Please forget the slight thread drift. In the old days at Moorabbin you could buy a joy flight from pilots who touted for business over the fence opposite to where the Pilot Shop is now. I decided to give our young son and his Mum a joy flight.
The bloke on airside behind the fence was dolled up in his pilot suit with big wings, Breitling watch (I presumed cos it was a bloody big watch) and stripes and a cravat. I handed over the cash and we hopped the fence (it was low) and climbed into the Warrior. The wife and kid went into the back seats and I asked him if I could sit in the front. The pilot said no problem. The engine was started and he taxied real fast so he could get more trips in before flying stopped for the day. He did the run up while taxiing dragging the brakes at 2000RPM while checking the mags.
This prick's a cowboy I thought, so I decided to take a closer interest in what I had got my family into. I didn't tell him I was a RAAF pilot. Now a long time go I took off in a Wirraway with the mag switch on one mag only. At the time my student had done the run-up and as his instructor in the back seat of the Wirra I made the cardinal sin of not noticing the magneto switch was not on Both before we launched. The Wirra engine started to bang and splutter at 200 ft and in doing a swift trouble check it was then I saw the Mag switch not on Both. Fixed that one real quick and the engine ran OK then.
I learned a big lesson to not always trust the other pilot blindly. Now back to the pilot with the cravat taxiing like the wind at MB with me, wife and kid as his admiring audience. We were cleared for one circuit and as he was about to roll I leaned over to check if the key was on Both. I think he thought I was being a bit familar as my shoulder leaned against his. Well, the bloody mag switch was not on Both. In his blinding haste to run up on the run he had left it on one mag position only.
"Excuse me old mate" I said casually. "That key there - shouldn't it be on Both?" He looked at me with that superior look as if talking to a bogan. Well maybe he was. But it was a RAAF bogan who knew what a cowboy was.
He saw the problem and switched the mag key to Both. "Have you flown before"? he asked. Just a little bit I said recalling my first trip in a Mustang a few years previously. The rest of the trip went Ok but I am glad I picked the problem with the mag key position especially with my family on board.