I was down in Florida last week getting my Seaplane rating, the school uses J-3s, and is really well organized to include a guy that fuels and checks the oil on every flight.

On the third flight of the day the instructor and I took off right over the school, and I noticed that I had left the rudders down. Then to my consternation I also noticed a cloud of what appeared to be smoke going by the opened door/window, I pointed it out to the instructor (didn't mention the rudders being down) and we turned around, landed, and taxied to the base. The guy that does the servicing yells to me "Hey Rookie you owe me a beer for taking off with the rudders down!". Well it turns out he had left the cap off of the oil filler when he filled it between flights, so no beer for him.

However I do owe a beer to my first flight instructor who's mantra was "be the last one to touch your caps and your door handles" which I'd adhered to religously until that morning. My complacency given that there was an instructor on board and it was just a little training flight was no excuse. It was indeed a Rookie mistake.

Actually, HE didn't leave the cap off the oil filler--YOU did. Remember, the FAA says the PIC is the one responsible for everything, including the phase of the moon...

Nevertheless, that's the kinda stuff that happens when you try to cram 8.9 flight hours into a 9 hour day.

Glad there were no ramifications in any case. Good reminder.

MTV

Another Rookie Mistake......


<object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p1e_eI9u8dM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p1e_eI9u8dM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>

I hate it when that happens.