Am I Smart Enough To Be A Pilot?

[daleandee]

Here is a story from William Wynn's site. Not about Corvairs and if it weren't so serious it would be funny:



http://flycorvair.net/2014/02/01/concer ... potential/

I'm not throwing stones as I've had a moment or two of stupidity in my life. 8~)

Anybody have any interesting stories about "somebody else" that got bit by being complacent or just not being focused on the task at hand?

Might make for some great reading ...

Dale
N319WF

[Rynoth]

Someone I know was once rushing a bit to get a flight underway, at night, in a pressurized aircraft. He was distracted when closing the cabin air-stair door and didn't verify the green "locked" witness holes to confirm the door was latched securely. Everyone got buckled in, and the engine was started. Generators and electrical systems brought online. Then came the environmental system. When it was switched on, pressurized air from the engine starts getting pumped into the cabin and pushes on the door, making it swing out and fully open. Loud noises and a lot of wind and exhaust fumes to follow, not to mention some bewildered passengers. The door had been closed, but not latched. No harm done other than loads of embarrassment.

In a sonex, I imagine the same mistake could actually result in a much worse result, yet would be no harder to make if not paying enough attention.

[daleandee]

In a sonex, I imagine the same mistake could actually result in a much worse result, yet would be no harder to make if not paying enough attention.

Don't know if anyone else had ever had one of those days where you just didn't feel in the groove ...

I hadn't flown for 10 days because of the crazy weather i.e. the ice storm last week, high winds almost everyday, etc. Today looked promising so after a preflight I lit up the 3.0 Corvair and taxied to runway 05 for take-off. There was a noticeable crosswind but not so bad. But, being a newbie tail wheeler I'm still very cautious about getting in over my head. I was heading over to fill the fuel tank at a local airport about 30 miles away as we have no fuel at my home airport.

Shortly after take-off I realized just how bumpy it was and looked at the power station between the lakes and noticed the steam from the stacks was laying over pretty good. Trying to fly at 1500' was difficult as many people were burning all the trees and limbs that had fallen during the recent ice storm and the haze was horrible. As I closed in on my destination airport I cannot get the iFly 720 to zoom out. Don't know why. Then things started to get interesting as I could not visually locate the airport in the haze. I've been there many times but for some reason the sun in the haze was making it difficult to find.

Then, because I have my low fuel warning set at 3-1/2 gallons (actually there is a 1-1/2 gallon reserve in addition to this) it begins to flash a warning. Now I know I've got fuel, and I know where the airport is but just for a moment things were getting strange. Once I located the airport and over flew the field I noticed the windsock was pretty active. ATIS is reporting winds between 70 - 130 @ 9 knots. I guess for experienced guys this isn't much but I was a tad concerned. I'll take runway 05 here too.

But, as had been reported, once the tail wheel was pinned to the pavement with some cross control correction inputs in place to keep her straight, Myunn settled right down after a small grumble from the tail wheel. Either I'm getting a bit better or the Sonex just likes making me look better than I am.

After I bought fuel I pushed Myunn out of the fueling area and noticed a beautiful SR-22 coming in for fuel. Then a friend in his Mooney landed and taxied up. Looking over at Myunn across the ramp I noticed two gentlemen checking her out. I walked over and got into quite a conversation with these guys who were there to fly choppers and trim trees. One of them was taking a number of photos of Myunn. That sure does make a builder feel good!

The return flight was nearly as interesting as I was now flying directly into the sun and the haze and visibility was really poor. So, just take the long way home and make a fairly decent landing in front of your hangar partner and everything starts coming up roses again.

It turned out to be a great day but for a moment I just felt like I wasn't quite on my game.

Dale Williams
N319WF @ 6J2
Myunn - "daughter of Cleanex"
120 HP - 3.0 Corvair
Tail Wheel - Center Stick
55.5 hours / Status - Flying
http://kitplanes2.com/blog/2013/12/ownerbuilder-2/
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC49h6Qijc17_Ebfz0CbRFtg
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carolinasportflyers/

[Sonex1517]

I got my instrument rating after the following experience....

I owned a Cessna 150F with the "old style" artificial horizon, and had no instrument experience other than that required to get my private pilot certificate. En route to breakfast one morning with a group of much more experienced pilots (known to push their luck...) I ended up in the clouds, near tall towers, with a pregnant wife at home....

After several milliseconds of contemplating how pissed off Brenda would be if I lost control and died, I did what I was trained to do and did my best to maintain level attitude. In about twenty seconds I was back out in a break, and then descended to get below them.

It scared the bejesus out of me and I swore I would get trained to survive such an experience. The Instrument Rating was one of the biggest challenges (aside from raising my son and building my Sonex) I have ever accomplished and it made me a better and smarter pilot. It also taught me more about the National Airspace System than I ever imagined it would.

Everyone makes mistakes. Hopefully they do not kill us and we learn from them, instead of becoming emboldened by them (as several people I know have done).....

The big payoff was a trip my family and I later made in our Cherokee from Chicagoland to Norfolk VA to see the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) that I decommissioned in the US Navy.

What was supposed to be a VFR trip ended up being a very challenging IFR trip, culminating in an ILS approach to our home airport in a 600 foot ceiling in a driving rainstorm. As long as I live, I will never forget how satisfying it was to break out dead center on the approach with the runway approach lights in front of us...

Learn from the mistakes and always keep learning and practicing.

Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517


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