Defenestration

[Jer]

This is just somewhat hypothetical.  In ground school, I recall there is no prohibition about throwing something out the aircraft beyond taking care that no one was hurt or property damaged on the ground.  Due to the Mooney's  low wing, any object thrown out the pilot side window will certainly pass over the top of the wing, but would it go below the horizontal stabilizer?    I have seen college aviation teams competing to throw an object closest to a target, but they are generally flying high wing Cessnas.  Does anyone have any experience with such?  Just curious.

[MB65E]

1 hour ago, Jer said:

This is just somewhat hypothetical.  In ground school, I recall there is no prohibition about throwing something out the aircraft beyond taking care that no one was hurt or property damaged on the ground.  Due to the Mooney's  low wing, any object thrown out the pilot side window will certainly pass over the top of the wing, but would it go below the horizontal stabilizer?    I have seen college aviation teams competing to throw an object closest to a target, but they are generally flying high wing Cessnas.  Does anyone have any experience with such?  Just curious.

Dropping rolls of TP is really fun!! Pretty good challenge to see how many times you can cut it. Dropped from the window of a Cherokee 140. Wife was in the back seat. It didn’t hit the tail. I wouldn’t drop it at cruise, but haven’t tried in the M20. 
-Matt

Edited June 1, 2023 by MB65E

[Jer]

Thank you Matt for your response.  I was hoping someone with actual m20J experience would relate what they learned.  What brought this up was that I have a 34 acre property in Texas with a house in the middle.  It is located at the beginning of the 45 for the downwind for my local class G airport, so I naturally fly over on the way to land.  I texted my wife from the air that I was about to fly over, but no response.  I circled the house at 700AGL but didn't get her attention, and then I went and landed.  I related this to her when I got home, and she just sarcastically said: "you should have thrown something out the window".  It just got me thinking.  I don't really need to pursue actually doing it.

Jer

 

[Ron McBride]

I did flour bombing out of my f, it is very challenging to fly at 100 feet, and fly the plane all by yourself.  Made several passes, never felt comfortable.

good luck, be safe.  

[Ragsf15e]

1 minute ago, Jer said:

Thank you Matt for your response.  I was hoping someone with actual m20J experience would relate what they learned.  What brought this up was that I have a 34 acre property in Texas with a house in the middle.  It is located at the beginning of the 45 for the downwind for my local class G airport, so I naturally fly over on the way to land.  I texted my wife from the air that I was about to fly over, but no response.  I circled the house at 700AGL but didn't get her attention, and then I went and landed.  I related this to her when I got home, and she just sarcastically said: "you should have thrown something out the window".  It just got me thinking.  I don't really need to pursue actually doing it.

Jer

 

I had my wife and two kids in the airplane on a long xc over eastern oregon when the twins were ~1.  We changed my daughter’s dirty diaper across our lap in the front seat.  Boy that airplane stunk!  I thought long and hard about sliding that diaper out the window and depositing it in eastern oregon, but I was afraid it would hit the tail and explode all over the empennage which would have significantly reduced the cool factor of our arrival at my parents place.

I think youd be safe out the door or window with tp though.  If you use the door, don’t expect to close it in flight.  It’s really tough to open more than 2” and tougher to close.

[0TreeLemur]

Something lightweight thrown out the storm window of a M20C in cruise can and will hit the horizontal stabilizer.   Don't ask me how I know.

If it is a high-drag object, it will rapidly decelerate, and may lead to damage.

Might seem counter intuitive that a light weight object would cause damage.   Remember the Columbia accident?  It was brought down by a piece of foam insulation.

Not saying that a lightweight object thrown out the storm window will cause your Mooney to disintegrate on reentry, but it might put an expensive dent in your stab.

[Igor_U]

On 6/2/2023 at 6:24 PM, Ragsf15e said:

I had my wife and two kids in the airplane on a long xc over eastern oregon when the twins were ~1.  We changed my daughter’s dirty diaper across our lap in the front seat.  Boy that airplane stunk!  I thought long and hard about sliding that diaper out the window and depositing it in eastern oregon, but I was afraid it would hit the tail and explode all over the empennage which would have significantly reduced the cool factor of our arrival at my parents place.

I think youd be safe out the door or window with tp though.  If you use the door, don’t expect to close it in flight.  It’s really tough to open more than 2” and tougher to close.

I seem to remember a story of a Female Ferry pilot flying a Mooney across North Atlantic with her kid and changing the diaper.

She eventfully tossed them through the storm window only to find them wrapped around the H-Stab upon the landing at her destination...  Apparently lineboy brought her attention to it.   

 

[A64Pilot]

1 hour ago, Igor_U said:

I seem to remember a story of a Female Ferry pilot flying a Mooney across North Atlantic with her kid and changing the diaper.

She eventfully tossed them through the storm window only to find them wrapped around the H-Stab upon the landing at her destination...  Apparently lineboy brought her attention to it.   

 

I can’t imagine someone taking a Baby along, to do the flight your required to wear an immersion suit, but with the knowledge that it’s just likely to prolong the inevitable, but a Baby along?

I do have a similar Maule story though.

[A64Pilot]

Years ago the airport at Cut Bank Montana had a junk car on the airfield, and bowling balls, if you hit the junk car with a bowling ball, your fuel was free.

They of course would host events that had among other things the bowling ball drop.

Eventually I think someone in the City’s administration came to realize that dropping bowling balls from airplanes just might be an issue liability wise and I heard it was cancelled.

I missed by the way, I was flying a Maule and took the door off for the attempt, there was a min altitude and it was quite high, may have been 1,000 ft. It’s a lot harder than it seems

I know several won’t believe this so I found a link, this is cut n pasted from there

http://www.cutbankpioneerpress.com/cut_bank_pioneer_press/news/article_b7c67214-6c11-5ff4-ab70-c0bf014ee0d3.html

If you wondered how a bowling ball fits into all of this fun, then you should make sure you are at the airport starting at 3 p.m. for the airplane bowling ball bombing event. For the past 10 years, not a single airplane that has chosen to drop bowling balls from the sky, has been able to hit the old car target sitting in the infield of the airport. So this year organizers decided to make it a little more worth their while.

“We are going to award $500 to the first pilot who gets a direct hit on the target. A bounce hit will net the pilot $200,” said Nollkamper.

[cliffy]

Dropped a flour bag from my Cessna 140 in Watsonville CA once at a fly in

Had to be at 500 feet above the runway   I won with a distance off center of target of 1 1/2 foot away. 

The slower you fly the easier it is to hit the target. 

Used to drop TP out over my high school football games and even managed to drop one on the pitcher's mound at a base ball game once

Edited June 6, 2023 by cliffy
add

[Minivation]

By "college teams" I assume NIFA? I used to compete from 2013 thru 2017. I recall there was one college that used PA-28's and SR20's for the message drop event (Purdue?). There also was a Mooney in the mix one year (don't know who), but I don't think their team used it for that event.

Whether or not the object will hit the horizontal stab will depend a lot on the air resistance of the object and the airspeed of the aircraft. On the NIFA events the containers we threw were roughly 6x1.5x1.5" boxes weighing 2.5 ounces. On the 172's and 150's we flew it at 80kts at 100' AGL, and the bombardier threw it directly at the landing gear leg, and the wind would end up pushing it "backwards" (relative to the plane) so that the box passed underneath the stab. I don't think this technique would work on low-wing aircraft as the item would just hit the wing. Maybe throwing it towards the trailing edge might be better.

One experience on the M20 I *do* have is spilling some coffee on the floor, soaking it up with a wad of tissue and throwing it out the window. When I landed an hour later, I found the tissue still stuck on the leading edge of the LH horizontal stab. I started bringing a small plastic bag on my flights to take care of my waste disposal requirements after that.

[Pinecone]

Bombing is not easy.  A lot of your tax dollars went into teaching me how to do it and for me to practice.

 

[GeeBee]

The trick is to fly low and slow over a Wal-Mart parking lot and put that dirty diaper with all the others.

 

[Hank]

2 hours ago, GeeBee said:

The trick is to fly low and slow over a Wal-Mart parking lot and put that dirty diaper with all the others.

 

I'd rather be high and fast, so that my N number won't be legible when the videos go up on Facebook, tiktok, etc.

[GeeBee]

Yes but fast means things "splash back" through the storm window! (Ask my student about that)

[MisfitSELF]

I "dropped" rose petals out the pilot window of my M20J for a memorial a couple of years ago.  They spattered all over the left horizontal tail.  It looked like a blood bath.

[exM20K]

So there I was…..

Immediately prior to my wedding in the mid 90’s, for some reason (rehearsal dinner IIRC)I had to fly my best man from Caldwell, NJ to the Cape.  Needing to get back quickly (and being dumb), I had him hop out at HYA with the engine running. No limbs were lost, butI also I passed up the opportunity to pee.

on the return flight, my tonsils started to float.  Somewhere over the Hudson, crossing into NJ, I simply had to go.  The only vessel available was a paper sick sack, and I hoped (never a good strategy) it was coated and wouldn’t leak.  It wasn’t, and it did.  Slowed to 130 KIAS or whatever the window was placarded for, and gave a nitrogen boost to somebody’s yard below.  
 

this was in a 231.  The soggy bag never came close to the tail. I made the dinner and we celebrated our 27th anniversary last year, so all’s well that ends well.

-dan

[N201MKTurbo]

13 minutes ago, exM20K said:

So there I was…..

Immediately prior to my wedding in the mid 90’s, for some reason (rehearsal dinner IIRC)I had to fly my best man from Caldwell, NJ to the Cape.  Needing to get back quickly (and being dumb), I had him hop out at HYA with the engine running. No limbs were lost, butI also I passed up the opportunity to pee.

on the return flight, my tonsils started to float.  Somewhere over the Hudson, crossing into NJ, I simply had to go.  The only vessel available was a paper sick sack, and I hoped (never a good strategy) it was coated and wouldn’t leak.  It wasn’t, and it did.  Slowed to 130 KIAS or whatever the window was placarded for, and gave a nitrogen boost to somebody’s yard below.  
 

this was in a 231.  The soggy bag never came close to the tail. I made the dinner and we celebrated our 27th anniversary last year, so all’s well that ends well.

-dan

I was hauling a bunch of my TV crew coworkers back home after an Oregon Ducks game one night. We left Oregon at 11:30 at night and they bought a couple of six pacts. I told them that was a bad idea, and they said I was a party pooper. Well, about an hour later the inevitable happened and they all had to go. One guy was a little more reasonable and bought a Big Gulp. They passed around the big gulp and filled it up. I graciously agreed to pour it out the storm window. It was sub freezing outside. When we landed in Vegas for gas, there was this giant yellow peecicle along the left side of the plane. I wish I had a pic for you, but it was before the days of a camera in every pocket.

[Pinecone]

9 hours ago, exM20K said:

No limbs were lost, butI also I passed up the opportunity to pee.

Gordon Baxter did an article for a column in one of the car magazines about peeing out the partially opened door, and how the venturi effect worked to direct the stream out without getting on the car.  Maybe set the autopilot and try it with the cabin door.

 

[Pinecone]

9 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I was hauling a bunch of my TV crew coworkers back home after an Oregon Ducks game one night. We left Oregon at 11:30 at night and they bought a couple of six pacts. I told them that was a bad idea, and they said I was a party pooper. Well, about an hour later the inevitable happened and they all had to go. One guy was a little more reasonable and bought a Big Gulp. They passed around the big gulp and filled it up. I graciously agreed to pour it out the storm window. It was sub freezing outside. When we landed in Vegas for gas, there was this giant yellow peecicle along the left side of the plane. I wish I had a pic for you, but it was before the days of a camera in every pocket.

In the 70s, some buddies went to Watkins Glen for the F1 race.  Since all were sports car people, one guy borrowed his wife's Toyota for the trip, and they went in a convoy.  So 4 guys, camping gear and several cases of beer.  Many needed to be back at work on Monday, so they were driving home Sunday night, again in convoy.

Right front sear needed to pee.  Driver would not stop, as he had NO idea where they were (back roads) and had to stay with the convoy, so told the pax to pee out the window.  No problem.  They got home and hit the bed for a few hours before work.

Guy gets woken by irate wife, asking about the yellow stain down the right side of her white car.  He had to wash the car IMMEDIATELY, then go to work.

[Fly Boomer]

20 hours ago, exM20K said:

So there I was…..

Immediately prior to my wedding in the mid 90’s, for some reason (rehearsal dinner IIRC)I had to fly my best man from Caldwell, NJ to the Cape.  Needing to get back quickly (and being dumb), I had him hop out at HYA with the engine running. No limbs were lost, butI also I passed up the opportunity to pee.

on the return flight, my tonsils started to float.  Somewhere over the Hudson, crossing into NJ, I simply had to go.  The only vessel available was a paper sick sack, and I hoped (never a good strategy) it was coated and wouldn’t leak.  It wasn’t, and it did.  Slowed to 130 KIAS or whatever the window was placarded for, and gave a nitrogen boost to somebody’s yard below.  
 

this was in a 231.  The soggy bag never came close to the tail. I made the dinner and we celebrated our 27th anniversary last year, so all’s well that ends well.

-dan

Someone above suggested that "air resistance" or similar phrase was important -- and it is -- but I think mass and density may be more important.  If it's small enough to fit through the storm window, and heavy enough, I think it will drop below the horizontal stab.

[GeeBee]

I had a student who drank a 44 oz Big Gulp while preparing for his long cross country. Mid way through he had to pee. He pee'd in the 44 oz cup. So he decided to throw it out the window of the C-150 without slipping it. You know the rest.

 

[EricJ]

I think this has also been proven when people have been dumping the ashy remains of a loved one over revered land and wound up wearing them instead. 

[Hank]

45 minutes ago, EricJ said:

I think this has also been proven when people have been dumping the ashy remains of a loved one over revered land and wound up wearing them instead. 

Always stand upwind.