Truth Stick - Your greatest mistake ......
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Truth Stick - Your greatest mistake ......
Some years back a group of mixed FAA and JAR PPL students at Britannia Flight School (RIP) in Florida had a 'fess it up' session late one evening after a suitable number of beers...
My own confession was that on an XC NavEx I missed Zephyr Hills airfield (only 30 miles away) by a full 7 miles .......
A second student then confessed that he had managed to get lost in the Winterhaven circuit ....
The best was the guy who, flying into a controlled airfield for the first time, had a total loss of logical thought and came out with the classic "Hello Lakeland Tower ...... I am a Cessna .....!"
Over to you .....
My own confession was that on an XC NavEx I missed Zephyr Hills airfield (only 30 miles away) by a full 7 miles .......
A second student then confessed that he had managed to get lost in the Winterhaven circuit ....
The best was the guy who, flying into a controlled airfield for the first time, had a total loss of logical thought and came out with the classic "Hello Lakeland Tower ...... I am a Cessna .....!"
Over to you .....
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Most recently, flying Sandown to Exeter whilst speaking to Bournemouth, asked to give position report...
"G-**** is approximatley 15 miles west of Weymouth."
20 mins later...
"G-**** is now 15 miles west of Weymouth."
Felt a bit silly
h
"G-**** is approximatley 15 miles west of Weymouth."
20 mins later...
"G-**** is now 15 miles west of Weymouth."
Felt a bit silly
h
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Newly qualified - first x-country in the UK. Home airfield was Popham. Flew to Sandown. Landed, and had £100 cup of coffee. Flew Back. North of Goodwood called Popham Radio. Was advised of circuit and traffic/QFE.
Circuit height at Popham is 800 feet aal,
Yours truly approached, and as I overflew, I thought.... By Gosh! those aeroplanes parked up look so BIG. ..... and so did the Clubhouse!
EEK!
Yes, folks, I was still on QNH, and instead of overflying at the correct height, I think I went over the field at about 300 feet...
A sphnicter clenching moment as I applied full power, and climbed up to the downwind leg.
I was amazed that no one had even witnessed my transgression.
I am also happy to report that I never repeated this error.
Circuit height at Popham is 800 feet aal,
Yours truly approached, and as I overflew, I thought.... By Gosh! those aeroplanes parked up look so BIG. ..... and so did the Clubhouse!
EEK!
Yes, folks, I was still on QNH, and instead of overflying at the correct height, I think I went over the field at about 300 feet...
A sphnicter clenching moment as I applied full power, and climbed up to the downwind leg.
I was amazed that no one had even witnessed my transgression.
I am also happy to report that I never repeated this error.
pneumono
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A few weeks ago - long weekend flying in hot conditions.
Airmanship deteriorated - missed one thing out on downwind checks!
Ever get that sinking feeling?
Landed wheels up on tarmac.
Flew the approach with undercarriage alarm going off in my headphones!
Had blanked it out as had been doing aeros for the last hour with the throttle mostly closed - alarm also linked to throttle - and the warning had been going off continually.
Appallingly bad airmanship.
Am only just starting to be able to laugh about it - felt very bad for a while there.
Thankfully have a very understanding syndicate - bless them.
Now have a smashed propeller to mount on my wall as a salutory reminder of an expensive lesson learnt.
Airmanship deteriorated - missed one thing out on downwind checks!
Ever get that sinking feeling?
Landed wheels up on tarmac.
Flew the approach with undercarriage alarm going off in my headphones!
Had blanked it out as had been doing aeros for the last hour with the throttle mostly closed - alarm also linked to throttle - and the warning had been going off continually.
Appallingly bad airmanship.
Am only just starting to be able to laugh about it - felt very bad for a while there.
Thankfully have a very understanding syndicate - bless them.
Now have a smashed propeller to mount on my wall as a salutory reminder of an expensive lesson learnt.
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Lots and lots. Always feel very silly at the time, but the useful thing about mistakes where you live to tell the tale, is that you generally don't do it again and have a slight edge in terms of useful experience over those who claim never to have messed up. In my view, they are the single best learning opportunity you will get (just don't do it on purpose).
My biggest.
At the end of a long (2ish hour) cross-country flight to an airfield, there were large obstructions in front of the (shortish) runway that weren't in Pooleys, and hadn't been briefed on the phone.
Instead of diverting to another field 20 minutes flying time away (which I should have done) I elected to try and land. I ended up landing quite long, and overrunning the runway causing considerable damage.
Wasn't pleasant, have been a much more caution man in my field planning ever since.
G
At the end of a long (2ish hour) cross-country flight to an airfield, there were large obstructions in front of the (shortish) runway that weren't in Pooleys, and hadn't been briefed on the phone.
Instead of diverting to another field 20 minutes flying time away (which I should have done) I elected to try and land. I ended up landing quite long, and overrunning the runway causing considerable damage.
Wasn't pleasant, have been a much more caution man in my field planning ever since.
G
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First ever lesson I was asked to go out and check over the aeroplane (which we'd previously been tought to do in a groundschool session). Instructor came out and strapped in....all ready to go. Engine on, tried to taxi off. Power increasing.. still increasing.. but we aint moving. "Did you leave the chocks in?" says he. "I dont think so no" I reply. Bit more power and "bump" over the chocks we go.
During my training I was also guilty of forgetting to set QFE when descending to circuit height, but thankfully the instructor was there to point it out before we got too low.
On my first ever navex was trying to get us from Dewsbury to Finningley and ended up over Sheffield!
Finally, On my solo QXC I was rather high on finals at Humberside and got rather fast as a result, landing a fair way down the runway. Thankfully when landing on runway 03 at Humberside you have to taxi right to the end to vacate so it slipped by un noticed!
V2
During my training I was also guilty of forgetting to set QFE when descending to circuit height, but thankfully the instructor was there to point it out before we got too low.
On my first ever navex was trying to get us from Dewsbury to Finningley and ended up over Sheffield!
Finally, On my solo QXC I was rather high on finals at Humberside and got rather fast as a result, landing a fair way down the runway. Thankfully when landing on runway 03 at Humberside you have to taxi right to the end to vacate so it slipped by un noticed!
V2
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There are two that were so embarrasing I'm not going to relate them here, though neither resulted in any damage. But both still serve as a constant dig in the ribs every time I fly to be aware of the possibility of the mega cock-up.
Another, which I will relate, was many years ago in an L4 Cub. Returning home from east of the pennines I was flying from the P1 (rear) seat with a very experienced instructor friend of mine (not from our field) along for the ride in the front seat. We decided to do a touch and go at a disused military airfield to 'get it in the logbook' before it was built on, which it was shortly afterwards.
I was setup on final when the instructor asked if he could do the landing (he'd been doing a fair bit of the flying anyway). So I agreed. Big mistake - he had loads of hours and shortly afterwards joined the airlines - but he had no tailwheel experience. I'd been taildragging ever since I got my PPL, so this lack didn't really occur to me as a potential problem.
He greased us on 3-point and at first all was well. Then she swung left. He stompted on the right rudder - too much and too late. The little Cub veered hard right. The side was open and I saw the right hand wheel leave the ground. I glanced left to see the left wingtip heading downwards towards the speeding tarmac. "Oh sh1te", I thought. This is going to be embarrasing and expensive".
Shouting "I have it" I put on right aileron to lift the left wing, together with left rudder to arrest the swing, full power, and forward stick to get the tail up. How that wingtip failed to make runway contact I'll never know, but it didn't and we were tail-up, wings level, and accelerating. But 45 degrees off the runway heading to the right. We left the tarmac, bounced across the rough gravel then the grass, and I managed to haul her into the air. Passing about 30 feet in the climb I turned left onto runway heading.
There, on a paralell taxiway, was a glider being towed by a car, which had stopped. Its driver, and the guy holding the glider's wingtip, were staring open mouthed at this rude and nearly disasterous intrusion by the little Cub.
Moral? No matter how many more hours or higher ratings than your own a pilot may have, never let them them fly your aeroplane near the ground unless they have the skills so to do - even if it's something as simple as an L4 Cub.
SSD
Another, which I will relate, was many years ago in an L4 Cub. Returning home from east of the pennines I was flying from the P1 (rear) seat with a very experienced instructor friend of mine (not from our field) along for the ride in the front seat. We decided to do a touch and go at a disused military airfield to 'get it in the logbook' before it was built on, which it was shortly afterwards.
I was setup on final when the instructor asked if he could do the landing (he'd been doing a fair bit of the flying anyway). So I agreed. Big mistake - he had loads of hours and shortly afterwards joined the airlines - but he had no tailwheel experience. I'd been taildragging ever since I got my PPL, so this lack didn't really occur to me as a potential problem.
He greased us on 3-point and at first all was well. Then she swung left. He stompted on the right rudder - too much and too late. The little Cub veered hard right. The side was open and I saw the right hand wheel leave the ground. I glanced left to see the left wingtip heading downwards towards the speeding tarmac. "Oh sh1te", I thought. This is going to be embarrasing and expensive".
Shouting "I have it" I put on right aileron to lift the left wing, together with left rudder to arrest the swing, full power, and forward stick to get the tail up. How that wingtip failed to make runway contact I'll never know, but it didn't and we were tail-up, wings level, and accelerating. But 45 degrees off the runway heading to the right. We left the tarmac, bounced across the rough gravel then the grass, and I managed to haul her into the air. Passing about 30 feet in the climb I turned left onto runway heading.
There, on a paralell taxiway, was a glider being towed by a car, which had stopped. Its driver, and the guy holding the glider's wingtip, were staring open mouthed at this rude and nearly disasterous intrusion by the little Cub.
Moral? No matter how many more hours or higher ratings than your own a pilot may have, never let them them fly your aeroplane near the ground unless they have the skills so to do - even if it's something as simple as an L4 Cub.
SSD
Last edited by Shaggy Sheep Driver; 30th Sep 2005 at 19:53.
Dir. PPRuNe Line Service
In the circuit at White Waltham in a PA28, and the brain-fade fairy paid me a visit. Instead of turning the carb heat on, I pulled the mixture...
Why do it if it's not fun?
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A day with crappy vis, about 5000m at most, flying from Blackpool to Carslisle in a C152 with minimal navigation instruments. The cloud base was scattered or broken, around 3000' - should have been plenty high enough for the flight, but as I started approaching some high ground I got a little nervous about the lack of vis. No problem - climbed above the cloud, tracked to Dean Cross VOR (cross-checking position by peering through gaps in the clouds at regular intervals) and then descended into Carlisle for lunch.
After lunch, decided to head back the same way. Climbed above the clouds and picked up a radial from the VOR which took me out over Morcambe Bay. The clouds had started to get thicker, though, and the gaps smaller, and it wasn't too long before I lost sight of the surface.
I started taking cross-cuts from Poll Hill VOR to confirm my position, planning on descending below the clouds once clear of the Lake District and over the sea. Then I spotted a huge TCU ahead of me, right on my track. I turned left to divert around it, and figured out which radial from Dean Cross this now put me on to re-establish my position. Checked the chart, and realised that this radial would take me right through the Cark parachute zone. Turned left even further and picked up a slightly more easterly radial to keep clear of Cark.
Once that problem was dealt with, I carried on taking cross-cuts from Poll Hill. Only my radial from Poll Hill didn't seem to be changing. After a few miles I started to get concerned, and looked at my chart for the reason. Then I found it - the radial I was now tracking from Dean Cross actually took me straight to Poll Hill - so I couldn't use Poll Hill for cross-cuts.
Now I was uncertain of my position, except that I was somewhere on a line between Dean Cross and Poll Hill, with controlled airspace somewhere ahead of me down to 3500', and an MSA quite a bit higher than that. I contacted Blackpool Radar, but I was too far north for them to get a radar fix on me.
Then I saw, through a gap in the clouds, some water. Great - problem solved! If there's water down there, I must be over the sea. I began a descent to visual conditions, planning on stopping the descent at 2000' if not visual, but expecting the cloudbase to be much higher than that.
Fortunately - very fortunately - the cloud base was quite a bit higher. Because the water I'd seen wasn't the sea, it was Lake Windemere, and the ground around me came quite a bit higher than the altitude I'd planned on stopping my descent at.
Lessons learnt - nothing wrong with IMC flight, so long as it is planned as an IMC trip, and in a suitably equipped aircraft. I am much more wary about setting out VFR and deciding part way through the trip to turn it into IFR now - I decide beforehand which it's going to be, and stick with it.
Also, ask for help if you've messed up. When Blackpool said they couldn't see me on radar, I should have told them that I was uncertain of my position. There were lots of options, probably the easiest being to get QDMs until I could be seen on radar, then an SRA to land. Instead, I tried to carry on by myself, and nearly paid the price.
FFF
------------
After lunch, decided to head back the same way. Climbed above the clouds and picked up a radial from the VOR which took me out over Morcambe Bay. The clouds had started to get thicker, though, and the gaps smaller, and it wasn't too long before I lost sight of the surface.
I started taking cross-cuts from Poll Hill VOR to confirm my position, planning on descending below the clouds once clear of the Lake District and over the sea. Then I spotted a huge TCU ahead of me, right on my track. I turned left to divert around it, and figured out which radial from Dean Cross this now put me on to re-establish my position. Checked the chart, and realised that this radial would take me right through the Cark parachute zone. Turned left even further and picked up a slightly more easterly radial to keep clear of Cark.
Once that problem was dealt with, I carried on taking cross-cuts from Poll Hill. Only my radial from Poll Hill didn't seem to be changing. After a few miles I started to get concerned, and looked at my chart for the reason. Then I found it - the radial I was now tracking from Dean Cross actually took me straight to Poll Hill - so I couldn't use Poll Hill for cross-cuts.
Now I was uncertain of my position, except that I was somewhere on a line between Dean Cross and Poll Hill, with controlled airspace somewhere ahead of me down to 3500', and an MSA quite a bit higher than that. I contacted Blackpool Radar, but I was too far north for them to get a radar fix on me.
Then I saw, through a gap in the clouds, some water. Great - problem solved! If there's water down there, I must be over the sea. I began a descent to visual conditions, planning on stopping the descent at 2000' if not visual, but expecting the cloudbase to be much higher than that.
Fortunately - very fortunately - the cloud base was quite a bit higher. Because the water I'd seen wasn't the sea, it was Lake Windemere, and the ground around me came quite a bit higher than the altitude I'd planned on stopping my descent at.
Lessons learnt - nothing wrong with IMC flight, so long as it is planned as an IMC trip, and in a suitably equipped aircraft. I am much more wary about setting out VFR and deciding part way through the trip to turn it into IFR now - I decide beforehand which it's going to be, and stick with it.
Also, ask for help if you've messed up. When Blackpool said they couldn't see me on radar, I should have told them that I was uncertain of my position. There were lots of options, probably the easiest being to get QDMs until I could be seen on radar, then an SRA to land. Instead, I tried to carry on by myself, and nearly paid the price.
FFF
------------
Stuck VFR in IMC
Guernsey, a Sunday in the 1980's, after a lovely sunny weekend with friends on the island, and a few hundred hours in the bag, so to speak. Knew everything, didn't I?
Poor weather around, so my passenger and I awaited an SVFR departure to get back to base on the UK mainland. The moment it became 3k viz, SVFR departures were legal, so off we strolled to start up.
Climb-out was great...until turning north for home, we coasted out to no visual reference over the goldfish bowl of the Channel, in poor viz, I had a distinct lack of horizon to maintain straight & level. Turn back or proceed?
A radio call from another aircraft ahead reported good horizon at 2500', so I carried on, aiming for "the bright bit" (the sky), hunting that elusive real horizon. After 3000', I got a little concerned, so looked aft for a return...only to see blackness underneath the clag.
Within a few minutes, I was left with my only horizon option, which was to proceed keeping the bright stuff upwards. Eventually we broke out of the haze at about 6000', onto the most beautiful flat-top imaginable; what a lovely horizon above the haze layer! My new gps told me exactly where I was, which was inside an airway on the UK southern coast, a few hundred feet above a haze layer I knew I didn't want to descend into again.
The previous month, I had visited West Drayton on a D&D visit, so I had no hesitation in calling them. No transponder, no artificial horizon, no turn & slip, I was in it deep (but at least safe for the moment). I told them I would proceed further north for 30 minutes, in the hope of finding a hole, and if I didn't, I would return south to the Channel Islands or France.
The hole did not appear, and in the interim, those nice folks at West Drayton had been getting an idea of the cloud cover over English airfields I could safely reach. Not much hope there, but they did report that some French airfields were showing blue skies.
I must add that D&D were brilliant. All conversations took place in plain English, and never did they baulk from their task to get me safely down. Everything took such a pleasant, genial tone that I decided I'd better tell them my endurance and souls on board; they did not prompt me.
On the southbound leg, I met the encroaching dark monster of increasing cloud, and decided that I had to descend.
A few minutes of terrifying descent into the haze layer and goldfish bowl, in which I was using shades of grey as my only horizon reference. The calm seas of the Channel offered little "ground" reference (not even a breaking wave, it was calm), but I eventually ended up at a few hundred feet above the still waters, with again a level horizon to work from. I again turned north.
During the last half-hour of flying thus, D&D could not hear me (although I could hear them). Several private flights and a Speedbird relayed messages until I approached the coast.
And surprise! I could see the coast from eight miles away! But of course, with nothing to "see" previously (not even a white-cap), I had no clue of the true viz in all the haze. I landed at Bournemouth over two hours from departing Guernsey, but D&D would not release me to Bournemouth's frequency until I was final for Bournemouth's runway.
I contacted D&D some time after this incident, to ask them how they would have helped me further. They told me that they actually had a helicopter airborne, and that it would have reached me about the same time as I landed at Bournemouth.
Had I still been in trouble, the helicopter, I was told, would have formated in visual contact behind me for a descent through cloud at a suitable descent speed, telling me when to lift a wing to maintain level.
What lessons did I learn?
1. I haven't learned it all, and never will.
2. I don't suffer from "get-there-itis" any more.
3. Don't be afraid to ask for help sooner rather than later.
4. Keep the tanks full.
5. Don't go flying around in dire weather without instruments.
Hope this helps someone else.
Russ.
Poor weather around, so my passenger and I awaited an SVFR departure to get back to base on the UK mainland. The moment it became 3k viz, SVFR departures were legal, so off we strolled to start up.
Climb-out was great...until turning north for home, we coasted out to no visual reference over the goldfish bowl of the Channel, in poor viz, I had a distinct lack of horizon to maintain straight & level. Turn back or proceed?
A radio call from another aircraft ahead reported good horizon at 2500', so I carried on, aiming for "the bright bit" (the sky), hunting that elusive real horizon. After 3000', I got a little concerned, so looked aft for a return...only to see blackness underneath the clag.
Within a few minutes, I was left with my only horizon option, which was to proceed keeping the bright stuff upwards. Eventually we broke out of the haze at about 6000', onto the most beautiful flat-top imaginable; what a lovely horizon above the haze layer! My new gps told me exactly where I was, which was inside an airway on the UK southern coast, a few hundred feet above a haze layer I knew I didn't want to descend into again.
The previous month, I had visited West Drayton on a D&D visit, so I had no hesitation in calling them. No transponder, no artificial horizon, no turn & slip, I was in it deep (but at least safe for the moment). I told them I would proceed further north for 30 minutes, in the hope of finding a hole, and if I didn't, I would return south to the Channel Islands or France.
The hole did not appear, and in the interim, those nice folks at West Drayton had been getting an idea of the cloud cover over English airfields I could safely reach. Not much hope there, but they did report that some French airfields were showing blue skies.
I must add that D&D were brilliant. All conversations took place in plain English, and never did they baulk from their task to get me safely down. Everything took such a pleasant, genial tone that I decided I'd better tell them my endurance and souls on board; they did not prompt me.
On the southbound leg, I met the encroaching dark monster of increasing cloud, and decided that I had to descend.
A few minutes of terrifying descent into the haze layer and goldfish bowl, in which I was using shades of grey as my only horizon reference. The calm seas of the Channel offered little "ground" reference (not even a breaking wave, it was calm), but I eventually ended up at a few hundred feet above the still waters, with again a level horizon to work from. I again turned north.
During the last half-hour of flying thus, D&D could not hear me (although I could hear them). Several private flights and a Speedbird relayed messages until I approached the coast.
And surprise! I could see the coast from eight miles away! But of course, with nothing to "see" previously (not even a white-cap), I had no clue of the true viz in all the haze. I landed at Bournemouth over two hours from departing Guernsey, but D&D would not release me to Bournemouth's frequency until I was final for Bournemouth's runway.
I contacted D&D some time after this incident, to ask them how they would have helped me further. They told me that they actually had a helicopter airborne, and that it would have reached me about the same time as I landed at Bournemouth.
Had I still been in trouble, the helicopter, I was told, would have formated in visual contact behind me for a descent through cloud at a suitable descent speed, telling me when to lift a wing to maintain level.
What lessons did I learn?
1. I haven't learned it all, and never will.
2. I don't suffer from "get-there-itis" any more.
3. Don't be afraid to ask for help sooner rather than later.
4. Keep the tanks full.
5. Don't go flying around in dire weather without instruments.
Hope this helps someone else.
Russ.
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Thanks Russ. That one was really useful (I'd no idea D&D could get you down through cloud using a helo), and well done for keeping your head in what must have been terrifying circumstances. How come no AH?
SSD
SSD
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In my very limited experience in aviation so far the worst mistake I have made is dropping the poor airplane on from about 4 feet. It was my first session of night circuits and my mind was miles away. To my amazament everything was still in tact after we landed, spats fine and the crepe marks were still aligned.
Needless to say I haven't had a repeat of this - yet anyway !
Needless to say I haven't had a repeat of this - yet anyway !
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And to correct a misconception before others follow Mr Gulch: for those with no IMC rating or IR the mimimum visibility for SVFR is 10km, not 3km.
My worst - trusting an experieced PPL holder only 3 months out of currency with the landing, just because she had been good up to then. Caught it just in toime for a firm landing rather than heavy, but learnt a good lesson! Unfortunately in view of a certain CAA examiner, who had a word
My worst - trusting an experieced PPL holder only 3 months out of currency with the landing, just because she had been good up to then. Caught it just in toime for a firm landing rather than heavy, but learnt a good lesson! Unfortunately in view of a certain CAA examiner, who had a word
SSD
I'm not sure I did. In retrospect, I should have awaited airborne help.
A little old aeroplane. And:
I guess it would have been SAR, or Coastguard, or RAF. Cornwall was the source, I was told.
Send Clowns
I bow to your better knowledge and I don't do similar departures any more, so have only 20-year memory to recall!. I was sure this was the limit quoted by Guernsey, and I am sure they wouldn't have let me flight plan out less than the legal bit.
Russ
keeping your head
How come no AH?
D&D could get you down through cloud using a helo
Send Clowns
mimimum visibility for SVFR is 10km, not 3km
Russ
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Min vis for special VFR is 3km. However a CAA issued JAR PPLs place a restriction on the pilot not to operate under 10km.
It's the pilot that is restricted to 10km, not SVFR.
So a pilot with a non CAA issued licence could accept 3km SVFR.
Having said that, they would be very silly to do so, unless they were capable of going IFR if needed, as Russell's story demonstrates.
Thanks for sharing it Russell.
dp
It's the pilot that is restricted to 10km, not SVFR.
So a pilot with a non CAA issued licence could accept 3km SVFR.
Having said that, they would be very silly to do so, unless they were capable of going IFR if needed, as Russell's story demonstrates.
Thanks for sharing it Russell.
dp
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I almost ran out of fuel. It was so low the engine started spluttering on the ILS 
Nice trip to Kemble for lunch followed by a flight down to Cornwall. Decided we didn't need to refuel. The weather closed in and we were scud running at 900' over Dartmoor. There were anntena's on the chart sort of ahead up to 2000' and I was starting to get worried. No problem, hang a left, through a valley and popped out West of Plymouth. Trying to navigate back home along the coast sub 1000' level, then decided it was all becoming a bit dangerous, so climbed and became IFR. That was fine, headed back and requested an ILS approach. On the ILS another aircraft had a problem, so we were vectored off and send cruising around over the Isle of Wight by some panicy controller. 30 mins later we were back on the approach, established, and the engine stated to miss badly. Swichted fuel tanks, it recovered and we landed safe and sound.
PA28-232 was filled to tabs before takeoff. We flew for over 4½ hours before getting back! Even the fuel guy commented on the lack of visible fuel in the tanks....
Moral of that story, ALWAYS FILL UP WITH FUEL AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY! Thats what I do now!!
Nice trip to Kemble for lunch followed by a flight down to Cornwall. Decided we didn't need to refuel. The weather closed in and we were scud running at 900' over Dartmoor. There were anntena's on the chart sort of ahead up to 2000' and I was starting to get worried. No problem, hang a left, through a valley and popped out West of Plymouth. Trying to navigate back home along the coast sub 1000' level, then decided it was all becoming a bit dangerous, so climbed and became IFR. That was fine, headed back and requested an ILS approach. On the ILS another aircraft had a problem, so we were vectored off and send cruising around over the Isle of Wight by some panicy controller. 30 mins later we were back on the approach, established, and the engine stated to miss badly. Swichted fuel tanks, it recovered and we landed safe and sound.
PA28-232 was filled to tabs before takeoff. We flew for over 4½ hours before getting back! Even the fuel guy commented on the lack of visible fuel in the tanks....
Moral of that story, ALWAYS FILL UP WITH FUEL AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY! Thats what I do now!!