Stupid Things You’ve Done?

[MooneyMitch]

42 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

How’d you know you were going 160??

That’s as fast as my little ole Mooney will go....... wide open !! 

[V1VRV2]

I went out to dinner with my new boss last night… captain on the business jet I’m going to be flying. He dropped me off at the airport to fly my Mooney back home after dinner. He told me the tower was closed and told me how to pickup my IFR clearance etc. Started up and started taxiing to the runway still in a non movement/ramp area. Made my CTAF call with my intentions only to be replied to by the tower! SHM! 

[LANCECASPER]

On 11/13/2021 at 12:00 AM, RLCarter said:

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… 

Almost 30 years ago in my 1st Mooney, a 231, I taxied down to get fuel before a flight with the towbar on. How I didn't have a prop strike I will never know. Pulling up to the pumps with people around was extra special. 

In my first airplane, a 172, I would dutifully check the oil before every flight and the oil door had the habit of popping up on start up if it wasn't completely latched tight and pushed down an extra bit. I'd have to shut down and go securely close it. At least I had two doors so I didn't have to climb over anyone. 

My most common is getting my seat adjusted and locked, my seatbelt on and then realizing my keys are still at the bottom of my pants pocket.

[MikeOH]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

My most common is getting my seat adjusted and locked, my seatbelt on and then realizing my keys are still at the bottom of my pants pocket.

LOL!   I had the same problem; drove me nuts!

Since I've been following this procedure it hasn't happened again:

1) Unlock door (assuming you keep it locked as I do)

2) Unlock and open baggage door but leave the keys in the lock

3) Perform pre-flight/pull plane out of hangar.

4) Close and lock baggage door and remove keys, AND keep them in your hand

5) Climb in the plane and put the key in the ignition switch!

QED

[GeeBee]

I was standing in the jetway with my crew, waiting for the airplane to finish dis-embark as the plane was late and were going to fast turn it. The jetway started to move as the auto level system starting moving it, almost knocking us all down. I grabbed hold of a stanchion and imitated Redd Foxx "Fred Sanford" when he thought it was an earthquake, saying "It's the big one wheezy!". Just as I said that, a 400 pound woman steps off the airplane. There.....is......no......recovery.

[Davidv]

It turns out that leaving your oil dipstick on your wing before departing on a night IMC flight isn't the smartest thing to do.  Thankfully both my aircraft and myself made it back safely with no damage.

[thinwing]

On 11/13/2021 at 9:52 AM, 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 

160 mph?.......nah I know for a fact your airspeed indicator read zero

[amillet]

On 11/13/2021 at 9:52 AM, 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 

The remedy for that is to have one of the Oshkosh departure flaggers see the cover and let you know 

[hais]

On my first transition training flight for the O, there was a C172 ahead of us. Tower gave us take off clearance and then instructed the 172 to turn left early on cross wind to give way to the faster Mooney.

I habitually clicked the Mike and said I'd give way. The instructor yelled "you are the faster Mooney!". Then tower followed with "that was for the 172!" - I'm pretty sure he silently added "you idiot" :).  

[Boilermonkey]

Hmmm, a few over the years:

*  Leave the baggage door unlocked and have it open on take-off roll.  

*  Chocks not removed after a refueling stop.  Reinforced checklist are evermore important when flying a long day 10hrs of flying that day.

*  Accidently hit the avionics main switch, turning it off while on an IFR approach when turning on the boost pump!  (that was a strange day, that also had a comms failure resulting in light gun signals)

* Continuing to fly an airplane for a few weeks as the throttle was getting harder to push in or out.   Ended up completely failing in the closed position after shut down.  Should have had that looked at right away, that could have been a really big problem in flight.

* Taking the kids for Indian food before an afternoon flight in the midwest in summer.  It gave me the immediate opportunity to detail the interior ;-)

 

 

 

 

[Austintatious]

Here is a dumb....

I was getting a citation ready for a flight and when I powered it up, the EFIS would not come on.  I tried everything I could think of and ended up calling the mechanic.  He got in and immediately turned up the dimmer.

 DOH.

[LANCECASPER]

I landed in Edinburg TX 30 years ago since McAllen was fogged in that morning. I had an employee with me and I said that at these small airports there’s always a beat up courtesy vehicle around, so we can go grab some breakfast while we are waiting for the fog to burn off in McAllen. Sure enough there was a beat up van with bald tires and faintly you could see a faded “City of Edinburg” sign on the drivers door. Perfect! We got in and sure enough the keys were in it and it had a little gas, so we were set. They had rain the night before so the unpaved road around the airport was a little soft. I had never been there before so I couldn’t find the gate to get out of the airport and sure enough I got the van with the bald tires stuck in the muddy road. As we got out and were walking back toward the building this man is coming down the taxiway at nearly take-off speed in a tractor. He had been mowing the airport and saw two guys (us) stealing his personal van. I guess it wasn’t a courtesy van after all . . Lol. By this time i offered him some money to compensate him for getting his van stuck and he said he could get it out with the tractor. Lo and behold the fog in McAllen had lifted and we got out of there. Major embarrassment. 

[DonMuncy]

On 12/15/2021 at 5:19 PM, LANCECASPER said:

 

My most common is getting my seat adjusted and locked, my seatbelt on and then realizing my keys are still at the bottom of my pants pocket.

I thought that was how you were supposed to do it. 

[amillet]

On 12/15/2021 at 3:19 PM, LANCECASPER said:

My most common is getting my seat adjusted and locked, my seatbelt on and then realizing my keys are still at the bottom of my pants pocket.

I perfected that one by doing it on the coordinated start up at Madison for a Mooney Caravan formation flight 

[Hank]

On 12/15/2021 at 5:19 PM, LANCECASPER said:

My most common is getting my seat adjusted and locked, my seatbelt on and then realizing my keys are still at the bottom of my pants pocket.

That happened a lot during IFR lessons. In the winter. In WV. 

Unfastened seat belt. Remove left glove. Unzip and open winter coat. Try not to hit the CFII while maneuvering hand into pocket. Then the compulsory regarbing in below freezing temperatures before cranking the plane . . . . .

[Ricky_231]

'The list is long but distinguished' - but here's 2:

1. pre-flighted as usual, got in, checklist complete, crank the engine and a red streak shoots up 30 feet in the air right in front of me: cowl plugs still in

2. Last night, picked up the plane back from annual, spent 2 hours chatting with people at the airport, then decided to go check the tiedowns, battery minder etc. (the MRO folks tied it down for me, so I always check). It was dark already, so I drove onto the ramp, and positioned my car so that the headlights would illuminate the plane so I wouldn't have to do it all with a tiny flashlight. Went out to the plane, realized I needed the plane keys to open the baggage door, came back to the still running car and ta-da!, I had locked myself out of my car, with the car running. All local locksmiths were either closed or would take 1 hour+  to get there. Myself and a couple of line guys and local flight instructors tried to break in, force the windows down, to no avail. Had to call my wife who drove in from the city (45 min) with a spare key. In the meantime, to make matters worse, the new tenant of the spot next to mine, where I had parked my locked car, landed and couldn't park his plane. At least I met someone new and he wasn't too mad.

[neilpilot]

7 minutes ago, Ricky_231 said:

'The list is long but distinguished' - but here's 2:

1. pre-flighted as usual, got in, checklist complete, crank the engine and a red streak shoots up 30 feet in the air right in front of me: cowl plugs still in

2. Last night, picked up the plane back from annual, spent 2 hours chatting with people at the airport, then decided to go check the tiedowns, battery minder etc. (the MRO folks tied it down for me, so I always check). It was dark already, so I drove onto the ramp, and positioned my car so that the headlights would illuminate the plane so I wouldn't have to do it all with a tiny flashlight. Went out to the plane, realized I needed the plane keys to open the baggage door, came back to the still running car and ta-da!, I had locked myself out of my car, with the car running. All local locksmiths were either closed or would take 1 hour+  to get there. Myself and a couple of line guys and local flight instructors tried to break in, force the windows down, to no avail. Had to call my wife who drove in from the city (45 min) with a spare key. In the meantime, to make matters worse, the new tenant of the spot next to mine, where I had parked my locked car, landed and couldn't park his plane. At least I met someone new and he wasn't too mad.

You might add to the list:  1st flight after an annual (or any major repair) should be avoided at night and/or IFR conditions.. 

[Schllc]

3 minutes ago, neilpilot said:

You might add to the list:  1st flight after an annual (or any major repair) should be avoided at night and/or IFR conditions.. 

Oops!!! 
Just did that today!  Not a good day for flying in North Georgia. 
I lived to tell the tale, but it’s a good point....

Fortunately, Joe Cole did a really nice job on the plane, and it ran really well with no issues all the way back to south Florida.  
I highly recommend his shop btw, really good communication, very fair pricing, and a heck of a nice guy  

 

[Hank]

2 hours ago, Schllc said:

Joe Cole did a really nice job on the plane, and it ran really well with no issues all the way back to south Florida.  

I highly recommend his shop btw, really good communication, very fair pricing, and a heck of a nice guy  

I second that, and I'm less than a Mooney hour away.

[Flash]

10 hours ago, Schllc said:

Fortunately, Joe Cole did a really nice job on the plane, and it ran really well with no issues all the way back to south Florida.  
I highly recommend his shop btw, really good communication, very fair pricing, and a heck of a nice guy  

+1 for Joey. He'd still be doing all of my maintenance if I hadn't moved so far away.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Flash

[Ricky_231]

18 hours ago, neilpilot said:

You might add to the list:  1st flight after an annual (or any major repair) should be avoided at night and/or IFR conditions.. 

Who's flying?

MRO is on field, I drove there to pick up my keys and logbooks. Since I was already at the airport, I might as well check if the plane had been tied down properly by the MRO folks who towed it back to my spot on the ramp.

I'm taking it up today to make sure everything is in order. Day VFR.

It baffles me that the urge to call people out and broadcast your superior ADM skills trumps actually reading the post, or at least asking what happened instead of assuming everyone else is a terrible pilot who makes terrible decisions. I thought this type of behavior was the stuff of facebook groups and not MS.

[Yetti]

Recently?   Telling the Tower I am departing to the east.  Confirming turning out to the east.   Then turning out to the west as that was the intended route in my head the whole time.   Just got east and west messed up in my head.

[EricJ]

18 minutes ago, Yetti said:

Recently?   Telling the Tower I am departing to the east.  Confirming turning out to the east.   Then turning out to the west as that was the intended route in my head the whole time.   Just got east and west messed up in my head.

I'm often directionally dyslexic as well.   Ground control cleared me from the ramp to the taxiway to the east runup area, which I read back and promptly turned west.    Going the wrong way on a taxiway is hard to correct sometimes.

Eons ago I called in to a tower as inbound from the east, except that was my heading.   Tower was unhappy with me because I wasn't where they expected.

[ilovecornfields]

1 hour ago, Ricky_231 said:

Who's flying?

MRO is on field, I drove there to pick up my keys and logbooks. Since I was already at the airport, I might as well check if the plane had been tied down properly by the MRO folks who towed it back to my spot on the ramp.

I'm taking it up today to make sure everything is in order. Day VFR.

It baffles me that the urge to call people out and broadcast your superior ADM skills trumps actually reading the post, or at least asking what happened instead of assuming everyone else is a terrible pilot who makes terrible decisions. I thought this type of behavior was the stuff of facebook groups and not MS.

I’m not sure if you were the target of that post but many people do show up to the shop after an annual, hop in the plane and fly away.

A couple of years ago I picked up my plane after the annual and spent almost an hour going through everything and asking questions, then flying around the airport for half an hour and then flying home the next day. I apologized to the shop for having to “trust, but verify” and they told me “I wish everyone did that. Most people just gas up the plane and take off.”

Edited December 19, 2021 by ilovecornfields

[Yetti]

My IA have an agreement.  It is only airworthy till it exits his hangar.  For major maintenance it gets a couple of fast taxi down the runway and then come back to make sure there are no leaks.  After one annual I took it up to 7000 above the airport.  Saw the fuel pressure bobble.  Came down did a leak down test.  Yep needed a new mechanical fuel pump.  Things don't always fail before annual.   Sometimes they fail the first flight after annual.