Most unusual aviation story

Working on building some cross country time for the instrument rating, my father, best friend and I flew from Wisconsin to central Florida. Passing through southern Georgia (Homerville Regional, KHOE) we stopped for fuel. When we landed, the mayor of the town heard us coming in on the radio so he high tailed it down to offer to take us out for his town's best BBQ. We were in a hurry but thanked him for the offer. He told us that if we changed our minds, the courtesy car was free and the keys were in the ignition.

On the way back we landed again for fuel. This time the sheriff was driving through. We were chatting him up for a while, then he said he had to go to the firing range with "the boys" for the morning. I sure didn't expect the shooting range to be parallel with the runway, but he proved me wrong!

All along the prisoner's in town here building a new FBO. It looked real nice.
 
Not much of an unusual story really, but several years ago I flew my C172 down to CKV to pickup my 11 y/o son one hot, humid, sunny, bumpy, summer afternoon from my in-laws. My mother in-law met me at the airport with him and she had packed a couple of sandwiches, some chips, and sodas for us to eat on the ride back up to Michigan. We talked for a little while, hugged, said our good-byes, taxied out, and departed.

Shortly after departure, we dug out the bag lunches, and saw that they were tuna salad sandwiches. I ate mine, but my son wasn't that hungry, so he just had his soda and chips. Within probably five minutes after eating, I became extremely sick of my stomach and felt very nauseous. I thought about landing, but I was too sick to do it safely and my condition was getting worse by the second. There was no way my son would be able to land it at all either, so we just proceeded on course. I reached for one of the sic-sacs I kept in the pocket behind his seat and tried to give my son a crash course (pardon the pun) on how to maintain straight and level flight, how to follow the VOR I had tuned in, and how to read the sectional so we don't get lost, all while I emptied my guts out into the bag.

I felt MUCH better by the time we arrived home, which was good because it was raining pretty hard as we approached the airport, and we had a stiff crosswind on landing. We landed without incident, put the airplane in the hangar, and disposed of the sic-sac and baby wipes. (I always have baby wipes in the car, airplane, boat, camping gear, etc - those things have over a billion different uses and you never know when they might come in handy!)
 
I'm sure I can think of others, but this one comes to mind right off the bat:

One day when I was working for Colgan, we were trying to leave Buffalo and had caught numerous delays. It was probably delayed 4+ hours and we finally got the green light. We were sitting in the cockpit doing paperwork/FMS and I look up and see the de-ice truck pulling up to the airplane near the cockpit. Then I did a double-take and saw that there was no one in the truck! I was like NOOOOOOOOO and the captain started calling the ops guys to stop the truck and I was about to run out of the cockpit and try to hop in and stomp the brakes but it happened so fast and thwack, the ice truck without a driver crashed into the side of our Q400 and caused another couple hours of delays... Turned out the op's guys forgot to chock and set the parking brake......
 
Hahahaha. I love those slow moment "NoOooOOooo!" moments. Similar thing happened once in Denver, not to our Dash but the spare. It wasn't a ice truck either, but a fuel one. It was comical how slow it was going, the truck. So slow that it didn't really alarm either me or the captain until it was way too late. We were buttoning up our airplane and fuel truck was inching past us going like 3-5mph. When we noticed it was going straight for the tail of the dash next to us (N444YV, Barney I think) with a frantic fueler chasing it the captain said dead pan "Perhaps we should evacuate."
 
Oh yea. Here's another one.

My first day on the line at Colgan on my very first flight after training, we were going into LGA and we were getting diverted around t-storms and kept switching approaches because we couldn't get in. Then we had a hydraulic leak and the pump started pumping fluid overboard so we had to do all our emergency checklists, declare an emergency and I had to tell the passengers that they might see emergency vehicles but not to be alarmed, it was just a precaution. Luckily we got the gear down no problem and the brakes worked fine on touch-down. For some reason, the CA decided to taxi to the gate instead of getting towed in, which I didn't agree with. Such an exciting first day that my parents didn't even believe me when I told them....
 
I remember once we had a cabin depress, but we were only at 11,000ft. The light came on and following the proper procedures we put on the masks like the memory items say. Grand Junction,CO. For some reason ATC asked us to maintain altitude for a while... So we spent like 10 minutes sounding like Darth Vader and his sith protege and barely understanding each other until finally I had enough and took off my mask and said "This is retarded, I can't hear a thing you're saying."
CA agreed it was probably safer if we could both understand each other. As an emergency it was a non event, but the FA said people were scared because my PAs sounded unintelligible and fighter pilotesque.
It was kind of silly that our FOM said wear the mask above any cabin alt above 10,000ft. We tried to get the training dept to change that using this situation as an example. I got furloughed before I found out if they ever did.
 
jrh said:
One time I flew a night cross country to Spokane, Washington with a student pilot. Long story short, we couldn't find anywhere to eat, so we ended up getting a pizza delivered to the sidewalk at 11:30 at night. After sitting on the sidewalk, eating pizza, we climbed back in our mighty C-152 to fly home. The starter was dead. We ended up spending the night in the plane.

On another occasion, I delivered a Cherokee Six from Nebraska to a buyer 10 hours away, in Connecticut. The transaction appeared to be a done deal, contingent on the buyer's mechanic giving the final ok. The mechanic found an oil leak in the crankcase of the engine, along with improperly repaired firewall damage. The needed repairs could have potentially totaled more than $30k. After two days of haggling and inspecting, the deal was called off and I flew the stupid machine 10 hours back to Nebraska.

Another time I landed at a small town airport in eastern Kentucky, planning to refuel. I was told by a woman who was barefoot, had curlers in her hair, and smoking a cigarette, that they had run out of fuel. About a year ago. Thankfully we had enough gas to get to the next major city for fuel.

I've had all sorts of adventures, but I'm sure there are stories much more unusual than mine.
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SpiraMirabilis said:
Easy. The most surreal moment in aviation happened when I was ferrying a Mooney to San Antonio, I don't even remember what airport I stopped at except that it was in LA but it was night and I wasn't in a hurry. I was alone in the FBO, even the guys who worked there were nowhere to be seen.
I was hungry, and trying to convince myself that I was hungry enough to look for the clerk to get the keys for the courtesy car, but I was kind of lazy. I distinctly remember thinking that delivery would be nice, and I wonder who would deliver to the airport at this hour.

Here is the surreal part... Not 30 seconds after that internal monologue did a USMC black hawk set down right in front of the FBO, didn't even stop engines just put the rotors in low pitch. Someone hopped out, walked straight to the FBO, saw that I was the only one there, came over to me and handed me a pizza box and said, "Your pizza, sir." I was a little shocked so all I said was "huh... Thanks?" he grinned and nodded, turned around, got back in the crew door and they took off into the night.

I sat the pizza on the counter and 5 minutes later the night clerk showed up. I relayed the story and he laughed and filled me in. Apparently they were regular visitors to the airport, especially at night (NVG training?) and there was some kind of bet involved. He said I could have the pizza. It was cold, but it was free and tasted of freedom!!
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:yup: Awesome!
 
I sat on the ground in SAT for 8 hours because someone had flown our plane in missing the bins for the extra sodas in the galley missing.

We boarded up because we figured certainly those would be MELable. Turns out not so much. They're part of the BOW of the aircraft. As we were sitting there scratching our heads as far as what to do I had a moment of clarity. While looking at them I saw placarded in the hole where the bins go "max weight 50 lbs". As I looked out at the tug hooked up to the nose I saw 3-4 bags of ballast that read "50 Lbs". We thought we had a perfect solution. Maintenance and Engineering didn't think so...so we waited...and waited...

Had to deplane and sat on the ground most of the day while they flew some in from ATL. Of course they didn't make the first flight....or the second....but they showed up eventually.

By far one of the most ridiculous situations I've been in that didn't involve crew scheduling.
 
I used to fly pretty regularly from our home in LBB (Lubbock) to HQZ (Mesquite, Tx) to visit in-laws with my wife in a 1969 C177B. Our return flight back to LBB was always late on Sunday afternoon which put us flying back west into the sun. Flying with my wife is like hauling a dead body around because she is asleep before I get to cruise altitude.

Anyway, I've made the flight so many times I had the freqs. memorized as well as the route and once you get past Abilene, there ain't much to do.

I'm droning along at 8000 ft burning up the ground, AP on, the sun is coming thru the windscreen, nobody on freq, nothing on the ADF, I'm bored, blah, blah, blah.

Sooooooo, I wonder to myself, what kind of speed loss would I have if I applied carb heat at cruise at this altitude? Having nothing else to do, I reach down and pull on the carb heat.

I was expecting the normal 2 inch movement out of the panel, but it kept coming out and my brain didn't register this fact until I had pulled out about a foot or so of the cable.

Here is a little known fact about the wire they use on that cable. If you pull it out far enough, it begins to take on a life of it own. i.e. it starts curling around itself and CONTINUES to pull itself out of the panel.

All of a sudden, I got wire curling and flying around, I am grabbing it and trying to stuff it back in the hole (I don't know why :dunno: ) all the time looking over at my wife who sleeps soundly thru the whole event. That cable is about 5 feet long and all I can do is gather it up and put it in the back.

Finally, I realize that it has come loose from the carb, I'm not gonna crash, I'm gonna need carb heat on the trip (clear, hot, VFR) so I calm down and wait for the adrenalin to empty out and continue on.

Moral of the story, If all is going well, don't mess with
 
ghoster said:
I used to fly pretty regularly from our home in LBB (Lubbock) to HQZ (Mesquite, Tx) to visit in-laws with my wife in a 1969 C177B. Our return flight back to LBB was always late on Sunday afternoon which put us flying back west into the sun. Flying with my wife is like hauling a dead body around because she is asleep before I get to cruise altitude.

Anyway, I've made the flight so many times I had the freqs. memorized as well as the route and once you get past Abilene, there ain't much to do.

I'm droning along at 8000 ft burning up the ground, AP on, the sun is coming thru the windscreen, nobody on freq, nothing on the ADF, I'm bored, blah, blah, blah.

Sooooooo, I wonder to myself, what kind of speed loss would I have if I applied carb heat at cruise at this altitude? Having nothing else to do, I reach down and pull on the carb heat.

I was expecting the normal 2 inch movement out of the panel, but it kept coming out and my brain didn't register this fact until I had pulled out about a foot or so of the cable.

Here is a little known fact about the wire they use on that cable. If you pull it out far enough, it begins to take on a life of it own. i.e. it starts curling around itself and CONTINUES to pull itself out of the panel.

All of a sudden, I got wire curling and flying around, I am grabbing it and trying to stuff it back in the hole (I don't know why :dunno: ) all the time looking over at my wife who sleeps soundly thru the whole event. That cable is about 5 feet long and all I can do is gather it up and put it in the back.

Finally, I realize that it has come loose from the carb, I'm not gonna crash, I'm gonna need carb heat on the trip (clear, hot, VFR) so I calm down and wait for the adrenalin to empty out and continue on.

Moral of the story, If all is going well, don't mess with #@$%!! :D
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:rotfl::clap:

That me lol.
 
The other day I did a short time building X-C (61nm) down to a public use airpark in Central NM. I pull up to the self service pump in my gas guzzling 150/150 HP, only to find an older looking guy in overalls with a baseball cap come running (!) out of the the hanger towards me. He starts yelling, "are you buying fuel?!?!?!" in a somewhat urgent voice that briefly made me fear for my life. When I said yes I was in a somewhat nervouse voice, he stops running and says, "I'll be back". At this point I'm wondering if he's going to get his gun.....What does he comeback with???? A freshy grilled burger! Damn good one too, but why must he run at me like a homicidal maniac to offer me a burger? Who the hell was he? I probably will never know.
 
I was flying with a student and he was practicing diversions. We get to our new airport and land because he has to pee. We shut down and over come these two guys with a 30 bomb offering us some beer for the rest of our flight home. It was a hot day and I wish I could've taken it.
 
A couple of years ago I flew into Woodbine NJ for a routine Friday night drop. Everything was completely normal, except that standing at the avgas pump, lit by the lone flourecent spot lamp, was a guy with his 50-60 foot off-shore racing boat (on a trailer) filling the tanks.
 
Late 80ies. Behind Iron Curtain on regular training business, bombing the range with something BIG. Late night, late flight. Nasty weather, clouds low, visibility nill, corrected the systems using radar on terrain waypoint... Drop... Greens out... Observers on the range heard the aircraft but didn't pinpoint explosion... Nothing special, all right, bad detonator, pass... time to go home.

Next morning an objective control engineer was running toward us with a roll of printed codes. What's up? Do you see those zeroes? Yes we do. It means you lost the bomb 32 km before the range, it's right here... by the village... Holy shooo...

Long story short, they searched the range the whole day and found nothing, then moved to searching possible area per coordinates from the codes. Asking the peasants if somebody saw a long round heavy object in the vicinity. It may look like an antenna just a bit bigger and wider... Old peasant said; Yes we know where your bomb is right there in the corn... we put ropes around the perimeter. Germans didn't bomb us during WWII so frequently as you do...

The reason was defective locking mechanism and the crew was cleared.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
Easy. The most surreal moment in aviation happened when I was ferrying a Mooney to San Antonio, I don't even remember what airport I stopped at except that it was in LA but it was night and I wasn't in a hurry. I was alone in the FBO, even the guys who worked there were nowhere to be seen.
I was hungry, and trying to convince myself that I was hungry enough to look for the clerk to get the keys for the courtesy car, but I was kind of lazy. I distinctly remember thinking that delivery would be nice, and I wonder who would deliver to the airport at this hour.

Here is the surreal part... Not 30 seconds after that internal monologue did a USMC black hawk set down right in front of the FBO, didn't even stop engines just put the rotors in low pitch. Someone hopped out, walked straight to the FBO, saw that I was the only one there, came over to me and handed me a pizza box and said, "Your pizza, sir." I was a little shocked so all I said was "huh... Thanks?" he grinned and nodded, turned around, got back in the crew door and they took off into the night.

I sat the pizza on the counter and 5 minutes later the night clerk showed up. I relayed the story and he laughed and filled me in. Apparently they were regular visitors to the airport, especially at night (NVG training?) and there was some kind of bet involved. He said I could have the pizza. It was cold, but it was free and tasted of freedom!!
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Were they Army?
 
I thought they were USMC at the time because the guy who handed me the pizza was wearing one of those brown flight suits, but they could have been army. I don't really know what they wear.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
I thought they were USMC at the time because the guy who handed me the pizza was wearing one of those brown flight suits, but they could have been army. I don't really know what they wear.
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I think ARMY would make more sense because if I am not mistaken the only H-60's the Marines have are the "White-tops" with HMX-1. I could be wrong though.
 
Here's one:

Me and a buddy flew a T-37 into a field somewhere in the mid-west for an airshow one Friday night, but the show did not start until Saturday morning. Being "part of the show" even though it was just a static display, we were supposed to show up in uniform that morning about 2 hours before the show started and get the airplane set up and whatnot. Well, that took all of about 8 minutes, so me and my friend are just hanging around for the next hour and half waiting, when we decided to take a look around at what else was there. This was a really small airshow, so there really wasn't a whole lot to see... this particular airshow had a C-182 ON DISPLAY. To give you an idea of how small it was.

Anyway, there was a guy who had flown in with a 2 seat ultralight (I think a Challenger MX-II? But I could be wrong... don't know squat about ultralights). Anyhow, we are looking over this thing and he asks us if we'd like to go take a ride, since there is still about 45 minutes until show start. Of course we say yes. My buddy goes first, and he's out for about 15-20 minutes and then its my turn. Well, the flight itself was the most fun I have ever had in any airplane... and I've been on F-15 rides and flown military trainers in close formation and all that. But the funny part of the story is when we are coming back, the "show" has already opened. Nothing is flying yet, no one is warming up or anything, but the crowd has come through the gates and is starting to mull about the flight line.

So in we come to land. Me....decked out in my Air Force flight suit with all the morale patches and in the left seat of the ultralight, and this older civilian guy who owns the thing. And the crowd sees us landing.

Maybe 40 minutes later I hear a husband and wife over at the ultralight, parked about 15 feet from our airplane, trying to figure out what in the hell the Air Force could possibly be buying those ultralights for! ... I quote the husband, "probably some kind of counter-terrorism thing. Maybe they need to go that slow to look for Osama Bin Laden in the mountains."
 
fish314 said:
Here's one:

Me and a buddy flew a T-37 into a field somewhere in the mid-west for an airshow one Friday night, but the show did not start until Saturday morning. Being "part of the show" even though it was just a static display, we were supposed to show up in uniform that morning about 2 hours before the show started and get the airplane set up and whatnot. Well, that took all of about 8 minutes, so me and my friend are just hanging around for the next hour and half waiting, when we decided to take a look around at what else was there. This was a really small airshow, so there really wasn't a whole lot to see... this particular airshow had a C-182 ON DISPLAY. To give you an idea of how small it was.

Anyway, there was a guy who had flown in with a 2 seat ultralight (I think a Challenger MX-II? But I could be wrong... don't know squat about ultralights). Anyhow, we are looking over this thing and he asks us if we'd like to go take a ride, since there is still about 45 minutes until show start. Of course we say yes. My buddy goes first, and he's out for about 15-20 minutes and then its my turn. Well, the flight itself was the most fun I have ever had in any airplane... and I've been on F-15 rides and flown military trainers in close formation and all that. But the funny part of the story is when we are coming back, the "show" has already opened. Nothing is flying yet, no one is warming up or anything, but the crowd has come through the gates and is starting to mull about the flight line.

So in we come to land. Me....decked out in my Air Force flight suit with all the morale patches and in the left seat of the ultralight, and this older civilian guy who owns the thing. And the crowd sees us landing.

Maybe 40 minutes later I hear a husband and wife over at the ultralight, parked about 15 feet from our airplane, trying to figure out what in the hell the Air Force could possibly be buying those ultralights for! ... I quote the husband, "probably some kind of counter-terrorism thing. Maybe they need to go that slow to look for Osama Bin Laden in the mountains."
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No he didn't........

Did he??? WTF!!
 
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