Big scare story

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

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.

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.

It's kinda sad when the FAA is scarier than having an engine out!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On 16 Nov 2005 21:06:19 -0800, "cjcampbell"
wrote:

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.

I've had low flying traffic cross under me when on final so close the
vertical stab went between the nose gear and mains. It was so sudden
that he was gone before either the instructor or I jumped. I landed
on 24 into the wind and discovered a Comanche landing down wind. I
just pointed the old Colt out between the lights. I've had a complete
engine failure on take off, but never once have I gone back with the
"what if" I had been 5mph faster, or lower, or sooner, or later.
Nothing happened and I put the incidents behind me.

When a GMC Jimmy shot out in front of me, I only left about 12 feet of
skid marks. As his roof line disappeared over the top of my windshield
I had a sad feeling and asked if this is all there was going to be,
followed by, Oh, ****, I'll bet this is gonna hurt!. There was a loud
bang (the air bags) then nothing. The next thing was the feeling of
the car spinning and coming to a stop. I couldn't see a thing due to
the dust from the air bags. I wasn't hurt, but I don't think a 6-pack
on an empty stomach could make me that punchy.
I wasn't even sore the next day.

I won't even touch on the things from my "younger days".

I've been there and done that in many of the things that have been
posted with no more than a heightened sense of awareness, but this
would have scared me. :-))

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

When a GMC Jimmy shot out in front of me, I only left about 12 feet of
skid marks. As his roof line disappeared over the top of my windshield
I had a sad feeling and asked if this is all there was going to be,
followed by, Oh, ****, I'll bet this is gonna hurt!. There was a loud
bang (the air bags) then nothing. The next thing was the feeling of
the car spinning and coming to a stop. I couldn't see a thing due to
the dust from the air bags. I wasn't hurt, but I don't think a 6-pack
on an empty stomach could make me that punchy.
I wasn't even sore the next day.

Ah, modern technology.

In 1975 I had the misfortune of being an un-belted front-seat passenger in a
'72 Dodge Dart (all sharp metal dashboard and pointy things inside) that
went from 40 to zero in about 10 feet. (The oak tree did NOT move.)

No air bag to save me -- just a really hard head. I busted the windshield
with it, hit my neck on the sharp metal-and-plastic dashboard, and -- other
than not being able to swallow for a while, and bleeding like a stuck pig --
I walked away unscathed.

I figure I've been on borrowed time since then.

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 02:06:47 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

When a GMC Jimmy shot out in front of me, I only left about 12 feet of
skid marks. As his roof line disappeared over the top of my windshield
I had a sad feeling and asked if this is all there was going to be,
followed by, Oh, ****, I'll bet this is gonna hurt!. There was a loud
bang (the air bags) then nothing. The next thing was the feeling of
the car spinning and coming to a stop. I couldn't see a thing due to
the dust from the air bags. I wasn't hurt, but I don't think a 6-pack
on an empty stomach could make me that punchy.
I wasn't even sore the next day.

Ah, modern technology.

You bet! That powder from the air bags sure does burn, but T-boning
that Jimmy at highway speed sure made a believer out of me. What I
can't figure out, is how I made it through two solid lanes of oncoming
traffic. I know I was looking and I couldn't find a spot to go left
although good as it was I don't think that TransAm could have turned
that quick.

It put the firewall right back against the bottom of the dash and the
right front wheel was back into the firewall which was back into the
dash.

I am glad I don't wrap my thumbs around the steering wheel. I had
wrapped it right up against the steering column on both sides and
although not sore the insides of both forearms had a series of little
purple spots from skidding over the wheel.

We got the kid out of the SUV and onto the lawn in front of the bank.
The suv was parked in the left turn lane pointed east (5 lane highway
including the left turn lane). Right after we got him out two more
cars hit it. One spun CW and the other CCW. One poor lone car coming
east went right between them without a scratch. The one ended up
backwards in the parking lot driveway where the SUV had emerged. The
other... He took quite a ride. That parking lot is about 10 to 12
feet below the highway. He shot straight out over the parking lot
from the junction of the drive and highway at probably 60 MPH or
faster. I don't know what his suspension was like afterwards. It
certainly had to have been a cleaner when he left that parking lot
compared to when he landed.


In 1975 I had the misfortune of being an un-belted front-seat passenger in a
'72 Dodge Dart (all sharp metal dashboard and pointy things inside) that
went from 40 to zero in about 10 feet. (The oak tree did NOT move.)

Those Oak trees sure are stubborn, but then again Oak is a hard wood.

I had one of the Dodge Shelby's It was the worst car to work on I ever
owned. Everything in the engine compartment was sharp, or long and
pointed.


No air bag to save me -- just a really hard head. I busted the windshield

The impact blew the windshield right out of the TA.

with it, hit my neck on the sharp metal-and-plastic dashboard, and -- other
than not being able to swallow for a while, and bleeding like a stuck pig --
I walked away unscathed.

You must have healed up rather well.


I figure I've been on borrowed time since then.

Or living in an alternate reality. Some times I wonder.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

:-)

"cjcampbell" wrote in message
oups.com...

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.


Clear sky funnel cloud scared the living crap out of me and my instructor
when I was getting my helicopter rating. We were at appx 3000 agl near
Jonesboro AR, very flat country. I was about 10 hours into training on a
perfectly clear late September afternoon. My instructor was a young kid from
Germany who comes over a few months each year to build hours instructing.

We see from what at a distance looked like a long plume of smoke coming from
the ground and then dissipating slightly below our altitude. We go to
investigate. As we got closer I started to realize that it was probably not
smoke because the base of it was moving. It dawned on me what it was and I
immediately turned away from it. After we cleared I told the instructor what
it was and he thought I was nuts and he didn't think the base was moving. I
really couldn't argue the issue to strongly because I'd never heard of a
clear sky tornado. So he took the controls we moved back towards it slowly
and climbed to about 4000 ft. When we cot about a mile away we started
feeling some rough air. when we got about .5 to .75 miles we hit sever
turbulence and the bottom dropped out.

When he regained control we were at 1500 ft.

When he regained control we were at 1500 ft.

Whoa! A "clear air tornado"?

Quite a story. (If it was April 1st, I wouldn't have believed it!)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:5u7ff.580371$xm3.76315@attbi_s21...
When he regained control we were at 1500 ft.

Whoa! A "clear air tornado"?

Quite a story. (If it was April 1st, I wouldn't have believed it!)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


Surprised the hell out of me as well. I did some research own it years ago
and it seems to be related to a better known clear air micro burst.