Stupid Things You’ve Done?

[V1VRV2]

The other day I was departing a small airfield without a clearance frequency requiring me to call on my iphone which was connected by Bluetooth to my Bose headset. Best thing ever! There was a guy in the pattern on CTAF broadcasting his position and intentions. Turned down the volume on the #1 com to hear the clearance I was getting on the phone. I was ready to depart and announced my intentions on CTAF and departed. Swapped frequencies over to departure on #1 and called departure. No response. Figured I would wait til I climbed a little higher and tried again. No response. Waited another minute or so and tried again. Still no response. Looked at Foreflight for the local freq and found the freq entered was correct. Tried #2 comm and got through. Controller said he responded but got no response back from me. I said I was having an issue with comm #1 but all was good now. Seems I never turned the volume back up on #1 after getting my phone clearance! On top of that he told me to check my box that I was squawking the wrong code. That just added insult to injury! That was a low point for a day of flying that was going otherwise very well! 

[Mooney in Oz]

22 minutes ago, V1VRV2 said:

Seems I never turned the volume back up on #1

24 minutes ago, V1VRV2 said:

On top of that he told me to check my box that I was squawking the wrong code.

There are those of us who have and those of us that will.

[EricJ]

Transmitting on the wrong freq is a typical trick of mine.   I've gotten my own call sign characters out of order on an initial call before, too, which seems to require special talent.

 

[DCarlton]

Hitting the On button instead of the ALT button on my transponder.  I was convinced ATC had a problem since it had worked fine the day before.  I grade myself too; every flight. 

 

[RLCarter]

Amateurs…. Went up in a 172 to shoot some approaches (3), it was dark when landing back home, safety pilot said “ land as gentle as possible…… the tow bar is still connected”. It’s now on the checklists in 3 different places… 

[chriscalandro]

I flew to California about two weeks ago. I waited for that big storm front to pass and left early after it had. The wind at my first stop was 45 gusting 55 with a 65 degree cross. 

 

I got it down, the tower applauded and complimented me, then I slowly taxied to the FBO. Used the men's room, and got a hotel for the night (this was around 11am) as on taxi the winds picked up to 60 and even the military pilots grounded themselves. 

 

Signature still made me pull it around back "just in case it got busy"....

 

I don't know what the max demonstrated crosswind component is off the top of my head for a 67C, but I'm fairly confident it's less than that. 

[N201MKTurbo]

Wish I could say I’ve never done that.

Edited November 13, 2021 by N201MKTurbo

[dlthig]

9 hours ago, V1VRV2 said:

The other day I was departing a small airfield without a clearance frequency requiring me to call on my iphone which was connected by Bluetooth to my Bose headset. Best thing ever! There was a guy in the pattern on CTAF broadcasting his position and intentions. Turned down the volume on the #1 com to hear the clearance I was getting on the phone. I was ready to depart and announced my intentions on CTAF and departed. Swapped frequencies over to departure on #1 and called departure. No response. Figured I would wait til I climbed a little higher and tried again. No response. Waited another minute or so and tried again. Still no response. Looked at Foreflight for the local freq and found the freq entered was correct. Tried #2 comm and got through. Controller said he responded but got no response back from me. I said I was having an issue with comm #1 but all was good now. Seems I never turned the volume back up on #1 after getting my phone clearance! On top of that he told me to check my box that I was squawking the wrong code. That just added insult to injury! That was a low point for a day of flying that was going otherwise very well! 

If that tops your stupid list, you are better than most. Turn on 121.5 and see how many airlines give arrival and gate information. It's also fairly popular to do the same thing on ground control. I'd consider all of that a "brain cramp" vs stupid. If you haven't done it yet, give it time. You will. Fortunately, most controllers have seen it enough and don't get too excited. Stupid is more like flying under a bridge. Not recommended.

[N9405V]

If that is the “stupidest” thing you’ve done in a plane, you are way ahead of the curve.

Years ago a friend of mine and I took off in a Cessna 150 on a time building cross country. Long story short, forecasted weather that we both thought would be “ok” ended up not being ok. We landed about 90 miles from home and had to have my 7 month pregnant wife come pick us up. That was a long ride home.


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[MikeOH]

As fast as they are, Mooneys won't even make book speed with gear and TO flaps

[mike_elliott]

10 hours ago, V1VRV2 said:

The other day I was departing a small airfield without a clearance frequency requiring me to call on my iphone which was connected by Bluetooth to my Bose headset. Best thing ever! There was a guy in the pattern on CTAF broadcasting his position and intentions. Turned down the volume on the #1 com to hear the clearance I was getting on the phone. I was ready to depart and announced my intentions on CTAF and departed. Swapped frequencies over to departure on #1 and called departure. No response. Figured I would wait til I climbed a little higher and tried again. No response. Waited another minute or so and tried again. Still no response. Looked at Foreflight for the local freq and found the freq entered was correct. Tried #2 comm and got through. Controller said he responded but got no response back from me. I said I was having an issue with comm #1 but all was good now. Seems I never turned the volume back up on #1 after getting my phone clearance! On top of that he told me to check my box that I was squawking the wrong code. That just added insult to injury! That was a low point for a day of flying that was going otherwise very well! 

GA has a way of throwing in an exception that ends up screwing up your entire flow, muscle memory, checklist place and habits. This sinister antic of god Murphy has killed a bunch of us and we really need to train not to let him play once we pull the plane out of the hangar, and this is a difficult thing to train for as it isnt easily identifiable all the time like you experienced David. One of the things I do is write down ea. occurance when I debrief a flight I take and keep this in a diary. Periodically I will read this book of horrors and once again refresh the lesson.

Just a thought from an old guy who is getting real tired of writing checks and letters for the Bill Gilliland foundation. Another went out today for Mrs. Hicks.

Thanks for sharing the lesson, David.

 

[RLCarter]

12 minutes ago, N9405V said:

If that is the “stupidest” thing you’ve done in a plane, you are way ahead of the curve.

Years ago a friend of mine and I took off in a Cessna 150 on a time building cross country. Long story short, forecasted weather that we both thought would be “ok” ended up not being ok. We landed about 90 miles from home and had to have my 7 month pregnant wife come pick us up……..

I agree…… calling you pregnant wife wasn’t very wise….

[201er]

10 hours ago, V1VRV2 said:

I said I was having an issue with comm #1 but all was good now. Seems I never turned the volume back up on #1 after getting my phone clearance! 

Been there done that. This is why I mute the radio output on the audio panel rather than fiddle the volume. Can’t say that entirely stops the same mistake but it makes it quicker to realize rather than the subtlety of a turned knob.

Here’s a quick check of your volume: un-squelch the radio and see how you hear. 

[Mooney Dog]

When i was teaching at a school, one of the other CFI's left the tie downs on the right wing of an archer. I signaled for him chocks in and carefully ducked under the wing to remove it. i proceeded to then try and stand straight up underneath the wing. 

Ive stood right underneath the flaps on 172's as students would start their preflight and they'd constantly hit me in the head. You'd think id learn not to stand there by now but somehow i think it would still happen.

 

 

And as many people have... ive turned down com1 to listen to com2 and forget about it and think ive had a radio failure. 

[N201MKTurbo]

After 40 years of flying, I'm not going to give you the whole list.

Like the famous line from Tropic Thunder: "Everybody knows you never go full retard"

[DXB]

As a new owner, I finally got to move into a T hangar that was quite a bit larger than my diminutive short body Mooney. The previous occupant of that hangar was a Piper Cheyenne, which fit with ease. 

However, the hangar turned out not to be infinitely vast - I trashed my left elevator the first time I pushed my plane back into it.   

Remember kids - The flight isn't over until the plane is fully secured in the hangar. You really should be able to log hangar entry and egress as PIC time.  

[Andy95W]

I know from personal experience that the stupidest way to lose $20 worth of avgas is to forget your fuel cap.

Stupidest way to lose $40?  Do it twice.

And those are pretty minor compared to the truly dumb things I’ve done over 30+ years and almost 21 months of flight time.

[cferr59]

I think the dumbest thing I managed to do was start a plane with the nose plugs in at Alton Bay.  They are supposed to get thrown off, but instead they managed to break the alternator belt.  I did a pattern and realized the the plane wasn't charging after landing.  I soon realized what happened and I did not want to be stuck at Alton Bay.  I cleaned the plugs out of the cowling, restarted the plane and flew it back to Philly with the battery off.

I now make it a habit to quick walk around the plane even if it was only sitting for a little while and I bring my handheld on every flight.

[whiskytango]

I managed to transpose two letters in the first waypoint in my flight plan. Turns out that the intersection was about 2,000 miles away in a 150 mile flight.  Departure control came on and asked "05N where are you going?".  Oops. Time to file that ASRS report.  At least there weren't any mountains around the airport.  Note to self: Check the heading and distance to each waypoint to see if they make sense.

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, DXB said:

As a new owner, I finally got to move into a T hangar that was quite a bit larger than my diminutive short body Mooney. The previous occupant of that hangar was a Piper Cheyenne, which fit with ease. 

However, the hangar turned out not to be infinitely vast - I trashed my left elevator the first time I pushed my plane back into it.   

Remember kids - The flight isn't over until the plane is fully secured in the hangar. You really should be able to log hangar entry and egress as PIC time.  

Tape a rectangle on the floor where the nose wheel goes.

[toto]

Just now, N201MKTurbo said:

Tape a rectangle on the floor where the nose wheel goes.

I always just leave the back half of a wheel chock where the wheel should go. Push the plane in, aiming for the chock, and it stops when it gets there. Slide the front half in place with the tow bar, and done. 

[MooneyMitch]

My list is longer than space available here...... however, one stupid thing comes to mind is learning (probably 3 times or so), the Remove Before Flight tail section of a pitot tube cover will not withstand 160 + mph for very long 

[WaynePierce]

3 hours ago, DXB said:

As a new owner, I finally got to move into a T hangar that was quite a bit larger than my diminutive short body Mooney. The previous occupant of that hangar was a Piper Cheyenne, which fit with ease. 

However, the hangar turned out not to be infinitely vast - I trashed my left elevator the first time I pushed my plane back into it.   

Remember kids - The flight isn't over until the plane is fully secured in the hangar. You really should be able to log hangar entry and egress as PIC time.  

 

1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Tape a rectangle on the floor where the nose wheel goes.

Been there and done that... now I have the tape on the floor and an extended "center" line taped on the asphalt going in to the hangar. I'm in a shared hangar and I have to back it in at an angle.

[Ragsf15e]

3 hours ago, MooneyMitch said:

My list is longer than space available here...... however, one stupid thing comes to mind is learning (probably 3 times or so), the Remove Before Flight tail section of a pitot tube cover will not withstand 160 + mph for very long 

How’d you know you were going 160??

[MikeOH]

16 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

How’d you know you were going 160??

I'm guessing he remembered to remove the cover on the GPS antenna