Crazy low pass

[ozbear]

I wonder how long it will take for Darwins theory to catch up with him I don't think he will end up as an old pilot sadly.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Most jump ships have something like 'Skydive Arizona' on them.

That's a new one. . . . . . .

 

Where I fly, the signwriting underneath the aircraft usually says. . ."IT WASN'T ME YOU SAW FLYING LOW THE OTHER DAY. . . ."

 

 

[kaz3g]

Looking at this and reading the additional horror stories of people hurt or killed caused me to engage in a little reflection.

 

Forty years ago I was pretty sharp in an aeroplane and my flying pretty snappy...or so I thought. I'd did a lot of gliding and always looked forward to the hangar flight at the end of the day. I might have indulged in the odd low pass down the active runway with a big pull-up before doing a tight circuit to land fast on the taxiway and pull up outside the hangar.

 

On reflection now, so many years later, when my reflexes have slowed, my eyes need spectacles, my hearing is a little suss and my self-confidence has dropped at about the same rate as my bladder capacity, I realise I wasn't showing how good I was, just how irresponsible.

 

I have lost friends, people I knew, in aviation "accidents" and almost all of them have come down to the pilot not following the rules and losing his or her life in a CFIT. Whether it has been doing a snappy roll on takeoff, or chasing cattle at low level on a hot day, or pushing on into bad weather, or doing a low pass over an airfield the decision to do this has been the pilot's alone. But sometimes the consequences extend far beyond and other lives are lost or damaged, too.

 

Being honest, my flying is a little creaky these days and I know I am not as "sharp" as I once was. I am cautious about the conditions I fly in. I check the weather en route before I go and do everything else to prepare even for a short flight within 50 NM. I guess as age advances we become a little more aware of our own mortality?

 

I hope to keep on flying for quite a few years yet and I hope to continue to enjoy the company of my many friends in aviation..EVERYONE of them!

 

Please stay safe.

 

Kaz.

 

 

[facthunter]

What you may lose in some ways, you make up for in wisdom. There is a saying I like and I think it goes something like.

 

Good pilots don't put their planes into a situation where they have to be a far better pilot to get out of it.

 

Dagging and showing off kills and unfortunately too often takes an innocent person with you. Nev

 

 

[HeliPilot70]

C185 at Corowa in the late 70's did a beat up over a car stuck the gear leg in thru the windscreen and took it off went on to crash at Albury. Pilot then learnt she killed her young son.

I just read this accident report the other day! It doesn't mention the the pilot was female, or that the deceased was her son, but it definitely sounds like an unnecessary low "beat up" over the car that was providing runway lighting on a night takeoff.

 

 

[Marty_d]

There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots... but there are no old, bold pilots.

 

 

[HeliPilot70]

Just realized I forgot to add the link to that old incident: http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/30901/aair198201416.pdf

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

We prove how clever we are by getting our pilot licence, not by performing tricks.

 

 

[Geoff13]

No we prove how clever we are by remaining safe and consistent without supervision after gaining our certificates.

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

No, you're thinking of 'responsible'.

 

 

[Geoff13]

Yes I was. I stand corrected.

 

 

[kaz3g]

Many, many stories about the late Lang Hancock and his exploits with an old C172 when he lived on Wittenoom station - (up in the Pilbara,WA). The story goes that he was trying to attract the attention of a driver in a Landcruiser on one of the gravel backroads. He clipped the top of the steel frame behind the cab - ripped off a gear leg - realised he'd done the 172 some serious injury - so wrote a note for the driver. The ute had stopped by this time, so the driver was able to see the gear leg in the tray, and figured it must be associated with the bloody big 'bang' that he'd just experienced. Back came the 172 - dropped the note - and flew off. The note read: 'please drop the gear leg back to Wittenoom station when you can''

That's an unadorned version..... it tells much better the later at night you spin it!

 

happy days,

LH was actually an Auster driver when he discovered his first big iron ore deposits:

 

http://economics.org.au/2012/03/lang-hancock-giant-of-the-western-iron-age/

 

"It was from this gorge in the Chichester ranges, with the Sherlock River dry in the early summer, that Lang and Hope Hancock took a most momentous flight in 1952. He took off in his old Auster and flew into a storm that forced him to fly along the gullies and hills and Hancock found the iron, the first deposit that proved up to 1000 million tons. At the time Australia’s known reserves of iron ore was just 368 million tons."

 

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austcl/VH-KSV.html

 

This second URL is well worth reading because it not only records Hancocks love affair with an Autocrat, it also records a salutary lesson for those who enjoy the thrills of low flying without the requisite skill.

 

Kaz

 

 

[Phil Perry]

No we prove how clever we are by remaining safe and consistent without supervision after gaining our certificates.

Don't worry Geoff . . . WE KNEW you meant " Safe and Consistently Responsible" well put anyway mate, Listen JabPhil,. . .Me and Geoff ain't scared of You ! ! ! (LLOL)

 

 

[rgmwa]

Nev, I think it was something like `Superior pilots use their superior judgement to avoid situations that require superior skills'.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[turboplanner]

This is low scrub on the banks of Coopers Creek;there's no roadway or airstrip, he was banking left and right to find clear spaces between the trees, and did about six passes for the campers.

 

 

[Happyflyer]

There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots... but there are no old, bold pilots.

Except Chris Sperou!

 

 

[turboplanner]

Here's a bit more fun, this is the Milparinka Court House before modifications.

 

This one resulted in restrictions on Milparinka Airfield and we were no longer allowed to land at the colourful Tobooburra airfield and walk into the town.

 

The airfield was on the track to the camping ground and had a sign "Cars keep left"

 

Spitefully, I think, the air authority at the time built a new airstrip about 5 km out of town.

 

https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1990/aair/aair199003108.aspx

 

 

[Marty_d]

Except Chris Sperou!

Given, but I saw even he land inverted once. There's also Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover.

 

Maybe the quote should have the exemption

 

...but no old, bold pilots*

 

*Except where said pilots are hugely experienced and know the limitations of themselves and their aircraft inside out, and do not exceed them.

 

 

[turboplanner]

I consider Bob Hoover the best pilot in history, but that's probably the only reason he has survived. He has made some hopeless decisions, and at one stage I checked how many aircraft he'd totally written off (as against a wing repair etc). I've forgotten the figure now but think it was somewhere between 12 and 20's.

 

He even managed to make a crash into a ravine survivable.

 

Chuck Yeager also had his share of luck. He, Bob Hoover and a few others were allowed access to US fighters whenever they wanted, and they went up every day. Around the end of WW2 they used to fly Mustangs up the tracks in the brush leaving prop marks in the sand.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

And Lindbergh flew mail planes in IMC at night then baled out when he ran out if fuel. No petrol left so the mail was not badly damaged when found in the wreck. He did it a couple of times.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

And Lindbergh flew mail planes in IMC at night then baled out when he ran out if fuel. No petrol left so the mail was not badly damaged when found in the wreck. He did it a couple of times.

I was listening to tales from an ex-WW2 USAF pilot in Jakarta a while back, . . . he mentioned this PM, and also that they had arrow markers on the ground along the mail routes in some states, I think he said that there was also some sort of tower structure next to the pointer, allowing the marker to be illuminated with some sort of kerosene lamp. . .you just reminded me about that, I'll have to go and stick me 'ead into Wikibible, bound to be some mention of that. . .

 

Phil