Feeling a bit stupid...

[tmmorris]

Taking off from North Weald in C152 after lunch there was a nasty rhythmic banging sound. I thought either the engine was going to quit (though it was developing power nicely) or a control surface was about to depart.

Half way round the emergency low level circut to land, and having declared a Pan, I realised it was the end of my seatbelt dangling out of the door. I retrieved it, did a go around and disappeared back to base feeling a bit stupid.

I'm sure I'm not the first...

Tim

[Fuji Abound]

Bumps and strange noises in the night are always a worry, its just the same in the air.

[jxk]

Happened to me too. Quite a well known thing in a 150.

[GBEBZ]

My "sound" on a C152 was the wheels spinning after take off, took me ages to work out what the sound was (after 80 hours in a PA28 and never heard it before) - simply squeezing the brakes on the climb out stopped the noise for me - but scary none the less :-)

[Steve6443]

Similar thing happened to me, without the banging though as it was a C172SP... I was still in the learning process, had an instructor beside me and my daughter in the back as she wanted to see what flying a small plane was like. I took off, got to circuit height, started doing some touch and goes and on the second circuit my daughter said:

"Dad, why aren't you wearing your seatbelt?"

The silliest thing about this was that I went through the checklist and checked that the instructor and my daughter were wearing their belts, just forgot about my own....

[Heliplane]

The Cessna seatbelt bang has happened to me too. Another good one is losing the piece of paper in your hand when holding it too close to the open side window in a PA28 - that one takes you by surprise...

[Gertrude the Wombat]

That one's in the book (the Cessna Pilot Centre "Manual of Flight"), so, having read the book, when it happened to me I knew what it was.

And stopped on the runway to fix it, I'd worked it out before getting into the air.

[BEagle]

Many years ago, I was finally cleared to go spinning in one of HM's mighty Chipmunks. Take-off, potter up to height, do the HASELLs, then into my first ever solo spin.... Incipient, then into the fully developed phase....

....all of a sudden, there was an almighty crashing and banging from behind. I recovered promptly, found nothing amiss, but decided to return anway.

It turned out to be the loosely knotted ends of the rear seat harness banging against the seat pan, having not quite been fully secured.

Not quite as bad as some chap in an old racing car which had an auxiliary tank strapped into the redundant passenger seat. In the dark, whilst belting down the back straight, the driver felt something suddenly brush his face..:eek:

Yes, one of the straps had come adrift - as he found half a trembling lap later when he made it to the pits with his hair standing on end!

[maehhh]

Flying a negative Humpty in a Super Decathlon somehow the g-force pulled the throttle back during the push-over. All I realized at that point was the change in engine sound, so I brought it back to straight & level and noticed the manifold being 10inHg too low. I mentally prepared for crashing into the next best paddock until I finally reached the T in FCMIT and brought the throttle back to were it was before... :}

[Dark Helmet]

Happened to me in a Robin recently when I heard a loud banging noise from behind me during power checks. Taxied back to investigate but luckily the tower could see the problem as I taxied past. My passenger had forgotten their right shoulder strap. It was outside the canopy and thrashing itself to death during the run-up!

(I thought the canopy was very difficult to close!)

[The500man]

I had that very problem at North Weald in the C150. It had a five or six point harness and part of it was trapped in the door. Heard a banging during the run-up and opened the door to look outside and there it was. I don't know about every one else, but I tend not to use the shoulder straps unless it's an all in one seatbelt or I intend to fly upside down.

One thing you might want to think about though is whether you heard it banging at all before you took-off. It's easy to run through the pre-flight stuff in a semi-auto fashion and sort of notice something but ignore it, and assume that all is okay like usual, when really it is not. That's perhaps something worth considering.

[foxmoth]

but I tend not to use the shoulder straps unless it's an all in one seatbelt or I intend to fly upside down.

Why bother with the seat belt at all then! If you need the lap strap in a crash the chances are, without the shoulder harness you will end up with serious facial injuries, or at least end up looking like the smilie:}. In fact, leave the shoulder straps off when flying upside down - these are not the ones that stop you coming out the seat, properly fastened lap straps do that - the shoulder harness stops you going forward and hitting your face on the yoke and panel, not really a problem in most aeros :rolleyes:

[tmmorris]

The500man, good point though I am 90% certain I didn't. My son (age 9) is pretty good at telling me if he spots anything odd (he once pointed out a missing fuel cap just after takeoff).

For clarity - I was wearing the seatbelt but there was enough loose end left once tightened to hang just out of the bottom of the door.

Tim

[Crash one]

Once had bumping noises after take off, flew for half an hour wondering what it might be. Landed at a nearer destination. Door unlatched:ugh:Prat:ugh:

[FlyingKiwi_73]

Had the same thing with the Pax belt on a tommie, ...ok so sometimes i taxi a bit fast but the banging of the belt against the door forced immediate braking action, followed by panicked instrument searching and eventual rather hasty engine shutdown.

Two A/C in the taxi way behind me were surely amused when i opened the door and pulled the belt in.

Yes i've left the door open too..... easy to do on the tommie as well <sigh>

[India Four Two]

I once flew with another pilot in a Champion Challenger (the fore-runner of the Citabria). No headphones (no radio either), but it had retro-fitted shoulder harnesses for the front-seat.

While taxying for takeoff, my passenger pulls on my shoulder harness. I turned around and he gestured at the shoulder harness with a quizzical look on his face. I shook my head.

After takeoff, there is the previously described "nasty rhythmic banging sound". Opened the door and my passenger pulled in the lap strap and buckled it up. I had misinterpreted his query. He thought the shake of my head meant no shoulder harness and no lap strap. :eek:

A good job it wasn't a rough day!

The moral of the story - do a proper take-off briefing and harness checks.

[pembroke]

DFW to LGW, catering completed at aft r/hand door, safety strap left outside when the door was closed. Fast forward to initial cruise and a "thumping" noise coming from somewhere "at the back". I was the FO, formally an EO, and all three flight deck went back to listen and try to determine what the noise was. Not wanting to take this problem across the Atlantic, and JFK on a work to rule, we diverted to Atlanta. Fuel dump was delayed by a single dump valve failure. Landed, found the strap outside, refuelled and set course LGW. And yes ,we did tell the passengers the reason for the diversion.(lots of paperwork on arrival!)

[Rocket2]

Many moons ago I was towing a glider with a Supermunk when a Godawful banging started, ditched glider at safe height & set up for low power RTB; no change with RPM or airspeed & stopped on landing. Transpired the earth lead had come adrift from the tail strobe & the noise was the strobe arcing to the airframe & echoing up the (old) loudhailer style rear fuselage.:uhoh: