Warbird Information Exchange

Warbird owners / pilots, what was / is / or could be your biggest worry in the cockpit on takeoff, flying, landings etc. Anything really stand out as an "OOPS!! forgot" sort of thing? I know the usual like landing gear, fuel, flaps etc. but do you have a few that could easily be overlooked in all the chaos of operation? I'd also be interested in hearing from you folks who fly in tight cockpits with very little room, anything stand out that could be accidentally bumped out of whack on takeoff, landing etc?

Mark the wonderer

A bit off center but...when I rode in Bill Dause's Mustang I knocked my elbow out of whack. I'm XLXT and it was a tight fit back there. Kinda' hard landing and I banged my elbow hard enough to draw blood.

Mudge the victim

I know...I know...A little cheese with that?

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Land of the free because of the brave

Try going off the runway in a T-6 with the pilot doing a death defying go-around and concluding with the gear busting ground loop

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Don't touch my junk!!

As many of you know, I am not a pilot, though I have “time” in the cockpit….and for many of you, my opinion may mean nothing, but I would like to share something with you in the Oooopps field.
When you get ready to fly…..slow down, and please go by the book, check every line, every “t”, and every “i”
I was 26 when I "started" my flight training. The first CFI I had was a bit of a hotdog in the cockpit, he always wore a leather flight jacket… we went out and did the all of the Stalls, departure recovery…you know…then as we were walking out to the Cessna, I mentioned to him that I wanted to work the pattern and get my landings down, I didn’t feel up to working spins today. Well, we departed the airfield ops normal, and then, I got to see the Aschaffenburg castle up side down, Next thing I know we are in a spin and falling out of the sky….I did a beautiful recovery, still falling at 1500 per minute when the CFI slams the throttle forward, and we stabilize on the altitude….Well, I made for the airport requested a full stop from the tower, made the approach, landed (probably the best landing I EVER made) and once parked, fired my CFI.
My next CFI was a young man of 22, a Norwegian that just finished up at Embry Riddle. He didn’t live to see 23.
His name was Keil Martinzen… Before Keil was killed, he and I discussed flying in Germany, how easy it was to get “mis-oriented” wind up in then East Germany, and that if you found yourself in a jam, to contact Approach Control for vectors to the airport and an ASR approach if needed to get you down. Well Keil and a German friend of his signed out a 172 from our aero club, they were flying south to Stuttgart. They did the preflight planning, flied the flight plan, did the preflight, hopped in the 172 and took off…. straight into IFR. Their maps and charts had been left in the flight planning area. Keil and his buddy apparently attempted to return to the airport by descending thought an opening in the clouds where they could see planet earth, and flew straight into the side of a mountain. So I didn’t fly airplanes for a while, I stayed flying the UH1H when I could get the stick time with some of the Army’s best aviators. I don’t know most of you, or which one of you fly as a pilot, but please, before you fire up your aircraft, please make sure you have all you are supposed to have, so your family and friends can have you around for as long as possible. Maybe we’ll see you at the next air show.

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

Can I think about that

Mudge the grounded

ps...speaking of "piloty" stuff. My AME called and said he's going to issue my new Med. Cert. here instead of doing the FAA OKC thing. Now if I can only find some $$$.

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Land of the free because of the brave

there are few things worse than forgetting to go to the bathroom before flying a long distance, especially after a night out on the town ....

I'd look at that problem as a good thing. You get to land somewhere in the middle of know where and make a splash ... literally ...

I like when my students fire up and get clearance to taxi only to find one of their wings still tied down. That embarrassment is usually enough for them to never forget the tie downs.

My first thought after takeoff is, "Oh, crap. Now I'm gonna have to land this thing sometime!" I am never completely happy with my landings, but they've always been reasonably tolerable...

Robbie

One day about 25 years ago I drove onto the airport as my buddy was taxiing out in a Citabria. He saw me, stopped and motioned for me to jump in back.
Well, we're flying along fat, dumb and happy over some farm fields and he decides to do some aerobatics. A loop, roll, hammerhead etc. After he gets done, he says "ok your turn". He put his hands up on the frame/brace near the windshield where I can see them and I take over flying.
He's a big guy and I can't see the instruments over or around him. After a few manuevers, I'm coming down the backside of a loop and he brings his hands down, pulls the throttle back, turns around and says "hey, watch the airspeed your getting into the red". As he turns back forward (his hands are down) the stick makes a small circle and I relinquish control to him.
The plane starts a decending turn into a cow pasture and I figure we're going to buzz some cows. As we get to about 250ft AGL he turns around and asks me "what are you doing"? What am I doing (puzzled)? What are you doing, I ask?
After he lowered his hands and the stick made a small circle I thought he was flying. Apparently niether of us were flying. Luckily he said something or we would of flown a perfectly good plane into the ground.

Always know where the other guys hands are and who's flyin. Lesson learned.

As standard procedure, at the end of our pre-flight inspection, we always pull the prop through about 10 - 20 times (depending on whether the plane has been flown that day and ambient tempurature) on the T6.
On a flight a while back, we both got distracted during the pre-flight. About 2 days later, I got a call from the owner asking if I had pulled the prop thru without him. Unfortunately, I hadn't and he hadn't pulled it through either!
He talked with his mechanic and we had the engine inspected. Fortunately there was no damage. Now we both joke about it before every flight - but we ALWAYS remember now!
Just remember, no matter how familiar you are with the plane and how much experience you have.....ALWAYS verify against your checklist before you take off!!!!
Cindy

Most B-17 operators know the embarassment of taking off with the bomb bay doors open.

Cheers!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

The details... I think it was Ens. George Gay in his book "Sole Survivor" that mentions one instructor he knew who had a habit, when a pilot trainee got near graduating, to go up with one, and then throw the rear stick out of the aircraft, and say "Your Airplane!" in fight, so the student knew he had the full responsibility to land. This apparently stopped after a student saw him throw his stick out- and the student did the same! (apparently there is a pin at the base which can be easily removed, followed by the stick) After the instructor had his heart attack, he could see the student laughing... He'd brought a spare stick with him, and thrown that one out, fooling the instructor...

And I think it was the legendary Bob Hoover who mentions flying with one of his buddies(May have been Yeager) when both thought the other had the controls, and fell asleep or something, and both realized at the same time that no one was actually flying! I'd have to reread his book "Forever Flying" yo get the exact details...

Robbie

My dumbest act so far was to take off on one mag. I did a standard run-up, but somehow didn't turn the second mag back to "on". On the takeoff roll, I realized the engine was short on power, but stupidly continued the takeoff, and worked the problem on the roll.

Full throttle, check. Mixture rich - check. Fuel pump on - check. Etc.

I finally found and fixed the problem airborne, 1/2 way down the runway, doing 120 knots. If there had been a real problem and the engine had packed it in at that point, I'd have been up the creek. It would have been very hard to successfully land from that position.

Thankfully, I learned something and will respond correctly the next time something like that happens. Abort the takeoff if the engine is soft and solve the problem on the taxiway...

One of our close friends and loyal supporter used to own a homebuilt that he flew fairly often. When he flew, he always had his parachute with him.

Well, the day came when he had to go somewhere a good distance away and left without the parachute. He sais that flying along, he just didnt feel right, and even though he was going to be late for his business, he turned around and went home to get his chute.

You can figure out what happened next.

He got about 15 minutes into his trip (again) and suddenly he heard a pop and the left wing folded up on him. Needless to say, he had to bail.

Now, he would be dead today had he not "felt uncomfortable" and turned back for the chute.

Don't tell me there's no one watching from above....

That man is now the current manager of the Elizabeth City Airport, Scott Hinton.

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Kevin Kearney
Vice President
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation


C-54D "Spirit of Freedom" 43-17228
C-97 "Angel of Deliverance" 52-2718 (painted as YC-97A 45-59595)
C-54E/R5D-4 "Spirit of Freedom" 44-9144 BuNo 90414 (wfu April/2020)
http://www.spiritoffreedom.org