Senior moments

[thing]

Anyone had any while flying? Had two major ones, lining up on 20 instead of 02 and calling downwind to land when I should have (and meant to) say deadside descending.

[piperboy84]

1. Keep leaving the fuel caps off, then spent hours after landing walking up and down the strip looking for it.

2 Taking off from 21 at Perth the other day wind is 210 at 18k, push power in then get a sudden gust from the right as I start to roll, what do I do? What I always do on take off, Right Rudder ! The plane shoots right at 45 degrees onto the grass, I get airborne and square it up as best I can and thank The Lord that 21 has a dip at the start and can't be seen from the clubhouse or tower.

3. Complete brain freeze when approaching airfields trying to work out how to join the overhead.

4. Always forget after TO to move the fuel selector from both to left or right, then wonder why after 30 minutes the left tank is empty and right is 3/4

Too many more to list !!!!

Oh one more, always, always leave the sectional chart behind the backseat so I can't reach it when I need it.

[thing]

Complete brain freeze when approaching airfields trying to work out how to join the overhead.

I've got a simple (has to be for me) way of remembering that. If it's a RH circuit then just keep the airfield/runway on your right at all times and if it's a LH circuit the opposite applies.

I do the fuel selector thing all the time then wonder why after a longish flight the thing wants to bank to the left...

[Steve6443]

At our club we have quite a few elder pilots (80 plus) so we get our fair share of senior moments. My instructor was all of 75 when he started teaching me, for the first few lessons all I could think about was ""if he has a heart attack now, would I be able to land this plane safely?" - one day he overheard me saying this to another student so in that flight he pretended to have one just to see how I'd react.....

However the most memorable senior moments one of them had was taking off in a PA28 whilst leaving the tank filler cap just perched on top of the opening - fortunately the cap wasn't chained down so didn't batter hell out of the wing, just dropped off of the wing on the take off run with the tank rapidly emptying as the slip stream drew the fuel out....

What made this all the more worse was the fact that sitting beside him was an Instructor who was carrying out a ratings renewal check flight.....:ugh:

3. Complete brain freeze when approaching airfields trying to work out how to join the overhead.

I just remember my entry point is over the threshold of the runway given as active - so if I need to join overhead for 24 right hand, I make sure I cross the threshold of Runway 24 with it on my right hand side and keep it on my right hand side at all times...... What can become confusing is when you've been told join overhead for 24 Right Hand and are approaching from the south. I was taught that you should cross the 06 threshold first and proceed at the required altitude over the airfield on the dead side until you are over the threshold of 24 and join here, but I've seen many a pilot head directly to the threshold of 06 and either wonder "where do I go know?", or start descending and try to make it in from there without circuiting or, more scary, head for the threshold of 24 direct from the south and spin a quick 180 over that threshold......

[Blind Squirrel]

Not senior moments as such, but quite a few junior ones:-

1. Landing at Providence, RI in indifferent visibility during the wee small hours on the old runway 5L (now TWY Victor), I realised at about 500' AGL that I was actually lined up for an approach to Post Road, which runs parallel about 200m to the west. When what I thought were RELs suddenly changed from red to green the penny dropped, and a bootful of right rudder saved my blushes without the tower even noticing. I've often wondered how long it would have taken me to figure it out if the traffic lights hadn't changed. Unfortunately I was only in my mid-twenties at the time, so can't even plead early-onset Alzheimer's.

2. When I was still younger (much younger in fact) and flying in eastern Ireland, I managed to confuse the Royal Canal -- which I was not supposed to be following -- with the Grand Canal, which I was. Fortunately I was monitoring the Baldonnel military frequency, and heard APP warn an incoming aircraft of an unidentified primary trace, believed to be low-level, down by the Royal. I responded in a small voice, "Ah, I think that's me." It was. When I landed at EIWT, I made the interesting discovery that there was a difference of twenty-five degrees between my compass reading and the runway orientation. Of course, being wet behind the ears, it hadn't occurred to me to perform that check when it would have done some good, forty-five minutes earlier.

3. Several even more embarrassing things that I'm not going to mention here.

[Mach Jump]

Always forget after TO to move the fuel selector from both to left or right, then wonder why after 30 minutes the left tank is empty and right is 3/4

What type of aircraft are you flying?


MJ:ok:

[thing]

What can become confusing is when you've been told join overhead for 24 Right Hand and are approaching from the south. Just keep everything on your right again. Kind of like a xwind join but at overhead join level. OK you'll do a wide 180 before joining the overhead but the idea is to keep moving in the circuit direction. Having said that in general I've found that people join the overhead in some weird and wonderful ways.

[effortless]

Put my bag on the wing and climbed into a pa28. Cockpit drill, taxi and hold.

"G-xxxx, have you lost something?"

[Camargue]

Having started the engine on a cold winters day and waited for it to warm up a radioed my intentions. no reply, so tried again. no reply, and again. Looked at the frequency, thought that's not right, then had total brain freeze and couldn't remember it so had to shut down, unstrap and go back to the club house to ask for it.

once got to about 50ft on approach and realised the gear was still up...

sure there are others, if I could remember them!

[aviate1138]

My solution to confusion approaching a strange airfield was to install a vertical card compass which tells you immediately which way the landing runway is sited and gives you time to plan your arrival in an orderly fashion. Must have been my gliding experience at Lasham and people like Anne Welsh and the Polish boys who drummed some airmanship into me.....

[supersani]

"Nice take off even if I say so myself" I say to passenger.

Passenger?

Where's my passenger?

one sheepish circuit later . . .

[piperboy84]

What type of aircraft are you flying?

Maule MX7 but it's nothing to do with the aircraft , for some reason I seem to fly left wing slightly high which causing uneven fuel flow from the tanks

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/247946/n3110j-private-maule-mx-7-series-super-rocket/

[pulse1]

supersani's post reminds me of the best "senior moment" I have ever witnessed, or at least heard about first hand.

A colleague was taking a friend of mine for an evening flight in his Gypsy Moth. On the way to the field they stopped at the pilot's home to pick something up. After waiting outside in the car for about 20 minutes Ron went and knocked on the door. There was our pilot in his carpet slippers having forgotten all about it.

[gemma10]

Whilst taxying to the run up. G-xxxx you are trailing a length of tie down from your tail. :uhoh:

[ozbeck]

As a student on my solo cross country land away, doing my power checks at 180 degrees to the wind direction I should have been.

Still have to think about 'reading' the windsock now!

[thing]

Just remembered another. Doing a PAR I was getting the usual 'Turn left two degrees on glideslope' etc. I turned and then a few seconds later 'Turn left five degrees' which I did. Wind must be stronger than I thought. Then 'Turn left 10 degrees'. Ahhh...he means turn left and not right then...

[rateone]

Where do I start...



- Driving to the airfield and finding I've left the aeroplane keys at home
- Leaving the oil filler door unlatched and having to shutdown to secure it
- Getting taxi clearance and wondering why I'm not moving...forgotten to take the chocks out
- Wondering why the take off run seemed to be a little longer the usual and realising I hadn't set take off flap
- Not latching the canopy and having it try to open in flight
- Calling the next on route frequency without pushing the flip-flop

Not all on the same flight obviously.

[Talkdownman]

'Now what I have I climbed up here for….I'll just have to go back down to see if I can remember...'

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Wondering why the Gipsy turns over vigorously but shows not slightest inclination to start. Then remembering the back mags are off!

[Jonzarno]

I can't remember ever having had one...... :O:p

[Heebicka]

constantly using nearby military airport frequency. it is "next click" on radio, we are in their MCTR/they are in our ATZ, reading is always 5.


i.e.


me: AIRPORT INFO it's me, hello
lady there (she is fine :): we are MILITARY TOWER not AIRPORT INFO.
me: are you sure? sorry.
she: no probs.


two days after.
me: AIRPORT INFO I am here, hello
same lady there: this is not AIRPORT INFO but MILITARY TOWER.
me: ah, you again? so I am sorry again, but never mind we will chat later...

[jaycee46]

Managed to depart Prestwick in a rather elderly C172 with the - obviously rather ineffective - parking brake still applied. Thought it was a bit sluggish, but persuaded myself that it was due to extra weight, being 3 up and full tanks. Only noticed at the other end when there was a bit of a screech from the tyres, on landing!:*

I've also lost it a couple of times trying to figure the overhead join, usually when it is the opposite direction to the CAA's diagram, but some of the earlier posts on the thread have helped! I still thank the guys at Welshpool for being so understanding when I totally screwed up their, admittedly quiet, circuit on my arrival there last year!:D

[Camargue]

Just remembered one, though exact details a bit hazy...

zlin 326

priming for start, thought not the usual resistance. anyway engine starts, its warm, so chocks off and as plane parked at wrong end of runway I back track. reach the other end, just as I start mag checks engine stops. hmm, what the heck... few checks later. fuel is off.

had the wind been the usual westerly mag checks would have been done chocks on and then straight down the runway. wonder how far I would have got.....

(something do with having a carburettor combined with an inverted fuel system meant the 326 carried a lot of fuel between the selector valve and the engine so it ran quite some time after cut off)

[Cusco]

When does a senior moment become bad airmanship or just 'kin dangerous?

[gemma10]

Well fortunately most of the above appear to be ground based.

[1.3VStall]

Glider towing, started the descent, gradually throttled back then pulled the mixture knob back instead of the carb heat! After it got quiet I remembered that great piece of advice - when something unexpected happens review your last action!;)

[Blind Squirrel]

When does a senior moment become bad airmanship or just 'kin dangerous?



When you make the same mistake twice.

[rateone]

New one today. Locked the canopy and put the cover on only to realise I had left my wallet and phone in the side pocket. Remove cover, unlock canopy, locate wallet and phone. Place wallet and phone on P1 seat while I lock canopy and replace cover. Now, where did I put my phone? Ah yes….remove cover…..

[Talkdownman]

I've just logged on, now I can't remember why...

[mary meagher]

Definitely a senior moment, which I have probably posted before.....

Flying W Airport in New Jersey. I had flown up from Baltimore in a rented 152. The radio wasn't working very well. I asked the folks in the office at the Flying W if somebody could fix the radio....Yes ma'm, they replied, and suggested I taxi down to the other end of the airstrip so the expert could have a look at it....

So I got back in the 152, which was parked nose against the fence, and started up the engine.......

The folks in the office came rushing out waving their arms about the same time I remembered that it is not possible to put a Cessna in reverse...