Sun Nov 14, 2004 11:50 pm
#135937
I have to confess to the outright slaughter of a number of innocent puppies this morning. The unfortunate creatures were sacrificed by a low hours student pilot who has now learned that being responsible for the safe conduct of a flight means being responsible for it from the moment you first walk up to the aircraft with the intention of commiting an act of aviation, to the moment you secure the doors and walk away again.
After returning from my lesson at Shoreham this morning, we did a left base join and I gamely tried to return the aircraft safely to terra firma. I didn't think that I'd done too badly, considering it was my first attempt, etc, and as I was taxying back to parking, I was already thinking about what I should try to do better next time. We vacated the taxiway at the proper place and swung right to park next to one of the club Warriors. With the nose wheel in the proper place, the parking brake was applied, I moved the throttle to idle, the mixture to ICO and waited 2 or 3 seconds for the engine to stop.
At this point, I became aware that Adrian (my long suffering FI) was sitting quietly, looking across at me. At first, I couldn't figure out why. Then with a sudden sinking feeling, I glanced down at the panel and caught sight of the checklist on my kneeboard, in particular the section of the page marked 'shutdown'...
Adrian looked at me for another couple of seconds, then said, "You didn't fancy the shutdown checks today, then?". Oh f**k. Oh s**t. Oh b******s. I'd only gone and stopped an aircraft engine as though it was a Ford Sierra pulling into a parking space at the local supermarket. As I squirmed in the left hand seat with embarrasment, Adrian pointed out the possible consequences of not shutting down in accordance with the checklist.
In this particular instance, we were on the ground already and it was nothing more than a lapse of concentration, but we all know how many times does that excuse ends up as someones obituary in an AAIB report.
The casualties this morning were the puppies, but what if I'd been flying on my own and forgot to put the carb heat on before landing due to a similar lack of concentration? What if I'd been bimbling
around and done same with the kids in the back seats of one of the club aircraft? The potential consequences really don't bear thinking about.
This goes down as my first "I learned about flying from that" incident...
After returning from my lesson at Shoreham this morning, we did a left base join and I gamely tried to return the aircraft safely to terra firma. I didn't think that I'd done too badly, considering it was my first attempt, etc, and as I was taxying back to parking, I was already thinking about what I should try to do better next time. We vacated the taxiway at the proper place and swung right to park next to one of the club Warriors. With the nose wheel in the proper place, the parking brake was applied, I moved the throttle to idle, the mixture to ICO and waited 2 or 3 seconds for the engine to stop.
At this point, I became aware that Adrian (my long suffering FI) was sitting quietly, looking across at me. At first, I couldn't figure out why. Then with a sudden sinking feeling, I glanced down at the panel and caught sight of the checklist on my kneeboard, in particular the section of the page marked 'shutdown'...
Adrian looked at me for another couple of seconds, then said, "You didn't fancy the shutdown checks today, then?". Oh f**k. Oh s**t. Oh b******s. I'd only gone and stopped an aircraft engine as though it was a Ford Sierra pulling into a parking space at the local supermarket. As I squirmed in the left hand seat with embarrasment, Adrian pointed out the possible consequences of not shutting down in accordance with the checklist.
In this particular instance, we were on the ground already and it was nothing more than a lapse of concentration, but we all know how many times does that excuse ends up as someones obituary in an AAIB report.
The casualties this morning were the puppies, but what if I'd been flying on my own and forgot to put the carb heat on before landing due to a similar lack of concentration? What if I'd been bimbling
around and done same with the kids in the back seats of one of the club aircraft? The potential consequences really don't bear thinking about.
This goes down as my first "I learned about flying from that" incident...
Phil Edwards
Brighton, UK
Brighton, UK