Big scare story

I was a student pilot, on my first solo. On my third trip around the
pattern I rolled out on
downwind to find myself facing a pair of airplanes - side by side, and
coming straight at
me. I dived (to the left, IIRC), and made a low trip across town. I
never saw the two planes again - they weren't from that airport, nor
were they landing there.

David Johnson

As a student doing touch and go's on very short final and having the
tower command, "GO AROUND!" I firewalled the throttle and was climbing
out. Then I saw the shadows on the ground below.

Al

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote

I was quite shaken when we got on the ground. I asked my friend why in
the hell
did he turn IN FRONT of me? He apparently was so confident in the
superior
performance of his twin over my C-210 he was absolutely certain he could
out-accelerate me around the turn.

All I can say, is "what a dumbass." That does not seem like something you
should make and "estimate" on. Also, the first rule of formation flying is
to have your wingman in sight, at all times, right?

I'm glad it turned out OK for you, that day. :-)
--
Jim in NC

"Jay Honeck" wrote

Third scariest was when I looked over Mary's left shoulder, in the
pattern,
and saw a beautiful Stinson ready to T-bone us in mid-air. I grabbed the
yoke and broke right and down, and we missed each other by tens of feet.

Did the Stinson ever see you?
--
Jim in NC

"Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote

Had an engine run rough for about 3 seconds during a downleg on a cross
country right after take off, probably could have made the runway but
still
my heart fell to the bottom of my shoe. Had another 2 second engine
roughness at altitude during a cross country, had an airport pretty much
below us, still not any fun. All this in brand new 172's with fuel
injection!

So did you ever figure out what was causing the rough running?
--
Jim in NC

One of the things about emergencies is that you might not be frightened
while the emergency is in progress. You are so very busy just handling
the plane and everything else that you forget to be scared, too. The
whole idea of training for emergencies is to so make you used to
dealing with them that when an emergency occurs the training just takes
over.

I have flown within a mile of a funnel cloud, lost thousands of feet in
a microburst, flown through embedded thunderstorms, been rolled clear
over at less than 600' AGL by wake turbulence, lost engines to oil
pressure and hail ingestion, had a life raft wrap itself around the
vertical stabilizer, and many other adventures. Hard to say what was
the scariest moment, except that none of them seemed scary until the
next day.

I take that back. I was once terrified while still in the cockpit.
Flying into Las Vegas once, Las Vegas Approach said, "McCarran Tower
would like you to give them a call when you land. Are you ready to
write down their number?" It was innocuous, but it scared the living
daylights out of me.

("nrp" wrote)
[snips fron two different posts]
I now use a little yellow can Heet in the winter and don't fly in below
zero (F) temps.

I add a couple of tablespoons full of yellow can (isopropyl) HEET every
now and then when the temps drop below freezing.


I was always told to use ONLY the (red) Iso-HEET in my car. This goes back
to the early 80's. Consequently, even though it's usually half the price I
never buy the (yellow) stuff.

http://www.goldeagle.com/heet/products.htm

http://www.goldeagle.com/heet/faqs_heet.asp
(Yellow) ..."HEET contains special additives and methanol."
(Red) ......."Iso-HEET contains isopropanol and a special additive."


Montblack

"tom pettit peak org"
I got bit by a gerbil one time.

Hey, I'm not laughing... gerbils are the pit-bulls of the rodent world.

:-)

Dallas

("Bob Fry" wrote)
The last man on earth was alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.

Which someone topped:

The last man on earth was alone in a room. There was a lock on the door.


"I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last man on the planet."

"Honey, If I were the last man on the planet - I wouln't let you in line!"


Montblack
NC-17