Real Men of Genius

[whiskytango]

My membership in the Stupid Pilot Tricks Society involved putting a full size bicycle into a 1964 straight tail C-150.  I found that it would work as long as the passenger window was left open and the handlebar would partially stick out into the 100 knot breeze.  Of course when I went home after several days at the beach, I forgot about the need for the open window, and slammed the passenger door closed, destroying the plexiglass window.  As an early adopter of the CB concept I decided I didn't need no stinkin' Cessna parts, and made my own window from a piece of sheet plexiglass.  Sadly, the IA who did the next annual didn't share this opinion and yanked my homemade window out.

[MikeOH]

8 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Implicitly, you are assuming I told my wife.

I assumed nothing about what YOU told your wife.

I quoted, and was referring to, AirPirate's story...and it was pretty damn clear HIS wife knew she'd been left behind

And, if I'd done the same to MY wife...I'd likely be dead

[kortopates]

9 hours ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

I absolutely love the title of this thread!  

During my primary flight training “long cross country” in a rented Cessna 152, I failed to fully appreciate what full tanks visually looked like.  When I landed at my planned fuel stop we put more fuel in that Cessna than it was placarded to hold.  It turned out that unbeknownst to me the plane had been flown for an hour already very early that morning.  Scary to think what could have happened.  Not long thereafter, after I had earned my PPL, I failed to calculate the takeoff performance of another rented Cessna 150 or 152 while taking off with a friend who was a pretty far along student pilot at the time from his family’s farm strip on a hot summer day in North Carolina.  We made it over the trees, but barely.  I actually considered jumping out so that my friend could make it.   

My second act of genius was 28 years ago, though, and I haven’t done anything stupid since.  

Jim

 

 

Great story - cause I did the exact same thing myself! Except perhaps in even riskier conditions flying over the ocean. Early in pilot days, I rented a C150 to go to catalina for the day with my wife. I talked to the pilot that flew it before me and asked if he had filled it after the flight which was the club policy. He said he did, but of course I still climbed up there to check. But standing on the fuselage step I pulled the cap and put a finger in and did get it wet. Which was the best i could do without a ladder.  So confirmation bias told me my wet finger and "Full" on the gauges  that I was good to go. I didn't notice I was wrong till on my way back from Catalina. Catalina Island doesn't have fuel but I don't think I was even that bright to realize I was low on fuel before departing. You see I had anally run the numbers and the book insisted I did with about an hour reserve ....more confirmation bias. Well by the time the shoreline was coming into sight I was sweating and counting off the miles of our required swim while looking at gauge that was showing near empty.At least we did have floatation and snorkel gear from diving or snorkeling at Catalina. It was a miracle that we made it back. Like Jim, I was so curious to learn how much gas it would take to fill it, I taxied straight to the fuel island rather than call for the truck (using the truck was also club policy). I really wanted to measure it myself (or perhaps avoid running out on the taxiway!) I filled that tank to the top with the pump indicated a few tenth greater than useable capacity. I also learned from the log that the previous pilot had flown It about an hour or maybe less and realized too I that I should have looked closer when I didn't wet my finger at the very top of the tank. It wasn't till that flight that I really learned just how easy it is for pilots to run out fuel. Good or bad, I've been tankering fuel ever since and never skip seeing the fuel levels with my owns eyes before flying. 

Good think I didn't take off without my wife though! thankfully running out of fuel is usually survivable

Edited July 24, 2019 by kortopates

[Niko182]

On 7/21/2019 at 4:54 PM, RLCarter said:

That's not too bad, I've told this before, but I flew for over an hour shooting approaches in a 172 with the tow bar still connected,.....

I hate that I can relate to this. I think this was when I was 16 with about 45 hours. Took off at corona airport with the "catapult lunch bar" in the armed position for takeoff. I can clearly say by far the worst thing I've ever done. how the tow bar didn't hit the prop was beyond me. also glad it was a 172. I doubt the Mooney would've done too well with that.

[MikeOH]

1 hour ago, Niko182 said:

I hate that I can relate to this. I think this was when I was 16 with about 45 hours. Took off at corona airport with the "catapult lunch bar" in the armed position for takeoff. I can clearly say by far the worst thing I've ever done. how the tow bar didn't hit the prop was beyond me. also glad it was a 172. I doubt the Mooney would've done too well with that.

That possibility has always scared me...so, I have a rule (that has worked, so far, anyway):

If the tow bar is hooked to the airplane the other end is in my hand!

[DXB]

On 7/21/2019 at 9:06 PM, Tom said:

Should you ever want to alter the earth’s rotation by applying full power with the tail tie-down still connected I’ve found that it doesn’t work. Confirmed by multiple witnesses. 

If you forget just one wing instead, it makes you taxi in a circle.  At least so I've heard... 

[RLCarter]

2 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

That possibility has always scared me...so, I have a rule (that has worked, so far, anyway):

If the tow bar is hooked to the airplane the other end is in my hand!

It's now on the check list in 2 places now, I thought about using the the tow bar as a key fob, just wast practical 

[neilpilot]

I'm not sure what was worse, departing before dawn with my luggage door open.  Or starting a very cold engine in Buffalo, getting taxi clearance, and then realizing the chocks were not only in place but frozen to the nose tire.

But when I was based in Portsmouth VA (KPVG) in the early 90s I was spending time at the maintenance hangar when a Cessna landed and taxied in.  Pilot wanted to have his brakes checked, since they wouldn't release when he tried to taxi from his tie down as KSFQ.  When we walked over, we noticed the tail tie down rope was still attached, along with a large eye-bolt and a small amount of concrete.  His brakes were fine, but it apparently took a bit of power before he was able to break loose from his tie down spot.  

[Andy95W]

My flight time is about 1 year, 7 months, and 20 days.  I can't remember all the dumb things I've done, but I can only think of 2 seriously stupid things that could have killed me.

[Shadrach]

Maybe not my worst, but certainly most embarrassing was starting up with tow bar attached. I was much younger, single and less conscientious. Two pilots in their 20s loading and preflighting the airplane talking about things not related to flying. Lousy distribution of tasks without propern accountability. Engine start went fine but is soon as we started to taxi I knew something was wrong. I could hear metal grinding on pavement. We shut down immediately and exited the aircraft.  Both of us were shocked to find the towbar right where it was left. I was extremely lucky that day. Firstly because there’s quite a bit of clearance between the prop and the stock toe bar (probably 3 to 4 inches or more).  Secondly because I had just purchased my first set of Bose Aviation X headsets.The new headsets made the muted but high frequency clanging sound very audible.

[Oldguy]

On my solo cross country for my PPL, I was held high coming into a towered airport on a straight-in approach. When he cleared me to descend, I knew I had to drop a bunch of altitude, even with flaps on the 172, so I reached over to pull the throttle all the way out. Engine came down - all the way to off. I checked again, pushed the mixture back in and pulled the correct knob out. But I was able to lose a bit of altitude in the first few seconds it took to realize my mistake.

[Yetti]

fuel caps

[jaylw314]

Washed the plane and went flying to go dry the plane off.  I thought the airspeed was coming up a little too slowly and wondered about aborting when the plane took off on its own.  I went to put the gear up, and at that point all sorts of alarms I'd never heard before starting going off, and the gear light stayed red.  Airspeed was way under 60 KIAS, so I put the nose down and was flying level at 200 feet for a while, but I couldn't seem to build up speed while the alarm was blaring, yet the MP and RPM were at full power.  My brain was just about to explode when I suddenly realized I had left the masking tape on the static ports and the pitot cover on.

The alarm was the airspeed switch on the gear circuit, and obviously the airspeed and altimeter weren't going to cooperate, so I climbed, came around the pattern and landed uneventfully.  For the landing I just set the RPM to 1700 on descent, and I eyeballed the pattern altitude.

Now, after I tape off the static ports to wash the plane, I put a strip of masking tape over the door handle.

[jasona900]

8 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

 

Now, after I tape off the static ports to wash the plane, I put a strip of masking tape over the door handle.

That's a good idea!  I'm going to start doing that..

[Hank]

40 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

Washed the plane and went flying to go dry the plane off. . .  My brain was just about to explode when I suddenly realized I had left the masking tape on the static ports and the pitot cover on. . .

Now, after I tape off the static ports to wash the plane, I put a strip of masking tape over the door handle.

Just another benefit of using Wash n Wax in a handy spray bottle. I don't tape over anything . . . . .

[alextstone]

My contribution to the Genius thread happened today.  Well, actually slowly over the past several days.  My wife and I stopped in St. Louis last Thursday and while there, I ordered a top off of our O2 bottle as we had 12 hours of flying over the next several days.  This morning, as I pre flighted the airplane at Mackinac Island airport for a flight to NJ, I discovered that the O2 was EMPTY!  Yours truly left the valve open and one of the regulators slightly open too.  

To complicate matters further, there is no fuel at Mackinac so I planned for both the leg to Mackinac and to NJ before leaving Traverse City.  I planned for performance at 17k not 9k.  Fortunately, I fueled to the max allowed and I had a nice cushion.  That mistake will not be repeated soon

 

[ilovecornfields]

1 hour ago, alextstone said:

My contribution to the Genius thread happened today.  Well, actually slowly over the past several days.  My wife and I stopped in St. Louis last Thursday and while there, I ordered a top off of our O2 bottle as we had 12 hours of flying over the next several days.  This morning, as I pre flighted the airplane at Mackinac Island airport for a flight to NJ, I discovered that the O2 was EMPTY!  Yours truly left the valve open and one of the regulators slightly open too.  

To complicate matters further, there is no fuel at Mackinac so I planned for both the leg to Mackinac and to NJ before leaving Traverse City.  I planned for performance at 17k not 9k.  Fortunately, I fueled to the max allowed and I had a nice cushion.  That mistake will not be repeated soon

 

I’m always afraid I’ll do that and the plane will blow up. Glad to see that’s not how it works!

[ilovecornfields]

Had another genius moment today.

I was cleared for immediate takeoff with a Cessna on final and I always pull the yoke all the way back and let it come forward slowly when I’m taking the runway for departure because that’s what I see all the corporate pilots on YouTube doing. Well, this time I noticed that it was really “stiff.” I thought that was really odd because I’d just tested the controls and they were “free and correct” and then I looked down and noticed the AP was “on” instead of on flight director.
 

I don’t know what would have happened if I’d tried to take off that way but I assume it would have been unsettling.

Spoke to my wife about it afterwards (I was alone) and she found this website for me which looks pretty interesting:

https://www.mindfulaviator.com

Stressful time right now. Would have been disturbing to have two ER doctors killing themselves in airplanes twenty miles away and a week apart.

Stay safe out there!

[aviatoreb]

This is a good thread.

[Ragsf15e]

Touch and goes, C-172 with 40 Flaps.  About 10 hours on my ppl.  Flying on a warm day, 4500’ elevation, shortish runway with a “portly” high school friend.

After the t&g, she didn’t seem to want to climb out of ground effect. Ran out of runway, using sage brush ground effect now.  Saw power lines approaching.  Also caught an obstruction in my peripheral vision as I glanced left.  Flaps!  
 

Milked them up so damn carefully while contemplating going under the lines.  Just made it over.  Buddy didn’t even know until we landed and I came clean.  “Huh, yeah, we looked lower than usual.”

[RLCarter]

3 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

Touch and goes, C-172 with 40 Flaps.  About 10 hours on my ppl.  Flying on a warm day, 4500’ elevation, shortish runway with a “portly” high school friend.

After the t&g, she didn’t seem to want to climb out of ground effect. Ran out of runway, using sage brush ground effect now.  Saw power lines approaching.  Also caught an obstruction in my peripheral vision as I glanced left.  Flaps!  
 

Milked them up so damn carefully while contemplating going under the lines.  Just made it over.  Buddy didn’t even know until we landed and I came clean.  “Huh, yeah, we looked lower than usual.”

I fly an older 172, 40° of flaps and 145hp does make for a sluggish ride.... luckily the flaps are not gated, very easy to milk them up or down at pretty much any increment you want

[steingar]

I purposely bought an airplane and learned to fly it once.  That was really, really dumb.

[RLCarter]

17 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

This is a good thread.

I was told a long time ago “Learn from others mistakes, you won’t live long enough to make them all yourself “

[eman1200]

Left the nose wheel chocked after firing up the engine with a plane full of PnP dogs and a lady friend in the front seat. Oh and another cute girl who had just parked her 310 next to me was watching.

First pax I ever took, we loaded up our golf bags into a rental Cherokee. Upon leveling off I was like why is this thing going so darned slow....left a notch of flaps in.

During primary training we’d fly into JQF (towered field) and upon landing would always hear “exit at delta, taxi via alpha”. Over and over after landing “exit at delta, taxi via alpha.” So it came time for my solo landings at a towered field. Dropped my CFI off at the FBO, called up tower and heard “exit at delta, taxi via alpha”. After a long pause I was like “no, I’m already on the ramp”. “That’s right, exit at delta taxi via alpha”. I couldn’t understand that he meant exit THE RAMP, I had it in my mind that I always exit the runway.

[Andy95W]

I know from experience that the stupidest way to waste 5 gallons of 100LL is to forget to put a fuel cap back on .

The stupidest way to lose 10 gallons?  Do it twice.