When you almost became... "Another Statistic"
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many of these incidents are occuring very early after one receives his/her PPL
Two of my cock-ups came during the first 10 hours after PPL. I'd decided I was only going to fly solo during this time, and I'm glad that I did. Looking after passengers adds a bit of extra workload which may not be a good thing.
By the way, a word from the wise - don't overestimate the pulling power of a spamcan. "Come fly with me" raises expectations of a quick trip in a Learjet to Cannes, for lunch. Not half an hour bouncing around in a Cessna that smells slightly of sick, followed by an all-day-breakfast at a run-down airfield in the middle of nowhere. Trust me on this one!
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I just remembered another one.
Flying from Yosemite to Death Valley over the Sierra Nevadas, I climbed up to 13,500 and let it drift up a little to 13,800. I didn't have oxygen so was staying a little below the 14,001 limit.
I felt fine...
Flying from Yosemite to Death Valley over the Sierra Nevadas, I climbed up to 13,500 and let it drift up a little to 13,800. I didn't have oxygen so was staying a little below the 14,001 limit.
I felt fine...
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My near mid air ‘incident’ happened while I was building up solo hours in the circuit. There was other traffic in the circuit, in particular a Piper Warrior ahead of me.
As I turned onto left base and made my radio call I believed (in my vast aviation experience!) that the Piper wasn’t losing altitude or looked like it was turning onto finals. I thought to myself ‘hmmm, they must be leaving the circuit’. I continued with my descent, turned onto finals, made my radio call and watched the Piper disappear out of view cos of my Cessna’s high wings.
Wrong.
As it turned out, they were still in the circuit, had made a mash of their finals and we were both aiming for the same piece of runway. As I was on finals I noticed the trusty Piper making a final descent just off my right side and I just thought ‘What the ****? Where did they come from?!’ When they realised what I was doing they announced a go-around on the dead side and I ended up completing my touch n go still quite confused to what just went on.
On the downwind my instructor came on the radio and asked me to make the next one a full stop. As I parked, my instructor approached with a look of death on his face.
He said from the ground it was one of the closest ones he’d ever seen. He was very understanding, talked me through what happened, what I should have done and convinced me an incident like this would make me a better pilot.
Lessons learned:
If somebody is ahead of you in the circuit, they are exactly that! AHEAD of you! They are also ahead of you in the landing pattern.
If the traffic is quite close in front, ‘S’ downwind, extend your downwind leg, or orbit to create more room.
Get on the bloody radio and ask them what their intentions are if you’re not sure!
PS. Excellent thread by the way.
As I turned onto left base and made my radio call I believed (in my vast aviation experience!) that the Piper wasn’t losing altitude or looked like it was turning onto finals. I thought to myself ‘hmmm, they must be leaving the circuit’. I continued with my descent, turned onto finals, made my radio call and watched the Piper disappear out of view cos of my Cessna’s high wings.
Wrong.
As it turned out, they were still in the circuit, had made a mash of their finals and we were both aiming for the same piece of runway. As I was on finals I noticed the trusty Piper making a final descent just off my right side and I just thought ‘What the ****? Where did they come from?!’ When they realised what I was doing they announced a go-around on the dead side and I ended up completing my touch n go still quite confused to what just went on.On the downwind my instructor came on the radio and asked me to make the next one a full stop. As I parked, my instructor approached with a look of death on his face.
He said from the ground it was one of the closest ones he’d ever seen. He was very understanding, talked me through what happened, what I should have done and convinced me an incident like this would make me a better pilot.
Lessons learned:
If somebody is ahead of you in the circuit, they are exactly that! AHEAD of you! They are also ahead of you in the landing pattern.
If the traffic is quite close in front, ‘S’ downwind, extend your downwind leg, or orbit to create more room.
Get on the bloody radio and ask them what their intentions are if you’re not sure!
PS. Excellent thread by the way.
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Hmm, looks like a pretty cool site, i'll have to check it out, i just bookmarked it.
@ lownslow - Thats a very intresting end of story, defenatly not the one i was expecting to read. I could have sworn that the general faa rule was, "you can vary from any FAR to the extent needed to properly assess your emergency", and in your case that was indeed, an emergency. My instructor always told me, if you lose a radio (i fly out of a towered airport), fly across the airport a few time above TPA, and rock your wings untill you see a light signal. IDK, if i wasn't too low on fuel though, i probably woulda went to the non towered airport in your situation, just to keep things quite, and regain my senses.
@ lownslow - Thats a very intresting end of story, defenatly not the one i was expecting to read. I could have sworn that the general faa rule was, "you can vary from any FAR to the extent needed to properly assess your emergency", and in your case that was indeed, an emergency. My instructor always told me, if you lose a radio (i fly out of a towered airport), fly across the airport a few time above TPA, and rock your wings untill you see a light signal. IDK, if i wasn't too low on fuel though, i probably woulda went to the non towered airport in your situation, just to keep things quite, and regain my senses.
Thief I think the CAA rules are "enter class A airspace non-radio and if we don't shoot you down we'll take away your licence!" Our lot a a bit more Draconian than the FAA unfortunately. Still I was treated very fairly under the rules. Basically I should have taken the option of remaining outside controlled airspace and landed at the grass field to the North. The Senior ATCO suggested I get the radios sorted before I visited again. She was seriously underwhelmed when I explained that I was basing the aircraft there!!
Looper that brings back memories of an approach to a certain grass airfield to the West of London. There I was doing my first circuits in an ARV (shoulder wing, great visibility), turning from left base onto finals when I was confronted by a PA-28 head on turning from right base onto finals against the circuit direction. Instructor rapidly took control and turned us away. Due to the Piper's low wing he hadn't seen us. My instructor gave the Piper pilot a large piece of his mind when we were on the ground. In fact it was such a large piece of his mind that he could barely speak for half an hour afterwards
Looper that brings back memories of an approach to a certain grass airfield to the West of London. There I was doing my first circuits in an ARV (shoulder wing, great visibility), turning from left base onto finals when I was confronted by a PA-28 head on turning from right base onto finals against the circuit direction. Instructor rapidly took control and turned us away. Due to the Piper's low wing he hadn't seen us. My instructor gave the Piper pilot a large piece of his mind when we were on the ground. In fact it was such a large piece of his mind that he could barely speak for half an hour afterwards
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In the scramble to get airborne on the second leg of my qualifying XC (the weather was going to ratsH*it) I left the fuel off and taxied out. Luckily the engine stopped before I got to the hold - and I had time to sort it all out - glad it did not happen on take off or climb out though - still shakes me even now.......
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I forgot to turn on the fuel when I was just going to taxi to, of all places, the fuel pump. It got me through the very brief after start checks (I was only taxiing after all) and from the middle of the apron to the edge of the runway. There I stopped while everyone watching had a bloody good laugh and I realised that there's no way a PA28 would run without fuel long enough to get anywhere near take off.
Two near statistic experiences, though, one as pilot and one as a passenger. The first was ending up in fog in the circuit on my third ever solo flight. The moral of that tale is never trust sea fog to stay by the sea, especially not if you get a mid afternoon sea breeze. I turned away as soon as I realized what was happening but the fog came over me in the turn. Fortunately I'd just done my first instrument flying lesson.
Second was on take off, flying right seat with another PPL. He had made his departure call and as he opened the throttle a microlight called 'short final'. We're rolling and I just catch something move over my right shoulder, yell 'Stop!' which we do, fortunately keeping propellor off the ground, while the microlight lands - in front of a moving aircraft! If I hadn't been there....
Two near statistic experiences, though, one as pilot and one as a passenger. The first was ending up in fog in the circuit on my third ever solo flight. The moral of that tale is never trust sea fog to stay by the sea, especially not if you get a mid afternoon sea breeze. I turned away as soon as I realized what was happening but the fog came over me in the turn. Fortunately I'd just done my first instrument flying lesson.
Second was on take off, flying right seat with another PPL. He had made his departure call and as he opened the throttle a microlight called 'short final'. We're rolling and I just catch something move over my right shoulder, yell 'Stop!' which we do, fortunately keeping propellor off the ground, while the microlight lands - in front of a moving aircraft! If I hadn't been there....
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I forgot one....
Did a pre-flight check on a Slingsby which had just landed. Everything looked ok, so I started up and taxied towards the runway. When turning onto the runway to line up, there was a noticeable jolt. It didn't feel right, so I taxied back to the maintenance hangar. The previous pilot had done a very heavy landing, without telling anyone, and seriously damaged the undercarriage.
It would have failed on the next landing.
My check had been too cursory, assuming that there couldn't be that much wrong with an aeroplane which had just landed.
Moral: be careful, and never trust the last pilot who flew your aeroplane.
Did a pre-flight check on a Slingsby which had just landed. Everything looked ok, so I started up and taxied towards the runway. When turning onto the runway to line up, there was a noticeable jolt. It didn't feel right, so I taxied back to the maintenance hangar. The previous pilot had done a very heavy landing, without telling anyone, and seriously damaged the undercarriage.
It would have failed on the next landing.
My check had been too cursory, assuming that there couldn't be that much wrong with an aeroplane which had just landed.
Moral: be careful, and never trust the last pilot who flew your aeroplane.
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A couple of many !
On my QXC second landing into Blackpool I was told to stay to the East of the tall tower, so I did, I kept to the East in relation to the direction in which I was actually flying, which was actually North of the Tall tower. Got a way with it and the controllers were great.
Then on returning to my home field I was given straight in to RW 26, it was 6 in the evening and the sun was going down at the end of the runway. I was completly blind and should have asked for another approach, luckily the RW came into site eventually,but it taught be how tireness and the eagerness to get home can be the enemy of common sense.
Great Thread, and I thought Pilot's were perfect !!
On my QXC second landing into Blackpool I was told to stay to the East of the tall tower, so I did, I kept to the East in relation to the direction in which I was actually flying, which was actually North of the Tall tower. Got a way with it and the controllers were great.
Then on returning to my home field I was given straight in to RW 26, it was 6 in the evening and the sun was going down at the end of the runway. I was completly blind and should have asked for another approach, luckily the RW came into site eventually,but it taught be how tireness and the eagerness to get home can be the enemy of common sense.
Great Thread, and I thought Pilot's were perfect !!
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This is longer than I'd hoped it would be!
A Saturday in October 1997
Had about 450 hours, 150 on type.
Classic compounding of errors.....
Had arranged to meet X and Y at EBGB to look at their Pitts Specials as I'd just started to build one.
Friday's Beeb forecast stated that there would be strong winds. gray, occasional rain showers. Checked the TAFs on Sat am and they confirmed that although not a great day, it would be flyable.
Drove to local farmstrip, where my vintage taildragger used to live, in mid Suffolk. It was deserted. Pushed aeroplane out and gave it a thorough preflight, fuelled with enough fuel to get there and back.
Phoned destination prior to starting to alert them that I was departing and would be inbound at 1130, non-radio. Handswing to start - she fired first time and I THREW THE LIGHT PORTABLE CHOCKS back into the hangar, knowing that a place like Leicester will be chock full of chocks!
Took off and very quickly realised that the wind was not quite as forecast, the strength seemed about right but the direction was almost 180 out. Ho hum, stonking head wind when I was expecting a helpful tailwind component.
The weather deteriorated but it was still flyable and still legal. Landed at Leicester almost 25 minutes later than my initial ground based estimate, landed in quite a nasty shower but was quite pleased that I'd found EGBG with only a map, stopwatch and compass in pretty poor conditions. 1hr 45.
NOT TO WORRY, I THOUGHT HEADWIND ON THE WAY HERE, ERGO - TAILWIND ON THE WAY HOME.
Had a very interesting and informative time and really didn't want to leave as I was learning and meeting other Pitts owners and builders. Really didn't want to leave this very entertaining bunch, just one more cup of tea and then I'll refuel and then I'll go.
REFUELLING - all I'll need is another 30 minutes worth, should be plenty as I was airborne 25 minutes longer than planned and had enough motion lotion to get here and go back. In fact, if I have half the headwind as tailwind (conservative but totally fallacious estimate) I should be back in about an hour and eight minutes. I take 10 litres - I have the ullage for nearly 70 but I take 10, a tad more than half the 4gph, she sips.
Preflight and go to start her but can't find any chocks - ask one of my new chums where I can borrow some chocks from.
"Don't worry about chocks, have you signed out?"
"No - not something I'm used to doing, these days, sorry."
"No worries, you strap in, I'll run across and book you out, then come back and give you a swing."
My new friend then dissapears. Minutes tick by, a quarter of an hour goes by and he is yet to reappear. I begin to get a little concerned about wasting this time which I realise is quite precious. Sh1t, if I don't get going I'll run out of daylight. I unstrap and go and find him, he's being harangued by some older gent and has totally forgotten about swinging me.
We return to my aircraft, he swings and she fires first time, as I taxi out I re-run all the calcs in my head. With my expected tailwind, i'll get back in 68 minutes, if the wind is as it was on my trip here and I get the full benefit of it, I'll be back in 55minutes. Either way it is not officially dark for an hour and a half.
A bit bemused by the change of runway - I line up and depart on the reciprocal of the one I arrived on. I climb out at full power and at 1500', I pull her back to cruise power.
I am abeam Eyebrook reservoir and have been at this level for long enough to do a quick mental g/s calc. It has taken me 12minutes to do 10 nm - that gives me a g/s of 50 kts. WHAT. I do it again - 12mins, 10miles = 5miles in 6 minute, that really doews mean 50kts. I should be doing my still air cruise of 72kts plus that tailwind giving me 88kts. The runway change should have alerted me but in reality my mind was full of covering my biplane's wings, sourcing stainless steel 8-32UNC machine screws and other PFA build project activities.
I increase the power, concentrate on holding an accurate hdg, don't want to waste time wandering all over the sky. I wait another 12 minutes and rerun the calculation again. Phew - at this power setting (allmost full power) I should get to Monewden just as the sun sets. I'll be okay.
It is getting noticeably darker and I'm now down to 1200'agl to remain clear of cloud, it starts to rain but my heading is good, oil pressure is good and cyl hds are in the green. Fuel is ....... not showing as much as I expect. This aeroplane has a coathangar on a cork, type fuelguage. I recalc eet and notice that with my new incresed fuel burn it is just enough to get me home with 30 mins to spare.
I'm now over the A14 eastbound and clear of Cambridge's ATZ, had to go around it as I couldn't go above it and I have no radio and penetrating it was not an option.
Sweet - know exactly where I am, know exactly where I am going, know exactly when it is officially night and know exactly when I'm going to run out of fuel.
As the trucks on the A14 switched on their headlights and crept forward underneath me, it felt anything but sweet. It was getting darker and I'm forced down to 1000' agl. The trucks are definitely faster than me and are they not restricted to 56mph, flat-out? I begin to start seriouslyu wondering about the safety of all of this.
I now realise that I should be looking to put the aeroplane down and accepting the fact that a night in a b&b will be far easier to explain than an inevitable accident.
I get to Bury St Edmunds, there is Rougham, I could just land, find John Askew and apologise for dropping in unannounced, hell, he might even run me to a b&b. But it looks a little less dark ahead and I'm so close to home.
Rougham recedes behind me and all is well, T's and P's are fine and that annoying cork floaty thing is banging against empty - but that is okay because that means you've got 45 mins reserve. Yes, but how long has it been on the stop for? Best you land now and accept that this was not your best ever bit of airmanship. In fact Gt Ashfield disused should be on the nose about now. You could land there and walk up to the farmhouse, introduce yourself and aplogise. Maybe they'll let you ring home - it's only about 14 miles away. Wifey will come and collect me.
Gt Ashfield dissapears behind me 800' beneath and now I really am struggling to pick out features. Not to worry just another few minutes of this and then I'll be back at base.
As I approach the A140, I realise that the cloud that has forced me down to 650'agl, is also preventing me from seeing the 1240' mast that is only a couple of miles of my course. I can't define exactly where I am and I can't see the mast. But I am so close
I dogleg down the A140 until I spot the headlights of the A14 traffic, work out exactly where I am am head back to my home base. It really is dark out there but officially it is still daylight, that does not exactly give me the comfort that I want it to!
I know this area really well and I spot an obelisk in a park just 500' beneath me, I am just a minute away. I get it down, struggle to taxi as it is so dark and put the aeroplane away. I don't want to check how much fuel I have but I do. 2.5 gallons useable which will give me 35 mins at std power but only 20 mins at full power.
The strip is still deserted and I reckon that I must have been the only movement that day. I don't go straight home but detour to a local hostelry where I begin to realise what an absolute £ukwit I have been.
As I debrief myself, I can not believe what a catalogue of errors and bad decisions, I made. Pressonitis
Only twice have I landed and been really pleased to be back on the ground and that was one of them. Even typing this out, brought me out in goosebumps as relived the fear!
ILAFFT
Stik
A Saturday in October 1997
Had about 450 hours, 150 on type.
Classic compounding of errors.....
Had arranged to meet X and Y at EBGB to look at their Pitts Specials as I'd just started to build one.
Friday's Beeb forecast stated that there would be strong winds. gray, occasional rain showers. Checked the TAFs on Sat am and they confirmed that although not a great day, it would be flyable.
Drove to local farmstrip, where my vintage taildragger used to live, in mid Suffolk. It was deserted. Pushed aeroplane out and gave it a thorough preflight, fuelled with enough fuel to get there and back.
Phoned destination prior to starting to alert them that I was departing and would be inbound at 1130, non-radio. Handswing to start - she fired first time and I THREW THE LIGHT PORTABLE CHOCKS back into the hangar, knowing that a place like Leicester will be chock full of chocks!
Took off and very quickly realised that the wind was not quite as forecast, the strength seemed about right but the direction was almost 180 out. Ho hum, stonking head wind when I was expecting a helpful tailwind component.
The weather deteriorated but it was still flyable and still legal. Landed at Leicester almost 25 minutes later than my initial ground based estimate, landed in quite a nasty shower but was quite pleased that I'd found EGBG with only a map, stopwatch and compass in pretty poor conditions. 1hr 45.
NOT TO WORRY, I THOUGHT HEADWIND ON THE WAY HERE, ERGO - TAILWIND ON THE WAY HOME.
Had a very interesting and informative time and really didn't want to leave as I was learning and meeting other Pitts owners and builders. Really didn't want to leave this very entertaining bunch, just one more cup of tea and then I'll refuel and then I'll go.
REFUELLING - all I'll need is another 30 minutes worth, should be plenty as I was airborne 25 minutes longer than planned and had enough motion lotion to get here and go back. In fact, if I have half the headwind as tailwind (conservative but totally fallacious estimate) I should be back in about an hour and eight minutes. I take 10 litres - I have the ullage for nearly 70 but I take 10, a tad more than half the 4gph, she sips.
Preflight and go to start her but can't find any chocks - ask one of my new chums where I can borrow some chocks from.
"Don't worry about chocks, have you signed out?"
"No - not something I'm used to doing, these days, sorry."
"No worries, you strap in, I'll run across and book you out, then come back and give you a swing."
My new friend then dissapears. Minutes tick by, a quarter of an hour goes by and he is yet to reappear. I begin to get a little concerned about wasting this time which I realise is quite precious. Sh1t, if I don't get going I'll run out of daylight. I unstrap and go and find him, he's being harangued by some older gent and has totally forgotten about swinging me.
We return to my aircraft, he swings and she fires first time, as I taxi out I re-run all the calcs in my head. With my expected tailwind, i'll get back in 68 minutes, if the wind is as it was on my trip here and I get the full benefit of it, I'll be back in 55minutes. Either way it is not officially dark for an hour and a half.
A bit bemused by the change of runway - I line up and depart on the reciprocal of the one I arrived on. I climb out at full power and at 1500', I pull her back to cruise power.
I am abeam Eyebrook reservoir and have been at this level for long enough to do a quick mental g/s calc. It has taken me 12minutes to do 10 nm - that gives me a g/s of 50 kts. WHAT. I do it again - 12mins, 10miles = 5miles in 6 minute, that really doews mean 50kts. I should be doing my still air cruise of 72kts plus that tailwind giving me 88kts. The runway change should have alerted me but in reality my mind was full of covering my biplane's wings, sourcing stainless steel 8-32UNC machine screws and other PFA build project activities.
I increase the power, concentrate on holding an accurate hdg, don't want to waste time wandering all over the sky. I wait another 12 minutes and rerun the calculation again. Phew - at this power setting (allmost full power) I should get to Monewden just as the sun sets. I'll be okay.
It is getting noticeably darker and I'm now down to 1200'agl to remain clear of cloud, it starts to rain but my heading is good, oil pressure is good and cyl hds are in the green. Fuel is ....... not showing as much as I expect. This aeroplane has a coathangar on a cork, type fuelguage. I recalc eet and notice that with my new incresed fuel burn it is just enough to get me home with 30 mins to spare.
I'm now over the A14 eastbound and clear of Cambridge's ATZ, had to go around it as I couldn't go above it and I have no radio and penetrating it was not an option.
Sweet - know exactly where I am, know exactly where I am going, know exactly when it is officially night and know exactly when I'm going to run out of fuel.
As the trucks on the A14 switched on their headlights and crept forward underneath me, it felt anything but sweet. It was getting darker and I'm forced down to 1000' agl. The trucks are definitely faster than me and are they not restricted to 56mph, flat-out? I begin to start seriouslyu wondering about the safety of all of this.
I now realise that I should be looking to put the aeroplane down and accepting the fact that a night in a b&b will be far easier to explain than an inevitable accident.
I get to Bury St Edmunds, there is Rougham, I could just land, find John Askew and apologise for dropping in unannounced, hell, he might even run me to a b&b. But it looks a little less dark ahead and I'm so close to home.
Rougham recedes behind me and all is well, T's and P's are fine and that annoying cork floaty thing is banging against empty - but that is okay because that means you've got 45 mins reserve. Yes, but how long has it been on the stop for? Best you land now and accept that this was not your best ever bit of airmanship. In fact Gt Ashfield disused should be on the nose about now. You could land there and walk up to the farmhouse, introduce yourself and aplogise. Maybe they'll let you ring home - it's only about 14 miles away. Wifey will come and collect me.
Gt Ashfield dissapears behind me 800' beneath and now I really am struggling to pick out features. Not to worry just another few minutes of this and then I'll be back at base.
As I approach the A140, I realise that the cloud that has forced me down to 650'agl, is also preventing me from seeing the 1240' mast that is only a couple of miles of my course. I can't define exactly where I am and I can't see the mast. But I am so close
I dogleg down the A140 until I spot the headlights of the A14 traffic, work out exactly where I am am head back to my home base. It really is dark out there but officially it is still daylight, that does not exactly give me the comfort that I want it to!
I know this area really well and I spot an obelisk in a park just 500' beneath me, I am just a minute away. I get it down, struggle to taxi as it is so dark and put the aeroplane away. I don't want to check how much fuel I have but I do. 2.5 gallons useable which will give me 35 mins at std power but only 20 mins at full power.
The strip is still deserted and I reckon that I must have been the only movement that day. I don't go straight home but detour to a local hostelry where I begin to realise what an absolute £ukwit I have been.
As I debrief myself, I can not believe what a catalogue of errors and bad decisions, I made. Pressonitis
Only twice have I landed and been really pleased to be back on the ground and that was one of them. Even typing this out, brought me out in goosebumps as relived the fear!
ILAFFT
Stik
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You've just reminded me of probably my most serious fup.....Once upon a time, long long ago (and I don't speak of it much 
)...
I was being checked out on the syndicate aircraft, and arrived early at the airport to meet my instructor, a very nice bloke as it turned out, a Captain with a major airline and ex harrier pilot. We decided to head to kemble for some cheap circuits, rather than pay the £21 per pop at the home base. I did some pre-flight planning and estimated 30 minutes en-route, which was my first mistake. Fuel had been left on tabs by the previous pilot, and I guestimated 4 hours fuel (after a brief scan of the POH).
We took off, turned NW and then did some general handling, stalls steep turns etc, then headed on our way. Initially we were jerked around by Lyneham, who didn't clear us through their zone until we had detoured to avoid it. Arriving at Kemble we carried out a number of circuits, I thought that as this check-out was required by the syndicate, I'd make best use of it to brush up, so we did a whole load of different approaches, short field, soft field, glide etc etc. before we stopped for lunch. During lunch the instructor asked me what I wanted to do, and as I'd been flying IFR rather a lot, I suggested doing a bit of VFR nav to brush up. We decided on a jolly around Devon and Cornwall, before returning to base, basically a bit of fun. I knocked up a quick PLOG, based upon a route taking us south of Bristol, then west towards Bude, before heading south, intercepting the coast and flying back home via Plymouth and Exeter's overheads. We had plenty of fuel, at least 3½ hrs left, and my route should take around 2 hours.....plenty. Mistake number 2. Looking back through my logbook, it actually took us 1hr and 48 minutes to get to kemble, with our training........We now had actually 2hrs 12 minutes of fuel NOT 3½ HRS..............................
We took off, headed SW, past the huge antenna at Frome. Intercepted the M5 and followed it south. The weather was deteriorating, the cloudbase was lowering all the time. Just to the west of Dunkeswell, we turned west across dartmoor, I wasn't particularly concerned by the weather I hold an instrument rating, my instructor was used to low level nav at 400kts, so we were fine....we continued.
A little later on, now deep into Dartmoor was when I started to get concerned. We were now < 900', with terrain up to 500' below us, a dangerous situation. We decided to abort and turn south. This is when I started to get seriously worried. We were flying down a valley towards Tavistock at 900', the chart showed elevations up to 1092' in the close proximity, but worse of all there were some antennas sort of straight in front of us, up to 1995', which we couldn't see. We still had forward visibility below the cloud so we stayed VFR, trying not to break any rules of the air (luckily dartmoor is fairly sparsley populated). Anyway, we made it through the valley, and found the coast and headed East, crossing plymouth hoe at....ahem....less than 1000'. Once past Plymouth, I made the executive decision to stop fooling around, and climbed to FL45 or something and became IFR, I immediately felt happier, knowing that we were not going to plow into any cumulo-granitus. We were receiving a Radar service from Plymouth who handed us off to Exeter, then Plymouth Mil, who were nice enough to inform us that many of the Danger areas on our route of flight were inactive. Things were progressing well...the fuel guages didn't show anything out of the ordinary, we still had plenty of fuel onboard, it was fun. We had now been airbourne for 1hr 40 minutes.......
Plymouth Mil handed us off to Bournemouth, and we requested and were given vectors for the ILS, we'd made it, nothing was going to stop us getting back now..........Until another aircraft had a problem, a jet with a presurization problem it turned out. The controller immediately vectored us off the ILS and out over the Isle of Wight, she was getting in quite a state, vectoring us all over the place, we spent 30 minutes sight seeing (by this time the weather had cleared a bit) over Dorset and Hampshire......I did notice the instructor getting a bit twitchy, asking for vectors back to the ILS every few minutes, my Freda checks showed at least 10 gals of fuel onboard........
Finally, given vectors to the ILS, intercept the localizer, glide slope coming in.....and the engine started to cough and splutter. I'll give him his due, they obviously teach these military pilots to remain calm in all situations. He turned to me and said "I think you should change tanks", which I was already doing. With that the engine recovered, and we made a normal landing. Taxyed to parking, and the instructor left me to clear up the plane as he had another appointment which he was late for.
I totaled up the time, and it appeared to have been 2 hrs 42 minutes since leaving Kemble. The shock came when I added in the flight TO kemble.....total flying time 4hrs 30 minutes......
A quick check of the fuel tanks revealed NO VISIBLE FUEL, even the fuel guy commented on it, it took 170 litres to fill up to tabs.
Checking back through the POH, useable fuel to tabs is 50 USG, or 190l, so in all probability we had a good 5USG usable remaining (not a lot when you burn 10gals/hr at 55%!) . Still, I learned some very important lessons that day:-
1) Don't f**k around with fuel. Take on fuel anywhere you can
2) Forget marginal VFR, it is highly dangerous
3) Do the calculations properly! Not just "rules of thumb"
Since this flight, I made another flight in the US. Flight time was 1.8hrs, and I considered NOT taking on fuel so I could save a few pennies by filling up when we got back at the FBOs standard rate. I remembered this story and filled up, good job too, as the flight back was over 2½ hrs, due to IFR routings.....
Safe flying
EA
)...I was being checked out on the syndicate aircraft, and arrived early at the airport to meet my instructor, a very nice bloke as it turned out, a Captain with a major airline and ex harrier pilot. We decided to head to kemble for some cheap circuits, rather than pay the £21 per pop at the home base. I did some pre-flight planning and estimated 30 minutes en-route, which was my first mistake. Fuel had been left on tabs by the previous pilot, and I guestimated 4 hours fuel (after a brief scan of the POH).
We took off, turned NW and then did some general handling, stalls steep turns etc, then headed on our way. Initially we were jerked around by Lyneham, who didn't clear us through their zone until we had detoured to avoid it. Arriving at Kemble we carried out a number of circuits, I thought that as this check-out was required by the syndicate, I'd make best use of it to brush up, so we did a whole load of different approaches, short field, soft field, glide etc etc. before we stopped for lunch. During lunch the instructor asked me what I wanted to do, and as I'd been flying IFR rather a lot, I suggested doing a bit of VFR nav to brush up. We decided on a jolly around Devon and Cornwall, before returning to base, basically a bit of fun. I knocked up a quick PLOG, based upon a route taking us south of Bristol, then west towards Bude, before heading south, intercepting the coast and flying back home via Plymouth and Exeter's overheads. We had plenty of fuel, at least 3½ hrs left, and my route should take around 2 hours.....plenty. Mistake number 2. Looking back through my logbook, it actually took us 1hr and 48 minutes to get to kemble, with our training........We now had actually 2hrs 12 minutes of fuel NOT 3½ HRS..............................
We took off, headed SW, past the huge antenna at Frome. Intercepted the M5 and followed it south. The weather was deteriorating, the cloudbase was lowering all the time. Just to the west of Dunkeswell, we turned west across dartmoor, I wasn't particularly concerned by the weather I hold an instrument rating, my instructor was used to low level nav at 400kts, so we were fine....we continued.
A little later on, now deep into Dartmoor was when I started to get concerned. We were now < 900', with terrain up to 500' below us, a dangerous situation. We decided to abort and turn south. This is when I started to get seriously worried. We were flying down a valley towards Tavistock at 900', the chart showed elevations up to 1092' in the close proximity, but worse of all there were some antennas sort of straight in front of us, up to 1995', which we couldn't see. We still had forward visibility below the cloud so we stayed VFR, trying not to break any rules of the air (luckily dartmoor is fairly sparsley populated). Anyway, we made it through the valley, and found the coast and headed East, crossing plymouth hoe at....ahem....less than 1000'. Once past Plymouth, I made the executive decision to stop fooling around, and climbed to FL45 or something and became IFR, I immediately felt happier, knowing that we were not going to plow into any cumulo-granitus. We were receiving a Radar service from Plymouth who handed us off to Exeter, then Plymouth Mil, who were nice enough to inform us that many of the Danger areas on our route of flight were inactive. Things were progressing well...the fuel guages didn't show anything out of the ordinary, we still had plenty of fuel onboard, it was fun. We had now been airbourne for 1hr 40 minutes.......
Plymouth Mil handed us off to Bournemouth, and we requested and were given vectors for the ILS, we'd made it, nothing was going to stop us getting back now..........Until another aircraft had a problem, a jet with a presurization problem it turned out. The controller immediately vectored us off the ILS and out over the Isle of Wight, she was getting in quite a state, vectoring us all over the place, we spent 30 minutes sight seeing (by this time the weather had cleared a bit) over Dorset and Hampshire......I did notice the instructor getting a bit twitchy, asking for vectors back to the ILS every few minutes, my Freda checks showed at least 10 gals of fuel onboard........
Finally, given vectors to the ILS, intercept the localizer, glide slope coming in.....and the engine started to cough and splutter. I'll give him his due, they obviously teach these military pilots to remain calm in all situations. He turned to me and said "I think you should change tanks", which I was already doing. With that the engine recovered, and we made a normal landing. Taxyed to parking, and the instructor left me to clear up the plane as he had another appointment which he was late for.
I totaled up the time, and it appeared to have been 2 hrs 42 minutes since leaving Kemble. The shock came when I added in the flight TO kemble.....total flying time 4hrs 30 minutes......
A quick check of the fuel tanks revealed NO VISIBLE FUEL, even the fuel guy commented on it, it took 170 litres to fill up to tabs.Checking back through the POH, useable fuel to tabs is 50 USG, or 190l, so in all probability we had a good 5USG usable remaining (not a lot when you burn 10gals/hr at 55%!) . Still, I learned some very important lessons that day:-
1) Don't f**k around with fuel. Take on fuel anywhere you can
2) Forget marginal VFR, it is highly dangerous
3) Do the calculations properly! Not just "rules of thumb"
Since this flight, I made another flight in the US. Flight time was 1.8hrs, and I considered NOT taking on fuel so I could save a few pennies by filling up when we got back at the FBOs standard rate. I remembered this story and filled up, good job too, as the flight back was over 2½ hrs, due to IFR routings.....
Safe flying
EA
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not a fup of my own on this particular occasion, but I thought it had been at first... not yet qualified, on my solo QXC, about to take off from a fairly major regional airport in the NW to return to base. Cleared for takeoff on R25, rolling, gathering speed nicely, lift off and start to climb ... and then at about 150' agl I hear in my headset an agitated controller say "Golf Papa Uniform IMMEDIATE RIGHT TURN, I SAY AGAIN IMMEDIATE RIGHT TURN, ACKNOWLEGE" ... the adrenaline kicks in, I scan but can't see anything to conflict and make a rapid turn to the right, climbing out very low over a housing estate. Once I've gathered my nerves, I ask to route to the left as per my original plan, and am cleared to turn with no problem, and handed over to my en route. It puzzled me all the way back to base, where I was signed off for my QXC pass. So I called the tower on the phone and explained that I'd been rather shaken (as an unqualified solo pilot) by the low level turn. The duty controller remembered me - apologised, and said that during a shift change they'd missed the fact that another aircraft was cleared off R28 at the same time. Felt immediately better - I was convinced that I'd taken off without a clearance, even though I'd written it down!
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Indeed Englishal, have had the 'no visible fuel' scare myself. Although I think fuel exhaustion is 100% pilot negligence, I also think it's something that could happen to any of us should we become complacent.
Simplicate and Add Lightness
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I really hope I didn't inherit this from my mum...
Hot summer's day, flew a friend to the seaside, enjoyed one too many ice creams - whoops - only 45 mins to get the 'plane back before its next booking.
Whizz through the checklist
Really very hot, so luckily I bung down 10° flaps. Full power, trundle along the unfamiliar grass runway, speed climbing erratically, I put it down to the bumpiness, but engine sounds fine. Oops - there's the end of the runway. (Foolishly) decide I'm past the point of no return and pull back. She LEAPS forward and off we go - JUST clearing the hedge.
Passenger oblivious, but I'm desparately searching for a cause. Eventually decide to re-run through the checklist as a last resort.
Fancy me driving around with the handbrake still on - I blame me mother
Lessons learnt:
Don't rush the checks
Handbrake's not very effective
Too many ice creams slow you down
Hot summer's day, flew a friend to the seaside, enjoyed one too many ice creams - whoops - only 45 mins to get the 'plane back before its next booking.
Whizz through the checklist
Really very hot, so luckily I bung down 10° flaps. Full power, trundle along the unfamiliar grass runway, speed climbing erratically, I put it down to the bumpiness, but engine sounds fine. Oops - there's the end of the runway. (Foolishly) decide I'm past the point of no return and pull back. She LEAPS forward and off we go - JUST clearing the hedge.
Passenger oblivious, but I'm desparately searching for a cause. Eventually decide to re-run through the checklist as a last resort.
Fancy me driving around with the handbrake still on - I blame me mother
Lessons learnt:
Don't rush the checks
Handbrake's not very effective
Too many ice creams slow you down
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I think there are very easy solutions to the Carb ht/mixture confusion.
1. why don't schools buy wallsize cockpit posters (about 10 quid) and make people study them, a poor man version of the airline cockpit mockups.
2. Drive up to your airfield one bad weather day when nobody is flying and sit in the cockpit and study the panel, it's free of charge.
3. If you can't do any of the above, you can create your own homemade cockpit CBT program. Go to airliners.net or any similar website and you'll find loads of cockpit photos of the aircraft you fly. Those of you flight sim fans can download some realistic panels of the web.
These three methods have worked for me and i've never pulled the wrong lever.
My scariest flight was a solo XC from Leicester-w/waltham. Tuned to east mids instead of brize radar (forgot to press the flipflop button)
, then tuned to Brize only to discover the frequency had changed (lesson no.2 always check notams/ammendments). When i contacted Brize, atc informed me of multiple fast jets in my vicinity as well as a glider and a 152 doing aeros. My workload was so high i began to drift of course, when Brize warned me of RAF benson Matz 2nm in front of me. I then asked for a frequency change called w/waltham an go lost abeam wycombe or there abouts, then a PA-28 flew over me at no more than 50ft, i saw the passegers head. I circled for a while lost track of altitude (down to about 500agl) and then finally saw the TV mast at stoken church. On the return journey on startup i realised i didn't reset my xpondr when i left brize radar
. The journey back wasn't to bad till i saw a glider in front of me as i overtook it to the right it did a steep right climbing turn straight into my path
. Damn gliders.
capt m
1. why don't schools buy wallsize cockpit posters (about 10 quid) and make people study them, a poor man version of the airline cockpit mockups.
2. Drive up to your airfield one bad weather day when nobody is flying and sit in the cockpit and study the panel, it's free of charge.
3. If you can't do any of the above, you can create your own homemade cockpit CBT program. Go to airliners.net or any similar website and you'll find loads of cockpit photos of the aircraft you fly. Those of you flight sim fans can download some realistic panels of the web.
These three methods have worked for me and i've never pulled the wrong lever.
My scariest flight was a solo XC from Leicester-w/waltham. Tuned to east mids instead of brize radar (forgot to press the flipflop button)
, then tuned to Brize only to discover the frequency had changed (lesson no.2 always check notams/ammendments). When i contacted Brize, atc informed me of multiple fast jets in my vicinity as well as a glider and a 152 doing aeros. My workload was so high i began to drift of course, when Brize warned me of RAF benson Matz 2nm in front of me. I then asked for a frequency change called w/waltham an go lost abeam wycombe or there abouts, then a PA-28 flew over me at no more than 50ft, i saw the passegers head. I circled for a while lost track of altitude (down to about 500agl) and then finally saw the TV mast at stoken church. On the return journey on startup i realised i didn't reset my xpondr when i left brize radar . The journey back wasn't to bad till i saw a glider in front of me as i overtook it to the right it did a steep right climbing turn straight into my path . Damn gliders.capt m
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"Indeed Englishal, have had the 'no visible fuel' scare myself. Although I think fuel exhaustion is 100% pilot negligence, I also think it's something that could happen to any of us should we become complacent."
Hmmm!
Not always ... aircraft can burn more than expected or even develop leaks don't forget
Another time my VP2 tried to "get me" was about my third or forth flight....
I filled the tank for a 1 hour flight ( tank full should have theoretically lasted 2 hours ) to go visit a farm strip. One hour later circling the area where the strip should be my engine quit I straightened up and headed toward another airstrip nearby but realised I wouldn't make it so picked a field and put out a "Mayday" call. The engine picked up a bit and I decided I might just make the airstrip (not generally recommended!). Luckily I did but the engine stopped on short finals... so it was way too close!!!
Was I negligence? Maybe ... but in my defence I'll tell you what really happened. The fuel tank of a VP2 is a very wide flat-bottomed tank with a small sump. At the bottom of the sump is a finger strainer. As the aeroplane was new to me what I didn't know was that the floaty cork type fuel gauge on this VP drops down into the sump and still bobs about showing fuel (albeit low) when there is virtually no fuel in the tank. Also the finger strainer was epoxied in place (it should be removable) and when I later ripped out the tank I discovered only the top 1cm wasn't gummed up!
As I was circling looking for the field THAT WAS RIGHT BELOW ME
The fuel all slopped to one side of that flat bottomed tank. When I straightened up some slopped back into the sump and gave me some extended time, until even that little dribble disappeared!
Maybe I was negligent but come on ... can you believe a VW1834 could use nearly 7 gallons in one hour!!! ... ( the twin choke webber float was ******ed too!!! ) .....
BEWARE NEW AEROPLANES ... especially homebuilt!
SS .... who knows a LOT more now!
Hmmm!
Not always ... aircraft can burn more than expected or even develop leaks don't forget
Another time my VP2 tried to "get me" was about my third or forth flight....
I filled the tank for a 1 hour flight ( tank full should have theoretically lasted 2 hours ) to go visit a farm strip. One hour later circling the area where the strip should be my engine quit
I straightened up and headed toward another airstrip nearby but realised I wouldn't make it so picked a field and put out a "Mayday" call. The engine picked up a bit and I decided I might just make the airstrip (not generally recommended!). Luckily I did but the engine stopped on short finals... so it was way too close!!!Was I negligence? Maybe ... but in my defence I'll tell you what really happened. The fuel tank of a VP2 is a very wide flat-bottomed tank with a small sump. At the bottom of the sump is a finger strainer. As the aeroplane was new to me what I didn't know was that the floaty cork type fuel gauge on this VP drops down into the sump and still bobs about showing fuel (albeit low) when there is virtually no fuel in the tank. Also the finger strainer was epoxied in place (it should be removable) and when I later ripped out the tank I discovered only the top 1cm wasn't gummed up!
As I was circling looking for the field THAT WAS RIGHT BELOW ME
The fuel all slopped to one side of that flat bottomed tank. When I straightened up some slopped back into the sump and gave me some extended time, until even that little dribble disappeared!Maybe I was negligent but come on ... can you believe a VW1834 could use nearly 7 gallons in one hour!!! ... ( the twin choke webber float was ******ed too!!! ) .....
BEWARE NEW AEROPLANES ... especially homebuilt!
SS .... who knows a LOT more now!
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Capt. Manuvar.
If the glider doing a climbing turn to the right was a problem to you then you were not allowing enough clearance twixt you and him. Do you look behind you before you turn?
Gliders are always likely to make sudden turns or to climb and slow down, (porpoising) when they encounter lift.
I forgot to put the u/c down once, fortunately it is only semi-retractable and the engine is a pusher located above the tail boom. Just rather a bumpy take off later as there's no suspension in that configuration.
Mike W
If the glider doing a climbing turn to the right was a problem to you then you were not allowing enough clearance twixt you and him. Do you look behind you before you turn?
Gliders are always likely to make sudden turns or to climb and slow down, (porpoising) when they encounter lift.
I forgot to put the u/c down once, fortunately it is only semi-retractable and the engine is a pusher located above the tail boom. Just rather a bumpy take off later as there's no suspension in that configuration.
Mike W
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shortstripper,
You didn't run out of fuel, so no fuel exhaustion
Seems like you had a mechanical problem which you probably should not have known about, and I think your defence deserves significant consideration. Glad you are OK.
I knew on the way down the pub this would be picked up, I should have explained myself better. Running out of fuel because the tank has a hole in it isn't 100% pilot negligence, the primary cause is "mechanical". If no mechanical problem exists, then fuel exhaustion is 100% pilot negligence. IMHO, but open for discussion.
Being a pussy nowadays I tend to stop for fuel sooner rather than later, so reducing the chances of a mechanical problem causing me to run out of fuel. This also gives me an opportunity to compare actual fuel burn against estimated, hopefully catching out most mechanical problems. I think this is pretty simple stuff, airmanship even. So if somebody goes on a 400 mile x-country and runs out 20 miles short because the carb has a problem, I would still ask them why they didn't stop at an airport half way. Gives me a chance to stretch my legs, perform physiological functions, and financially support a small airport operator.
I guess my point is that "Running out of fuel will never happen to me" is a dangerous attitude to take when talking about fuel management.
My nasty fuel scare was 100% pilot negligence, but I was a student pilot so the instructor would have taken the blame, and the circumstances probably meant he deserved it, and I could have been dead.
Doesn't stop fancy lawyers getting you off though, as recently demonstrated....
You didn't run out of fuel, so no fuel exhaustion
Seems like you had a mechanical problem which you probably should not have known about, and I think your defence deserves significant consideration. Glad you are OK.I knew on the way down the pub this would be picked up, I should have explained myself better. Running out of fuel because the tank has a hole in it isn't 100% pilot negligence, the primary cause is "mechanical". If no mechanical problem exists, then fuel exhaustion is 100% pilot negligence. IMHO, but open for discussion.
Being a pussy nowadays I tend to stop for fuel sooner rather than later, so reducing the chances of a mechanical problem causing me to run out of fuel. This also gives me an opportunity to compare actual fuel burn against estimated, hopefully catching out most mechanical problems. I think this is pretty simple stuff, airmanship even. So if somebody goes on a 400 mile x-country and runs out 20 miles short because the carb has a problem, I would still ask them why they didn't stop at an airport half way. Gives me a chance to stretch my legs, perform physiological functions, and financially support a small airport operator.
I guess my point is that "Running out of fuel will never happen to me" is a dangerous attitude to take when talking about fuel management.
My nasty fuel scare was 100% pilot negligence, but I was a student pilot so the instructor would have taken the blame, and the circumstances probably meant he deserved it, and I could have been dead.
Doesn't stop fancy lawyers getting you off though, as recently demonstrated....
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I've made plenty of booboo's, as have all of my friends. Any pilot says he/she has never made a mistake is either a consumate liar or never flown an a/c.
Only one that comes to mind at the moment which had me genuinely worried and could have been nasty had I made the wrong decision, was when I was flying Bulldogs with the UAS back in '91. I'd been sent off on a solo GH sortie to practice aeros over Wensleydale which was fine with me.
Lovely flying day, good viz, scattered fair weather Cu. I had selected something like 5000' as my base height for manoeuvres and had been happily looping and rolling for about 30 minutes or so. I chose to perform another loop, put the 'dog into a shallow dive for entry speed (about 145kts I think), pulled up into a nice entry to the loop, over the top with wings level for a change and was feeling so smug with myself for a nicely executed loop (so far), that I was far too leisurely in controlling the a/c on the pullout. Speed accelerated rapidly away even though the throttle was closed, through 160kts and heading for Vne.
Oops-a-daisy, major rollicking for this one I thought. Managed to pull out of the dive, but it registered 5.5 on the g-meter in the process. We'd been taught that 3 to 3.5 would be a normal figure. The a/c was still pretty fast, but the speed was coming down nicely and at 120kts or so I fed the power back in.
It was then that the a/c started vibrating quite badly (like pre-stall buffet) and the engine sounded like a bag of spanners. I had no idea what was going on. This really wasn't normal or anything I understood, and for a moment or two I just froze. I scanned the instruments and everything appeared normal, nothing unusual on the t+p's, even the speed was back to 100kts, but still the a/c was shaking and the engine running rough. I really didn't know what to do.
I figured it would be a good idea to suss out where I was and get back to Leeming sharpish as I though that there was a good chance the wings would fall off. All the time I was going through in my mind the abandonment drill, and if things got worse that was exactly what I was going to do, even if it was only an engine failure. I figured I'd take my chances on the end of a parachute.
Thankfully, the a/c stopped vibrating, the engine ran smooth and I got back to base without any hassle. I let the groundcrew know what had happened with the pullout from the loop as 5.5g was the airframe limit, but nothing about the rest. Not the smartest of decisions. Similarly, there was no mention of it to the QFI's, especially as I had visions of the boss (who was a fearsome old b#gger) rearranging my anatomy and inviting me not to show my face again.
Now that I'm a little older and wiser, I don't know why I was so eager to jump out of the a/c, and I really would have done too as I was pretty scared at the time. Given how nicely most of these smaller a/c glide, it really shouldn't be a major problem to stick with it and put it down somewhere. If I had the option again, I'd only consider abandoning if the damn thing was on fire or there really was nowhere you could put it down without killing yourself. I'm still not entirely sure of the cause of the vibration, though I suspect now it was probably control flutter.
I suppose the lessons I learned from that were not just about how quickly the a/c can get away from you if you're not paying attention, but that nobody will kill you for confessing to not knowing what you're doing. If you're scared, or unsure, get on the radio and bloody well tell someone.
Only one that comes to mind at the moment which had me genuinely worried and could have been nasty had I made the wrong decision, was when I was flying Bulldogs with the UAS back in '91. I'd been sent off on a solo GH sortie to practice aeros over Wensleydale which was fine with me.
Lovely flying day, good viz, scattered fair weather Cu. I had selected something like 5000' as my base height for manoeuvres and had been happily looping and rolling for about 30 minutes or so. I chose to perform another loop, put the 'dog into a shallow dive for entry speed (about 145kts I think), pulled up into a nice entry to the loop, over the top with wings level for a change and was feeling so smug with myself for a nicely executed loop (so far), that I was far too leisurely in controlling the a/c on the pullout. Speed accelerated rapidly away even though the throttle was closed, through 160kts and heading for Vne.
Oops-a-daisy, major rollicking for this one I thought. Managed to pull out of the dive, but it registered 5.5 on the g-meter in the process. We'd been taught that 3 to 3.5 would be a normal figure. The a/c was still pretty fast, but the speed was coming down nicely and at 120kts or so I fed the power back in.
It was then that the a/c started vibrating quite badly (like pre-stall buffet) and the engine sounded like a bag of spanners. I had no idea what was going on. This really wasn't normal or anything I understood, and for a moment or two I just froze. I scanned the instruments and everything appeared normal, nothing unusual on the t+p's, even the speed was back to 100kts, but still the a/c was shaking and the engine running rough. I really didn't know what to do.
I figured it would be a good idea to suss out where I was and get back to Leeming sharpish as I though that there was a good chance the wings would fall off.
All the time I was going through in my mind the abandonment drill, and if things got worse that was exactly what I was going to do, even if it was only an engine failure. I figured I'd take my chances on the end of a parachute.Thankfully, the a/c stopped vibrating, the engine ran smooth and I got back to base without any hassle. I let the groundcrew know what had happened with the pullout from the loop as 5.5g was the airframe limit, but nothing about the rest. Not the smartest of decisions. Similarly, there was no mention of it to the QFI's, especially as I had visions of the boss (who was a fearsome old b#gger) rearranging my anatomy and inviting me not to show my face again.
Now that I'm a little older and wiser, I don't know why I was so eager to jump out of the a/c, and I really would have done too as I was pretty scared at the time. Given how nicely most of these smaller a/c glide, it really shouldn't be a major problem to stick with it and put it down somewhere. If I had the option again, I'd only consider abandoning if the damn thing was on fire or there really was nowhere you could put it down without killing yourself. I'm still not entirely sure of the cause of the vibration, though I suspect now it was probably control flutter.
I suppose the lessons I learned from that were not just about how quickly the a/c can get away from you if you're not paying attention, but that nobody will kill you for confessing to not knowing what you're doing. If you're scared, or unsure, get on the radio and bloody well tell someone.