Worst inflight situation!

[KSCessnaDriver]

I won't call it an engine failure in-flight, but rather an engine shutdown. Was in the flare to land a DA-20, and all of the sudden it got really quiet. Engine idle was set to low, so a combination of idle power, and the low airflow caused the engine to stall. That said, wasn't that big of a deal, because I was over the runway, but it'll wake you up quickly.

Or, I was in a DA-40, going from Amarillo to Colorado Springs. About the time I roll onto the runway in Amarillo, I realize that I should have hit the bathroom one more time. Needless to say, it was a very, very, very long flight. No way I was taking the taxi/walk of shame, especially when I was solo, and had bottle's, if the worst was about to happen.

 

[Douglas]

Oh, and you want to be careful puking out the side window in a Cessna also, especially if there's someone in the backseat......

I had a disco flight and the freshman became ill in the fall turbulence.
He went quite, and I asked it he was feeling okay. Before he could answer the puke started to rise out of his stomach.
He reached for the window.
He opened the window just as it was leaving his mouth.
The air rushed in and pushed the puke square back in his face.
I'm looking at the back of his head and his natty mop-top hair swooshes out and stands to a point chalk-full.
He slowly turns to me with his eyes open and a face full of his own puke.
You couldn't see skin, only dripping puke and eyeballs.

That hair caught every drop that was coming back towards me.
I like to think of it as a win.

By the way he is better now, and working on his instrument. If I was a coach I would pat him on the butt for that.

Severe ice somewhere south of Jackson Hole, Wy. Fell of radar, below MEA, MOCA, etc...and used the WX radar to paint mountain peaks and valleys and made it down to Idaho Falls.

I do believe you take the cake.

 

[killbilly]

JayAre wins the "There I was..." award...complete with "Inverted at night over the water" clusters and "Sharks Everywhere" badge.

Seriously.

I wish LowLevelHell would post in this thread. I'm pretty sure he's got some humdingers...

 

[sdfcvoh]

2500fpm downdraft over the Grand Canyon at 2am on an ovc night in a 172. Not fun.

 

[Gonzo]

No 709, it was a mechanical malfunction. Lost all hydraulics and the nose door was stuck shut. I wasn't PIC at the time either, so even if there was pilot error, which there wasn't, no 709 for me. And yeah we got out fine, it was actually a great learning experience in the end. There's a thread on it here from a couple years ago that I posted.

110SU was the best plane at that school.

 

[mooneyguy]

Ok this one is not mine, but very noteworthy for a scary inflight sit. The guy was a DPE (Friend of mine, now retired) who was flying with an applicant in the south practice area when they had a mid air with a t38. It knocked the engine of the 172. Somehow they got it on the ground. I cannot imagine how. the CG had to be so out of whack the plane should not have been controllable. The T38 crew ejected from their plane.

 

[gomntwins]

A couple engine failures, smoke in the cockpit, hydraulic failures, gear not showing 3 green in a seminole and an arrow, numerous generator/alternator failures (both in IMC and VMC), one vacuum failure in IMC. I've declared 3 emergencies, all warranted, and all equipment related

I've also had a couple encounters with severe ice, entered a few thunderstorms (the big one's for some reason aren't anywhere near as scary as the small one's), and one microburst that scared the hell out of me.

 

[Firebird2XC]

110SU was the best plane at that school.

Yes it was.

I flew that airplane all the way to Texas and back. She was a real champ.

Liked to pop the right door open in turbulence though. That was kinda annoying.

 

[braunpilot]

Ok this one is not mine, but very noteworthy for a scary inflight sit. The guy was a DPE (Friend of mine, now retired) who was flying with an applicant in the south practice area when they had a mid air with a t38. It knocked the engine of the 172. Somehow they got it on the ground. I cannot imagine how. the CG had to be so out of whack the plane should not have been controllable. The T38 crew ejected from their plane.

What this back in the late 90's? I heard about one back then.

 

[Mark815]

110SU was the best plane at that school.

sure was, until it decided to blow a line on me. Not sure how they're doing now, but when I was there all those planes were POS's. just a very shady operation IMO. I got out right after that happened. I actually think that was my last flight in an Ari Duchess.

But hey at least we didn't total it. Saved the engines coming in too. They had it back online pretty quick from what I heard.

 

[JayAre]

I forgot one more Worst in flight situation.

I flew with Jtrain!

And we almost died.

 

[Gonzo]

sure was, until it decided to blow a line on me. Not sure how they're doing now, but when I was there all those planes were POS's. just a very shady operation IMO. I got out right after that happened. I actually think that was my last flight in an Ari Duchess.

But hey at least we didn't total it. Saved the engines coming in too. They had it back online pretty quick from what I heard.

It looks like 110SU is no more :http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N110SU

 

[Baronpilot244]

Smoke in the cockpit at 8000ft in a 1959 Travelscare and losing the ILS signals on an approach in solid IMC and moderate turbulence to FWA - that was a scary moment, the tower controller said they got hit by lightning. Oh and almost getting mown down a Delta 757 when the controller got distracted and forgot to turn me going over Hartsfield ATL.

Bp244

 

[Polymox]

I've been pretty lucky so far I think, nothing has went terribly wrong with machines I've taken airborne. My own decisions have gotten me in the most trouble. It's important to learn from them.

The early days:

Had to pee so bad on a student cross country that I made a landing I wasn't endorsed for off of my flight plan

Departing a tree lined runway around gross weight in a C150, wasn't sure we were going to make it.

Student I was with pulled the mixture instead of the throttle out on downwind.


Once I had a bit more experience:

Landing a C172 at an airport that had fuel on the chart, but instead had a concrete slab where the FBO used to be. The 27 nm flight to the next airport was across a lake Upon arrival, I had significantly less than 30 minutes reserve.

Several gyro, alternator, and vacuum failures, all in VMC.

Flying under a thunderstorm VFR, and learning that it's not like flying under the cloud layers in non convective areas.

Finding upon landing that my right horizontal stabilizer boot was not inflating, and had about 2" of ice on it.

Part 91 takeoff in <1/4 sm visibility with snow on the runway.

Flying a BE99 right after a compressor wash, pulled the power levers back quickly and smoke poured out the defrost vents and clung to the windshield on final.

Hydraulic line rupturing in a PA31, had to hand pump the gear down.

One prop lever locking in place when I climbed above the freezing level.

And the closest I got to declaring an emergency was in significant icing that was accumulating behind the boots after the attitude indicator had rolled over dead in IMC (had a spare on the right side) and being told by ATC to expect to remain at that altitude for a while due to traffic.

 

[turbomax97]

On the Falcon:

- Dual motor FOD/ failure.
- 9 Emergency gear extensions.
- Dual motor flameout.
- ADI/ DG loss both sides.
- NAV's inop - 3 occasions.
- Complete loss of pressurization.
-I'm sure there's another 20 things, just can't remember them right now.

By far the scariest - they were forecasting light freezing rain through the descent into OH. Picked up enough ice to where even only with another 1 hour of fuel onboard - stall speed increased to 160 kts - REF was 115. Full power to maintain glideslope/ensure that the stall horn didn't become a buffet.:crazy:

 

[gomntwins]

By far the scariest - they were forecasting light freezing rain through the descent into OH. Picked up enough ice to where even only with another 1 hour of fuel onboard - stall speed increased to 160 kts - REF was 115. Full power to maintain glideslope/ensure that the stall horn didn't become a buffet.:crazy:

I had a full power landing in the Metro a couple years back due to ice. It's amazing, even with a bad situation, how good of an ILS you can shoot when you need to. Those needles were pegged the whole way down. Seeing that runway was an amazing feeling. That was one of the fastest/firmest landings i've ever had. I was happy to be on the ground.

Unforecast icing is not fun.

 

[MikeD]

Definitely not my worst situation, but we did shut down #3 on 456 a couple days ago. TR unlocked light, no pressure indication.

Actually, come to think of it, I don't remember a time I didn't declare an emergency when flying Fred.

Isn't that what took down the C-5 that crashed at on takeoff at Ramstein in '90?

 

[The Fez]

Isn't that what took down the C-5 that crashed at on takeoff at Ramstein in '90?

Say Mike, aren't you going to add one of your harrowing experiences to this thread?

 

[Killtron2000]

110SU was the best plane at that school.

What about 44T?

 

[MikeD]

Say Mike, aren't you going to add one of your harrowing experiences to this thread?

Between military and civilian, too many to list.

I did write the tanker one awhile back though, as well as one of the cargo ones and one of the traffic watch ones.....