Worst mistake you've made?

[king rooney]

Hi all, am just wandering what is the worst mistake you´ve made during ur training?
Mine so far, although not entirely my fault was when my radio button got stuck in the "transmitting" position whislt I proceeded to discuss with my instructor in four letter words a certain member of my flying club. Needless to say I got a severe telling off from the tower and the guy in question (who was flying in the circuit at the same time) hasnt spoken to me since.

That and almost taking off on the wrong runway, however that was due to a mistake by the tower.

[powdermonkey]

On my 3rd flying lesson, I hopped out of the car, hopped into the plane, grabbed the keys, stuck it in to the ignition and tried to start the plane....just like my car. The instructor ( who was a bit grumpy ) looked at me and said; " have you got a F***ing problem reading a checklist?"
Other screw up wa flying to a remote airfield, no-one was talking on the air/ground radio, overflew the runway, looked at the windsock, elected to fly downwind for a 27 approach, only to find a Cub on the take-off run in the opposite direction. I peeled off to the right and did a touch and go in the opposite direction. Whoever that guy was never said a word on the radio, even though he must have been aware of what I was doing since I made all my calls. Either he had no radio, or else I was on the wrong frequency. Either way, I'm sure I read the wind correctly....still put my heart crossways nonetheless. I BLAME HIM TOTALLY....couldn't have been me surely?!
Did a lovely kangaroo impression in a 172 a few weeks back, not surprising since I hadn't flown one in 2 years, I was high and fast, with only half the fuel, so I couldn't get the bugger to slow down and loose alt on finals.
And during my first PPL test, I never checked my compass on the runway heading, so I took off and proceeded to fly on my heading with the compass 15dgs off...needless to say I had to re-do the nav part of my PPL!:ok:

[High Wing Drifter]

Being totally maxed out during my first session in the Seneca and inadvertently grabing the mixtures and not the props, tugging away and thinking why isn't the RPM dropping, why has the engine note change - eeek!

If something doesn't seem right, it isn't!

:uhoh:

[DB6]

Possibly the worst mistake anyone can make during training is to have a really really REEEEEEALY hot chilli and then go off on a 2 hour nav trip.:eek: :E .


Sorry. Had to.

[Blinkz]

rooney thats not a mistake, thats just your personality making the most of an unfortunate situation. From what you've written in other threads I would have thought flying the a/c outside your personal limits would be more for a mistake.....

For me my biggest mistake was towards the end of my PPL, was doing some solo consolidation, everything was going fine. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was low in the sky and when I came back I found that EDI had switch runway to 24, problem now was that the sun was right on the horizon. Circuit and approach was fine, with the nose low the sun was blocked out, I didn't take into account how much of a problem it would be when I flared. So as I flare sun comes into view and I suddenly can't see anything. Problem was that I had flared slightly too high, which usually is easily corrected, but needs you to be able to see out! Anyway a/c was sinking down, realised that it wasn't a good situation and was just about to go around when THUMP, hit the runway with a mighty bump. Wasn't dangerously hard but enough to shake my confidence abit.

[powdermonkey]

Often wondered what you would do if caught "unawares" on a long nav. with no airfields close by?
Land in a field and take care of business?
HAS THIS HAPPENED TO ANYONE? not getting too graphic here, but I make sure such details are taken care of at least twice before departure!!!
Any horror stories out there? It is something that I have been concerned about in the past. WHAT DO YOU DO???!!! Sorry, a bit off thread:ugh:

[Blinkz]

Well I've never had problems in powered a/c but I've had a number of 4-6 hour flights in gliders and in those situtations either use a bag or a bottle and dispose of it later. My mate can vouch that using sick bags for it is a BAD idea :}

[pulse1]

There have been at least two yarns in Pilot about landing in fields to relieve oneself. Both ended with serious damage to the aircraft so not to be recommended. I think one was a Gipsy Moth which, having landed safely in a stubble field, caught fire and was completely destroyed.

[powdermonkey]

Wow, expensive relief!! Still, better to destroy the evidence than arriving at destination with brown trousers and slightly soiled ac!:} What do you tell the next guy going up for his lesson???

[FlyingFroggy17]

Hi all,
I had two things.
One is at the end of my ppl test. I was about to land and instead of lowering the flaps from 15° to 40°, I pulled them up!!! I was extremely tired and stressed out due to the fact that I had 2 examiners in the a/c. My examiner was being examined!!! But they didn't say anything because I corrected it right away, actually didn't even remove my hand from the flap handle.
The second was during the "tour de france aérien des jeunes pilotes". And it was during the only lap I was accompanied by an Air France A320 captain. During this 4 hours nav, I had to take a leak twice. Fortunately I had a bottle with me but full of water. I managed to empty it from a small hatch in the window and did my business. Needless to say that the weather was crappy and my Robin DR400 was hopping around. At least the captain was hadling the stick and me mine!!!:eek:
Have fun.
FF17

[Willows]

On my second or third solo I went up with the instructor before hand. Did a few circuits, came back in and he jumped off. Everything seemed fine. Taxiing out though, I noticed the radio seemed really mute (through the headset). I could just about make out what the controller & other traffic were saying.

So off I went, doing my checks, keeping a good look out, doing the radio calls I was used to, but in the air I couldn't make out what anyone was saying. I thought, "Right, my headset must be frigged". I reached behind the seat and grabbed the spare headset, disconnected the one I was wearing and connected up the other. No difference. Calling final to land, I could just make out the controller.

Taxied in, about to shut down .... I look at the radio volume knob. :{

:hmm:

[Atlantic-44]

During my training several years ago, was on a very boring and long solo night-nav to get the required night hours. Bombing along in the vast emptiness of East Florida's airspace, I decided I'd catch the moment on camera. With my eyes fully adjusted to the dark, arm outstretched, cheesy grin in place, and camera pointed towards me, I clicked the shutter........

*FLASH*!!!!

:}

[powdermonkey]

Atlantic-44, That is brilliant!!!! absolutely hilarious......you must have laughed about it later!:ok:

[Gargleblaster]

I've made a lot of mistakes, and I hope I've learned from all of them.

My worst one: Landing without clearance. Was cleared into the control zone and told I was number one. There was zero traffic and I was unused to being told that so early, somehow confused me. Landed. When the wheels touched, I realized what I'd done and swore. Taxied off the RW, had to cross another RW so had to call tower, the female occupant asked in her sweetest voice: "Could it be possible that you accidentally landed without clearance ?". I said "ahem, that's entirely possible". And that was it. I guess she didn't report it, as she had failed to notice me land !

[Superpilot]

Took off with the parking brake set at 50% - Only second time on grass, so the reason for the slow roll was obvious! ;) Good job I realised it in the air.

Pulled up into my "parking" spot (more like a hill). As I cut the engine and removed the keys I dropped my pen. Bent down to pick it up, bought my head up and realised the plane was rolling down towards a nice new Archer! Missed it by whiskers. - Yep, that parking brake again.

[ALV2500]

I think the worst mistake I ever made was believing I would earn lots of money as an airline pilot.

Superpilot, nothing can explain the sense of relief after releasing the break before landing. Did exactly the same thing from my first grass strip takeoff.


AL

[Craggenmore]

Not changing IR instructor quick enough before damage was done :yuk:

[Graham Borland]

Started the engine without making sure the parking brake was on.

[nuclear weapon]

Sometime last year I decided to take my niece to france (le touquet) as I promised I would a while back. Like most pilots I checked the weather in advance bbc, sky , metoffice. It was a sunday and everthing was going to be ok so i thought. I got to school and did all the usual paperwork and took off from stapleford. Everything was fine until we got to Ashford there was a huge cake of cloud believe it or not down to 1100 ft. I agonised over turning back and it just got worse. So I decended to cloud base flew visually to dover tracked the Vor out to cap griz nez. You will like to know I crossed the chanel at 1000ft! Fortunately i had done a couple of lessons in IMC which helped a lot. The viz over the chanell despite decending was no more than 500ft. Thankfully there were a lot of other brits crossing in the same situation and lille was quite helpfull. When we touched down she had no clue how scared I was as it turned out There were a couple of other guys there who said they've made the same silly mistake. Lesson always call and double check the weather as ridiculous as it may sound. Needless to say coming back was easier as cloud this time around stopped mid chanell and she fell asleep as soon as we took off.

[stue]

Once tried moving of with the chocks still in, the CFI was watching and found it hilarious!

Oops!:hmm:

[Trislander]

I've done the 'parking-brake-on-for-take-off-manoeuvre' too! and also managed to land with brakes partially on in a 152 - felt like a carrier landing :eek:

I'm paranoid about needing to relieve oneself whilst flying as well.. especially on those cross-channel trips after a nice strong French cafe-au-lait! :bored:

T

[FougaMagister]

Hour building in Florida right after PPL & IMC, I borrowed one of the FTO's Cessna 152s (an airframe which I hadn't used before) and assumed that it was fitted with long-range tanks (36 US gallons if I recall). I then set out on a longish VFR nav - with a divert en route due weather - and on landing back at "home base", was shocked to discover that the plane was fitted with... standard tanks (24 US gallons)!

A quick calculation showed I had actually used 95% of the on-board fuel... Not much to play with in case of a go-around!

Lesson learned: never assume, always double-check! :ouch:

Cheers :cool:

[type1]

flew over LAX without permission, oops. i always thought americans had loud voices anyway but the controller proved their normal speaking voice is but a mere whisper.

[172_driver]

Just found this thread and without any intention of 'bumping' I'd like to share some of the mistakes I have made, hopefully someone can learn from it. I have learnt my home work a couple of times!

My biggest mistake was a cross country flight, not much more than 25 nm away so I was close to the field all the time. Took off quite late in the afternoon and the sun was going down but I thought I would be home before it was completely gone. However I wasn't and this was before I had NQ. The meeting with my CFI afterwards was nasty but I think I deserved it. :ouch:

Minor mistakes, which easily occurs during training: landed with the feet on the brakes, forogt final check, realised on short short short final I wasn't cleared to land (went around, fortunately not the same flight as I forgot final check).

[Lower the Nose!]

Post-qualification I joined a flying club with a nice new(ish) Skyhawk complete with autopilot. I didn't pay much attention to the AP when I had my club checkout, thinking I would rather hand fly. Like many autopilots this one is activated by a thumb button on the yoke where you might otherwise expect the mic key to be. I discovered the hard way one day after take off when I had to fight to stop the plane turning in the opposite direction I wanted it to. Fortunately I worked out what was going on before I killed myself, and I now know how to operate the AP (it's a great tool for lazy cruising btw).

[flyboyike]

Right after I got my IR, I was doing a commercial XC flight form MIC to MKT. I was on VFR flight following and was supposed to stay clear of clouds. Well, sure enough this one puffy cloud turned out to be somewhat higher that I thought, so there I was in actual, by myself, for the first time. Thankfully, all that training kicked in and I flew the plane (a C172) on the gauges until I emerged into the clear again. Kind of exciting, actually.

[TolTol]

Aye I've done the chocks thing also, how bloody embarrassing:O

[gcolyer]

Calling left base for 05 at Teeside when i was actualy on right base for 23, despite the fact that i was actualy joining for a left downwind for 05. Felt like a right muppet when i realised and told tower of my lack of understanding between left and right. Didn't help when tower reply with laughter.

Gary.

[MIKECR]

On one of my first gliding solo's I remember pulling back far too hard at the top of the launch, broke the cable, causing a 1000ft of wire to drift downwind and wrap itself around the nearby hydro electric power lines. The flash, spectacular as it was, unfortunately blew all the power to the local town for 4 hours! To say I wasnt popular was a slight understatement! The moral of the story was we probably shouldnt have been launching in the first place given the wind direction. The club learnt a lesson the hard way, just unfortunate I was the "guinea pig" so to speak. We've since paid lots of money to the hydro to have the power lines buried.

[Captain.sullivan]

I made a slow, easy and leisurely sunday morning call on 121.5
I also had a tail strike in a c 172, but nothing like some of the stories i am reading, lol

[BEagle]

Having finished my basic flying training at Cranwell, I went to Leeming to do a short flying course whilst waiting for a Gnat course. After the Leeming course, back to hold at Cranwell for a couple more months.

One day, I flew back to Leeming with an instructor in a JP5. My approach, so the usual 300 kt 300 ft run-in-and-break. Called initials, smacked it over onto its side, pulled like a bug ger, rolled out on final......

For the wrong RW!

I'd joined for the correct one, but pulled too tight and ended up nicely set up on the wrong one. Went round with the instructor pi$$ing himself with laughter!

[Vee One...Rotate]

On one of my first gliding solo's I remember pulling back far too hard at the top of the launch, broke the cable, causing a 1000ft of wire to drift downwind and wrap itself around the nearby hydro electric power lines. The flash, spectacular as it was, unfortunately blew all the power to the local town for 4 hours! To say I wasnt popular was a slight understatement! The moral of the story was we probably shouldnt have been launching in the first place given the wind direction. The club learnt a lesson the hard way, just unfortunate I was the "guinea pig" so to speak. We've since paid lots of money to the hydro to have the power lines buried.

That's classic :)

Having finished my basic flying training at Cranwell, I went to Leeming to do a short flying course whilst waiting for a Gnat course. After the Leeming course, back to hold at Cranwell for a couple more months.

One day, I flew back to Leeming with an instructor in a JP5. My approach, so the usual 300 kt 300 ft run-in-and-break. Called initials, smacked it over onto its side, pulled like a bug ger, rolled out on final......

For the wrong RW!

I'd joined for the correct one, but pulled too tight and ended up nicely set up on the wrong one. Went round with the instructor pi$$ing himself with laughter!

That's just plain scary. 300 kts at 300' - show off ;)

Keep 'em coming!

V1R

[maxdrypower]

Only three months ago and for reasons best known to some bugger else I was doing a pre-gft revison test over Whitchurch in a Terrahawk. Power off -nose high , stall warner mushy controls a/c stalls , instructor says "recover" at this point right wing drops I grab the biggestest gutfull of left aileron you have ever seen with incredibly predictable results , Much heavy breathing and one change of underwear later and I was still wondering why the hell I did that , Instructor thought it was hilarious , whats the phrase? I learnt about ........

[MrRoach]

long solo cross country building up to my ppl. Was in america, the airfield that i was based at had an mid-air collision the day before my solo. Put that out my mind and set off. all went well apart from forgetting to turn on to "alt" on the transponder after leaving the first airfield (realised very quickly tho on the climb out). I get back to Gillespie thinking thank god i made it, and call up the airfield reporting that i am over loveland resevoir. Thinking happy days when "353 ident" hmmm o.k why? "353 you meant el cap resevoir did'nt you?!"
DOH!
"erm yeah el cap resevoir, Sorry!"
Suffice to say he was not best pleased with me, to be honest it was ****ty timing, with the mid-air the day before. felt a right numpty but at least nout bad came of it.

[BestAviation]

This is one of those "I have a friend" stories - but never the less it is true...and it was indeed a friend who did it. On a 3 hour nav flight last christmas my flyingbuddy (who has a bladder the size of a shotglass) desided it was time to take care of business.

The idea was quite brilliant - climb in the back of the C172, go in the fuel strainer and then poor it out the window. After a few moments of relief I opened the window on my side (right side) after which I heard a scream from the back. Aparently he had put the full fuel strainer into the airflow and the air had now lifted the yellow liquid out of the strainer and sent it for his face.

The unexpected but very eventfull happening was of course caught on photo (after the fact) and if it hadn't been for the autopilot I'm sure keeping heading and altitude would have posed a problem for the minutes to follow. I've never laughed so hard in an airplane before - I guess simple humor is the best after all :)

[USE THE RUDDERS]

Not changing IR instructor quick enough before damage was done :yuk:


Would have to agree with you there!!!!!!!!!!!!!, still paying it off as a result.

[27mm]

Basic jet training on the JP at Linton in the early 70s - circuits were flown left hand, except for Wednesdays, when they were right hand. QFI gives me an engine failure in Linton overhead and I launch straight into the forced landing pattern, spouting all the good stuff from the checklist; half-way through the pattern, as we leave High Key for Low Key, I can feel the silent QFI writing something on my right kneepad - I'm sweating cobs trying to get the pattern right and fit the drills in, but manage to glance quickly at my kneepad - it says one word: Wednesday. I reverse quickly into a right hand pattern while the previously silent QFI giggles to himself........

[c_jephcott]

On my QXC for my PPL, I was assigned for a flight to Staverton and back to Peterborough, via Bourne.

The flight itself went very well - I arrived into Staverton on time, and with a big smile on my face. Uploaded fuel, had a coffee, and then started redoing my checks. No problems there, taxied out to the hold. Announced that I was ready for departure... and then without reason, continued to taxi. Onto the runway. Right in front of an arriving PA28.

To say that the pilot of the PA28, the ATC and the flying club back in Peterborough were not best pleased is an understatement. I couldn't think of a suitable reply to Staverton Tower either, so I just said something really stupid. I can't rememeber what it was though...

If I ever meet the pilot of that PA28, I owe him a beer. I'm so sorry about that to this day. I learnt flying/taxying from that!!!

[fenfly01]

As a new PPL instructor I gave a lengthy pre flight brief on stall recovery to a nervous student and off we went into the blue to try it out. After a demo it was his turn.
My mistake? Not telling him how far to move the control column forward in the recovery.
After he pushed the stick FULLY forward and our cessna 150 went from about 45 deg pitch up to almost vertically pitch down. I professionally screamed for control, he screamed because he thought he was going to die and then his side window popped open letting the increasing breeze blow in noisily! :eek: Chaos. After I recovered control he sat there with his hand on his heart, eyes closed,breathing heavily looking like a heart attack victim. "S!*T, i've killed a student....!" i thought. Luckily he was 'just' in shock.
So now, I make sure I get the stude to follow through on my demo. Now I only occassionally scare the poop out of my studes.

We never have to many hours to learn anything new, and quite often from those with less hours! ;)

[So Now What?]

"After he pushed the stick FULLY forward and our cessna 150 went from about 45 deg pitch up to almost vertically pitch down."

Had almost the identical situation happen to me. First flight with an older guy brushing up for a PPL skills test after 5 years of a lapsed PPL. The student flew extremely well and his handling was confident, so I asked him if he'd be happy to show me a clean stall recovery. Without prompting he did a full hasell check and slowed the a/c down keeping it rock solid level, leaving me relaxed and calm, and then at the first pip of the warner the stick went hard full forward. My note pad actually 'shot' off of my lap and firmly pinned itself to the roof lining while I struggled to push one hand hard on the roof so that I could hold myself down enough to reach the stick........ 'Errrr I have control'

As my CFI always states, 'it'll be the guy with a license who tries to kill you, not a new student!' never relax your guard.

Was left wondering about the structural implications of high -ve G in a 9000 hour C172!

[petitfromage]

Good on whomever started this thread. Great to tell all your 'war stories' and share your mistakes. You wont live long enough to make them all yourself.

Some errors are accidental, some are deliberately dangerous. Ive used at least 6 of my 9 lives & still have 25yrs flying in me. Ive lost 4 friends along the way (military accidents).....much of y errors were due directly to the invincibility and foolhardiness of youth.

Be safe, be deliberate and check, then check again. After all when it goes wrong for you chaps in GA, you dont have the Martin Baker Letdown option!

Its often not something bad that highlights an error, failure or omission.......its often the absence of something good!

[BestAviation]

...our cessna 150 went from about 45 deg pitch up...

45 deg pitch up!? That stall demo would have scared even me ;)

[mikelimapapa]

Came way too close for comfort to a midair collision. Flying out to a practice field to burn up some solo time pre-PPL, making position and altitude reports on air-to-air freq. Just got done with a radio call when out of the corner of my eye I noticed an another helicopter off to my left at the same altitude, heading right for me! :eek: I immediately slammed down the collective (which controls the pitch on the blades for you plankers) and lost altitude as quickly as possible. The other helicopter flew directly overhead, about 10 ft above me. Never altered course or altitude, never answered my radio calls asking who was in the same area. Not only was this idiot not looking for other traffic, but he wasn't even on the correct frequency! Assume it was another solo student, but never got his tail number.

[Another Biggles]

Hello All
I've had a couple of miss-haps meself during EFT on my Uni Air Sqd on the Tutor.
The first was during my circuit consolidation, when I was performing a few glider circuits. Having landed perfectly, I smoothly applied full power, waited for 60 kts, eased back the stick...AND NOTHING HAPPENED. Trundling down the ever-decreasing runway, I kept scanning the controls for a fault, exept there wasnt one. I considered aborting the roller landing when I realised in terror that the RPM lever was still selected to low. As I slammed it back to high, the prop shuddered and the plane literally leapt into the air (a good thing, considering there were tall trees towards the opposite threshold).
Having been told repeatedly NEVER to remove my hand from the RPM lever once the prop had been feathered...my hand had slipped naturally back onto the throttle, where it stayed until I realised with terror what I had done on the rollout.
Other than the above, I did have a PIO once that shook up my instructor in the tower as much as it did me. Despite recovering properly and going around, before the training kicked in I had a serious 'urge' to let the aircraft settle back onto the ground, much like another student did a year before (though he ended up with a prop strike and a damaged engine cowling).
I remember that at the same airfield, I had seen someone actually land on the wrong runway (boy did she get a bollocking later) as well as hearing about some poor lass who got stuck in the mud on her first solo (having not properly applied the parking brake during the engine run-up). Embaressingly for her, I believe a tractor was called in to drag out the plane...
All for now
AB

[DogsBolx]

I endured 5 years of instructing at my local club and have made or been witness to, virtually every mistake possible.

The usual ones, pull mixture instead of carb heat in a bad weather cicuit etc I have survived but pale into insignificance when compared with some of the really frightening ones.

I went into the club one day and the CFI told me to do a circuit with the chief engineer chappie in one of the twins that had been in for maintenance. He told me to make it quick as there was a selection of people waiting to fly. I ran outside and as I went to the fuel caps to check the fuel, the chief engineer said "Plenty of fuel and oil for what we are doing...only one circuit", so I went. The left engine cut at 300ft on the climb-out and the right cut as I touched down. Had to get a tow to the pumps. Lesson well and truly learned.

Another time I had an IMC student and we were going to conduct the lesson in real IMC. As we pulled onto the runway I reminded him to check his DI with the runway, as I was writing down the clearance, winding up my stopwatch etc. We took off and popped into cloud. After a minute or two I told him to turn north and was surprised that the turn didnt seem to take very long and I assumed he had drifted off heading in the climb out. I noted this then noticed we had flown into a clear spot. I looked down and saw a runway with a tornado running down it. It should not have been there. I took control, did a quick 180 and got out of the area quick. And what had happened? The IMC student with many PPL hours under his belt had lined up on runway 10 and unknown to me had set 010 on the DI which resulted in the aircraft being flown straight over an active MoD airfield. Lesson learned.

I had a trial lesson victim who, either through nerves or deathwish, inadvertantly applied full right rudder at the very moment we took off. He also locked his leg in this position so it made it impossible for me to correct. He only let go after I had administered a short sharp punch to the nose. Afterwards you could see the arc the right wing tip had made in the long grass along the side of the runway. Lesson learned.

I was persuaded to become a meat bomber (parachute drop jockey) and it was suggested that I sit in the back of the aircraft and watch. (not legal but it was a long time ago.) All the seats in the big Cessna, except the pilots seat and rear bench seat, had been removed so it was the rear bench seat that I occupied. Off went the meat bombs on their vertical journey and I unbuckled my belt and carefully crawled to the pilot past the open right side door. I grabbed the plastic strap behind his seat so I could crouch by his seat to tell him something. The handle snapped. I rolled back, gracefully exiting the a/c at 5000ft still clutching the vinyl strap. Instinctively pushing out my feet, I was able to jam them under the pilots seat to arrest my sumersault into oblivion. Once dangling with head in the propwash, he pulled me in with a pull on my trouser belt. Seriously frightening stuff. I still have nightmares about it, 10 years later. I also still have the whitish/ yellowy plastic strap. It is nailed up behind the kitchen door and I hang the dog's lead and collar from it. Lesson learned.

The funniest thing was another trial lesson victim. The chap was very old. He had flown in the war and wanted to do some aeros, as he had enjoyed this many years before. Off we went and I suggested one or two spins to see how we got on. This he agreed to and I entered a spin. I was pattering away as you do, and had got to the "and ease out of the ensuing dive" bit. I then noticed my old chap was not very well. Not very well at all. He was clutching his chest and making some sort of grunting noise with his chin buried deep in his chest. He was also drooling. That did it. I radioed the airfield to say my passenger was having a heart attack and that I'll need an ambulance for him on landing. With this radio call my chap got very aggitated, grabbing my arm and spitting drool at me. He looked in agony and I kept on trying to reassure him and tell him to calm down. He was trying to tell me something. "Meee teeez" "Meee teeez" he repeated again and again. He shouted "Wook" and picked up off the floor a set of false teeth with assorted fluff and the obligatory half melted Spangle stuck to them. At entry to the spin his false teeth had dropped out and he had tried to catch them as they slid down his chest and on to the floor. I had to call the airfield, saying that the ambulance was not required and that my chap was fine. They of course wanted to know more but I told them I would have to see them when I had landed as I and my new friend were laughing so much.

This all happened over 10 years ago. There are many other stories and one day I may write a book. I now fly a biz jet and life is certainly a lot more ordered, predictable and safe! But is it as much fun???

Dogs

[LOOKUP]

BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER !:*

[overcast]

My most memorable one was doing spin training in a Cherokee.

I got the pull out of Dive then power the wrong way round, I never knew a Cherokee could out accelerate a Williams F1 car!

[too_sleepy]

Building hours in San Diego I invited an eager friend to become my very first passanger. I flew a route I had flown twice the previous day and took great delight oeprating the flight with a high degree of professionalism. Full passanger briefing, I even wrote up an emergency card for him
I can't explein how impressed he was when we landed at Palm Springs, right on time and a greaser of a landing.

Off we went for a nice bit of lunch, Mexican, and as I had an awful thirst a gallon of iced tea. Rushing back to the airfield all I could think of was getting off on time, back to San Diego, a few pints and let my friend tell everyone what a great pilot I was, what a mug.
20 minutes into the air, 8,000 ft over the California mountains, it hit me hard. NOTHING could stop it, no way to hold it, quick assessment and I went for that tiny f****** window in the Piper, no chance.
Luckily my passanger was a caffeine addict and had thrown his empty Grande Latte cup in the back. I know it's terribly unsafe but I hopped into the back for that cup and got 2 refills.

Fisrt cup went out the window no problem. Second cupfull just seemed to leave the aircraft turn around and come straight back in. I saw it on time, pulled back and splat, right over my passanger. Man did he scream. We was fine after a few pints, of beer.

I did learn a lesson, it's not just the aviation stuff you have to be on top of to be safe.

--------------------
One more, it wasn't me though. Friend in Florida was giving me a lift to another airfield at night. He was real tired, long day and this was a real short hop, 10 minutes max. Our FTO was shut, everyone gone home and no torch for a quick look into the fuel tanks. Whatyedo? Use your lighter, I'm serious, I was standing about 5 ft away, I ran as I shouted at him, DON'T DO IT.
I looked back, still running mind you, I just managed to see the fumes catch, flames about 2 feet straight up from the fuel tank. He had set the f******* fuel tank on fire. In fairness to the guy he didn't panic, maybe it was shock or tiredness he just stood there slapping the source of the flames.
He soon ran and threw the fuel cap back towards the tank, somehow, by some miracle it fell right in place and smothered the flames. During the post incident investigation (in the pub) he reckons the tank was so full of fuel there was no room inside for the flames to propogate.

That'smore than I've ever written on pprune.

[smith]

There was a thread similar to this on the private flying forum a while back, there were a few corkers on there. Not funny I know, but had me in stitches some of them, I think it was the first time a lot of people realised adrenalin was brown.

PS like the stories of chucking human excrement out of windows etc and the one where checking the fuel level with a lighter, absolutely pissin myself :}

[hixton]

Holy smoke I just nearly sh*t myself reading about the lighter, that is crazy stuff.

Wasnt there an incident recent where some OFT or EFT students just got all their licences and was out doing a bit of flying. They taxied to the runway, took off only to be informed by the tower that they still had the concrete tie down bricks attached! Funny, but not for them as they lost their licences.

[moley]

Think they were cpl holders from argentina....A collegues best one was when as an instructor,a student tried to commit suicide out of the door of the plane I guess from several thousand feet...apparently a head lock and emergency landing saved the day!

[60N030]

I got asked that on an interview at Pinnacle. I told them that "I married the wrong woman." That answer caught them out good but it was clever and true!!!

If I was asked today, I would say getting involved in this miserable career and working for their poor excuse of a company was the worst mistake I ever made!!!!!

[Dude~]

Worst mistake I ever made...

...getting 1 question wrong in the Gen Nav exam :cool:

[cosworth211]

Going on a long cross country in a 152 (hour building) after mag checks showed spluttering and a big drop on one magneto. I put it down to taxi-ing it over rich, and presumed it would resolve during the flight. The next day the aircraft went into maintenance, all the spark plugs on one mag had broken up :uhoh:
I won't do it again

[Fish Out of Water]

How about this then. Going on a 3 hr nax ex (in my days at the delightful CCAT) stuck in a bathtub in which I couldn't move (the Katana 2 seat job). Was the tour of around birmingham (across to Gloucester, then up to some where near Liverpool and back down the uncontrolled corridor to Cranfield). Only problem was, got stuck depserately needing a pi55 overhead Wrexham! Right in the middle and no way directly back.

It took 9 fills of the fuel strainer and a steady hand trying not to let the venturi blow it back in my face when emptying it overboard! People could still see the off-white stain down the side of that a/c for months - think it was deicing fluid, honest! :}

[sicky]

I think the worst mistake I ever made was believing I would earn lots of money as an airline pilot.

Superpilot, nothing can explain the sense of relief after releasing the break before landing. Did exactly the same thing from my first grass strip takeoff.


AL

the money looks good to me??

[rahul_mica]

Here are a few I have managed :-

1. WRONG FREQUENCY. First Nav x-country on a 172. All excited, all prepared. (bit over-prepared, I guess).

Correct procedure :- Departure Tower – Radar – Control. TO destination Control – Tower
What happened :- Departure Tower – Radar – Control TO Alternate Control – Tower
Alternate didn’t respond to my calls, presumably he was out of range. Luckily, got alerted by a mate who was on the same frequency. Saved the day for me.

2. CLEARANCE – Chokes off, power and off you go. BRAKE HARD!!! Need to take a taxi clearance before you can do that. Instructor proceeded to take care of the RT for the rest of the flight.
3. STALL (almost) – On finals, solo, looked liked I was undershooting. Bit of power would have been enough, but pulling the stick?? A bit too much!! Stall warning sounded. Purely by instinct applied power, corrected the attitude and got out of the mess.

[Richard Spandit]

Instructor said "Right, we're going to do an asymmetric touch and go"

Not a problem...

Made the approach, landed - instructor rejigs the flaps for T/O and says "Go"... I push the one throttle full forward...


...I reckon I would've made it even if he hadn't taken control and given me power to the other engine as well

[dboy]

The most stupid thing i did was starting the atpl course and hoping for a job afterwards.

grtz

[sicky]

The most stupid thing i did was starting the atpl course and hoping for a job afterwards.

grtz

i hate reading this :( it really, really worries me

[Bandit Man]

me too sicky but then i ocassionally read things like this:

"Out of the 15 on my course at Cabair, there is only one person who hasn't got a job. Only 2 of these were sponsored, and one of them dropped out anyway!"

these things cheer me up!

[sicky]

This is true!! Sometimes i read threads that are so depressing, then i look at the date and it says 2002/2003. Things certainly seem to have picked up since those days anyway!

[Send Clowns]

Look where he is, sicky! The market seems to be a lot better in the UK than anywhere else int he world at the moment. I am not surprised - we work Europe-wide and most of our competition is in the UK, even when it would be natural for a European company to take the work.

[sicky]

I did overlook that send clowns, you have a good point! Another comforting point at that!!

[dboy]

It is a fact that people in the UK have far more chance to get a job. I don't know how many companies are overthere, but it is a lot. Here in Belgium we only have about 5 or 6 companies. So that's it. And as a foreigner i have have no chance in a other country, like the Uk eg.
grtz

[Ringway004]

:eek: What's the worst mistake I made?:bored: well it's nothing to do with flying in general but it has something to do with those big jets at work, here goes:

I went into work one last summer morining(2005) at Manchester Airport and was called out to load a PIA 747 bound for JFK( second day of at work, I woz a newbee). Anyhow I make my way down to the bay it's parked which is like 2miles away, and since I wasn't assigned to a specific crew nobody had expected me and those who noticed me turn up were quiet surprised since they'd done all the hard work and only crew bags were waiting to be loaded:O
so I make my way up the belt and ino the back of the 747 cargo hold about 15ft high above ground, during this time I failed to notice that my unknown crew memebrs were already making their way back to the brew rooms. As I was stacking the bags, which weiged like they has bricks! PIA:} service, I noticed how everything suddenly went so quiet, no cars, nobody shouting, so I decided to take alook out of the door and noticed the ramp had gone, no drivers or soul on the Apron! OH SHI**T! i thought:confused: then the cargo lights flickered off and I hear the engines start up, chokes removed and plane starts rolling bak off bay, HOLY SH**t i thought :eek:
luckilly the ramp co-ordinator came bombing back to rescue me, otherwise I would have aended up in JFK only in the form of a frozen chip!:D

[Send Clowns]

...as a foreigner i have have no chance in a other country, like the Uk egNot true at all! I know people of various nationalities flying in the UK. I admit I don't know any Belgians, but you can't be worse than the French ;)

[ultimatepro63]

:eek: What's the worst mistake I made?:bored:

Must have bee really scary !