Terror

[Stefanovm]

Similar to the previous, although not a lot of terror for me, but possibly for the guy in the right seat demoing the airplane. I WAS very concerned and concentrated on flying and solving the problem in the now owned by me 1965 M20E. We took off, me with ZERO time in a Mooney, although former basket case 1962 C310 owner. I had experience in all kinds of things failing at inopportune times with the C310.

On takeoff little things started to be noticed. First the gear green light stayed on even though I felt the gear tuck up. The tower said no transponder and cycling did not help. Letting go of the wheel, the right wing dropped 30 degrees. I once flew a simulator with the same problem. Turned off the PC, which helped. At 4,000 feet slowed down to see how slow flight would feel for my first landing. Right seat said no stalls during a demo, hmmm?.

Now the real problem started when no feel of gear when switch moved to "down". I was pretty sure it had come up at least partially from the feel when cruise setting had been obtained as all the indicated speeds and power settings matched what I had read. The green gear light was still on all the time. I grabbed the manual provided by the owner - no emergency gear procedure anywhere in book. I asked right seat for guidance and got no help. I flew airplane while he tried to call a mechanic on his cell phone. I deided to try to crank gear down as the procedure should have been similar to my C310. During first 3 turns (<10% of required) the bolt holding handle onto the shaft sheared. I now was holding a seemingly useless handle in my hand.

A fly over the tower confirmed the gear was UP, very well. Back to the practice area and 4,000 agl. I located a screwdriver part in the baggage compartment, right seat got off cell phone to fly for a few minutes, and I jury rigged the handle. I started flying and cranking. After 20 turns I asked right seat to fly airplane again as it was becoming more difficult to turn shaft and fly. After it stopped turning I noticed that we had lost 1500 feet. I asked for the airplane back. When I aded power, I was seeing power settings and air speeds consistent with what I expected for gear down. Back to tower at 115 mph, yes the gear feels down. Real close to the tower with a "gear looks like it is down and locked" reply from the tower. Cleared to land from that position I asked to widen my downwindand and given pemission.The tower was midfield next to the runway. We were on a right 500' agl downwind.

My first landing in a Mooney was probably one of my best so far, now at about 30. We touched down with me squeezing the throttle hoping I could recover if the gear was not down. Used no brakes on the 3,000 foot rollout to the third turn off after a real ear pleasing, but short duration, tire squeal and very smooth touch down.

I said it was a microswitch problem. Investigation proved me correct. A year of the airplane not flying after the last annual contributed to the "stuck" microswitch and gear down light always on. In this condition, the motor was locked out for down direction.

I agree very much that one should get experience with putting gear down with the crank. Of course the better way is as suggested in a controlled environment and not as a true emergency.

[Jsavage3]

Three near mid-airs -- two in the F-15C and one in the F-16 -- that "got my attention".

F-15C #1 = me pure vertical (straight down) and pulling with lift vector on my flight lead as I was chasing after him following an engagement -- unfortunately, my flight path took me literally 20 feet directly in front of another (enemy) F-15C whom we had not seen -- he was doing 450 knots or so.  My aircraft was in his HUD for 3 frames...my nose, my aircraft blacked out his HUD and finally my tail feathers as I vacated the scene.

F-15C #2 = Flight lead and I were line abreast (flight lead to the right), headed downhill and pressing an "enemy" F-16 who was notching from my left to right -- I'd called engaged and "shot" the bandit as he started to pitch in from the notch.  He pulled through me for what would have been a tight left-to-left pass as I called the kill.  Before the kill call could be relayed to him and with him inside 1000' and nearly 1000 knots of closure, he very abruptly pulled hard left and directly into my flight path.  I instinctively rolled & pulled hard left (over-G'd my jet) and felt my jet "thump" as I went thru his jetwash.  I thought I'd hit him.  I quickly rolled back right and looked over my right shoulder, I watched him flying away and toward my flight lead.  Later, we learned that he'd never seen me at all...he'd been manuavering off and trying to engage my flight lead the whole time.

F=16 = night bombing mission had me heads down as I was seconds away from bomb release for a laser-guided bomb.  Suddenly, I saw a flash and HEARD an after-burning engine flash by me on the right...inside of 200 feet, all lights out (mine were out too as we were being tactical and wearing NVGs)...going in the opposite direction.  We'd already cleared the target area of threats and this jet came out of nowhere.  Turns out, it was a member of a different 2-ship who was supposed to be hitting a different target...he'd punched in the steerpoint for my target by accident during his egress off target...

New day, new jet -- F-16 again -- had three Mark-82 bombs (live ones) that went hung (front lug released, but the rear lug was locked tight) during a visual, 30-degree diving delivery and they were all hanging down a little in the front as only the rear lug would not release.  Tried to jettison the TER, even tried the emergency jettison system -- all to no avail.  Three live, armed bombs hanging out there in a very precarious manner -- now what?  Either eject and bring her home while avoiding "populated areas" and put her on the runway.  I brought her home.  I taxied to the bomb-proof revetment as directed and was somewhat dismayed to see everyone running AWAY from me as I started to get her shut down and get AWAY myself...

Thought I had an engine failure in an F-15C as #2 during a formation takeoff.  Gear up, flaps up, heard a thump and felt my bird start to "sag", i.e. stop accelerating.  Slammed both throttles to full AB and watched lead pulling away as I picked up a couple knots with the tower shouting "...#2's on fire!"  Got her up to a safe altitude, ran checklist, dumped fuel and started to bring her home.  Put the gear down and #1 (now chase) said "hold up, there's something wrong with your nose wheel".  Long story short, the nose tire had separated (all rubber tread came off in one long piece) during takeoff and, of course, had gone down my left engine mainly and a little down the right one too.

Had a right engine do the whole stall/stag thing (fail) at 200' AGL and about 200 knots during a full-AB takeoff in an F-15D.  She yawed 30+ degrees to the right before my boot could stomp the rudder...

Over Iraq was "exciting".  Lot's of AAA and an occasional SAM.  Remember Y2K of 31 Dec 1999 fame?  Yes, they put us up that night...weren't sure what would happen...just knew we'd best be ready.

That's all military stuff.  I've got 3000+ hours of civilian dual given and I suspect a student or two has made me jump at one point or another...

And now I'm building an airplane...  All I can say is that when the bug bites, she bites HARD!

 

[231Pilot]

Twice, both during flights on IFR flight plans.

The first, on a leg from Ft. Smith, AR to Gulfport, MS at 11,000 feet and over the cloud layer I was approaching a large cloud mass that was way too large to go around, but it didn't look like too dangerous  aformation to me (at least not then).  I slowed to maneuvering speed and entered the cloud and was good for about 30 seconds when the color changed from white to a yellowish brown and the turbulance increased significantly.  I was straight and level and descending at 1500 fps (microburst?).  I lost about 2500 feet in altitude and then began a straight and level ascent at about 1500 fps.  I popped out in clear air on the other side of the cloud and requested 7,000, under the deck and out ot the way of the big clouds.  Came very close to needing new shorts.  When I got home, I began reviewing the different cloud formations.

The second, my wife and I were flying into Gatlinburg, TN after the airport had closed for the day (about 7:15 PM and still light).  I had the airport in sight, had cancelled IFR, dialed in CTAF and announced a 4 mile final and asked if anyone was in the pattern or on the field.  No response, no visible strobes or nav lights, safe to continue final instead of entering the pattern, or so I thought, but  I repeated the CTAF announcement/query several times.  About 100 feet from touchdown on final, a helicopter lifts off of the grass next to the runway and hovers over the approach end of the runway.  The rotor wash coming off the ground lifted the plane and threw it to the left, nose down.  I recovered, crossed the runway and was thrown to the right, again nose down as I avoided looming terrain,the helicopter and initiated the go around.  On downwind a heavily accented (foreign, not southern) voice came on CTAF and said "Sorry, I was on the wrong frequency".  I landed without incident, shaken and a bit angry. On the other hand, my wife wanted to wrap the tow bar around the helicopter pilot's skull.  He wisely chose to fly to another airport.

Lessons learned:  1) Even on an IFR flight, if you don't like the way a cloud mass looks, ask ATC for permission to divert, don't enter the cloud just because it is in your filed flight path. 2) Once you cancel IFR, even if it looks like no one is there and you get no response on CTAF, fly the pattern and skip the straight in final approach.

[Hank]

I had a similar event that made me more angry than scared. While working on my IFR one evening after work, it was already dark. I had called taxi to the hold short, did my runup, checked both ways and called back-taxi on the runway. Because of the winds, we were departing to the east, unusually.

Once again, I called departure on 8, pushed everything forward and accelerated towards the trees beyond the reach of my landing light. As I rotated and the mains left the ground, some @#$%&* announced on the CTAF, "Cessna 123, one mile east" and I prayed he wasn't in front of me. The CFII & I spotted him at the same time, after climbing above the trees while I spoke sharply into the radio--he was at 10 o'clock and a half mile or so . . . But I couldn't look for him or even key the mike until I had the trees cleared and gear raised, 'cause there was no stopping--my choice was climbout and hope to miss him, or set her down, go off the end of the [3000'] runway, down the embankment and onto the crossing divided highway.

Fortunately I had a couple of hours' hard work to purge my anger, and he wasn't around when we came back. Wrapping the towbar around his head would certainly have been therapeutic!

Later in my training, when I had a total electrical failure on a VOR-A approach, I was completely calm. We were just below the deck, ATC had cleared me for the approach, told me I was off radar and report in on the miss. I crossed the VOR inbound at 90 kts with approach flaps in, dropped the gear, and everything went dark. Turned the avionics master off and on a couple of times, then left it off. I hand-cranked the gear down, only went four turns before stopping, and the floor indicator was green. Continued descent while discussing options [we were about 25-30 nm from home]. When we decided to fly her home, the foggles and plates went over my shoulder and I turned to follow the river. Straight-line was all hills, but there are some nice fields along the riverbank in case something else went wrong.

We climbed back to 3000' and tried the avionics again and they booted up. Comm 1 was still set for ATC, and Com 2 for home CTAF. I made a quick report to ATC, switched to CTAF for a scratchy report that I was inbound and may lose radios again, and didn't touch anything electrical. We motored home slowly, with approach flaps in and gear down. The radio continued to work, and I politely decined ATC's vector to remain above the river until I had to veer away for pattern entry.

That was when my CFII discovered just how useless the "Emergency" section of a 1970 Owner's Manual really is. I didn't remove it from the right seatback pocket until AFTER I had cranked the gear down . . . Just a gentle reminder to know your procedures.

[scottfromiowa]

My terror is NOT actually mine, but a pilot that gave me the "kick" to begin my Private.  Jim Michaels a dentist in Oconomowoc, WI & 12,000+ hour former P-51 owner and pilot and now rotary pilot.  I phoned him yesterday to say "thanks" for getting me to pursue aviation over 15 years ago.  We talked and he said "I had an exciting experience with my daughter".  He further related that they (after she graduated from high school and obtaining her Private) decided to fly a super decathalon into the highest airport in Colorado.  Over Estes Park 3,000+ feet above and to the side of a peak on a clear day hit a severe downdraft.  12,000+ feet per minute decent...Jim had a close friend that died when he set a T6 into trees after losing power at about 60 feet altitude...folks who saw the incident said he did a slow gentle let down into the tree tops.  Although they were wearing helmets the seats were crushed and they struck the instruments killing them.  Jim later asked Bob Hoover (at Reno) what he would have done...Bob said fly a vector through the trees to the ground or you will hit the trees and fall vertically down.  Fly the airplane to the ground...of course luck plays its part, but Jim tried to follow what Bob said.  He put the plane through the trees wings sheared back and both he and his daughter (although he was covered in avgas) walked away.  They were rescued the next day after spending the night on the mountain side and braving a snow storm.  I teased him about going to severe lengths to bond with his daughter...Google search Jim Michaels Colorado Plane crash for more...

[jlunseth]

Terror, to me, is when you have no control.  I have had experiences as PIC that were, in retrospect, certainly "exciting," but if you are a good pilot and well trained, the training kicks in and you do what you need to first.  It is only after you get to the ground that your hands might shake a little. 

When I took my private course, the first time my instructor pulled the power and had me cycle through the ABC's of an emergency landing, it was definitely tense.  By the time I took my checkride we had done that so many times it was sort of, ho hum, here goes another practice emergency landing.  The thing about this kind of training is that it gives you many options when the real thing happens.  And rather than being terrified, you do what you were trained to do and fly the plane to the ground, and you live so you can write the story of what happened. 

They aren't moments of terror to me, they are merit badges.  I have my emergency landing merit badge, my alternator failure merit badge, and my NORDO landing merit badge, plus a couple of others of lesser note.

[piperpainter]

I had a good one the other day.... I took off from Rwy 16 just to play around in the pattern and local area (had already flown about 2.5 hrs the days prior) and was climbing out of about 800ft when smoke started pouring out from under the right side of the panel!!! I had to make a quick decision since the cockpit was filling up quickly. I just pulled a tight left closed pattern back to 16 instead of landing 34. Turned everything off just to make sure the smoke didn't come back. Talk about hours of relaxation with a few minutes of terror! After I landed I opened the door and turned everything back on to see if I could find the problem. It turned out that I have a little leak in my flap line, it had dripped onto the heater box and when I reached max power for a minute or so the heater really kicked in and burned it off...creating a helluva lot of smoke and an instant headache. Needless to say I have some troubleshooting to do before my next flight!

[thinwing]

I have a friend a few hangers down from me who went to Oshcosh and on the spur of the moment bought (with a few other airport bums) a restored nicely painted republic seabee.When I found out about i secretly growned cause I knew all the stories about how underpowered the 200hp franklin seabees were.This one had been in a crash and sunk in a Texas lake.Because the nose was completly bashed in,whoever raised and restored this relic made a lot of changes to the original hull.Gone was the bow door and the whole nose had a truncated look like it had nose job.The seller must have been scared to fly it west (as we will soon see why)so he pulled the wings off and put it on a flatbed trailer and drove wisconsin to sacramento.While the driver was stopped for the night in Utah,some body backed into the rudder .Oh oh..says the seller /driver I know where I can find another.(bad luck seems to follow this bird)Than after a lengthy 2/3 weeks to reassemble this wonder of the skys they finally roll her out and attempt to start it....rumble rumm..pow pow..oops something wrong with engine..rough running and not coming up to rpm.The franklin in this bird is weird...a single magneto and a automotive style distributor with coil and points....Anyway the four partners find a guy to work on this mess and announces shes ready to go.In anticipation of the maiden flight all 4 partners fly down to sheble avation for a quick seaplane rating.They all get an hour or two in a Lake amphib for some "hull" experience.Its september now and the clearlake splashin is coming up.One of the partners suggusts getting couch(thats me)to sort of ride along cause he got 600 hrs lake amphib/seabee experience.So off we go with my friend as pilot in command and me in right seat as sort of advisor.Takeoff on a warm day was pretty lethargic...basically this seabee climbed at 70,cruised at 70.and stalled at 70.No..that is not a misprint..performance was that marginal...I suggusted I make the first water landing at clearlake ,which I did ...she seemed to settle in ok so I lowered the gear and taxied up ramp to the splashin.Everybody was oohing and aahing the paint job and the seabee showed well.The takeoff though slow went ok and I suggusted we head over to Berryessa reservoir for some practice for my friend...I talked him through the splashdown and it went ok.Next one I suggusted he just splash and go...again splash down was normal and my friend reapplied full power...he must have been applying some rudder because i immediately felt a sideways skid developed...we were headed for a vicious 70 mph water loop.I couuld not correct it in time..as the seabee started to skidout all I could do was reach up pull off power (to lesson impact force)and pull back on yoke...normally this action would put a flying hull back into a plow,but not this shortened nose job seabee.She waterlooped at 70 mph and came to a complete stop in a fraction af a second.Some people think water is "soft"..but not at 70 mph.As she came completely round the right sponson tore completely off.I was launched still seatbelted to my seat and exited out the door that was violently torn open.For a moment I remember flying through the air...I think upon impact with the water I actually skipped across the water surface like a stone.When I resurfaced the seabee looked about 150 ft away with one wingdown(sponson gone)and the engine still running.I yelled to my friend ,still in the aircraft...to getout and climbup the upward wing.To his credit he did so with out any delay.The wingskins on a seabee are corrugated like the ford trimoter.This gave him just enough grip to inch up the wing and slowly right the downwing that was rapidly filling with water.As she came up water poured out the cockpit.I started to swim back and noticed something wrong.I was swimming with my ass up in the air for some reason.It was than I realized ..I was still belted into the stupid seat!!!I reached arround an unbuckled my seatbelt and the seat floated off.As I was swimming I passed a lot stuff  in the water.A brown thing bobbing in front of me(my wallet)one dockside(I never found the other)and a stuff bag with the rest of my clothes for the flyin.Soon a boat showed up with some smartalicly teenagers who yelled out "hey mister...that was funny watching you fly through the air..can you do that again!!"there is more to this tale, but you get the idea...kp couch

[jetdriven]

Quote: 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.

[John Pleisse]

VFR to IMC without an instrument rating at the age of 17. In adulthood, severe turbulence (was never bothered by turbulence until this incident). Mountain flying on a windy day. My ground speed enroute at 9k was 88 knots...that should have been the red flag. I decended to 4000 over the Appalachians and literally could not control the plane. This event was greatly exasserbated by (at the time)having recently studied vertical gusts and g-loads in a turbulence advisory circular. I literally thought the plane was going to come apart and to this day, while not bothered by turbulence, I no longer think a Mooney is impervious to big bumps. I power back and take it easy.

[231Pilot]

Fear yes, panic no.  I was on an instrument flight from Lincoln to Gulfport, fuel stop in Ft. Smith, AR.  I departed Ft. Smith and at 11,000 feet, I was over the clouds and in smooth air.  Ahead of me was a wall of clouds I couldn't climb over or go around, so being an instrument pilot I knew I could fly in the clouds, right?  I picked the wihitest part of the wall and entered at manuvering speed (expecting some turbulence) and was OK for about 30 seconds, then the cloud turned a dirty yellow and all h*** broke loose.  I bounced all over the place and held the plane straight and level hoping it wouldn't come apart, then I saw that I was descending at 1,500 fpm even though I was straight and level.  I managed to tell ATC what was happening as I lost almost 3,000 feet, then I started a 1,500 fpm climb, popping out of the cloud at 10,000.  As I was trying to maintain straight and level and get through the cloud, I as thinking "I never thought I would go out like this......son of a b****!)

After I got back in clear air, I contacted ATC and got reestablished at 11,000.

Gained a lot more respect for clouds, and started making plans to incorporate on board weather (which I now have).

[Jeff_S]

Quote: N4352H

... This event was greatly exasserbated by (at the time)having recently studied vertical gusts and g-loads in a turbulence advisory circular...

[WardHolbrook]

Quote: ehscott

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...

[fantom]

Quote: WardHolbrook

....God watches over little children and low-time pilots...

[flyguy241]

Quote: jetdriven

curious why would you major an engine for a cracked cylinder? You can just replace one.

[gsengle]

Nothing is worse than that feeling "I could die shortly".  Funny I've had what I'd call 2 close calls in 18 or so years.  And only one of those gave me that feeling.

The first was a partial engine failure in a rented Arrow as I entered the pattern midfield left downwind runway 27 (I think) at KBED.  I was a fairly new private pilot and just had gotten my complex checkout.   As I leveled off at pattern altitude, and put in power to level off with gear down, and instead I got a backfire and a continued 300+ fpm descent at full power.  Glad that my instructor had done tons of engine out landings with me in that Arrow as part of my checkout - short wing arrow is not the best glider...  (Thank you Jessica Daisy!)  Lessons learned?  (fortunately I had learned these before this incident)  1.  Don't hesitate to declare an emergency.  If you aren't sure, declare.  Everyone just wants to help.  2.  Don't hesitate to turn TO THE RUNWAY.  I had almost 2 miles of runway to use, use whatever part you need to.  Last 3rd is fine if thats what works best.  Diagonally across it (it was 150 feet wide) is fine too.  3.  ALTITUDE is your friend.  I was going to descend early to get under the KBOS class B, but a helpful controller when I advised I was going to descend, cleared me into the Bravo.  (what did we call it then?  TCA?)  I suspect that if I had descended early and had my issue 30 miles short of the airport at 2500 feet, I would have ended up in the trees.

As a joint use AFB, the firetrucks were at the runway before I was.  A Citation on a straight in had to go around.  Backfired again as I taxied in.  Was all over in 90 seconds.  As my 2 passengers were dancing on the ramp, then it hit me...  But until then it was all calm no panic, training kicking in.  The MassPort truck rolled up and handed me a radio to talk to the tower.  At this point I was scared that I had done something wrong, caused a fuss.  All the tower wanted to do was see if I was ok and praise me for handling things well and for promptly declaring the emergency.

Years later, now in my personal Arrow (an aircraft that convinced me with its 137 knot cruise to upgrade to a Mooney, as much as I loved my Arrow) I was flying back on a very long VFR cross country from Florida back to MA.  Would have been an easy IFR flight (lowish ceilings in the Carolinas) and VFR to the north and south with broken to scattered.  Had just bought the plane, actually to get my instrument rating in, but hadn't started just yet.  Had never been in IMC even with an instructor.  Should have just flown over the overcast, but as a VFR pilot that made me nervous.  So I went lower.  And lower.  Most places were reporting above 1500 feet and I was along the coast so could go low if necessary I figured.  STUPID.  Near Myrtle Beach flying at maybe 1000 ft just offshore, I inadvertently entered IMC.  This is when I got the "I COULD DIE" feeling.  I had had the 178 seconds to live message drilled into me and felt very disoriented.  I had a basic autopilot so I did the right thing, I turned 180 degrees with the heading bug/autopilot and within a minute or two I was back VMC, but weather was deteriorating.  I confessed to ATC (you always get VFR advisories on a cross country, don't you?) and got help with vectors to a local VMC airport.  Got stuck there for a day or two - and ended up very motivated to get my instrument done.

I'm sure now I was in greater danger in the first incident, but the second one was the first time in my life that I got that "I could die now" feeling.  The best way to avoid that feeling is training.  In the first case, I was prepared.   In the second, I was not.  That was the difference.

And a Mooney with lots of excess HP, skywatch, weather, strikefinder, FIKI, dual alternators, dual vacuum pumps, lots of fuel (and soon backup AI) is also a great form of preparation  pinch me!

g

 

p.s. anyone know anyone who might want a nice IFR arrow?  I want it to get a good home!

http://www.aso.com/listings/spec/ViewAd.aspx?id=133943

[jax88]

Terror?  Oh, like the day I got caught paying more attention to the golf going on below me while turning base to final.  That's the day I realized exactly what my instructor meant by "it's the airspeed, stupid".

[PTK]

About 6 years ago during an approach into KMPO. I was flying up there with my wife to meet some people to go skiing. Weather was VFR abd a beautiful day.  Coming in on an uneventful approach short final and getting ready for landing.  Suddenly out of nowhere and totally unannounced  some  airplane comes about 50 feet directly above me, I could touch his tires it seemed so close, and passes in front of me!! The a-- hole proceeds to try to flare and land but unable to do so.  Don't know why it is a 4000 foot runway!  Probably to over speed.  By this time I'm executing a missed and he decides to go around in front of me.  We are now both low slow and in very close for comfort proximity to each other.  I was able to maneuver out of the way and landed safely the second time around.   Unless he was deaf or blind he had to have known I was on short final!! I never found out who it was and was never was able to locate the airplane. I wasn't looking for N number while maneuvering around this jackass!  

[richardheitzman]

You decide which is the worst terror. I was on my firsdt cross country and at that time, flying a 152, I loved "limited use" airports. No tower, no traffic and no witnesses. So I was landing at my second airport and no traffic in the area so I did a fly by to check the wind sock. No wind sock but there was a tetrahedron (sp?) pointing in a direction. So I lined up and as usual came in a little hot (for a 152) full flaps and no power and I waited and waited and waited for the damm thing to quit flying but it didn't. About 2/3 down the runway I said "Rich old boy time to fly" so I threw in the power (152 remember) and forgot to pull in all those flaps (40 degrees) and the damm thing would not climb. So I was stuck, there went the end of the runway, here comes the trees and fence. I did a quick scan thinking that somthing was seriously wrong, saw the flaps, hit the switch and up they came and up I went, clearing the trees by a inch. (I saw the wind sock on my next fly by. Straight out (15-25 knot winds) down the runway I attempted my landing on. So downwind, shortish runway flaps hanging out.

Second time was in the same 152 minding my own business doing touch and go's when a sneaky big thunderstorm sent straight line winds down the runway and flipped me upside down in the air while I was on base to final. I kept with the roll and turned with the wind and ran for my life. About 5 miles and the winds broke up. I had to pull the seat out of my a$$ on that one.

 

[jax88]

Too funny Richard (not really).  I had a similar experience in training.  Out for some solo practice, try to execute a go around, forgot to bring the flaps up and had to quickly try and figure out why the old 172 wasn't climbing.  I think they had to replace the left seat in that aircraft after my flight.

[scottfromiowa]

Thanks for my morning chuckle Randy.  We can laugh looking back at the learning curve, but I imagine that event had your complete and undivided attention.  That should be a "Never Again" article.

[jax88]

Yep, it got my attention REAL good.  In fact, I took off from Santa Teresa on a really hot day once, and when the aircraft wouldn't climb very well, I immediately checked the flaps.  That day's lesson was the impact of density altitude on normally aspirated aircraft.

[N33GG]

There have been a few times in 40 years of flying that I probably should have been scared to death, but the feeling of how stupid I was to put myself in the position always trumped my fear response.  And as I was taught from an early age, I just continued to fly the aircraft and work the problem.   

Those of us that are civilian pilots only have to worry about flying a plane from point A to B.  I always think about the military pilots and the fact that not only do they have to fly the airplanes, but there are people trying to kill them.  That would definately add another dimension to the experience of flying and opportunity for fear and terror, for sure.  And in some wars, the amount of training prior to combat missions was pretty minimal.  To me it is unbelievable what they have in the past and in the present are still doing for our country.  Any military pilot that has experienced fear and terror has my total sympathy and respect.

Thank you military pilots!

[aerochet]

I was truly terrified about 7-8 years ago returning to South Carolina from a vacation in the Bahamas.  As a fairly new instrument pilot I landed in Fort Pierce to clear customs and checked the weather.  T-storms all over except off shore.  ATC would not let me fly off shore north along the FL coast due to restricted airspace with Cape Canaveral, but offered a route via radar vectors that SHOULD keep me out of storms.  I accepted and began to fly north.  I looked out the window as I flew just east of MCO at 6-7k feet.  Although I never flew into the clouds on this leg of the flight, I experienced winds like I have never experienced.  My airspeed varied between 140kts to 80kts and back to 140kts indicated in one second, and the airplane was on the verge of being out of control.  For a few minutes, I was absolutly unable to maintain altitude and told ATC so.  I was only concerned with keeping the attitude reasonable and the airspeed just below manuvering speed.  It was scary and I had my wife and 2 kids in the plane.  I remember my young son getting mad at me and shouting "Dad, you are a terrible pilot"  Little did they know how close I was to panic.  I am much more conservative around severe weather now!!

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Mine was a severe turbulence encounter in September 2010 while returning to Denver on an aborted flight to Orange County, CA. Extremely high westerly winds (70-100 kts) were forecast over the Rockies from the CO-WY border northward at the time of my flight. Winds along my route of flight were forecast at only 20kts. Well, the strong winds dipped much farther south much sooner than forecast, and my wife and I launched right into the teeth of them. We were making only 40-50 knots over the ground above the Continental Divide and it was a real slog, so we decided to try another day. As you can imagine, the chaos created just downwind of the Rockies over Denver was incredible. By far the worst turbulence I've ever encountered, in severe clear conditions. At one point we experienced an uncommanded pitch downward of about 35-40 degrees that completely emptied the baggage compartment into the backs of our heads (the tie-down straps had already failed). We also had multiple negative-G encounters. My poor wife was terrified and bawling her eyes out. After what seemed to be an eternity we safely landed one hour later at our home airport. First and only time I kissed the ground after a flight.