A Gotcha That Almost Got Me
Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:31 pm
Do you have to be careless to take off with the control lock left on? Not necessarily. It almost happened to me and could have been fatal.
I was in my 1988 B-36 Bonanza. I was in a hurry to get going to beat the weather coming in, but I did my normal preflight and taxied out. As I was taxing along I did some of the items on the runup checklist. Suddenly I noticed that the control wheel was locked, it would not move either in pitch and roll. I was puzzeled since I was sure I had removed the interior control, it was even in the back seat. Still the wheel would not move. When I got to the runup area I could see why.
The factory Beech control lock is a good design; it is two fiberglass plates about 4 in high and 6 in long painted red and when in place it covers the ignition and master switches. Hard to miss? You'd think so but Murphy, kind of like, gravity, never sleeps. The metal pin, about 3 in long that actaully fits in the hole in the control column had pulled out of the large red flat pieces. When I removed the main visible part of the control lock, I didn't see that the metal pin was still in place.
I would probably have caught it on runup, as I try to be careful to folllow the written checklist, and one of the items is "controls free and correct". If not, I might have noticed it when I tried to rotate, and stopped the takeooff. But it was stiill scary and could have been fatal since I would have had no control in the air, except rudder.
I was in my 1988 B-36 Bonanza. I was in a hurry to get going to beat the weather coming in, but I did my normal preflight and taxied out. As I was taxing along I did some of the items on the runup checklist. Suddenly I noticed that the control wheel was locked, it would not move either in pitch and roll. I was puzzeled since I was sure I had removed the interior control, it was even in the back seat. Still the wheel would not move. When I got to the runup area I could see why.
The factory Beech control lock is a good design; it is two fiberglass plates about 4 in high and 6 in long painted red and when in place it covers the ignition and master switches. Hard to miss? You'd think so but Murphy, kind of like, gravity, never sleeps. The metal pin, about 3 in long that actaully fits in the hole in the control column had pulled out of the large red flat pieces. When I removed the main visible part of the control lock, I didn't see that the metal pin was still in place.
I would probably have caught it on runup, as I try to be careful to folllow the written checklist, and one of the items is "controls free and correct". If not, I might have noticed it when I tried to rotate, and stopped the takeooff. But it was stiill scary and could have been fatal since I would have had no control in the air, except rudder.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Fri Oct 03, 2008 12:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:41 pm
good catch Bill, that can turn into a very big gotcha very fast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH5hs0B5Oks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH5hs0B5Oks
Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:24 pm
Good catch, no, great catch! When I flew 130s the pilots always ran the controls through a full cycle before each flight and we didn't have control locks. Always check the fore and aft movement on your seat too, as you don't want to be falling into the rear seat on a takeoff run either.
Fri Oct 03, 2008 12:15 am
I cringed when I saw this one. His father was the guy with the camera I believe.
Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:12 pm
I have to admit to an incident with "Pitot Pete" one day.
I was a student pilot and one day my instructor, now a check pilot with UAL, told me we were going to LAX to pick up a friend. We grabbed a Cherokee Cruiser off the sales line to take as I had yet to fly a Piper. My instructor said you preflight that side and I'll do this side.
As I proceeded down the runway on take-off, I noticed the airspeed indicator was showing zero. I mentioned this and he said just hold it on the runway until near the end and liftoff. We were cleared into the TCA for approach into LAX and the controller asked us to maintain a speed. OK. It must of been close enough because the controller never said anything. The landing was uneventful. When we got to the commuter terminal, where the Bradley Int'l is now, I hopped out and sure enough there was "Pitot Pete" the pitot cover still on.
I learned some valuable lessons that day. I will preflight the plane myself. I also learned to just fly the plane and not be distracted by a problem.
Should we have aborted the take-off? No. By the time I realized the airspeed indicator was not working and mentioned it we had used up enough runway to require extremely hard braking to get stopped before the fence. Had I aborted the second I saw it we would have been OK. It was VFR. Should we have returned and landed at FUL? Judgement call there and we decided to take advantage of the long runways at LAX.
I still kid my instructor about the pitot cover.
Not long after my experience, I watched a pilot in a Skymaster attempt to abort his take-off and go through the perimeter fence ending up in the street bordering the airport. We ran over there and asked him what happened. He replied that he didn't have any airspeed so he aborted.
Les
I was a student pilot and one day my instructor, now a check pilot with UAL, told me we were going to LAX to pick up a friend. We grabbed a Cherokee Cruiser off the sales line to take as I had yet to fly a Piper. My instructor said you preflight that side and I'll do this side.
As I proceeded down the runway on take-off, I noticed the airspeed indicator was showing zero. I mentioned this and he said just hold it on the runway until near the end and liftoff. We were cleared into the TCA for approach into LAX and the controller asked us to maintain a speed. OK. It must of been close enough because the controller never said anything. The landing was uneventful. When we got to the commuter terminal, where the Bradley Int'l is now, I hopped out and sure enough there was "Pitot Pete" the pitot cover still on.
I learned some valuable lessons that day. I will preflight the plane myself. I also learned to just fly the plane and not be distracted by a problem.
Should we have aborted the take-off? No. By the time I realized the airspeed indicator was not working and mentioned it we had used up enough runway to require extremely hard braking to get stopped before the fence. Had I aborted the second I saw it we would have been OK. It was VFR. Should we have returned and landed at FUL? Judgement call there and we decided to take advantage of the long runways at LAX.
I still kid my instructor about the pitot cover.
Not long after my experience, I watched a pilot in a Skymaster attempt to abort his take-off and go through the perimeter fence ending up in the street bordering the airport. We ran over there and asked him what happened. He replied that he didn't have any airspeed so he aborted.
Les
Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:22 pm
Always check the fore and aft movement on your seat too, as you don't want to be falling into the rear seat on a takeoff run either.
That's a good one.. I had it happen to me one day in a 172...and I also had a seat back give way on me in a 172RG just after take off!
That one got my attention...
It's never good to hear the stall horn suddenly blare out at 30 feet...
Good catch Bill!
Sat Oct 04, 2008 12:37 am
I was taking off in the L-2 one day after it'd just gone through a repair and had a hose shake loose on the pitot system. Realized at about 250 feet and over the trees that I had no airspeed anymore. Thankfully some good training helped me not panic. Just brought the plane back around the pattern very conservatively and kept my airspeed a bit up on final and made sure the plane was grounded until it got fixed. It sure can be scary to see that big, fat 0 on the indicator!
Ryan
Ryan
Tue Oct 14, 2008 3:06 pm
To fit into a busy tow schedule one day, I rushed a pre-flight. After hookup I was doing a final control check and the stick felt odd. A quick check behind revealed no elevator movement. A further check revealed it was disconnected. I assumed the aircraft had been flown that day, it had not flown since it's last assembly! I can only imagine the short ride I would have taken.
Thu Oct 16, 2008 11:14 am
RyanShort1 wrote:I was taking off in the L-2 one day after it'd just gone through a repair and had a hose shake loose on the pitot system. Realized at about 250 feet and over the trees that I had no airspeed anymore. Thankfully some good training helped me not panic. Just brought the plane back around the pattern very conservatively and kept my airspeed a bit up on final and made sure the plane was grounded until it got fixed. It sure can be scary to see that big, fat 0 on the indicator!
Ryan
Why is it scary ? a plane flies just fine with the ind reading 0 as it does when it is reading normally.
When I was training, I was to go up the next day in the Citabria, and was thinking we had not done any airspeed inop failures. Well as soon as the wheels broke ground I glannced at the airspeed ind and it was DIP, ( dead in panel) I called it out to my instructor, and flew the plane and landed with no problem. We taxied to the ramp, I pulled the lines from the pitot tube and blew it out, got some spiderwebs out of it, hooked it back up and took off again. Well, it was still dead, landed again, pulled the lines from the airspeed ind and blew out the rest of the pitot system and got the rest of the spider.
Another time I was flying a 152 into Sedona when about 20 miles out there was a loud crack and I lost both my airspeed and attitude ind. I have no idea how 2 entirelly different systems managed to fail at the same time, but they did. I landed and took the lines from the airspeed ind and blew out the lines, they were clear. I hooked it back up and flew the plane home with no problem.
replaced both instruments and it was fine.
You should know what airspeed your plane will fly at a given RPM/manifold setting, that way if you do lose your airspeed ind, you are not in trouble, it is just a annoyance.
Thu Oct 16, 2008 6:38 pm
I have had four "incidents" in my flying career. First one was as a student pilot flying a CallAir A-2. Had the cylinder blow off the engine! Immediate loss of power and lots of oil all over the windscreen. Made a forced landing in the only open field around. No damage to airplane or me.
Second one was getting ready to go to a fly-in and was adding oil to my Stinson. We were rushing as we had precious little time to make it where we were going before dark. Someone came up and started talking to me as I was adding oil. I got distracted, closed the cowl back up and forgot to replace the oil cap. Found that out about a mile from the airport when the windscreen became covered in oil. Knew exactly what had happened. Found the oil cap in the runup area.
Third one was in the same Stinson literally 3 days after restoration was finished. Took off giving 2 people a ride when the trim went full nose up and stuck. It took all my strength to push the wheel forward after a massive power reduction. Made it back around and landed. Trim mechanism had slipped.
Last incident was in our Waco RNF. Stopped for gas enroute to a fly-in while flying with alongside a buddy in his Waco RNF. Gassed up, people began talking with us and my wife forgot to put the gas cap back on. Took off and began climbing out and noticed a steady stream of gas pouring from the centersection tank. Leveled off and it stopped. Thought it might just be venting as it was a hot day. Started to climb again and same thing. Immediately made a 180 and headed back to airport, making my buddy wonder where the hell I disappeared to. Went straight in and landed on the grass and shut down. Lady from the FBO came out in a golf cart and said "is this yours?" Luckily the cap blew off on the ramp.
Second one was getting ready to go to a fly-in and was adding oil to my Stinson. We were rushing as we had precious little time to make it where we were going before dark. Someone came up and started talking to me as I was adding oil. I got distracted, closed the cowl back up and forgot to replace the oil cap. Found that out about a mile from the airport when the windscreen became covered in oil. Knew exactly what had happened. Found the oil cap in the runup area.
Third one was in the same Stinson literally 3 days after restoration was finished. Took off giving 2 people a ride when the trim went full nose up and stuck. It took all my strength to push the wheel forward after a massive power reduction. Made it back around and landed. Trim mechanism had slipped.
Last incident was in our Waco RNF. Stopped for gas enroute to a fly-in while flying with alongside a buddy in his Waco RNF. Gassed up, people began talking with us and my wife forgot to put the gas cap back on. Took off and began climbing out and noticed a steady stream of gas pouring from the centersection tank. Leveled off and it stopped. Thought it might just be venting as it was a hot day. Started to climb again and same thing. Immediately made a 180 and headed back to airport, making my buddy wonder where the hell I disappeared to. Went straight in and landed on the grass and shut down. Lady from the FBO came out in a golf cart and said "is this yours?" Luckily the cap blew off on the ramp.