Most of my mistakes have been in flying gliders,( and now I am too old to fly without a safety pilot, if anything gets bent it will be his fault!)
And I am happy to say the only thing I ever damaged was ripping off the undercarriage doors of the glider in a truly horrible field, recently tilled by the farmer and still in a succulent state. Found out why straps should be done up done up tightly before landing.....talk about sudden deceleration!
But to go back to pitot covers; in a glider, as we prefer not to have any sticky out bits to spoil the performance, the useful holes are fairly streamlined, and if you have covered them over with electrician's white tape to keep off the morning dew, it is all too easy to forget about that small detail the next day....
I did it in Scotland, to the amusement of the tug pilot. "If she cannae fly withooot an ASI she shouldna be solo!"
The second occasion in Oriel, the USSR, flying a Jantar III in a competition, had the stimulation of being towed up by a Wilga, and watching the ASI which of course had the drawback of being in kph, begin registering ZERO! (as we were in flight, that was a lie for a start) and ascending right through the scale to 500 kph,,,,or whatever it was when it bent the peg.... My return to the airfield earned the rebuke from my Russian crew, who expostulated "Too Fast, Too Fast!!!!" and when I pointed to the tapes which he had failed to remove....he shrank into apology mode, excpecting no doubt to be sent to Siberia for the omission of duty to the glider.....
The third occasion (will she ever learn?) was at home club, Shenington, behind the Supercub. My fault this time, definitely, but I decided as the ASI was reading zero again, that it was being economical with the verity, and I took a high tow to perform the recommended stalls, and feeling quite happy with no ASI and the conditions, soared for an hour and a half before returning without any problem.
Try to remember to put RED electrician's tape over the statics next time.....
Last edited by mary meagher; 20th Feb 2013 at 15:18.