The famous aerobatic pilot and legend, Duane Cole, told a good story about a stop in Ohio for some minor maintenance on his Taylorcraft. When he arrived in Massachusetts he performed a full preflight before his aerobatic demonstration. When he removed the cowling he found the mechanics toolbox sitting on top of the engine.

One cannot stress the need for a more than usually thorough pre-flight and deligence on the first flight after an annual. In over 30 years of flying, it is amazing what I have found. Even more so in a helicopter.

I normaly don't get full service at the pump, but I stopped for fuel on my way down to Austin this summer at Winnimucca. When I got to Austin I noticed one of my fuel caps about to come off . For now on (full service or not) after filling up with fuel I'm going to double check my fuel caps!!

1SeventyZ wrote:.... It made me recall the time my good buddy was interrupted during his preflight while adding oil and left the oil filler cap off for the flight. When he arrived at his destination 20 minutes later, he had a nice layer of corrosion protection on his firewall. ....

This happened years ago at different times to both me (yeah, I admit it!) & a good buddy with our 170's. It's a good reason to safety-chain the filler cap to the filler neck-- my cap was stilll on-board, his departed the aircraft on the takeoff roll. He found it later but we had to duct-tape over the filler neck opening for the flight home.
The Lycoming combination dipstick/filler cap is a pain in the butt, dripping on everything when you're putting oil in the engine, but it seems to be more resistant to being left off afterwards.

Eric

Guilty
Years ago, on the first flying vacation with wife #2 and our one year old daughter, I pulled the Mooney out from the hanger to a dark and rainy day. In my haste to load the family and close the cockpit door before we filled with rain, I forgot the toe bar. Found it after we taxied to the fuel pump. Small nick in the prop tips and shaft of the bar. Very lucky.
The moral of the story: Never Never Never allow haste to interfere with proper safe operation!
I remind myself that each time I approach an aircraft.

A good buddy once told me, the last thing to do before climbing in . . . walk out about 15 - 20 feet in front of the plane, turn and look back at it. Extend arms out to side at about 45 degrees down, palms facing forward (hand and arm position is important for maintaining proper karma, yin and yang, cosmic balance et. al.). Then ask yourself, "Does this look like something I really want to get into and go fly?"

Be surprised . . . this last view proceedure, with combined sillyness, can spot stuff you might have forgotten, open baggage doors, tow bars, pitot tube covers, missing gas caps, engine cowling no fastened etc.

all the best,

bumper

bumper wrote:A good buddy once told me, the last thing to do before climbing in . . . walk out about 15 - 20 feet in front of the plane, turn and look back at it. Extend arms out to side at about 45 degrees down, palms facing forward (hand and arm position is important for maintaining proper karma, yin and yang, cosmic balance et. al.). Then ask yourself, "Does this look like something I really want to get into and go fly?"

Be surprised . . . this last view proceedure, with combined sillyness, can spot stuff you might have forgotten, open baggage doors, tow bars, pitot tube covers, missing gas caps, engine cowling no fastened etc.

all the best,

bumper

When I got my PPL, I remember my instructor showing me the looking back/forward ritual. It is useful. You'll also be able to tell if one of your tires is low or if the left of right main gear is bent more than the other one if the ground if level and the wings are not.

My uncle was washing his plane one time and he was sure he had double checked the mags were off. but when he ran the rag down the leading edge of the prop to wash the bugs off, the engine started!
luckly he wasnt hert but he said that was the last time he laughed at anyone for forgeting to remove the towbar or put the gear down.

Did you know that the gas caps with the bnet tubing on top will suck most of the gas out of the tank if they are put on backwards and flown that way

My buddy lost 22 gals on a ten minute flight.

My buddies mech. was yelling at his apprentice to "by god put the damn tools back" 'cause he couldn't find the cordless drill, guess what, it was on top of the engine of the 172 that he had worked on and closed up with a hand screwdriver

ANother buddy tells me that the whole huge fiberglass top cowling off of a Cherokee six goes straight up like a rocket when it blows off and will clear the tail by a good margin

And lastly, if you try to airdrop a set of neoprene chest waders to someone from a Cherokee six they will not clear the tailfeathers and will make for a very exciting few minutes till they rip away

I think it is the Jack Jefford story that they talk about having to have a couple of men lay over the tail surface to lift the nose wheel out of the beach gravel till they get moving, and well you guessedit, one of the guys didn't let go and made it clear around for a very rough landing before he fell off

A good buddy of mine once took off in a Skyhawk really light, just him and 15 or so gallons of fuel, wondering why it pitched up so hard and the yoke wouldn't budge forward, realized about 35 feet off the ground and looking at nothing but blue sky that the trim was all the way aft. Rolled it forward like he had never rolled it before and recovered. Yep...that good buddy was stupid and then lucky in very short order.

Shorton... a buddy of mine in your neck of the woods actually did something similar to the Jeffords trick off a gravel bar with a 206 (busted nose gear). They used two guys on the tail and two guys in the back of the cabin (rear seats taken out). Had gunny sacks full of rocks in the rear (aft CG so that the tail wanted to settle - the two guys on the tail held it up). Adding power and airspeed to keep the nose gear off the ground - they started hauling the gunny sacks to the center of the airplane during the run and departed normally. Landing they just reversed the process... It worked through a lot of coordination...
This was the same buddy who'se the only one I know of to ever survive a gear down amphib landing in the river, still upright and with no damage to the airplane at the end of a rather wild ride (though came back white as a sheet...) - unfortunately he did it not far from a riverboat dinner cruise in full view of John Q Public

I vividly recall the time I popped open my cowl during a preflight and immediately saw the oil filler cap was missing. I looked over at the battery box, and there it was, sitting right on top where it had been left. The amazing part is that it had stayed there for a 250 mile flight! Those O-300 Continetals are sure smooth, a Lyc would have vibrated it away for sure!

Kevbert from SW WA and all...

My buddy did that in a C172 in E-WA too! Amazing how well coated the firewall was with just once 'round the pattern (it was coming up over the windshield). And there was that nice yellow oil cap sitting on the batter box. Gotta love those smooth Continentals. A similar theme: in a hurry, with a friend talking to my buddy, etc....

My buddy also selected the left tip tank in the Bo,,, you know, the one with fuel in it,,, except the one with fuel in it was the other left (aka "right"). Since he was close to Rattlesnake ridge the silence was uh, golden? Next week with the whole family in the Bo and full tips my buddy selected a tip again and found that the line was still full of anti-fuel (air) and once again the silence was golden. My buddy's wife still hasn't forgiven me...errr him.

Kevin from SW WA

Just remembered this one.

Taking off one day at Caldwell this last August, I found a screwdriver laying on the runway just as I'm starting to take off 30

I used to live near an airport that didn't have much traffic. The runway was part of my daily walk route. I have some nice tools that I picked up off that runway. A few wrenches but mostly sockets. They're good quality too.

How bout getting hypoxia flying over the Sierras to RNO flying a high downwind, base to final doing a gumps check (on downwind) thinking you're on right tank (in a Skylane) was really on left tank and turning the fuel selector counter clockwise 1/4 turn to both (really to off) seeing the prop stop at 60 kts over the fence about 200' agl and putting it on the numbers. Dumb luck

Unlucky but lucky in 2006.
I was visiting with my step brother about the requirements to be met for homebuilt aircraft when he told me the following story. The builder of a nearby RV had spent nearly six years building his plane. He decided to buy a used engine to cut his cost and took the word of the seller as to its condition. The plane passed inspection and he even got compliments on his work and was signed off for the test flight. On the first flight as he turned downwind over the interstate, the engine quit. With no other open spots to land, he lined up over an open lane and tried to restart. The engine did not respond and decided he would land in that open lane. The RV being a low wing aircraft, kept him from seeing directly below where a new Dodge pickup was pacing him at exactly the same speed. In perfect flare for three point touchdown and waiting for it to settle, he thumped it down in the back of the Dodge with one gear in and one gear outside the box with the nose up over the cab. Now he was going down the Interstate in the back of a pickup. The driver, not knowing what had just happened, looked up in the mirror and saw the plane. He panicked and hit the brakes, spinning the RV out of the box and onto the interstate. Somehow it stayed upright and came to rest in front of an on ramp. The pilot jumped out and pushed it off the highway and was collecting himself when the driver came back to check on him. There appeared to be only minor damage to the underside of the plane and only scraping of paint and some dents on the box and cab of the pickup. Both were feeling pretty lucky that they were not hurt. The luck ended there. The pilot had earlier changed insurance companies because he found one cheaper and there was a small two day gap in his coverage before the new policy kicked in and it happened that he had chosen one of those two for his test flight. On finding this out, he paid the pickup owner out of his pocket for the cost of the estimated damages.
Several months later he again happened upon the driver of the Dodge pickup who still had not fixed his truck. When he asked why, the young driver said, "Chicks really dig the story about the plane landing in my truck". He was so popular with the girls now that he thought it was one of the luckiest things that had ever happened to him so he had decided not to fix it!

A buddy,

Once landed his 260 Hp, Skybolt, biplane at a grass strip to pick up his son, who had been working on an uncles's farm for a few weeks. Anyhow...all the farm family were there to witness the landing and hope for rides in the hot biplane.

So the pilot...who had landed with the fuel selector on the aux tank...agreed to take his nephew for a ride. They taxied out(with the fuel selector) still on the aux tank. Just after lift off the engine quits.(empty tank) My buddy....who was quick as a fox...realizes what has happened and switches to the main fuel tank. Just before impact the engine catches. The big Lycoming claws it way back skyward...oh maybe 50 feet. Then the engine quits again.

The airplane is settling rapidly toward the soy bean field off the end of the runway. My buddy, being the consumate pilot ,stabilizes at 80 mph and constantly reassures his nephew that everything will be O.K. Ten feet from crashing into the soy bean field....the engine catches again. Now fuel is flowing from the main tank and the engine is pumping out hundreds of horsepower. They climb to altitude and all is well..

This entire sequence was recorded on video....including screams of ..."oh my God" and "he is going to crash." Sad to say...don't know what ever happened to that video and my buddy....well....I think he died a while back. Not sure.

bob

IAMSAFE is a good acronym to practise for Preflighting.

This is one that involves a stupid guy that watched a buddy,...

I was in a plane share ownership group with a buddy on a Beech Musketeer. He was doing his run up one day and a ground crew guy at the fueling station was watching a steady stream of oil drain out of the cowl as he taxied for departure. 10 mins later, he decided that he'd better phone the tower and tell them. The tower's response was "too late, he already made an emergency landing due to an engine failure"

I guess it took ten mins. to dawn on the ground guy that the engine wouldn't run too long without oil,....

This Other Guy I know broke a tie rod on a combine friday afternoon. After checking with the area parts store computers finds there is only one in stock in the whole state. It is a hundred miles away. It's 3 pm and too late to over nite freight it from the main wharehouse for saturday. It won't arrive till monday. NO problem he'll just jump in his plane and go get it. After all, this is how farmers justify owning such things to their wives and, what luck! According to the parts man where the part is, the town has a nearly abandoned grass strip and, as a bonus, it was mowed for hay a couple months ago. He also told him don't blink, you'll miss the strip and... watch out for pocket gopher mounds. So, this Other Guy I know puts the phone down and preps the plane. There is 15 gallons in one tank and 10 in the other. Nearest avgas is 50 miles away. Better make the extra half hour stop for fuel ,its not so far out of the way. 3:30 he's In the air headed for fuel, 4:00 pumping gas. 4:20 back in the air. 5:15 he's squashing gopher mounds on that town's hayfield/landing strip. Good thing they had all that rain. 10 minutes later the parts man exchanges tie rod for check. 5:30 back in the air. Looking at the setting sun he decides to pay the fuel bill and keep the throttle in. Looking down he notices street lights are coming on in the towns below and tries to call home but instead his cell rings... I'ts his father's # on the caller ID but so much static and noise from the cockpit that neither can hear the other. They must be getting worried at home so he tries to call his wife to say he'll be there in 30 minutes, but again nuthin' but noise and static on the cell, damn things. Getting dark now, but he can still see the ground. Time to consider whether to put down at a lighted airport he passed 10 minutes back or continue. Well, he can still make out the ground from 1000 AGL, he should keep coming, so he does. 5 minutes from home, drops to 500' AGL but the visibility is not good enough yet to try a landing. Will drop for a 100 foot pass over the farm road he uses for landing and if he can see the ground by then he can go ahead and make the landing, if not, he should head back to the lighted strip and call home for a ride. Excellent Plan, Other Guy! He drops to 100', wait... Now he can see there's his corn field to the right, it's lighter than the black dirt road and the crp is to the left. It's gonna be a go ahead for the landing... but what's this? Some Blankety- Blank other- Other Guy, in a pickup has just pulled out of the field from the east and on to the dirt road with the lights on and just stopped there. What the hell? Unbeknownst to the Other Guy I know, who is trying to land his plane, these other-Other Guys from some other state had gotten their pickup stuck in the field while goose hunting earlier in the day and had just now made it back to dry land on that same dirt road just in time for them to sit in the middle of it and ponder which way is back to civilization, and, of course; to join in the excitement of the landing of this Other Guys plane in the dark. From behind and above them, this Other Guy I know banks ever so slightly left alongside to yield the dirt road to the pickup and lines up with the mowed right of way that makes up the nearly flat ditch that borders the road. Having held altitude longer for the pickup has extended the touchdown point and the plane touches down long of where this Other Guy wanted to be. The wheels have touched grass on a high spot where the road and right of way roll downward about four feet and because of this, the Other Guy's plane is now airborne again and must make a second landing in the dark and also stop before getting to the intersection. Well, all this eventually works out for this Other Guy I know and, for the benefit of those reading I will now add a moral to the story. This other guy (no longer capitalized) gets no bragging rights for having made this landing. You see, next time he is sure he will just land at a lighted airport and call for the hour's ride home. Why? Because his wife said so.