Your dumbest aviation moment?

kayoh190 said:
I was 16 and preflighting a 152, and got distracted by a good looking brunette - probably college age or so - getting out of her family's Cherokee one tiedown over. Of course I'm feeling hot-s### because I'm about to go fly, and proceed to walk right into the trailing edge of the left aileron. Knocked me flat on my ass, and left a small gash on my forehead that bled furiously. The family came over to see if I was okay, gave me a towel to help stop the bleeding, and I felt like a complete moron.

If I ever buy a Cessna, it's gonna be a Cardinal or a 210. :)
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You can always tell a Cessna pilot by the scar on his forehead, usually diamond shaped.:redface:

You can tell the intelligence of the pilot by the number of scars on his forehead....:rofl::rofl:
 
Zeldman said:
You can always tell a Cessna pilot by the scar on his forehead, usually diamond shaped.:redface:

You can tell the intelligence of the pilot by the number of scars on his forehead....:rofl::rofl:
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I just have a crease on the bridge of my nose.

Doing the preflight on a 150 for my Private Pilot checkride, I had just looked at the belly as I walked around the left side, looked up and "BAM!" Right into the flap trailing edge.

Inauspicious start, but at least I passed!
 
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Oh, man!! Thanks for sharing, these are great!! Not only do they give us something to look back upon and smile (or cringe) about, but our experiences can potentially help others...Remember, in aviation, you must learn from the mistakes of others...Keep 'em coming!
Blue skies, tailwinds, and may you find the lowest 100LL (or Jet, if that's your thing!) prices;)
 
2 in a matter of 5 minutes. Flying to St. Ignace, MI and decided to do 2 touch and goes on the island. Maybe I should have read the AF/D , or AirNav, or any aeronautical information source for that matter before I went there. Then on the way to St. Ignace I called a 3 mile final. My passenger looked at me and said, "Are you drunk?" "No why?" "Cause the airport is at you 4 o'clock." I had lined up to land on the road... To be honest it was oriented perfectly with the runway. So I flipped a 180 and called a downwind.

Didn't feel too bad cause after we landed and were gassing up. A guy in a Cherokee Six was doing a 135 checkride with their charter outfit, landed long, downwind, ended up touching down 3/4 of the way down, honked on the brakes instead of going around, blew both tires, went off the side of the runway and took out two runway lights. I'd say I had a better day than him.

Oh, and the airport manager at Mackinac called over wanting me to pay the landing fee for the two touch and goes. Thankfully another guy in our group that did land on the island took care of it. I bought the first two rounds that night.
 
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For one of my student cross country flights, I was flying to 0F2, Bowie, Texas. I initially departed in the wrong direction, and when I got to where I thought the airport should be, I couldn't find it. So I was late, and the last thing I was thinking about was my VFR flight plan. When I finally walked into the FBO, I was greeted with, "Some people have been looking for you...you might want to close your flight plan...." I know I'm not the first person that's happened to, but as a low-time student it was horribly embarrassing.
 
There was also the time we were flying to an unfamiliar small airport near ABQ. At one point, approach asked if we had been to the field before or wanted vectors, "it's sometimes tough to spot." "No thanks," says us, "we've got it in sight." A couple minutes later he comes back, "Are you sure you don't want vectors? The airport is behind you." :redface: Never turn down help.
 
After many months of not flying due to being unemployed and life getting in the way, a CFI said he did not need to go with me and I could just do 3 landings on my own. So I did 3 landings to gain passenger currency because a pilot friend of mine was coming to CA and I wanted to take him up.

I was worried because even though it had only been a few months, I've heard stories from pilots that you "forget how to fly".

I found a Pilatus guy at the airport who is an older man with many hours and is also a CFI. He said "you will forget things. just use your checklist."

I don't use the checklist at every phase of flight (never was taught that way, only use it at preflight and runup).

So it was a hot day, and I did re-lean for taxi after the run up. Even with the mixture knob way out in a 172, not only does it take off . . . . it climbs! I was always told that if you left the mixture out the engine would let you know. Strange.

So yes, I did notice about mid downwind at TPA and fixed the issue and landed without incident. My mistake was telling a friend (who was very angry with me).

Obviously, it was stupid. Will I make the mistake again? You bet not. Oh and the landings mostly sucked too but I survived.

Kimberly
 
Lindberg said:
For one of my student cross country flights, I was flying to 0F2, Bowie, Texas. I initially departed in the wrong direction, and when I got to where I thought the airport should be, I couldn't find it. So I was late, and the last thing I was thinking about was my VFR flight plan. When I finally walked into the FBO, I was greeted with, "Some people have been looking for you...you might want to close your flight plan...." I know I'm not the first person that's happened to, but as a low-time student it was horribly embarrassing.
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I have a new phone now, but my old phone had a saved voicemail on it from Lockheed Martin (flight plan folks) telling me to call them back because I didn't close my flight plan. Lucky for me, I landed at a Class C so all they had to do was call the tower who said I had landed.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
So it was a hot day, and I did re-lean for taxi after the run up. Even with the mixture knob way out in a 172, not only does it take off . . . . it climbs! I was always told that if you left the mixture out the engine would let you know. Strange.
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IF leaned properly on the ground, your engine will let you know - it will die when you push the throttle fully in. If it doesn't, you didn't lean enough.
 
On my first solo XC, I land at the target airport, and I'm chugging along on the taxiway. I note a very large jump plane (Otter I think) parked parallel to the taxiway with his wing toward me, and...oh sh*t...I whipped my head around just in time to see my plane's wingtip pass 3-6 INCHES from the parked plane's tip at a pretty fast taxi speed.

Whew.
 
Yeah, the first thing you forget is the sight picture. Then, the muscle memory. Planes don't fall out of the sky, but you make mistakes and your landings suck. So pick a stout, simple airplane.

There are few things on a 152 or 172 that can cause instant damage to the airplane by omission. Taking off lean may cause detonation, but that's not going to make the engine blow up unless it's very severe. It's not good for it, and a borescope can see the results (they look like pinpricks on the piston head). In a retract, leaving out the gear is obviously much worse. An airplane with cowl flaps can be more problematic, as they can overheat during climb if the flaps are left closed.

You should lean more aggressively on the ground. Turn the knob until you start to lose RPM, then turn it back until it's smooth (quickly, 'cause it can quit on the ground and that's embarrassing), much like you lean at altitude. Then, you're not taking off lean, no way. Nor fouling spark plugs.

And get in the habit of using flows and checklists. That would have prevented your error.
 
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Landing in El Paso in the Arrow on low fuel.
Holds 48 gallons, took 45.5 from the pumps.

Watch out for west Texas headwinds.;)
 
I'm afraid my dumbest moments lie ahead of me.

I've flown more in the last 18 months than in the previous 20 years. I'm starting to feel good in the air and in the airplane. Confident. At ease, even.

That's when they get ya.
 
Did this one last night.

I was called out for a flight at 2am. Went to the airport and got the plane ready. Ambulance shows up, we load the patient and equipment. Fire up the engines and off we go. Clear night, bright moon, no wind, no turbulence.

We land at Albuquerque, unload the patient, I go into the FBO for a power nap. One hour later the med crew returns, we load up the equipment, climb into the plane and close the door. I turn on the master and mags, fire up the engines, call tower for clearance delivery, call tower for taxi and go to the hold short line. Then one of the meds tells me that she cant get her seat belt on, its too short. I call the tower and tell them I need to shut down for about 30 seconds. Fine, no other traffic expected. So I shut off the radio master and pull the mixtures, shut off the mags leaving the master on, then go back to rectify the problem. Lean seat back forward, belt is free, disaster avoided.

I go back to the cockpit, take my seat, fire up the engines, call tower and tell them I am ready for departure. So we take off, climb, hit cruising altitude, sit back and relax for the 38 minute flight. I turn on the ADF to get the morning news, but too much interference from Mexico radio stations so I turn it off. I start planning the decent, start pulling power, check ATIS knowing the winds are calm, set the altimeter setting, looking at all the traffic already on the interstate and think I am glad I am not driving, and start down.

I am planning on a straight in, make my 10 mile out radio call, first notch of flaps. Runway lights are off. I don't turn them on until I am 3 miles out, then drop the gear, three green one in the mirror, still reducing power, 1 mile out landing assured, final flap setting.... another greaser right between the threshold and the numbers.

I exit the runway, flaps up, cowl flaps open, CAL lights off, start taxiing to the hanger, cell phone out and call dispatch, give him TD time and let him know we are home. I taxi up to parking, radio master off, fuel pumps off, landing lights off, pull mixtures, mags off, master off, secret master off, shut down secure.

I remove my headset, grab the flight log and fill in what's needed for medical billing, wait for the med crew to get their equipment out, reach down to unfasten my seat belts.... what the... where are my seat belts? Under me, right where they were when I returned to my seat after fixing the med crew seat belt problem.... good thing it was a smooth ride.
 
The secret master switch deactivates the main master.

C-421, no keys, just flip the switches on and anyone could take it.

This plane used to fly government contracts that required a secret master switch. Our other planes have it as well.
 
I'll bet that I know, but i'll wait for Zeldman to answer. If it is what I think it is, I had a similar thing wired up in my 1970 Triumph TR-6, to keep people from hot wiring it.
 
Flying xx302 while there was also a xx320 in the same Charlie airspace and I kept answering calls for xx320, both archers.
 
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