Terror

[KLRDMD]

This was recently posted in the "Favorite Aviation Quotes":

"Flying is hours of tedium and boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror."

I've heard that quote a lot but I have to say, I've never experienced terror while flying. I can't say that I've ever even been afraid. I have been concerned a few times, but nothing more. Who among us has experienced terror or fear ? Tell us about it.

[Buster1]

I have a few stories from some combat time over Iraq and other far-off places that may approach terror.  But generally, those are pretty simple and "solveable" situations that resolved well due to training and wingman support.  Maybe over a beer sometime we can talk about those.

The one time I was pale with terror and fear was just a year or so ago, North Utah Test and Training range.  My wingman and I were flying Line Abrest (he was at my 9 o'clock for about 1 mile, level).  We were engaged by a bandit at our six o'clock.  "Break left" was my call.  I rolled my jet into 90 degrees of left bank, set Idle power, put down about 8 Gz, and began to scan the sky over the tip of my tail looking for the adversary.  Just then, my canopy went black, then light, and there was a small familiar thump as a shadow passed over my jet and dissappeared.

As the gravity of what just happened set in, I went white inside my helmet and mask I believe, and I couldn't even focus on the training fight at hand.  That shadow and thump was my wingman in his jet and some jetwash.  He broke RIGHT, not left as instructed.  We essentially passed 'beak to beak' about 50' apart, each doing 400+ kts, while both looking backward for the bandit we were engaging.

That was about the only time that I seriously had to stop and compose myself in a plane.

They always say to look at your wingman and make sure he is doing what he is told, and that was the time that I didn't.  A few feet off that day, and neither of us would be here today.  It still gives me chills to think about the close pass that I never saw.

[Immelman]

Yes, once. It involved a serious error in judgement, clear ice, and lasted only a minute or two (the ice accretion was brief; the feeling in me has stayed with me a while and it was a valuable lesson).

[FlyDave]

Not in an airplane.

But once I almost moved in with a woman I had a long distance relationship with. The night she arrived I turned white as a ghost. As she started putting her stuff away in MY house she said "Look hun, I'm moving in". It just went down hill from there.

[N6843N]

Twice in 37 years of flying. The first time was in a PA24-250 we were flying from San Deigo into Palm Springs. As we were getting ready to desend for PSP over the ridge south west we noticed the loran was indicating a ground speed of 287mph as we joked about it the first jolt hit us. I was flung into the overhead stricking my head on the structure for the cabin door. The turbulance was now severe. Thru the blood that was running down into my eyes I could see the pilot flying was no longer flying as he had a death grip on the seat frame. I reached up and grabbed the yoke and tried my best to slow the plane down to manuvering speed. About that time turbulance quit and the original pilot started flying again. We had lost about 3K feet of altitude in just 45 seconds. It took 18 stitches to put my head back together.

 The second time was over Saginaw Bay. We were in an old 35 Bonanza. Again I was in the right seat. The door poped open while climbing thru 3.5K feet. The pilot became very preoccupied with the door and was not paying attention to the airplane while he was trying to get the door closed. The plane started a left turn, which also developed into a power on decent. I was actually screaming at him to "fly the Airplane", after what seemed like an hour he returned his attention to the job of flying, but not before we had picked up considerable speed and rolled about 35 degrees. I hate through over yokes and right then and there decided to never get in another Bone with one.

[Earl]

That was my quote that I read somewhere and I think it overstates the case.  The point being that flying, despite being enjoyable and challenging, is many hours of monitoring, adjusting, looking, playing with stuff, etc.  And then there are those moments when something goes really wrong and those routine hours come off as both tedious and boring in comparison.  I would say every pilot that has crashed could probably identify with this statement, assuming they survived.

As for me, my first moment of terror was a botched, nose low landing in a 182 at night.  After the second hit of the runway my brain was in shutdown mode.  Thank goodness I had an instructor along with me and he salvaged the landing.  I was certain we were going to nose over.  Compared to those few moments the remainder of my flying experience has been tedious and boring.

[Mooney65E]

My moment of terror occured back in the 90s while flying a rented 172 over rugged terrian of Southern Utah near Bryce Canyon. While changing my power setting I noticed the throttle movement a bit sticky. I attempted to free the stuck cable as I turned the plane around and raced a late Summer monsoon storm to the nearest airport. Luckily the cable was frozen in the full throttle position. As I decended  towards the Kanab, UT airport at full speed I continued to try to free the throttle cable until it finally broke leaving me holding the push/pull handle as it broke free from the panel. The look on my girlfriend's face who was sitting right seat was that of terror. I tried to keep my cool, but will admit my heart was racing and sweat needed to be wiped from my brow. That's the fastest I'd ever seen a 172 fly in the pattern. On left downwind I raised the nose to lose nearly 50 kts airspeed and used the mixture on final to further control the excess speed and landed without any further damage to the plane. The mechanic at Kanab ordered and replaced the worn cable ....I still have the handle.

[Jeff_S]

I've had two moments of "excitement" so far in the air. The first was on my very first solo x-country. I was over the destination airport, 70 miles from home when I got a "low battery" warning on the G430. For some reason the ALT circuit had switched off and I couldn't get it back on, and I hadn't noticed in time. I decided to abort my TnG and headed home practically NORDO although a Continental airliner overhead heard my plaintive cry for help and relayed back to the home Tower so they were expecting me. Luckily it was a CAVU day so pilotage wasn't a problem. You can bet a glance at the ammeter is now etched into my scan!

The second was a bit more puckering. I had rented a Warrior to fly 150 miles up to look at another Warrior I wanted to (and eventually did) buy. On takeoff for the return home, that rental Warrior sputtered just 200' AGL and threatened to quit on me. I nosed over immediately and she caught back up, so I was able to enter the pattern and land safely to check things out. A full run-up and mag check revealed no anomolies so I took off again and flew home, although you can bet my ears were tuned for any engine roughness the whole way. The diagnosis at the time was that I probably just had some fouled plugs, but in retrospect I think conditions for carb ice were pretty good too so it could have been that. At any rate, while I was scared, the training did take over so I like to think that even if the engine did go completely I would still have lived through the ordeal.

[flyguy241]

I've had a couple of scarey events in airplanes.  The first time, I was flying my old Cherokee 140 out of an airport in Nebraska.  I took off on the short crosswind runway and just as the wheels clear, a cylinder cracked and fouled both spark plugs with oil.  The climb performance on a Cherokee is not great to begin with, but on 3 cylinders it's much worse.  I was too far down the runway to shut it down so I start looking for a place to set it down ahead of me.  I never notice all of those radio towers in that direction before.  Regardless, the little Cherokee was holding its own and I could make shallow turns without losing altitude, so I was able to nurse it back to the airport for an uneventful landing.  Lucky it wasn't very hot that day and I was in a nice flat state like Nebraska.  The next stop was the shop for a major overhaul.

The second is my "dumb" confession.  My father owns a Bellanca Super Viking that isn't flown very often since he is semi retired and does most of his traveling in a motor home now.  He asked me to go and warm his airplane up whenever I am home, and I am happy to do that.  It's a fun airplane to fly, performance is good and it's just fun to get into a different airplane on occasion.  A couple of years ago, I was home and thought, hey I'll get the Viking out and buzz around in it for a while.  I did a very complete pre-flight fired it up went through the checklist etc etc.  Took off flew around, this thing is running like a top, perfect day for flying.  When I returned to the airport, I enter the pattern and start my GUMPS checklist when I was even with the numbers.  When I got to the Underpinning part, I felt the gear come down, but no green lights.  Hmmm, so I extend my downwind and cycle the gear to see if that fixes the problem.  I felt three distinct bumps so I knew the gear was down, but still no green lights.  Back to the checklist, emergency procedures, cycle gear again those darn green lights are still blank.  I had my cell phone with me, so I called dad.  "Hey, I'm flying your airplane right now and I may be having gear problems."  Well, he went through everything he could think of, but the results were the same.  Finally, he says "It's probably down and locked, just try it and let me know how it turns out."  So I proceed and complete the smoothest, most gentle landing in the history of aviation (nobody saw it by the way) and I'm anticipating the collapse and horrible scaping sound, but nothing happens.  After roll out and taxi to his hanger, my phone rings, it's dad.  "Hey, what light switches do you have on?"  Well, just like the checklist says, I have on the strobe lights.... no wait, I have on the clearance lights, wrong light switch.  Then he tells me, if the clearance lights are on the gear light will auto dim, can't be seen in daylight.  Good information 5 minutes ago dad.  Oh well, if that is the dumbest thing I ever do in an airplane it will be good.

[piperpainter]

Right after I got my airplane painted in Jan I was headed home and ended up having to divert for fuel due to a stiff headwind.  A little background, when I prepare to land I drop the gear upon entering the downwind or abeam the numbers if im not going really fast. I then check its down on the base, final and one last time look at the green light when I am about to flare. When I check it I physically use my hand to ensure the gear is locked (Manual gear) and then touch the light to confirm I have a green light. "Gear down and locked got a green!"  Well I had been flying for several hours and I was getting a bit tired. I did the normal check on the downwind, base, final.  Right when I was about to flare I look at the green light one last time and it was out! Without thought I immediately pushed the throttle to full power as my heart dropped thinking NO NO I JUST GOT IT PAINTED! Immediately I look and of course the handle is down. I had 4500 ft of runway still so I pulled the power and landed. And what seemed like forever was only a matter of 5 seconds!  It scared me to death. Turns out that I pushed the light and somehow made it go off. I touched it and it came back on. One of my scariest gear moments yet!

[docket]

Flew to far West Texas in my Eagle and the winds were 30 kts gusting 40 kts and they were right down the runway.  Unfortunately the landing lights were out on the favored runway so the tower gave the the cross wind runway which was almost a perfect crosswind.  I lined up for the runway and did a very nice approach and set it down on the right main very nicely.  A second later there were sparks which was the wingtip light shredding away.  The sparks only lasted a second or two but it was very exciting.  A new wingtip later and you'd never know anything happened. It was amazing to me how stable the plane felt despite the fact that I was cross controlled enough to put a wing tip on the ground.

Even better, in the 1970's I took off in a rented Grumman Tiger which always had a stiff canopy slide.  As I taxied out my instructor and I left the canopy open.  We closed it after the tower gave us takeoff clearance and he said it was latched.  As we rotated the canopy slid back and left the plane completely.  It hit the tail and damaged it but left enough that the plane had no control issues.  Landed safely but never rented that Tiger again.  The best story is that the guys from the flight school saw the whole thing and retrieved the canopy from the departure end of the runway.  It was ruined but it was pretty amazing that the Tiger was remarkably unscathed -- it was flying again in a week.

One final one.  Back in the 1990's I had an MU-2 and picked it up from annual.  I did a decent (but obviously not perfect) preflight since the test pilot had just brought the plane back from a test flight.  During the flight from KCXO to KHOU I thought I heard a bump but the plane was flying just fine.  I landed in Hobby and taxied up to the ramp.  The guys from the FBO came up and asked why I didn't have a cowl around the left engine.  I was stunned because it was there when it left -- obviously, it flew away during the flight.  I then saw that a little fuel was running out of the engine and noticed that the cowl had nicked the fuel lines on its exit.  Then checked the fuel on that side of the plane and I was nearly out.  The mechanics took care of the whole thing but it left me with a spooky feeling that I was nearly running out of fuel and had not noticed it.

[Ned Gravel]

Ah Bryan:

Good work on staying in the "those that will" category. 

Been there.  I was out in Februrary doing circuits after a near two-month hiatus. 

First circuit.  Check gear down, do a GUMPS check, check gear down again, and do another GUMPS check just to be sure.  Still not sure going over the fence.  Scared myself silly over the numbers, but the handle was vertical.  I was still scared until the wheels actually touched down.

Why?  The time away made the situation less familiar and there was much less muscle memory in my cockpit flows. No matter what the physical indicators told me, I was questioning my own instincts and it took three circuits before I felt comfortable enough to just relax and enjoy the exercise.

[docket]

Oh, and here is one that is funny (in hindsight).  I was a flight instructor in the late 1970's and got bored sitting around telling stories with all of the other flight instructors.  The old man flight instructor (who was incredibly conservative) did his preflight with the student.  They walked around the plane and untied it from the anchors.  The tail anchors were in the dirt off of the ramp.  After they climbed in the plane another instructor and I went back to the plane and retied the tail to the anchor.  We sat back on the ramp expecting him to be stuck and after they fired up it did exactly what you expected -- they throttled up and the plane didn't move.  You could see the old man instructor say to the student that he knew the plane was untied and to give it a little more gas.  The student did and the plane pulled the entire anchor (a three foot piece of steel) out of the ground.  They then proceeded to taxi out and that is when the TERROR started because I was worried that they would start doing touch and go's with the thing.  We called the tower to report that the plane was towing a ground anchor and the tower advised the plane that they were trailing debris.  We saw the instructor cliimb out of the plane in the run up area and remove the anchor.  At the end of the flight they taxied back in the plane and the instructor waited until the flight school closed for the evening to remove the screw anchor from the baggage compartment and put it back in the ground.  As he was screwing it in (and after he thought he was alone) the other instructors and I started talking to him through the fence.  We didn't admit that we did it to him for several months and when we did he got us all back in various ways.  His best prank was to me because he simply switched the keys to my first Mooney with the Keys to another Mooney.  The keys fit but wouldn't open the door, I cussed and cussed and called an A&P to fix it.  By the time the A&P showed up the keys were switched back so he thought I was crazy.  I then drove back to the airport and in the time it took me to get there the keys were switched again (rinse, lather, repeat). You get it. 

[RJBrown]

I was flying a rented 182 from Denver (APA) to Palomar (CRQ) California with 113 hour in my logbook. My first flight to sealevel. I came across the mountains and was basically on the ILS 50 miles out and 8000' up. Up to this point I had never flown with the mixture all the way in. If you do at 5880' you are so rich the plugs foul. As I pushed the throttle forward in the landing, you guessed it the engine just said no. Had to stab the mixture forward to get it firing again. Came back to life in time to taxi in.

[Parker_Woodruff]

In 700+ hours I've only been afraid once.  That was hitting Severe turbulence coming out of Dallas Love in VFR conditions.  Smooth ride till 4000' then it all broke loose...  I had never before heard the stall horn at 95-100 KIAS in a C172.

I was hearing the engine cough...whether or not that's possible with intense shear/pressure changes, I don't know.

[The-sky-captain]

I have experienced TERROR twice in my short flying time. The first was an encounter with SEVERE turbulance, much like Parker ran into above. The second was VFR into IMC at night for about 45 minutes in a non instrument rated plane. (At the time I was not IFR cert) The crazy thing was that ATC, my preflight briefing and  the 496 (while I was in IMC) all were saying that it was overcast at 5000'. 15 min after I landed through a hole and scud run in the wx was amended to 800' overcast. Both of these instances occured in a Cherokee 140 while my PPL was still wet.

[georgeb]

I posted this on MAPA list a couple of weeks ago..It's been the highest pucker factor for me yet...Still a little uneasy on take-offs..

"It was to be a great first flight of my new top end...taxi and run-up was
fine...takeoff went well.... started a left crosswind climbing turn to
stay clear of the ELP terminal...Tower switches me to departure...look at
my altimeter...'El Paso departure...Mooney 88V climbing through 4700 to
5500' ... and then it happened.....engine starts to quit...'maybe too
lean', I think to myself so lets richen it a bit and start making my left
turn to my destination...T27...engine still not responding....full rich
full throttle....and suddenly -silence......'Holy Crap!' went through my
mind....only 900' up..dead engine, and the airport about 2 miles to my
left....between me and the airport, nothing but residential streets and
many many homes...eased the nose toward the middle of the runway and
..."Tower! 88V....I have an emergency and need to land NOW!"...(even
though I was still on departure, the controller responded accordingly and
cleared me to land 26 left)....as I'm approaching the tower, controller
"88v check gear down...."... I respond...."Understand gear is still
up...I've gotta make sure I can reach the runway first..."...close enough
to land on taxiway if I need...gear down....steep left..."Crap, there
goes, my speed....nose down...don't stall it...nose down..."..lined
up..."ground's coming up fast!...get the nose up....".....touchdown a
little hard, but F it...."I'm down"...what little speed is left I roll to
taxiway uniform and make it as far off as possible...."

 

George

9488V

[Mooney65E]

Tell us more George. Where did you have the top done? What all did they do and what went wrong. Glad to here you made the runway.

[scottfromiowa]

Docket,

You made my day.  Just laughed out loud at his "getting even" with the keys prank.  That is CLASSIC!  Thanks for sharing.

[georgeb]

Quote: Mooney65E

Tell us more George. Where did you have the top done? What all did they do and what went wrong. Glad to here you made the runway.

[Tom_Veatch]

Quote: KLRDMD

... I can't say that I've ever even been afraid. I have been concerned a few times, but nothing more. Who among us has experienced terror or fear ? Tell us about it.

[Immelman]

Ok, here is another one, happened a week ago or so. Chalk it up in the 'one of those things that happens' / lucky to be here thing. I was finishing up some ground reference maneuver demonstrate & explain from the right seat in prep for my CFI checkride. We finished the maneuver and began heading home, maybe 1,200' AGL. Something caught our eye at about the 1 o-clock position and my CFI came on the controls to turn us to the left. My mind recognized it as a large bird that was screwing around, wings nearly vertical. I thought "that would certainly damage us if we hit it" and no sooner did that thought leave my mind than I recognized what it really was -- a P51 mustang doing an aileron roll, closing very, very fast. We managed to turn off course and truthfully I think even without the evasive maneuver we weren't on a collision course, but for a second there.... it was very difficult to asertain his course because he was maneuvering, flying sort of a parabolic flight path.

In my 13 years of flying it was the second really close call I've had. The first when I was a primary student and a bell 206 was transiting the practice area, an area in class D, without talking to the tower... and this time, the fellow was doing aerobatics lower than he should have been. Now I realize those are cop-out excuses -- it could have just as easily happened outside of the class D or above 1,500 AGL and the other pilot would have been legal - but the collision potential was still there.

I don't think I was ever afraid or in terror - there was just no time for it. See, avoid, and continue to live. No sense to being afraid about that sort of thing -- but definitely a reminder to get that head out of the cockpit where it belongs, unless you're IMC.

[roundout]

I got scared a couple months ago flying a DA40 in to JKA on Christmas Eve. There was a big storm coming in off the Gulf which I appeared to be far ahead of. I flew through some rain but nothing bad. As I approached JKA and got established on an approach it started getting seriously bumpy. There wasn't anything showing up on the NEXRAD but there was convective activity building so rapidly that the NEXRAD couldn't keep up.

 

I don't have as much confidence in the DA40 as I do in an airplane like a Mooney. Luckily it did just fine and I landed no problem. Spent the night there and departed the next morning in nice VFR weather. Just goes to show you that you can't use the NEXRAD to stay completely out of any trouble. I am an experienced enough pilot to know this but I got a touch of get-there-itis that day and lucked out. I could have landed at a number of other airports before it started getting really bad. 

[Alan Fox]

The first time I was terrified in an aircraft , I had about 100 hours in an airplane , and dropped of a passenger about 30 miles from my home airport , They got out , closed the door and I taxied out...  I didnt even shut off the engine ...  As soon as I started climbing out the plane started making a horrendous and loud banging noise , which got progressively louder ....THe only thing I knew for sure was that the plane was still climbing , AS I tuned the radio to call out an emergency at the airport in front of me I noticed the seat belt was hanging out of the door ...  What a relief!!!!                                                                                              The second Time I was with a CFI checking out in a Musketeer I purchased ,  The plane lost power on takeoff and was barely holding altitude about 30 feet above the trees , The CFI went to grab the Mag switch , and I grabbed his hand and put it in his lap and said emphatically " Its making power leave it the fuck alone " We made it around and landed without incident , The throttle cable sheath had slid in the single clamp that holds it to the mount... ( this plane now has about 4 clamps holding the sheath to the mount now) Had we touched anything , we would have not made it over the treetops , I think in that moment of terror I had exceptional clarity on what to (or not to) do..  I think the moral of the story is Don't second guess yourself!!!!

[140pilot]

Not really terror but two interesting events over the years in my old Mooney

First time flying to Goldsboro,NC with my then girlfriend and her parrot ( caged in the back ) we hit some pretty bad turbulence and I had a sick gf and sick parrot on board. We finally make it and are coming straight in. Went to drop the gear...nothing. check circuit breaker, check gear light and look down at the indicator. Nope. Repeat again...nothing.  Ok climb to 3000 feet in now worsening turbulence with a now sick and panicked GF and a parrot that is now raising cain and start to hand crank the gear down. Then made an uneventful landing. I wonder if anyone has ever spun in trying to fly the plane and crank the gear down trying to hold alt. and keep the speed below gear ext. speed. One thing I would recommend if you have electric gear. Jack the thing up and practice cranking down the gear. Doing it for the first time while flying slow and fighting turbulence was not fun.

Second time was flying from Brooksville Fl to PVG Hampton Roads Airport in Va. We had flown down to pick up a Baron and on the way back decided to land in Savannah. While there unknown to me the other pilot had gone into the baggage area of the Mooney. And so on takeoff I found the baggage compartment door flapping in the wind. Made for some buffeting and a heck of a lot of noise. So a quick return to the field to close the thing back up though damaged to fly back home. Again not really a big deal but a guy here locally spun in after trying to return to the field with an open door. So always remember first fly the plane. I was not about to become an NTSB report over a open compartment door.