Scudrunners

Guy in the Baron was starting his plane on that taxiway behind my plane, facing left. I noticed his left engine pissing avgas, so left him know. He overprimed it, and said he'd leave it a few mins. No worries. I finish doing my preflight and notice he's started the other engine (the right one). Big plume of black smoke comes out of it. Again no worries. I guess Barons just do that, or maybe he overprimed that one too.

But now, his plane starts moving just after starting that right engine (left engine wasn't running, as far as I'm aware). rpm is high and his plane is turning left, going up on the grass heading for my plane. I get the fuck out of the way, as he's about to hit my plane. But by some miracle he manages to get it stopped a few feet before hitting my plane, leaving a big skid mark in the grass.

When I spoke to him, he said the throttle stuck, and just got it stopped with his brakes. I ask him if the throttle friction was too high. He says no, but doesn't give any other explanation. Later, after I landed, I see him in the clubhouse and he tells me that his ipad holder fell down and blocked the throttle.

I looked up some cockpit pictures and I keep wondering where the heck he had that thing mounted to block the throttles......

Everybody kept telling me to take lots of pictures and videos during my flight training, I had a gopro come off the windshield during touch n go's once, didn't cause a single problem but I haven't put one up since. it was on a suction cup, I will possibly proper mount some cameras again if I get my own plane but never near the controls.

After spending 10 years as a medic, my brain processes the worst possible scenario in everything I do, its a scary place sometimes.....

my brain processes the worst possible scenario in everything I do

That's how you stay alive in aviation. It may annoy people around you that you
appear to them to be such a pessimist, but hey. I'm alive, and most people I knew
are dead now.

Free advice: always be at least one answer to "what if?" away from dying. Smell
the layers.

For example, if you are flying a single engine aircraft at night, what if the engine
fails? Well, do up your shoulder harness and don't stall. All you need is 25 feet
of deceleration to survive, if you can land it under control.

There are some "what if?" questions that you have no coverage for. For example,
my friend Bob Sterling and his wife died when the wing came off his C210. My
friend Andrew Wright died when the tail came off his G-202. Those are not easy
scenarios to protect yourself from.

Reminds me of my friend Floyd Brown. Nice guy. Loaned me his pristine new
Eagle II to fly at an airshow. It wasn't even on my card. I can't say enough good
things about Floyd. About a year later, he was flying over the beach at about
1000 feet when he lost a prop blade - see the Hartzell hub AD's on the two blade
metal props. The resulting rotating imbalance tore the engine off, smashed the
top wing and the aircraft started to tumble, according to witnesses on the ground.
His C of G had shifted slightly. Despite the low altitude and no ejection seat, Floyd
got out, opened his chute and walked to shore.

What a cool cat. I suspect he may have used up one of his nine lives that day.

Here's another "what if?" question for you. What if you control column fails on
your Cessna? It happens. Another maintenance-induced failure. Well the answer
is that you can land a Cessna using only power, trim and rudder pedals.

This happens with large aircraft, too. Remember the guys flying the A300 (IIRC) that
were hit with a surface-to-air-missile over Iraq? They lost all hydraulic pressure and
flight controls, but learned that they could yaw (and turn) with differential power, and
they could pitch up and down using both throttles. Fascinating. So, they approach, and
overshoot the first time (amazing). Then they land, and run out of the aircraft into
a mine field. I am not making this up. It doesn't matter what DHL was paying those
guys, it wasn't enough.

EDIT - found it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Bagh ... n_incident

the three-man crew made an injury-free landing of the seriously damaged A300, using differential engine thrust as the only pilot input. This is despite major damage to a wing, total loss of hydraulic control, a faster than safe landing speed and a ground path which veered off the runway surface and onto unprepared ground

I gotta ask: is that in the checklist? Like dropping your iPad? Is there a checklist
procedure for that? I would have just flipped the mags off, but I'm not too bright.

My instructor cuts the throttle on my constantly, usually just after I have practiced a few things and he see's that I am feeling confident and a little complacent maybe. And we actually went over jammed flight controls once, using trim and power, not something I want to do but happy I won't just sit there freaking out and at least know what I need to try and do.

TwinOtterFan wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 16, 2021 1:59 pm

I looked up some cockpit pictures and I keep wondering where the heck he had that thing mounted to block the throttles......

Not sure if that is what actually happened, or just the story he came up with in the clubhouse. Might have been a yoke mount. Still, it shouldn't have prevented him from getting his feet on the brakes in the first 10 seconds of the incident, or turning the ignition off. He seemed a bit miffed that I'd mentioned it to the guys in the clubhouse. The reason I did that is because I had zero explanation from him as to why his throttle stuck, and was concerned because he was about to start up again after this apparently stuck throttle.

Even before the stuck throttle he said he wasn't going to fly, only drive it around on the ground a bit. I'm pretty sure I've overheard people in the clubhouse say that he is never going to fly that Baron again. I don't really get involved in all the BS there, so don't really have the entire story.

Yikes, and I thought I was having a bad day yesterday when my iPad mount almost got me in the face.

I had a runaway Hobbs meter once. No idea how I was going to pay the FTU the $114,893.56 I owed them after I landed. Terrifying.

we actually went over jammed flight controls once

Your first flare will be horrible. But probably survivable.

Free advice: always be at least one answer to "what if?" away from dying. Smell
the layers.

Its not paranoia if they're really out to get you. Then its just good thinking. And lots of things in aviation are out to get you. Weather, heavy airplane maintenance, iPad owners...

Good to see it was just a close call.

David MacRay wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:36 pm

Good to see it was just a close call.

I'm sure someone's insurance would have paid. I guess this is why they ask everyone who parks there for proof of $1M liability insurance. I assumed it was for things like windstorms, not ipad holders.