Are my eyes failing me ?

[Will Hung]

Just read this from the AAIB site. :eek:

Summary:
The aileron gust lock was not removed prior to flight, resulting in loss of control after takeoff. Distracted by efforts to accommodate a non-revenue passenger on this cargo flight, the pilot did not complete a pre-flight check or check the full and free motion of the flight controls before takeoff.

[matt_hooks]

Not the first to attempt a takeoff with the controls disabled by some kind of lock. Though granted it's usually someone in the states trying to fly home after a night out drinking.

A timely reminder that the checks are there for a reason, and shouldn't be seen as a chore or rushed in any way.

[IO540]

Though granted it's usually someone in the states trying to fly home after a night out drinking.

I don't think the USA has any monopoly on idiots. Plenty of cases in the UK with pilots taxiing and IIRC one even getting airborne with concrete blocks attached. The W&B calc must have been interesting ;)

[fernytickles]

"Though granted it's usually someone in the states trying to fly home after a night out drinking. "

Quite the sweeping statement. One presumes you have hard facts with which to back it up? I'd be interested to see them......

As for the original post, how many of us have departed, and realised we forgot to check something, minor usually, otherwise we have had a sharp reminder. When I read stuff like this, I think "there but for the grace of...", mental note to always double check.

[matt_hooks]

OK, the statement regarding the States was a gentle lampoon. I readily admit that we in the UK have more than our fair share of idiots too.

My point was, as Ferny says, that it acts as a timely reminder to make sure we do our checks properly.

[Pilot DAR]

I have never attempted to fly with control locks in place, and always check that everything moves as intended before a flight, but I am guilty (okay twice!) of taking off with a pitot cover in place. In the latter case, I had failed to notice the grey plastic tube with a cork in the end, which the aircraft owner used as a pitot cover (it had no red flag, but I still should have noticed). It would seem simple to land back and just take it off, but in this case, it was a 180 floatplane, and I had taxiied out of a very congested area to get to the takeoff area and go, and was hardly taxiing back in. So there I am safely back on the water, in the middle of the lake, but it sure is a long reach to pull off that cover, when all you have to stand on is the float. Solution? Climb up on the wing, work your way out on your belly, and reach over to get it. I'm confident, after that spectacle, I won't make that mistake again!

Flight control locks and covers are sometimes not clearly marked, and are missed during hasty preflight inspections.

Sometimes they are very well marked, and still things go wrong... I flew this helicopter on several occasions, though not the last....

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo252/PilotDAR/cover6edited.jpg

How could you miss that cover?

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo252/PilotDAR/IMG_7914.jpg

It was done. Bad day....

Could you miss this one?

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo252/PilotDAR/IMG_7910.jpg


Pilot DAR

[percy prentice]

Pilot Dar,

That one was easy & I am not rotary, but the 500 is inside the hangar :D Of course any pilot would move it outside before starting the engine.

[K.Whyjelly]

Leaving a piddly little contol lock in?? Thats a girls trick, real men don't even bother to lower and lock their folding wings!!!!!! Interesting link with an even more interesting photo near the botton of the article. This sort of thing has been done since at least WW2 to my knowledge

Night Infamy and Folded Wings (http://mofak.com/Night_Infamy.htm)

[Pilot DAR]

Okay, that's good! But I've gotta know, would it be proper procedure to assure that the aileron locks are in place prior to a wings folded takeoff, to prevent the use of the ailerons creating an unsafe condition in flight?

Jet fighter neophite question: Could one not just fly the aircraft as nearly vertical as possible, thus unloading the wings aerodynamically, and select them to unfold? Maybe nobody would ever find out!? Just courious...

[foxmoth]

Pilot Dar,

That one was easy & I am not rotary, but the 500 is inside the hangar Of course any pilot would move it outside before starting the engine.

Naah - they have taken the rotor blades off so the pilot cannot get airborne with the engine cover still on!

[mr. small fry]

I read a report that an Emeraude took off with one occupant in Scotland.some years ago. I think it happened in Perth. The flight was of a very short duration due to the fact that the pilot omitted to untie the straps in the empty passenger seat that were holding the control column secured fully back.

More recently, a very disturbing video that I will not link here shows the first flight of a modified turbine aircraft taking off on its cetificating proving flight. The aircraft, when certificated with its original piston engines, incorporated a lock that prevented the throttles from being advanced if the control locks were in place. The modifications incorporated to the new power levers did not incorporate such a lock. The proving flight lasted less than 20 seconds as a result of departing with the control locks in place - and sadly the accident was in no way surviveable.

Last week I am ashamed to admit that I rushed a pre flight and cockpit check due to pax arriving earlier than expected. In my haste I disconnected the yoke lock, but only later, due to a slight discomfort, noticed that the large red rudder lock pole was rubbing against my leg. This was just prior to taxi clearance, and had I not noticed this the hydraulically operated nose wheel steering tiller would have allowed me to taxi without problems. Any subsequent flight though would have been interesting, and the loss of one engine after take off would have been fatal.

Norman Jones, the Tiger Club founder, had placards stating that "ALL AIRCRAFT BITE FOOLS" in all of his club aircraft. I often remind myself that I too am a fool from time to time - so far a lucky one.

[SergeD]

That turboprop crash video, with the control locks in, is all over the internet and is v. old.

One need to always use the pre takeoff checklist.