[aligee]

Another thread on this forum where an aircraft suffered a failure of an aileron cable brought back another memory of a similar situation that was caused by a catastrophic human error rather than mechanical.Quiet evening at Cumbernauld with no traffic around and a light westerly with a goldwing flight in calm conditions.The aircraft had been left rigged for 3 days as the weather had been dry and it saved an hours work rigging/derigging.Due to moisture ingression in the aileron blade slots in the wing they were taped over between flights and I did my checks and lined up on 26.The long control stick gave me full movement in all axis so off I went at full power and gently lifted off.Got to 20 ft and found the aircraft banking to the left and pulled the stick to the right to correct only to find as the turn tightened I had forgotten to remove the pvc tape from the long holes in the wings and had no spoiler blades to activate the turn,instinct,pot luck or natural fear took over and I kicked in the right rudder and the aircraft lifted its left wing and I climbed gently managing wings level only with judicious use of rudder.No amount of stick force could budge the tape and regain aileron control.I climbed to 1000 ft qfe on full power and ballet dancer feet to find I could turn using only rudder and attempted a rt hand bomber command circuit back to land only to find myself 30 ft to the left of the tarmac at 50ft. Full power and back up to a good height and second time I was closer to the tarmac but still not on the runway.off for a 3rd attempt meanwhile thinking of other life saving options like ruining glasgow airports day with a mayday or jumping out at 10 ft above the ground,both of which appealed to me as much as crashing the aircraft off runway.on the 3rd try I got to 3ft off the runway right on the edge and chopped the power.It still gives me the jitters to this day when I practice no aileron control in my current aircraft.This was avoidable and as a la Ron would rightly say checklist would possibly have saved the day.My take is the human factor came into play once again and to this day before I look at my checklist I mentally go over In my head my human factor day checklist.I was that plonker.

[PeteSpencer]

dear god ! : Please don't ever ask me to fly with you.

Peter

Edit: Phew! single seat.................................

[townleyc]

If one learns...

Better to say well done for handling the situation, and walking away.


KE

[aligee]

I have been flying for 30 years now and have been an avid watcher rather than poster on flyer and other forums.I now feel that after witnessing and criticising other pilots screw ups it may be beneficial to own up to some of my own in the hope I can prevent others from making the same mistakes I made many years ago.None of us like airing our c**k ups in public or admitting our misdemeanours and if one single pilot can avoid the situations I made by deciding I'm too tired to fly and drive home or I need to pay more attention to my pre-flight then it's been worthwhile.I love flying and have been an ultra cautious aviator since my last self criticised flight.Every time we fly should be fun and enjoyable but when we do screw up let's help other pilots out by airing what we did wrong rather than bragging about how good pilots we are.Every one of us can learn and do learn from our mistakes and I know more than most.Share information and help others to learn is a nice mantra.

[PeteSpencer]

I agree with what you say about publicly fessing up to one's errors in the hope that someone else learns from them , but I (and others, it seems ) still am a little incredulous of such basic errors as not using a checklist and flying (while presumably knackered and unrested ) immediately after a self-confessed hectic night shift.

I have made my fair share of errors in twenty five years of (powered) flying , but am not inclined to follow your mantra for some of the more dozy ones.

Peter

[aligee]

Peter
I appreciate you taking the time to reply on this thread and believe me I wish I could turn the clock back 30 years to remedy the basic and "dozy" errors I made then..As I mentioned earlier I have been ultra cautious and probably can now be described as a pain in the butt when it comes to preflights and checklists.Perhaps you may care to share some of your experiences to help other "dozy" pilots.

[PeteSpencer]

I refer the honourable gentleman to the final paragraph of my last post.

Peter

[carlmeek]

Unfortunately errors like this would usually not feature on a checklist.

It's like the classic of taxying (or taking off!) with a tow bar. I had to radio to le touquet tower to remind the pilot in front of me to stop taxying and remove the tow bar!

I flew a circuit with the oil flap open. That wasn't on a check list. Distracted during pre flight.

Thanks for sharing, I think we should all feel free to share and should not be criticised for doing so. I've never met a pilot who hasn't made a mistake. If a share makes us snigger and say "I would never do that" fine, but let's keep those thoughts to ourselves as we don't want to make this a shark pit where people are scared to share.

[Cessna57]

I was distracted during a checklist by a passenger the other day.

I almost went "I know where I'm up to, I'll just carry on"

There was an internal struggle in my brain, and then I said to my passenger "Nothing personal, but I'm starting the checklist again, that's not my rule, that's THE rule".
The internal struggle was interesting.

I'm nowhere near "The killing zone" yet. I'm determined to not get complacent when I get there, it must be easy to.

Recently, I was at our CAMO on a windy day and the engineer was having a problem holding the engine cover open and working inside it. I found myself standing in front of the propellor with my arms through the propellor arc holding the cover.

Suddenly my eyes went as big as saucers and I thought "WTF am I doing ?"

Won't be doing that again.

[aligee]

Many thanks to everyone who has taken time reply to these threads.As a long time watcher of flyer forums it was rather daunting taking the plunge to post .The titles were apt for the basic and stupid errors I made and I would never care to experience those moments again . The euphoria of being able to fly and the subsequent debrief and self criticism of every flight is a major driver of my striving to be a good pilot.I am so aware that some of the basic mistakes I made years ago could very easily have led to a title in the accidents section and if I can avoid it now I have have no intention of being included there.Every flight we make carries risk and the human factor for me has played so many parts in past incidents. The learning curve along with the desperation to get back in the air after a long lay off due to poor weather "normal here in Scotland " or mechanical issues can lead to poor decision making or "human factor" rush to get back in the air mistakes. We are all only as good as our next flight.

[Pilot H]

Recently, I was at our CAMO on a windy day and the engineer was having a problem holding the engine cover open and working inside it. I found myself standing in front of the propellor with my arms through the propellor arc holding the cover.

Suddenly my eyes went as big as saucers and I thought "WTF am I doing ?"

Won't be doing that again.

It's less fraught to do that when the engine isn't running...

[Morten]

The DA40 has a long dark hole either side of the spinner. I do like to check very carefully that the keys are in my pocket before I stick my hands in to check that there is no animal in there as part of my pre-flight...
Ditto attaching (and removing! ) towbar before/after flight.

[townleyc]

Don't you fly with it?

Oh - sorry that was somebody else

KE