Emergency Situations

Ecl!pse

Ecl!pse

Well-Known Member
*To begin, im sorry if this topic has already come up. If it has, please just leave the link, and i wont bother with this again. Thanks!*

For any pilots here,

1.) what do you consider the worst emergency situation? (no, " we dont have coffe on a transatlantic flight"
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.. i.e. engine failure off takeoff/landing, loss of hydraulics, rudder hardover , etc.), and how would you handle it?

2.)what is the worst situation you have been presented with in the cockpit?


*Also, if this needs to be moved to another section, let me know, ill move it!*
 
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1.) what do you consider the worst emergency situation?

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Structural failure.

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2.)what is the worst situation you have been presented with in the cockpit?


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MSFS locked up on me one time.
 
1.) what do you consider the worst emergency situation?

In my limited experience, I'd say structural or control surface failure. A simultaneous complete loss of gyros and electrical would also be a bit of a downer . . .

And how would you handle it?

My instructor and I have discussed the possibility of controlling altitude with throttle and directional control by opening side doors to create unequal drag characteristics resulting in yaw, assuming the surfaces had failed in a neutral configuration. If a control surface was fully deflected after failure, I don't know what I'd do . . .

As for the second scenario, survive off of the pitot/static instruments and mag compass while trying to use dead reckoning to find a known safe landing area before trying to put it down with a semblance of control . . .

2.)what is the worst situation you have been presented with in the cockpit?

Aside from challenging scenario simulations in the aircraft and F142 simulator, the most challenging thing was having to pee really badly on my long cross country. Direct from KFAT to KRDD and back via Calaveras. Tried to beat the school record for the flight - perfect weather, got the fastest Tomahawk, took fuel in RDD, jumped right back in the plane and made for home. Hit Calaveras and HAD to stop. Ended up tying the record. Shouldn't have brought three water bottles . . .
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I think the wing falling off is pretty serious, can't imagine it being worse than that.


The worst situation i've been personally in the cockpit was trying to keep the airplane on the taxiway on my first flight.

"the most challenging thing was having to pee really badly on my long cross country"..

That's what those bottles are for
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Hey WannaBe
Its a good question and hopefully one that you and others can learn from.
I agree the worst thing would be structural or flight component problems. I've had to shut down an engine in the pattern on a BE-200, did a normal pattern and landing. The "scariest" was when I had a weapons controller short out in a AH-1, it cycled the 20mm nose canon left to right at max rate ... it felt like we were loosing the main rotor system and that is what we initially thought it was, we did an emergency landing in a farmers field and had maintenance fix the problem. I had a partial electrical failure in a C-172 IFR ( with my CFII ), the altenator belt was slipping ... we declared the emergency and landed out of an ILS and had the problem fixed. I've been scared by getting into too much weather for my experience level a few times, kept my head and got out of it.
But by far the "worst" situation in a cockpit has to do with being with a jerk, someone who has a disregard for good sense and common decency. I have flown with a few people who think the rules don't apply to them and when I realized that my polite way of asking them to stop putting my license in jeopordy was falling on deaf ears I learned to exert myself and let them know in no uncertain terms that I would not tolerate it anymore. A few times I thought I was writing my own pink slip but after taking the position, which they knew I was right, I didn't have any more problems or it was a long time in between problems. Be safe out there.
 
Worst possible situations...mid-air, fire other then an engine/apu fire, and structual failure/control problems.

Worst experienced personally was an engine fire.
 
Worst situation imaginable...losing an engine in a single in IMC. Just gives me shivers even thinking about it.

Worst personally experienced was 3/4" mixed ice at night in IMC at MEA.
 
Those are my two biggest fears also. Single engine loss in IMC (IFR mag had a good article on dead stick in IMC) and ice. Either one is making me pucker (and not my mouth) just thinking about it.
 
I think the worst has to be an uncontrolled in flight fire over the mid-Atlantic...

You have zero options, and there haven't been many successful water ditchings throughout history.
 
1) Structural damage/failure is my main point of concern. The way I would handle it would depend on the situation.

2) I haven't been flying for long so the worst situation I've ever had in the cockpit is when some wind shear knocked me off centerline about 70ft headed straight to the tower. What made it an eye-opener for me is that I was on short final at less than 100ft AGL.
 
I'll agree the worst thing I can think of is structural failure or uncontrolled fire.

My worst experiences in airplanes have been total electrical failure, lost comms (3x, all VMC fortunately ... but all going in to towered airports ... light gun signals are hard to see on sunny days!), and a couple run-ins with unforecast ice. (One time, as God is my witness, Buffalo FSS gave me the following briefing: "Clear here, clear there, clear in between. Want to file something?" Worst ice I ever saw was on that flight.) Couple pockets of moderate-to-severe turbulence have been less than thrilling as well.

FL270
 
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Hey WannaBe
Its a good question and hopefully one that you and others can learn from.
I agree the worst thing would be structural or flight component problems. I've had to shut down an engine in the pattern on a BE-200, did a normal pattern and landing. The "scariest" was when I had a weapons controller short out in a AH-1, it cycled the 20mm nose canon left to right at max rate ... it felt like we were loosing the main rotor system and that is what we initially thought it was, we did an emergency landing in a farmers field and had maintenance fix the problem. I had a partial electrical failure in a C-172 IFR ( with my CFII ), the altenator belt was slipping ... we declared the emergency and landed out of an ILS and had the problem fixed. I've been scared by getting into too much weather for my experience level a few times, kept my head and got out of it.
But by far the "worst" situation in a cockpit has to do with being with a jerk, someone who has a disregard for good sense and common decency. I have flown with a few people who think the rules don't apply to them and when I realized that my polite way of asking them to stop putting my license in jeopordy was falling on deaf ears I learned to exert myself and let them know in no uncertain terms that I would not tolerate it anymore. A few times I thought I was writing my own pink slip but after taking the position, which they knew I was right, I didn't have any more problems or it was a long time in between problems. Be safe out there.

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Hey 650,

How closely did you check the Jesus nut on the H-1?

Merry Christmas,

MikeD
 
Hey Brother
How you doing? it was great to "see" you on the board. Happy Holidays.

You know I check the "Jesus" nut before every Helo flight. For those of you that don't know what a "Jesus" nut is, it is the one and only nut that holds the Main Rotor Hub onto the Mast and if you loose that nut you are going to meet Jesus.

Happy Holidays All.

Jim
 
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Hey Brother
How you doing? it was great to "see" you on the board. Happy Holidays.

You know I check the "Jesus" nut before every Helo flight. For those of you that don't know what a "Jesus" nut is, it is the one and only nut that holds the Main Rotor Hub onto the Mast and if you loose that nut you are going to meet Jesus.

Happy Holidays All.

Jim

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Ever read Mason's Chickenhawk? Excellent read.
 
How about having a 300 pound captian/co-pilot pass out and fall on the controls?
 
I commited a high speed stall while trying to shake a ME-109 of me in combat flight simulator... neither of us survived
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