Stupid Things You’ve Done?

[N201MKTurbo]

8 hours ago, Yetti said:

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.

The operator is responsible for the airworthiness of the airplane, not the IA. 91.403(a)

[Oscar Avalle]

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. 

The other day I was at a major class B airport trying to pick up my IFR clearance. I thought they don’t want me here (I was one of the few, if not the only single prop airplane on the field), but I am going to show them how professional a GA pilot can be. So, I pick up my handheld and try to call clearance… they get back to be saying basically unreadable… ok, no problem, I will start the engine and call.

Here again, I prepare mentally what I will say, and in my best ATP voice I call up… again unreadable… how come? I start getting nervous… after several back and forth I discover that my handheld was still on!!! That was interfering… and providing feedback… so problem solved.. get my clearance with my SID. Over to ground and taxi clearance… could you believe it I got disoriented and had to ask for progressive taxiing… but that is not all:

Remember I said I got my SID… I did not do the math and I had accepted a clearance from a 3,000+ feet field with 28 degrees Celsius that demanded a 450 feet/nm climb rate!!! Impossible on my M20C! So I took off and after some minutes I was asked why wasn’t I at the altitude I was supposed to be….

So, lesson learned, if things are not going well don’t try to push them, just stop and start over again, don’t try to push them and be humble…

Oscar


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[201er]

35 minutes ago, Oscar Avalle said:

The other day I was at a major class B airport trying to pick up my IFR clearance. I thought they don’t want me here (I was one of the few, if not the only single prop airplane on the field), but I am going to show them how professional a GA pilot can be.

Yup, you showed them alright! No wonder they hate us! 

You couldn’t make 700fpm at 90 knots? Unless fully loaded, I’d imagine a C could do that?

[Oscar Avalle]

Yup, you showed them alright! No wonder they hate us! 
You couldn’t make 700fpm at 90 knots? Unless fully loaded, I’d imagine a C could do that?

Yup! I really screwed up that day! Unfortunately, I had not factored in the winds… my groundspeed was closer to 120kts.

I should have also considered Density altitude that was closer to 5,500 and I was indeed fully loaded.

So that day I was a mess…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Buckeyechuck]

How about doing a flight from Traverse City to Oshkosh for a long day returning after dark and clipping the nav light off the wing into the fence on your rental aircraft. Luckily I only lost the nav lite. I have a few more but no cost impact like that one in my 30 + years of flying. 

[Boilermonkey]

Oh, I forgot one.  Inadvertent spin in a M20C.   

While working on my CPL my instructor was having me perform unusual attitudes.  At 5000 AGL, we were nose up, banked 30-40deg, 60% power, clean,...it was a windy day 12G24 with continuous lgt trub.  Without any warning she snapped right into a spin, maybe a gust put us over the edge?  Thankfully I have done spin training, enjoyed those experiences, not so much when it happens for real.   Good news, the training kicked in...reduced power, neutralized, rudder opposite, elevator forward, then eased her up to level flight.  Lost 1000ft and never got over 110 kts.

An image is burnt in my brain from that day.  I remember looking down in the spin looking at the wind blowing waves across a corn field and thinking...that's beautiful, why am I seeing that?

When all was said and done, my instructor looks at me and says, "Unusual enough?  Good job, I didn't expect that, but you were so quick to begin recovery my hands never moved."

[Mooneymite]

For those of us who started taxiing with the tow bar attached:

https://www.airlive.net/incident-a-ryanair-boeing-737-800-began-to-taxi-with-its-tow-bar-still-attached/

[midlifeflyer]

My first IFR solo. I trained in the TRACON intensive northeast where vectors was the rule. Even my dual cross country had almost zero self nav except maybe to a VOR.  

So, I'm in the clouds over Long Island Sound heading from northern Connecticut to Islip when NY Approach says, "Radar contact lost. Report such-and-such intersection."

Wow! You mean I was supposed to keep track of my position?!!? I unfold my chart in an unsuccessful attempt to find my place. I put it down to confess to ATC and see the classic nose low-steep bank-increasing airspeed of an unusual attitude.

I recover, but before I confess, ATC says, "Radar contact re-established."

 

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, Mooneymite said:

For those of us who started taxiing with the tow bar attached:

https://www.airlive.net/incident-a-ryanair-boeing-737-800-began-to-taxi-with-its-tow-bar-still-attached/

Wow I don't feel so bad now.

[Mooneymite]

2 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

Wow I don't feel so bad now.

Ha!  After almost 30 years of a ground crew disconnecting the tow bar....I forgot that I was the ground crew.  

Happily it was a damage-free lesson in humility.

[eman1200]

I had an interview last year.  Guy says to meet at the food court in building #1.  So I'm waiting there, waiting, called him to let him know I was there.  He says we're here, we don't see you.  I say I'm definitely here and I don't see you.  Turns out the downtown office complex also has a food court in their building #1, as did my location which was not downtown lol.  Totally my fault though, once I went back and checked the meeting invite, sure as sht he had the downtown address listed.  D'OH!

 

[toto]

6 minutes ago, eman1200 said:

I had an interview last year.  Guy says to meet at the food court in building #1.  So I'm waiting there, waiting, called him to let him know I was there.  He says we're here, we don't see you.  I say I'm definitely here and I don't see you.  Turns out the downtown office complex also has a food court in their building #1, as did my location which was not downtown lol.  Totally my fault though, once I went back and checked the meeting invite, sure as sht he had the downtown address listed.  D'OH!

 

So did you get the job?

[eman1200]

So did you get the job?

Lol nah, but I didn’t expect to get it. It was something that interested me but I wasn’t qualified for, and I knew it. Got me out of the office and always good to keep the interviewing skills up. Except when you don’t actually interview because you went to the wrong location.

[ilovecornfields]

12 hours ago, Boilermonkey said:

An image is burnt in my brain from that day.  I remember looking down in the spin looking at the wind blowing waves across a corn field and thinking...that's beautiful, why am I seeing that?

Reminds me of a patient I had once who accidentally drove his truck off the road at night. He said he was just driving and then noticed how beautiful the stars looked all around him…seconds before realizing he had left the road and was about to crash. 

[EricJ]

12 hours ago, Boilermonkey said:

Oh, I forgot one.  Inadvertent spin in a M20C.   

I've done that.   Out doing a little air work for proficiency I was intending to do a power-off stall, already had the nose pretty high and realized I still had about half throttle on.   I thought, "Oh, I need to pull that back," so I did, and it immediately rolled over and pointed straight down.   I pushed hard forward briskly enough that a bunch of stuff in the hatch, like the tow bar, wound up in the back seat.   When I got back on the ground I went to get the tow bar out of that hatch and went, "Uh, where is the tow bar?"  D'oh.   The whole thing was one of those "man, that was dumb" episodes.

I would highly recommend Mooney owners to go get some spin training in C150s or C152s.   Spin entry and initial behavior is remarkably similar between them to me, in that it pretty much rolls over and points straight down.   A C150 is really benign, though, in that you kind of have to force it to spin, and you have to force it to stay in the spin, and recovery is straightforward and not dramatic.  Since the entry behavior is so similar, though, it just felt familiar to me (I did tons of spins in C150s back in the day), and so wasn't much of a shock from that standpoint and just, "Oh, I know what this is..."   I was eager to get it recovered, though, given the stories of Mooney spins.   I wasn't going to wait and count three turns like we used to in the C150s. 

[Yetti]

On 12/24/2021 at 6:58 AM, Mooneymite said:

For those of us who started taxiing with the tow bar attached:

https://www.airlive.net/incident-a-ryanair-boeing-737-800-began-to-taxi-with-its-tow-bar-still-attached/

can't happen.  Tow bar never leaves the hand when out of the plane.   luggage hatch is always locked when down.   But ya it has some mysterious wrinkles along the hinge.

[Raptor05121]

On 12/15/2021 at 5:19 PM, V1VRV2 said:

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! 

this is a VERY common occurence at my home airport. Its a very inactive Delta with a tower that is staffed by a private company because there is a Heavy C-check maintenance base for airlines on our field. They staff daylight hours and sometimes at night for 30 mins if a airliner is coming in. I've got the light gun because I came home at 3am from Tampa once and had my radio turned down. I made my calls in the blind and forgot to turn up the volume. On final I got the three bright ass green lights from the tower and panicked. I couldnt apologize enough

[rotorman]

1. I'm pushing the airplane back in the hangar. Slightly up hill so it's a struggle with my head down. I nick the hangar door and break the wingtip lens. I decided I'm too old to push any longer so I buy a Sidewinder.

2. Sidewinder arrives and I'm excited to practice with it before I go fly. During practice I nick the hangar door and break the other lens.  

[EricJ]

9 minutes ago, rotorman said:

1. I'm pushing the airplane back in the hangar. Slightly up hill so it's a struggle with my head down. I nick the hangar door and break the wingtip lens. I decided I'm too old to push any longer so I buy a Sidewinder.

2. Sidewinder arrives and I'm excited to practice with it before I go fly. During practice I nick the hangar door and break the other lens.  

A friend that had a Mooney years ago kept it parked outside had somebody let him use their hangar while they were away.    He said the first time he pulled it out of the hangar he shaved the nav light assembly off one wingtip.   They had an aviation junkyard nearby so he just replaced it, as apparently it was a very clean removal.

So it is apparently not that uncommon. 

I was helping a neighbor push their Bonanza back in their hangar and was getting a little anxious about wing clearance and then realized, holy crap they have tons of room!   Mooneys are wider than most, it seems.  

[Oscar Avalle]

A friend that had a Mooney years ago kept it parked outside had somebody let him use their hangar while they were away.    He said the first time he pulled it out of the hangar he shaved the nav light assembly off one wingtip.   They had an aviation junkyard nearby so he just replaced it, as apparently it was a very clean removal.

So it is apparently not that uncommon. 

I was helping a neighbor push their Bonanza back in their hangar and was getting a little anxious about wing clearance and then realized, holy crap they have tons of room!   Mooneys are wider than most, it seems.  

Putting my Mooney back in the hangar is a challenge! It wingspan is much larger than others. Here you can see me trying to maneuver the plane into the hangar

Not easy..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[201Mooniac]

Okay, while I'm sure I've done most of these stupid things over the years I have a new one from my flight yesterday.  While climbing out, I set the target altitude before engaging the AP as I was extremely busy looking for traffic and following some complex navigation instructions.  I checked the target altitude twice and still didn't notice that I set 50000' (FL500) rather than 5000'.  When I hit 5100' I caught the error and leveled off and corrected my target altitude.  Amazong how you can look at a number more than once and still misread it.

[Mooney in Oz]

9 hours ago, 201Mooniac said:

Okay, while I'm sure I've done most of these stupid things over the years I have a new one from my flight yesterday.  While climbing out, I set the target altitude before engaging the AP as I was extremely busy looking for traffic and following some complex navigation instructions.  I checked the target altitude twice and still didn't notice that I set 50000' (FL500) rather than 5000'.  When I hit 5100' I caught the error and leveled off and corrected my target altitude.  Amazong how you can look at a number more than once and still misread it.

This has been the subject of human factors many times over, particularly in task saturation circumstances. Even two crew operations can make this mistake.

In a busy environment, sometimes the human eye sees and interprets what it expects and wants to see, not what is actual.

[y2kiah]

OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.

[cwaters]

On 12/18/2021 at 12:23 PM, Hank said:

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 . . . . .

I always did it in IFR training in August in the south, CFII and I sitting there sweating buckets and I'm like "crap, you are not going to laugh at this" I put a clip on the key ring and clip them to my flight bag now so the furthest they are is the back seat 

[MooneyMitch]

On 1/25/2022 at 5:08 AM, y2kiah said:

OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.

You are an evil person!!!