Not long after completing my PPL i was filling our 44 . My cell phone was in my pocket .i'd just filled one tank as my cell phone rung, so knowing phones and fuel arent a good mix due to a potential static discharge, I walked over to the bowser , put the fuel pump away, wandered a safe distance and took the call.
At the completion of the flight one of the other pilots who we share a hanagr with asked me if I was missing anything. Rather sheepishly I asked what he'd found that I'd lost. Out of his jeans pocket comes the lid to the fuel tank.
In the distraction to taking the call I'd obviously forgot to put in back on and left it sitting on top of the fuselage. Fortunately it was on the pilots side and it harmlessly blew off onto the ground and not into the tail rotor. Just as fortunate I was on a short flight so half filled the tank , it was a sunny day and I landed on tarmac so no water condensation or foreign debris got into the tank. I got lucky.
Lesson learnt, as soon as I get out my car and go to preflight, my phone gets switched off and the last thing I do once all the passengers are strapped in is I take a 30 second final wander around the machine to make sure I've not forgotten anything