Hard lesson learned

T

TomSteber

Charter Member 2010
I decided to fly a few of the default Hawaii flights today.
Switched over to my trusty Christian Eagle II and flew the second flight.
A few miles before reaching my destination, I decided to fly up a ravine and thought I would either do a quick tight turn around or just do a hammerhead to turn around. Well...the walls started closing in fast and my airspeed was dropping. Then I heard that terrible horn sound...
And the family will never know what actually happened to me.
I suppose someone will find the debris in a few years.
Lesson learned the hard way.
 
LOLOL....

Yes... You'll be in your office, joystick in hand, slumped over the keyboard. :d


I had this same thing happening to me on a hop in Hawaii. Luckily I made it over the top. The Piper Archer isnt the best climber around, lol...
 
I was wondering what that echo sound of "Ohhhhhhhhh noooooooooo!!!!!" was.....

Don't worry, Tom, if you had your cell phone with you, we'll get a triangle-lation between the cell towers going and eventually get a party up to get you.....we'll send a St. Bernard hound with a small keg around his neck ahead of the party just in case....:icon_lol:
 
I have been in similar situations up in Idaho....flying out of those USFS strips. Those things are surrounded by some pretty nice mountains...more so when using Rhumbaflappy's world mesh....and I have found myself unable to climb up out of the valleys....so there I am, stuck in a valley, flying circles in a Piper J3 Cub or Pietenpol Aircamper. Flying in circles until I either run out of fuel or end the flight and pick a plane with a much better climbing ability.

OBIO
 
"One fundamental rule of flying is: Always have a way out. A cautious pilot would have weighed the likelihood of unpredictable turbulence against the limited capabilities of his plane in the thin air and would have kept a good deal of space between himself and the rocks."

Peter Garrison (Homebuilder, author, contributing Editor of Flying Magazine) writing on the Official Probable Cause of the crash of Steve Fossett http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/27/opinion/oe-garrison27

Some lessons are learned -- others become "the news" -- they are the ones learned "the hard way".

Rob
 
Much better to try and fail this way in the Sim than in the real thing. Unfortunately while Fosset received a lot of coverage this is not an uncommon way for pilots to bend perfectly good airplanes as the accident statistics prove. Just one form of CFIT.

Often the simple solution in a tight canon is to slow down and turn. Of course you still have to think of that early enough to have a chance.

The Cirrus crash in New York piloted by Corey Lidle was one such case where flying slower would have easily allowed making that turn without acro skills.

Fly the same airplane through a series of 360 degree turns in the sim at ever slower KIAS while just maintaining altitude. And then look at the flight graph..

I love flying with my pal TJ in his PA18 around the mountains and hills here in SoCal. Going places that I would not ever attempt in my Saratoga.

Stefan
 
Sunny9850 said:
Often the simple solution in a tight canon is to slow down and turn.
... one such case where flying slower would have easily allowed making that turn without acro skills.
Click to expand...

Well, I think this is one of the lessons an average CFS driver should have learned after surviving his first furballs:
Turning with full WEP won't get you into your enemy's six! :mixedsmi:
 
Edited: Never mind. I suggested a Hammerhead but reread your post. Doh!

Man, you really took it into the corner of the envelope and let yourself get pinned in. Good thing you did it here and not in RL. Then again, I know I do all kinds of stuff in here I would never do in RL.

The best way to learn flight errors is in a sim. :)
 
During one of the first RTW races that SOH flew, Ferry and me were flying P-38s in the mountains at night with heavy fog trying to get to a bonus airport without breaking the max allowed altitude. After several attempts resulting in much scrap aluminum on the mountainsides, we decided that the bonus wasn't worth it and headed out in a different direction.
 
Just had to let you guys know that I re-flew the flight. Carenado Archer this time. Flew it by the book. No whimsical flying into any ravines this time.
Everyone safe and sound back on the ground. I feel better. :icon_lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top