Stupid things pilots do...

[Muckmaw1]

Alright, I should say Stupid Things Student Pilots do and by Student Pilots I mean me.

I'm on my 11th Flight lesson yesterday, feeling pretty confident about myself.

I mean, I've got over 20 hours. I'm a verteran right?

Wrong.

I go through my checklist, and get clearence to taxi.

I've got about a mile ride to the end of the runway, so there I am taxiing along with my instructor watching my every move as usual.

I look at the tach and it's showing 1400 RPMs. The planes not taxiing nearly as fast as normal.

I'm thinking, this is weird. There's no headwind. The weathers cold and clear.

So I'm working it out in my mind. Why is this airplane taxiing so slow. Uphill?

Nope.

Finally, I give up and ask.

"Planes Taxiing really slow today...whats going on here"

"You might want to release the parking brake"


DOH!

That rates about an 8 on the Shmuck-O-Meter.

From that point on, nothing went right.

[ra]

I wish that was the stupidest thing I'd ever done in an airplane.

[Muckmaw1]

Originally posted by ra
I wish that was the stupidest thing I'd ever done in an airplane.

Continue...

[ra]

Originally posted by Muckmaw1
Continue...

OK, since it may save a life:

The battery in my Cessna 170 had been dead for a month or so and I had been prop starting it whenever I took it up.  It was easy to do so I wasn't in any hurry to get a new battery.  The generator powered all the electric stuff once you got it in the air.  

One weekend I flew it down to an airport by the beach and spent all day hanging around on the boardwalk.  When it came time to leave I asked the fuel guy if he would get in and hold down the brakes while I prop started it.  He said he'd be along in a minute, so I gave it a shot of primer and pushed in the fuel mixture, then I checked that the mags were off and decided to push the prop through a few times to get the juices flowing before he came over to help me start it.  I pushed the prop through by pulling down on the base of one prop with my left hand while pushing up on the base of the other with my right.  After about the 3rd flip the engine gave a cough and one of the blades smacked my knuckles.   Hmm, that's strange, the engine must still be a little warm and a cylinder must have fired.  So I gave it one last flip and the engine sputtered to life.   I scampered out of the way and got in the cockpit.  It turned out that the mag selector had rotated a bit in the instrument panel so while the selector said BOTH RIGHT LEFT OFF and it looked like the selector was pointing to OFF it was actually set to LEFT.  Luckily I had had the throttle all the way back and the plane was parked on grass so it didn't move forward and chew me up as the engine started.  Proof that Darwin is wrong.

ra

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Muckmaw1

From that point on, nothing went right.

Cant say that.
You managed to land it without killing anyone right?

[DREDIOCK]

And how soon after that did you buy a new battery? LOL

Originally posted by ra
OK, since it may save a life:

The battery in my Cessna 170 had been dead for a month or so and I had been prop starting it whenever I took it up.  It was easy to do so I wasn't in any hurry to get a new battery.  The generator powered all the electric stuff once you got it in the air.  

One weekend I flew it down to an airport by the beach and spent all day hanging around on the boardwalk.  When it came time to leave I asked the fuel guy if he would get in and hold down the brakes while I prop started it.  He said he'd be along in a minute, so I gave it a shot of primer and pushed in the fuel mixture, then I checked that the mags were off and decided to push the prop through a few times to get the juices flowing before he came over to help me start it.  I pushed the prop through by pulling down on the base of one prop with my left hand while pushing up on the base of the other with my right.  After about the 3rd flip the engine gave a cough and one of the blades smacked my knuckles.   Hmm, that's strange, the engine must still be a little warm and a cylinder must have fired.  So I gave it one last flip and the engine sputtered to life.   I scampered out of the way and got in the cockpit.  It turned out that the mag selector had rotated a bit in the instrument panel so while the selector said BOTH RIGHT LEFT OFF and it looked like the selector was pointing to OFF it was actually set to LEFT.  Luckily I had had the throttle all the way back and the plane was parked on grass so it didn't move forward and chew me up as the engine started.  Proof that Darwin is wrong.

ra

[Muckmaw1]

Originally posted by DREDIOCK
Cant say that.
You managed to land it without killing anyone right?

The investigation is pending...

[Bodhi]

Hey Muck, that instructor just proved he did not own the airplane...

[CyranoAH]

My thoughts exactly Bodhi, and noone in the board of directors of that school was looking...

[Muckmaw1]

Originally posted by Bodhi
Hey Muck, that instructor just proved he did not own the airplane...

I don't get it

[lasersailor184]

If you are teaching your daughter how to drive in YOUR car, would you let her take it out with the parking brake on?

[Muckmaw1]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
If you are teaching your daughter how to drive in YOUR car, would you let her take it out with the parking brake on?

Gotcha

[Russian]

Originally posted by ra
OK, since it may save a life:

The battery in my Cessna 170 had been dead for a month or so and I had been prop starting it whenever I took it up.  It was easy to do so I wasn't in any hurry to get a new battery.  The generator powered all the electric stuff once you got it in the air.  

One weekend I flew it down to an airport by the beach and spent all day hanging around on the boardwalk.  When it came time to leave I asked the fuel guy if he would get in and hold down the brakes while I prop started it.  He said he'd be along in a minute, so I gave it a shot of primer and pushed in the fuel mixture, then I checked that the mags were off and decided to push the prop through a few times to get the juices flowing before he came over to help me start it.  I pushed the prop through by pulling down on the base of one prop with my left hand while pushing up on the base of the other with my right.  After about the 3rd flip the engine gave a cough and one of the blades smacked my knuckles.   Hmm, that's strange, the engine must still be a little warm and a cylinder must have fired.  So I gave it one last flip and the engine sputtered to life.   I scampered out of the way and got in the cockpit.  It turned out that the mag selector had rotated a bit in the instrument panel so while the selector said BOTH RIGHT LEFT OFF and it looked like the selector was pointing to OFF it was actually set to LEFT.  Luckily I had had the throttle all the way back and the plane was parked on grass so it didn't move forward and chew me up as the engine started.  Proof that Darwin is wrong.

ra

Very stupid thing to do. At local airfield someone died doing that. Lost half of his head with brain spattered everywhere.

[spitfiremkv]

While soloing to the PA I was
messing with the volume knob because of some static. I turned it down to the minimum by mistake, controller called me 4 times before I fiddled with it again and turned it back up. I realize it's not as dramatic as your guy's stories but wait for more after I get back in the saddle.

Stupid thing I didn't do:
I aborted another solo flight because the ammeter light was on(shows a discharge which means you are draining the battery). Came back to the ramp, they sent the plane to maintenance-next day however, another student had total electrical failure on the same plane.
Glad it wasn't me.

[GreenCloud]

muck..

ALWAYS GO THRU YOUR CHECKLIST..

even when you are just taxing over to fuel up before you tie down after  a flight



i was in the cherokee...I had just refueld...i got back in..bah..I dotn need a checklist..im just taxing 100yds back to my tie down..


sat there for 4 mins..trying to start the engine...


bahhh..I am usaly in the C152...no fuel pump...Highwing..

well I guess the fuel doesnt quite flow very well in a low wing..stupid *** i forgot the fuel pump on....very embarasing..luckliy thats the worst so far..but..great lesson to learn with no big damage