Worst FSE pilot ever! Share the shame?

FSE and PE make for a powerful combination
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wmburns
Posts: 474
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 7:28 am

Worst FSE pilot ever! Share the shame?

Post by wmburns »

On a recent FSE flight from Long Beach (KLGB) to Whiteman (KWHP) I had a full 5 PAX load. Created a flight plan (TEC route), reviewed the weather (winds/visibility/ceiling), airport diagrams. fuel plan, load analysis, in short the things any professional pilot would do. Obtained clearance and taxi instructions for an IFR departure RWY 30. Check.

On this day the winds have a slightly gusty cross wind component. Some work to remain on runway heading. Initial climb out, positive rate, gear up. Power back to 24" of manifold pressure. Prop back to 2400 RPM. Establish Vy plus 5 climb to 3000'. Turn heading 270 at 800 MSL. Radar contact. Climb to 4,000'. Check.

Upon reaching 4.000' lean out for economy cruise. 21" manifold, 2100 RPM. Close cowl flaps. Mixture 10 degrees lean of peak (LOP). Check. Perform instrument scan. All green. Situation normal. Awaiting radar vector back to Seal Beach (SLI) and resume own navigation. Expand checks. Anything overlooked?

And then it hits me. Oh SNAP! NO PAX! :oops: I had failed to hit the "start flight" button to load the FSE PAX and set the fuel.

OK. What to do? Continue the flight and try again another day? Well since one of the goals of FSE is to simulate flight operations, would a real pilot likely waste fuel/Hobbs meter flying no load without a reason? No. So I decided to go back to Long Beach. However not wanting to announce over an open frequency the full extent of my stupidity, settled on a "white lie".

"Departure, call from home office requesting return to Long Beach. Seems a PAX missed the flight." <note the part about not mentioning that all PAX missed the flight>

Vectored turn back towards airport, descend 3,000'. Since below the clouds, easy visual to Long Beach. Cleared visual runway 30. Check.

Winds still very gusty. Alternating between making no head way to being blown off runway heading. Looking to expand piloting technique, attempt to adopt a low wing into the wind with a slight crab. Alternating from a little opposite rudder to at times a ton of opposite rudder. Getting just a little over controlled but maybe reasonable...... :roll:

Manage to touch down one wheel low in the zip code of the center line with the nose pointing down the center line! :o Life is good today! First time ever to pull off an up wind wheel low landing!

Well what happened next was interesting. Decent rate just a "little too high". Pogo stick bounce on one wheel to the other wheel followed by a prop strike and single motor shut down. A few more bounces using rudder fighting to stay down the center line it eventually settles down enough to exit the runway with one motor running the other shut down.

Clear the runway. Landing lights off. Strobe off. Taxi lights on. Attempt restart. No joy. Shouldn't be an issue taxing on one engine right? Call the tower for taxi instructions. Shouldn't really be a need to report the prop strike.

Attempt to taxi is a disaster. The combination of single engine, low speed, high winds is too much for the available rudder authority. After a few minutes of trying it's time to call the tower to request a tow. Before I can key the mic, the tower asks if I need assistance. Nothing left to do but to report unable to taxi. High winds blowing me off the runway. Request call to FBO for a tow. To which tower responded tow on it's way (thank-you).

At this point there's no point in wasting any more of PilotEdge network resources. Disconnected before my embarrassment turns fatal.

On the FSE forums there's a similar thread for "Worst Pilot ever!". The usual posts involve leaving without any PAX aboard. However conducting FSE operations online has sooooooo many more opportunities to screw up. So have you ever "forgotten" to load your PAX? How about flown to the wrong airport? Stranded your PAX halfway through their flight? Over ran the end of the run way? Your piloting skills (or lack there of) made your PAX sick? Ran out of fuel mid flight? Crashed taking all souls on board with you?

For this thread, being stuck on the tarmac for 4 hours with an over flowing toilet doesn't even move the Richter scale!

Well here's your place to clear your conscience and maybe let others have a small chuckle at your expense.
Last edited by wmburns on Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:30 am, edited 6 times in total.
Kerbo
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:58 pm
Location: St Louis, MO, USA

Re: Worst FSE pilot ever! Share the shame?

Post by Kerbo »

Unconfirmed reports claim 2 very confused CN64 (Desert Center) passengers out of 46CA were very briefly on the ground at L64 (Desert Air Sky Ranch) before continuing on to their destination. The pilot was unavailable for comment but was overheard mumbling "They both have Desert in the name, could happen to anyone..."
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Scott Medeiros
Posts: 321
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2014 8:49 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Worst FSE pilot ever! Share the shame?

Post by Scott Medeiros »

Dusted off the ol' Dash 8-300 for a very short hard IMC flight from YNG-PIT, nice approach, soft touchdown, all of a sudden there's SCRATCHING AND SPARKS. Some bonehead forgot to put the gear down. :oops: GUMP check anyone?
rodlee
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2015 6:39 pm

Re: Worst FSE pilot ever! Share the shame?

Post by rodlee »

wmburns wrote:
And then it hits me. Oh SNAP! NO PAX! :oops: I had failed to hit the "start flight" button to load the FSE PAX and set the fuel.

OK. What to do? Continue the flight and try again another day? Well since one of the goals of FSE is to simulate flight operations, would a real pilot likely waste fuel/Hobbs meter flying no load without a reason? No. So I decided to go back to Long Beach. However not wanting to announce over an open frequency the full extent of my stupidity, settled on a "white lie".

"Departure, call from home office requesting return to Long Beach. Seems a PAX missed the flight." <note the part about not mentioning that all PAX missed the flight>
I had the pilotedge receiver running while I was eating lunch when I heard that. I laughed then,l have to laugh now.

Been there and done that, twice in fact. I see some things in the FSE world hasn't changed in 4 years.

Now the question is.

Have you ever ran out of fuel in flight?
Have you glided it in for an emergency landing?

Only to find out the airport you landed at doesn't sell fuel. Done that twice too.

Happy Flying
Rodney
Scott Medeiros
Posts: 321
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2014 8:49 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Worst FSE pilot ever! Share the shame?

Post by Scott Medeiros »

LGB seems to be a good FSE diversion spot. I had to divert there from CNO-AVX when I realized the wrong CNO passengers boarded my plane.
gavink42
Posts: 171
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:08 pm
Location: KMEM

Re: Worst FSE pilot ever! Share the shame?

Post by gavink42 »

rodlee wrote:Now the question is.

Have you ever ran out of fuel in flight?
Have you glided it in for an emergency landing?

Only to find out the airport you landed at doesn't sell fuel. Done that twice too.

Happy Flying
Rodney
Sadly... yes! Was on a flight from somewhere in Arkansas to KMEM. About 20 miles short, the rental ran out of fuel. To make it worse, I was on time acceleration. By the time I got back to real-time, there was only one airport in gliding range.

A perfect dead-stick landing! I was so proud as I set the parking brake! Looked to refuel, but there was none available.

The realization that I could have cancelled the flight didn't hit until the second time it happened to me. Unfortunately, that realization hit right after I set the parking brake. And yes... that airport also had no fuel! :shock:

Lesson learned... hasn't happened again since!
- PP ASEL, instrument, complex, high performance
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