I learnt about flying from that...

[larzabell]

As a private pilot and soon to be FI, I was intrigued with the conversation in the club house recently. Some experienced pilots were discussing their 'moments' in the air. I found it fascinating.

I also remember when I first got my licence a couple of years ago, an older pilot with 50+ years experience said to me 'now you'll learn to fly'

It made me think that this would be a great thread to start on pprune -

What frightening experiences have you had when flying and what lessons have you learned from them?

Weather/failures/human error

I would be interested to hear from commercial and private pilots

please share your flying stories:ok:

*mods* feel free to move this thread if you think it would be best elsewhere

[john_tullamarine]

if you think it would be best elsewhere

.. first, let's see how it might develop .. if it degenerates into a wonderful set of "there I was... with nothing but the maker's name on the clock" anecdotes we might find somewhere more suitable but, if there be a sprinkling of technical commentary, it might just as well enjoy the sun in Tech Log.

[INNflight]

I remember "reading" about human factors before my training....didn't interest me a lot to be honest.

I really learned about these - spatial disorientation in particular - on instrument rating training flights at night with no clues from shadows in the cockpit, being told to do a parallel holding entry while figuring out the wind correction needed for a ~ 50kts wind (low level jetstream at 3000ft....good ol' Kansas flying :})

[18-Wheeler]

Got a few that I wrote down a while ago.
1 (http://www.billzilla.org/flying1.html), 2 (http://www.billzilla.org/flying2.html), 3 (http://www.billzilla.org/flying3.html), 4 (http://www.billzilla.org/flying4.html).

[Dan Winterland]

ILAFT was a regular feature in the RAF flight safety magazine "Air Clues". Every issue had one story, always anonymous and always something others could learn from.

And after an absence of eight years, it's back. And available on line for everyone to read.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/807515EC_5056_A318_A81019921CF3F852.pdf

[Flight Detent]

Hey 18-Wheeler...

glad to see you didn't need to mention me when we flew together in our 747 flying days

very long days they were, and we managed to survive all in one piece!

merry christmas and take care...

Cheers...FD...:)

[18-Wheeler]

Heh, like the #4 hydraulic problem out of LA?
That was fuuun, FD. :)

[Slasher]

What frightening experiences have you had when flying and what lessons have you learned from them?

Frightening Experience - Bangkok Suvarnabumi fog.
Lessons Learned - Take plenty of gas!

F.E. - Bangkok Suvarnabumi with ATC radar failure
L.L. - Divert!

F.E. - Bangkok ATC (anywhere)
L.L. - Look at the TCAS first!

F.E. - Runaway prop in a bloodey Aztec! :eek:
L.L. - An Aztec dragging its @rse on one METO'd donk can fly very well near the stall

F.E. - E/failure on a clapped-out 737-200 at MTOW
L.L. - Have nothing to do with clapped-out 737-200s

F.E. - Navajo with elevater cable stuck after TO.
L.L. - Leave the gear down and play with the flaps. Trim is useless.

And at the VERY top of the heap - :uhoh:

Frightening Experience(s) - 200hr wonderkids in RHS of 737-800s and A320s
Lessons (the kids) Learned - Dont fly with me until they have 1500 hours, or get a few hundred hours charter in poorly-maintained non-turbo Navajos or Aztecs with leakey props!

[larzabell]

Great stories 18w. Makes my own moments look much less scary. But then again I only have 150 hours - there's lots to come!

[rudderrudderrat]

Experience. Nose gear jammed in up position for the landing.
Lessons Learned. Take all the time you need in the hold, rehearse the procedure from the Flying Manual, & run like Fred Flintstone during the landing roll.

[Checkboard]

You can read most of mine (Instructor, freight, airline) here:

https://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/360003-few-flying-stories.html

:O

[eckhard]

Shortly after PPL issue, got airborne early morning in a Beagle Pup with two passengers. Broken cloud with plenty of sunny holes. Shocked to find we entered cloud at about 400ft and broke out on top at about 800ft into clear skies. Looked around for the airfield to see that the 'sunny holes' didn't seem so big from above.

Where am I? Where is the airfield? How do I get back down?

Flew a timed circuit, trying to appear calm, with the passengers enthusing about the lovely view of the clouds. Poor fools - don't they know we're all about to die?

Saw a hole in the clouds as I turned 'final', in roughly the right place. Decided to go for it. Full flap, carb heat on, let down to 400ft to see fields, houses, trees but no airfield! Climbed back up above the cloud. Passengers thought it was all deliberate!

Flew another timed circuit. Saw a feature I recognised on base leg. Extended slightly and then let down again. Broke out on short final right on the centreline! Landed quite well, considering. Passengers disappointed at short duration of flight!

CFI of another school on the other side of the airfield telephoned to ask if I had enjoyed my flight. He had followed my 'progress' from the ground. Said that he saw my first approach and go-around, which was about 1/2 mile north of the field. Explained that a better option might have been to call radar of local big airport and hold clear until the cloud lifted (early morning stratus). I had plenty of fuel, after all.

Lessons learned?

It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, rather than vice-versa!

Judging the height of cloud can be difficult.

Don't rush to get back down if you have fuel and time to wait for an improvement in the weather.

Always have a back-up plan.

[Miserlou]

Sometimes you don't realize how close you were until later. Here's one of my stories. A lesson about fuel.

The flight I had planned was IFR and close to the limit of the aircraft's duration. I was only a little surprised at uplifting 100 litres less fuel than I had estimated. Still I had experienced some fuel feeding to another tank and I judged that this must be the case.
I took off in rain from a grass field and into cloud at about 1000 feet. At 10,000 feet I was just out of cloud and had picked up some ice but not so much. The aircraft had no anti-ice system but had sufficient excess thrust to get to altitude quickly and the freezing level was well above the MSA so both my 'outs' were available.
Still it was enough to block one of the vents on the tip tanks and this initially inhibited the transfer of fuel from one of them.

Three hours later I decided to descend early to positive temperatures because the red low fuel light was illuminated again. I thought I should make sure that the last of the fuel was transferred.

Anyway, to the destination and a full procedure NDB approach to minima but landed safely.

A week later I learned that one of the fuel tanks had collapsed and I really did have 100 litres less than I thought. I would probably have had enough to get to my alternate but no more than that!

I learned about flying from that.

[172_driver]

A few years ago, I got a late call a Saturday night from a friend of my family. They had missed the night train to the ski resort (cheap mistake, confusing times with the return ticket) where they were going to spend a week holiday. They asked if I could fly them up there. I was a young lad looking for cheap hours so even though I had to arrange a few things logistically, I said YES!

At the time I wasn't instrument rated so I did tell my passengers that it was wx dependent, but the outlook was fine. I prepared for a night flight, about 2.5 hrs, collecting all available wx resources, calling the Met office etc. All sources indicated clear skies both ways, except for an old gentleman on the flying club that asked "are you going to be back before the bad weather?" I didn't pay much attention to this, the "professionals" at the Met office said nothing about it.

Flight up was uneventful, except it was a battle against the time. My destination aerodrome was closing at mid night and there were no suitable alternates for my passengers. We made it just in time, my passengers got a taxi and 30 min later they arrived to the hotel just one day delayed. "Pewwhhh... I thought, mission accomplished, now it's going to be a nice flight home"

Refueled to depart with full tanks (PA28) and headed south into the dark skies. The route was mainly inland over large forest areas, so navigation was a bit tricky. I couldn't pinpoint my position on the map, but from dead reckoning I could tell my approximate position. Fortunately I had a GNS430 giving me an accurate magenta line. I was approaching the first town on my route expecting to see some lights as I was approaching 30 nm north, but the lights were barely visible and didn't look as sharp as I excepted. Fearing the worst, as I got right over the town indeed it was an overcast cloud layer separating me and mother earth.

Great I thought, if it's cloudy here I would assume my destination would be the same. Asked ATC for latest observation at destination and some possible alternates in the vicinity. My dest was the best option, with OVC 2400 ft. Here I experienced some press-on-itis, for I could always return to my dep. aerodrome. That would be very inconvenient though since I was working the following day (or later that morning) and didn't want to leave the flying clubs plane 250 nm away from home.

I pressed on, hoping I could find somewhere to re-enter under the clouds. Coming in over the next town on my route, with lots of lights, I started to descend to find a hole. I checked the minimum altitudes on my chart and did a steep spiral over a reference point I thought I saw through the clouds. It was disorientating, to say the least, for the first time in my live flying through clouds.. not to mention solo in a steep spiral dive!!!! I kept starring on my instruments though, and eventually broke out at a safe altitude. I could continue the flight underneath the clouds. From this point home, the flight was without further mishaps and thank god my friend in the TWR had not forgotten to leave the runway lights on.

After landing I sat in the aeroplane for 15 min, I couldn't move. I was still a bit terrified. You would imagine the adrenaline rush through my head when ATC was reading the latest METARs for all my alternates.

Funnily enough, I would probably have done the same decision today to depart from the beginning. The weather reports did say it was going to be fine!! It just, wasn't...

[bearfoil]

First solo, Feb.18, 1970.

Twr. Cleared for take-off

218. Rolling, closed pattern.

What's that noise? Oh, let's close the window, then. (all over the track) I'm right handed.

Ah, downwind. That rhs looks empty. Sky God !

Twr. 218 extend downwind, Aztec on long final.

218. extend downwind. 218. (Extend downwind? Hmm. Oh. got it.)

Extending. Extending. Extending.

218, Twr. 218?

218, turn base cleared to land 19 R number one.

Three miles out, my first long final.

Lesson? Don't hesitate to ask.

bear

[Mansfield]

Let me add three short tales that might be useful for all, especially the newer folks.

During departure taxi in a Metro III, the first officer noted that the flap handle was correctly set in the detent for 1/4 flap, but the indicator had not moved. She offered to go back and look. Now, that was always awkward in the Metro due to the confined space. At the time, I was a check airman and aircraft systems ground instructor. I knew that system inside and out, and knew that the detent was a suitable indication; indeed, the MEL allowed operation with the indicator inoperative as long as the airplane had the detented flap handle (older versions did not). So I declined her offer. The truth is she was an attractive enough gal, but I perceived her as a bit of a pain. She tended to irritate me. But she persisted. Finally, I said, "Well, you can go back and look, but I think we're fine..."

I'm sure you can guess the end of this. I have used that story when teaching CRM for many years now. It was a model example, on her part, of persistence and ultimately effective communication. All I modeled was the north end of a southbound mule.

I was once flying with a brand new captain on the 727, departing PHX to the west. The dispatch release had planned a departure off the left side of the complex, but we always used the right because it was much, much closer to our gate. So we asked for and received the right side. Just after rotation, I became aware of a very tall crane about a mile off the end. The tower controller said, "Hey, XXX, you gonna miss that crane?" Well, it was clear and quite easy to see...and not quite in our path...but it obviously intruded into the protected gradient.

About a week later, I'm flying the same trip with a grizzled old captain. I looked in the NOTAMs specifically for the crane, convinced that we had been misled on the earlier trip. Sure enough there is the NOTAM. I said something sarcastic to the effect of, "Wonder how long that's been in there...", to which the old timer said, without even looking up, " 'Bout a month".

That would be why the dispatch release was planned for the left side. Read the NOTAMS. All of them. Every day.

Lastly, one of my favorites. Back in the early days of my career, I was copilot on a Convair 240 freighter operating between New England and Chicago. One day, the chief pilot and I landed at BUF in a howling snowstorm. Forty knots at forty five degrees, RVR 1000 variable 2000, holding, etc. We taxiied to the ramp, opened the door, dropped the ladder, and the wind literally stuffed one's parka up the crack in...

We were supposed to offload some freight, then fly the rest over to Toronto and return. To do so, the station guys would open up the large cargo doors and forklift out the skids. In this wind, someone would almost certainly have been hurt. But they were young and enthusiastic...I know because I had trained them. Captain John, a retired Air Force transport/tanker pilot, looked at the station manager and said, "Don't even open her up, Al, we're not goin' to Toronto..."

A few minutes later dispatch called with the owner on the line. The owner could be, well, intimidating. He and John had a very subdued conversation on the phone in the corner office. John finally hung up the phone, came out and said, with the slight twinkle in his eye that was the only way you could ever know he was amused, "Well, we're not goin' to Toronto. Now, I already made that decision, but now the company's blessed it."

That was the day I started learning about the captain's job.