Never again on PE - share your mistakes

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arb65912
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Never again on PE - share your mistakes

Post by arb65912 »

I am starting this thread where we can share our mistakes and post clues how to avoid them believing that it can become a real good source of information.
I have heard a saying that we learn the best through making mistakes.
Here is so far what I remember.

1. IFR flight plan closing at non-towered airport.
I was flying IFR to non-towered airport, I was cleared for approach and I landed without closing my IFR flight plan.
Next day , I was contacted by the Controller who politely reminded me and explained my mistake. To find out more on how it works, check the link below

http://training.pilotedge.net/object/no ... tions.html

2. Few times, I called the Controller improperly, Socal Approach instead of LAX Center for example, this error might not be as common as long as you listen. I have a hearing problem and in a heat of trying to understand the transmission, I used the wrong phraseology... I believe it is not the worst thing that can happen but calling LAX Center Santa Barbara Approach .... you know :)

3. IFR flight , taking off from the wrong runway ....it was raining and quite low visibility but it is not an excuse.
Yes, I did it, unless ATC tells to fly the particular heading, I should have set the heading bug to the take off runway heading, I would know right away that I am on a wrong runway. I was flying BE20 King Air 200 and I had enough power and speed to safely take off just before the numbers but I was just lucky ...

4. Always check the altimeter setting , either by Controller instructions or by any source you are using , COM2 , Foreflight, Duats etc.
That happened to me on VATSIM but would apply here also.
I was following one of Keith's real life flights from his great flight log http://keith.tristesse.com/page/flights and I was cleared to descend to at or below 1300' and fly Hudson River Exlusion according to NY SFRA rules. Look up this great material http://hudsonriverexclusion.com/
Everything was cool but I was flying at 1200' and it seemed to me like I was too high.
After I exited SFRA Hudson River Exclusion, I was asked by the Controller to remind clear of class Bravo, I sad I was cleared of class Bravo and he replied that it was showing the flight at 1800 on his scope.....
You know what happened.... I did not check the altimeter, lesson learned.

I will update that post as more things come to my mind so please check again later.

Your turn .... :D

Keith, if you remember more of my mistakes, please just shoot here, it is all for learning, I do not mind to be "exposed" this way. :D

Cheers, AJ
Last edited by arb65912 on Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
arb65912
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Re: Never again on PE and in real flying - share it all

Post by arb65912 »

Include / and a letter code after the aircraft ICAO when filling IFR flight plan.

Courtesy of Andrew Doubleday, excellent table , look below.
Attachments
4 - Equipment Suffix List.PNG
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TexFly
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Re: Never again on PE and in real flying - share it all

Post by TexFly »

After landing long (!) and passing all the gate exits ask Ground to approve a 180 turn.

I turned around like I had my car and I was reminded that...it is not how you do it!
Last edited by TexFly on Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:41 am, edited 3 times in total.
Alex (N705AT)
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Daddy O
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Re: Never again on PE and in real flying - share it all

Post by Daddy O »

Don't tumble your DG. If you pull too many G's the directional gyro can stick or tumble so when you come out of the maneuver your dg will show an incorrect heading and need to be reset to match the compass. Surprisingly, this is one of the few things that I have found is not simulated by either fsx or xplane. In fact you don't even have to set your dg in the sim.
arb65912
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Re: Never again on PE and in real flying - share it all

Post by arb65912 »

I thought that DG was modeled in X-Plane because I find it off when I do my before take off list so I adjust it accordingly.
I have to admit that I am not checking it for drift later on ( I keep forgetting) which I should do but since you say it is not modeled, I am not missing much, I guess.
Keith Smith
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Re: Never again on PE and in real flying - share it all

Post by Keith Smith »

This will quickly become a mix of PE & real world flying tips and stories. My preference would be for it to remain PE related as it will give readers a sense of what's possible with the network. Feel free to start another thread on real world flying tips and I'll happily move the appropriate posts there.
Steven Winslow
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Re: Never again on PE - share your mistakes

Post by Steven Winslow »

Never again will I start a flight too close to closing time. I attempted to do my I-11 Rating flight not just once, but twice when there was not enough time to complete the flight. Oh well, practice makes perfect.

But that's not the intent of this thread, so here goes my never again story. Again, attempting to complete the I-11 Rating flight, I took off in our Air Northwest A-26 On Mark Marksman. She's a sweet old bird and Andrew just finished a ground up rebuild. I was anxious to take her for a spin and give her a shake down. I was departing NOTWN2.LAS as published, had just crossed and turned at LAS. I was settling in for a nice flight, when all of a sudden, I lost oil pressure in my left engine. For a moment, I considered completing the flight on one engine, but as I watched my airspeed drop, I realized there would be no way to finish the flight before closing time, if at all. I called departure and asked to return to KVGT. I didn't declare an emergency (I hate paperwork) and they kindly vectored me back to KVGT and told me to contact VGT tower. Contacting tower, I was cleared for the visual for 12R and assured the trucks were standing by. Fortunately, my training in our Tuna Works Museum aircraft at KSCK came in handy and I was quite able to land her safely on one engine. I had power to roll out long and turn and go to parking. I will never again disregard my temperatures! I know I can turn off my failures, but that really isn't realistic. I fly with a plugin called RealEngine that overrides the X-Plane failures and if you run your engines too hard or are not paying attention to temperatures, it will fry your engines. From now on, especially on PilotEdge, I will be watching those needles!
Last edited by Steven Winslow on Tue Oct 11, 2011 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Steven Winslow
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Keith Smith
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Re: Never again on PE - share your mistakes

Post by Keith Smith »

Steven,

Excellent story. It's a common misconception that declaring an emergency translates into mounds of paperwork. You actually only need to submit a report if asked to do so after the incident. In many cases, you will not be asked to do anything.

Then learning from the story about the learning should be to NEVER be afraid to declare an emergency. The loss of an engine is most certainly an emergency situation, don't be shy about declaring!

Keith
Tim Krajcar
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Re: Never again on PE - share your mistakes

Post by Tim Krajcar »

Great thread. Now that this is here I'll have to start remembering my goofs so I can write them up instead of trying to forget them ASAP... :oops:

When I first started flying the excellent Columbia 400 model I spend most of my X-Plane time in, I was still working on getting my controls mapped... and was also transitioning from the default Cessna 172. Big change in aircraft handling, speed, etc, and also... rudder trim!

Nothing like finding out approximately 3 seconds after rotation that you had an axis mapped to your rudder trim and it was pulled hard left and wouldn't budge. That was a fun climbout until I got it unmapped and centered.

And now I make sure and check ALL the trim readouts before throttling up for departure... not just elevator.
Tim Krajcar
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Alex Stjepanovic
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Re: Never again on PE - share your mistakes

Post by Alex Stjepanovic »

I would just like to note that I keep my bloopers to myself.....but I do commend all you honest folk' for going public :mrgreen:
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