Very interesting day!

Slyfox1

New Member
I'm a student pilot with about 15 hours TT. Today I had a flying lesson and two very unusual things happened. We departed our airport to go practice takeoffs and landings at a nearby controlled airport. About halfway there at 1200 feet my door just flew open! :eek: Its an old Cessna 152, and I have no idea why the door opened. All I could say was "####! ####! ####!" my instructor calmly told me to keep flying the plane, then reached over me, and after a few tries got it to close.

OK great so now i have a story to tell my family and friends when I get back on the ground. but it wasn't over yet.

We got to the controlled airport and did two take offs and two landings. After the second take off the airplane was at 900 feet and I was beginning to turn on to the crosswind leg, when the engine began to violently vibrate. My instructor said "Do you feel that vibration?" and all I could think was "of course!!! why are you even asking?!" Two minuets later we got safely on the ground, but it was the longest two minuets later we got safely on the ground, but it felt like two hours:(

When we got on the ground we saw the engine was leaking a lot of oil and we took another airplane back to our airport. SOOO. How often does this stuff happen? Not often i hope....
 
I promise that wont be your last door to open on a GA airplane. Really not that big of a deal. Just stay strapped in and remember to fly the airplane. Give it a few tugs, but if you can't get it closed, just go ahead and land so you can close it.

The engine thing, not very often at all.
 
AHHAHAH I had this happen to me in a 150...It's no big deal. You can actually steer the plane with the doors...it's fun! I was on crosswind this morning when i felt a tiny vibration through the rudder decided to land and not take any chances...when i got back to the FBO the plane had a smoke smell in the cabin....yeah im glad i made the decision i made.
 
Yeh baby! It won't be the last time somthing like that happens. Trust me! Its all part of flying and you better get used to it. Once you've got a few hundred hours under your belt you'll take things like this in your stride.

**** happens and how you deal with it will grade you as a pilot.

Just about every one of us has a "oh ****!" moment to relate and that's what hopefully makes us better pilots at the end of the day.

Good luck!

BP244
 
Well I have to admit, it was kind of fun =)

Not so much at the time, but looking back yes.

Just looking down and seeing people swimming in a pool... made me feel a little weird lol
 
The 150 and 152 are basically open doored planes at all times....i mean the 1 millimeter thick aluminum ain't doing much but adding a false sense of security. ahahahah....on the flip side..these cessna's dont need more than that.
 
never flown a cessna....is there only 1 latch? the plane i fly has 2 latches. havent ever had a door open on me.
 
I've had a door open on me a couple of times in ye olde 152. No biggie. Mostly it's noisy. And, yeah, steering the plane with the doors is actually kind of fun.

As for the engine, problems aren't common, perse, but everyone eventually gets at least a couple of stories. If you ever have worries about cash-powered prop-turner out front, put the plane on the ground at the nearest airport. Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground.
 
Had it happen twice...on my PPL checkride, the examiner opened it on one of my landings to see how I'd handle it. Also, a guy who I was flying with didn't quite turn the handle far enough to lock the door on his Bonanza for takeoff. If you don't freak out, it's no big deal. We're strapped in and the cabin isn't pressurized.
 
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