilot brother, but as a diabetic wanting to be a Blue Angel it wasn't even close to good enough to pass the private test. :(
 
Wow. Microburst?

Hope the 3rd class medical reform stuff allows you to return to flight. Welcome to POA. :)
 
So it's a nice story,if you realy want to fly you have options. Get an instructor to fly with,hang around the airport and find some flying buddies. You will probably be given the opportunity to fly their airplanes. Every pilot likes to have a flight buddy,for the 100 dollar Hamburg flights.
 
Again, It's been 10 years since I flew myself. I kinda gave up when I got better med results than my brother and he got told "NO" because he was an overachiever.
 
Have you seen the requirements for a diabetic?
My whole life, All I ever wanted to be was one of the Blue Angles. But I'm D/Q'd because I'm a diabetic. I bet I could fly circles around those boys, but I wish I could be one of them. They flew over my and my grandpas house. I'm medically d/q'd. But I bet I can skip meals without meth like they do.
 
Still trying to figure out this site. Sorry if my replies are comical - I can't figure out the buttons! When I look up stats for a diabetic flier they dont match with what I have to do.
Look at the req's! Test before every take off and before every landing. So the core of every new pilot would take 1 min for every landing and 1 min for every take off. Plus time for the tower to listen to all that bs means for every 0.00007 per touch and go would mean every diabetic would be 3 min + whatever the tower says + going up/down? question .... ?
 
As a diabetic I have to report my current level. If I'm 86 (NORMAL as most diabetics can attest. - I'm Low as far as the flight ****s say. I can go +- 30 and be fine, but requiring shots puts me on the WTF list!
 
popcorn.gif
 
Still trying to figure out this site. Sorry if my replies are comical - I can't figure out the buttons! When I look up stats for a diabetic flier they dont match with what I have to do.
Look at the req's! Test before every take off and before every landing. So the core of every new pilot would take 1 min for every landing and 1 min for every take off. Plus time for the tower to listen to all that bs means for every 0.00007 per touch and go would mean every diabetic would be 3 min + whatever the tower says + going up/down? question .... ?

huh? :confused:
 

That's what I was thinking.

I fly over bodies of cold water (bay, pond, lake, etc.) almost every time I land. Yes, there is some sink many times, but nothing like described.

The only time I got enough sink to make me nervous was accompanied by 15 knot gusts. I was green and tried a short field landing in that condition. The plane survived with no damage, but I learned an important lesson that day. Half the gust factor….even if it isn't reported (it could be rather clearly felt).

And hitting hard enough to bend the wing spar and break the door latches? That doesn't sound like a usable aircraft. Not to mention, in a 172, you'd bend the firewall and break the main gear before you did that. I've seen the results of that…my favorite training 172 got smash'n'goed by a really scary pilot. All three gear are bad, prop struck, and firewall bent. But the doors still work and the wings aren't bent. Still totaled, however. Not totaled enough to keep that pilot from flying it 100 miles back home over moderately hostile terrain (4000 foot mountains and the Bay). :yikes:
 
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That's what I was thinking.

I fly over bodies of cold water (bay, pond, lake, etc.) almost every time I land. Yes, there is some sink many times, but nothing like described.

The only time I got enough sink to make me nervous was accompanied by 15 knot gusts. I was green and tried a short field landing in that condition. The plane survived with no damage, but I learned an important lesson that day. Half the gust factor….even if it isn't reported (it could be rather clearly felt).

And hitting hard enough to bend the wing spar and break the door latches? That doesn't sound like a usable aircraft. Not to mention, in a 172, you'd bend the firewall and break the main gear before you did that. I've seen the results of that…my favorite training 172 got smash'n'goed by a really scary pilot. All three gear are bad, prop struck, and firewall bent. But the doors still work and the wings aren't bent. Still totaled, however. Not totaled enough to keep that pilot from flying it 100 miles back home over moderately hostile terrain (4000 foot mountains and the Bay). :yikes:
Something else isn't right with the story.

Sawyer has been gone from Sky Harbor (PHX) for at least 15 years.

It USED to be a big flight training place.....in the 1960s and 70s. 10 years ago, not so much...
 
Something else isn't right with the story.

Sawyer has been gone from Sky Harbor (PHX) for at least 15 years.

It USED to be a big flight training place.....in the 1960s and 70s. 10 years ago, not so much...

He said he last flew any kind of plane 10 years ago. Not that this happened 10 years ago.
 
Maybe I read it wrong, but it sounded like he was denied the medical shortly after the flight in the story.

I think the story telling is just that disjointed. I read it three times, and still don't know exactly what happened.
 
Have you seen the requirements for a diabetic?
My whole life, All I ever wanted to be was one of the Blue Angles. But I'm D/Q'd because I'm a diabetic. I bet I could fly circles around those boys, but I wish I could be one of them. They flew over my and my grandpas house. I'm medically d/q'd. But I bet I can skip meals without meth like they do.

So you are saying they skip meals and meth, or skip meals by using meth.?

I never used meth, or any other illicit drug. So I guess I can say I skip meals without using meth as well.
 
Have you seen the requirements for a diabetic?

My whole life, All I ever wanted to be was one of the Blue Angles. But I'm D/Q'd because I'm a diabetic. I bet I could fly circles around those boys, but I wish I could be one of them. They flew over my and my grandpas house. I'm medically d/q'd. But I bet I can skip meals without meth like they do.


You think you could fly circles around the Blue Angles? I doubt it.

Your last sentence makes no sense at all. Are you saying you are on meth? It would explain a lot.


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Sawyer hasn't been at PHX for a loooooooong time.

The way I read the story, is that the wings/doors were damaged in the air and the aircraft did not impact the ground "We had to land and drive back". Also, DVT isn't really scary. There's that one little hill that is a bit tricky at night but during the day it's not even something to think about. The only thing scary about DVT are the insane number of student pilots who are not fluent in the English language.
 
I once hit turbulence so bad I bent something in my (rented) plane :eek: One of the doors wouldn't open or close after that. I reported it immediately to the place I rented from, they checked it out, smacked some stuff with a hammer and said all is good... :lol:
 
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