The one I will never forget...I was flying with 3 friends from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Toronto International in a Beechcraft Bonanza A35 on a gorgeous, severe clear, fall evening. We were heading up there to video tape the UofM marching band at an exhibition performance at a football game. Three of us were impatiently waiting for the fourth to arrive. We were starting to run late and my two friends were getting more and more antsy. I pulled the airplane out of the hanger, completed the pre-flight and waited. The fourth guy finally arrived, wheels squealing as he rounded the corner to the hanger. Apologizing profusely, he began throwing video equipment into the baggage hold I had opened, as he jabbered away. I'm like, Bob...what does this gear weigh? He just kinda laughed as he continued to pile cases into the back. My normal impulse would be to get the scale out of the hanger, pull all of that stuff out of the airplane and carefully weigh each one and perform a detailed W&B. But I didn't. We were in a flat-out hurry to get there, and I foolishly succumbed to the urgency to get there in time. My first clue things were not right was the little chirping of the stall warning as I rotated and the shallow climb angle I had to adopt to keep that thing quiet. I was nursing the normally aggressively climbing bird to gain altitude. But finally, we settled at a cruising altitude of 9,000 feet. I turned on the autopilot and set the altitude hold. About an hour into the flight, our "level" flight had turned into a long, steady sine wave, as we began to porpoise up, then down, then up again...gaining and losing 200-300 feet each cycle. As the flight progressed, this became even more pronounced and frequent. The autopilot was working its servos off, but to no avail. One thing I was not acutely aware of, as a relatively new Bonanza pilot, was that in that airplane, as the fuel burns out of the two main tanks, the CG slowly begins to move aft. This was and is a non-trivial piece of information about this airplane. As I approached Toronto, I had my hands glued to the yolk as I pushed to assist the autopilot. Finally, as I switched it off, the full force of back pressure was upon me. Even with the trim full forward, I was pushing that yolk forward with all my strength to keep us level, particularly as I reduced power in the pattern. My passengers enjoyed the sparkling, beautiful view but their pilot was breathing heavy and struggling to push the wheel forward. I successfully landed the airplane, but it wasn't pretty and it wasn't smooth. And as I taxied off the runway, the first thing I noticed was that I could not see over the glare shield. It was like I was taxiing a tail-dragger and I steered back and forth, navigating our way to the ramp. There, with sweat pouring off of me, I mercifully shut down and breathed again. As I looked out the window, I saw a customs officer emerge from the terminal headed our way. Just then, my hefty front seat passenger opened the door and stepped onto the wing. As he did, the airplane was rocking head to tail like we were riding ocean waves. As he stepped off the wing, the entire airplane suddenly lurched up, sending the tail tie down slamming into the tarmac and the nose into the air. The guys laughed hysterically. However, not me. I was too busy thanking God from my guts for our unlikely and undeserved safety that night. Obviously, the customs officer was more than a little curious about what in the Sam Hill we had in that airplane. Let's just say, it was a tense little encounter as we unloaded the airplane. I realized that had our flight gone on for another half hour or so, we may well have not made it out alive that night. They say that when you start flying, you are given an empty bag of experience and a full bag of luck. And that the trick is to fill the bag experience before emptying the bag of luck. Every word of that little metaphor came alive for me that night. Obviously, we sent all the equipment back with the marching band, none of it came on board back with us on our return to Ann Arbor (via DTW for customs). Thereafter, I became one of the most persnickety and anally retentive weight and balance pre-flight airplane drivers that ever yelled clear. I couldn't even tell this story for years and years. Too damn dumb and irresponsible. But, clearly, I was meant to learn from this experience. And so should everyone who flies.
Thanks for sharing. I have seen a plane or two over the years touch down with the tail farther down than you would want. Glad it turned into a learning experience for you rather than for us to read about in a report.
My scared the hell out of me moment was my first fairly long cross country from Centex to northern Arkansas. I was a new pilot and allowed a ATC get me flustered so i deviated to a small airport in Oklahoma to gather myself. When i got there the winds were terrible on approach so i decided to go around. On clime out and about 400 feet the engine shut down, silence!!. I immediately pushed the yoke forward and switched the tanks in the old tripacer. Luckily the prop was wind milling and it fired right up and was able to come back around and land. I learned to never get so distracted i forget to switch the tanks.
My first, and so far the only, big scare was back in 2014, as a newly minted pilot, I had been practicing short take offs and landings at our airport (KAOV) in a Cherokee 140 and had my numbers down pretty good. I knew exactly where I'd get the plane to stop or take off. The next day, a friend of mine and I decided to fly to Gaston's Resort (3M0). During take off, I knew his extra 250lbs would make my take off role a little long, so I was prepared for that. However, we went past where I thought we should have came off the ground. My mind began to really frantically decide what to do... I immediately aborted and pushed the nose forward... but the aircraft became airborne. With not enough runway left to bring it back down, I quickly re powered on riding the stall buzzer climbing, leveling, climbing, leveling... until I finally made it above the trees at the end. They were the closest I'd ever been to trees (felt like 20 feet or less). After we got in the air, my passenger knew something was wrong but was calmly stating "you've got it". I said man, that did not go as planned, I looked about trying to assess what happened, and discovered it... I checked my left and right mags before take off... but somehow when going back to both, I went to a single mag. We took off on a single mag! After flipping to both, the aircraft lunged forward and we decided that the problem had been fixed and we would continue to Gaston's. And did, and had a great time. Lesson learned, Visually... Identify. Don't just feel for the clicks.
@@BaronPilot passengers really make or break a flight. On my first passenger flight I took my cousin and sister up. My sister was cool throughout besides at the beginning when I told her about sterile cockpit and she still decided to run her mouth and I had to tell her to shut up, she learned quick tho. My cousin on the other hand, who insisted on the right seat was acting like such a baby. I would turn the plane and he grabbed my arm screaming “don’t do that!”. “Don’t do what? Turn the plane so we don’t go face first into that mountain?”. I was still naive at the time and luckily weather was deteriorating so I terminated the flight, but in hindsight, regardless of the weather, if I have a passenger who can’t take that little bit of turbulence and is freaking out, it’s just not a safe or fun flying environment and I think I’d terminate the flight a lot sooner if they don’t chill. On the contrary I’ve had great passengers which absolutely loved going up and it made flying so much more fun. To be able to share a love for aviation with others who don’t have the same opportunities. And my ex girlfriend was a great passenger. She always stayed calm and was very understanding if we ever had to divert or cancel a flight for the benefit of safety. There was never any pressure from her.
I’m not a pilot but had the same experience on the freeway of not just closing my eyes for a second but falling asleep for what could’ve been a few seconds to 10 seconds, it was the last time I drove tired, caffeine, loud music, windows down are only ways of fooling yourself that you can stay awake. Love the flat track + Triumph shirt.
VFR pilot, took off below ceiling on a 150mi XC in an archer. Forecast called for improving ceilings. Opposite occurred, picked up ice, windscreen started to ice up, pulled a 180 and landed back safely w ice still on the screen.
Just a passenger, but none-the-less, my scariest flight was as a paramedic on a medivac flight to a remote gravel strip in Alaska in a 206. It was so windy with gusts and sheer that the small plane landed so roughly that he flexed the landing gear enough to break a brake line to the left wheel. The take-off wasn't much better with the pilot fighting from stop to stop to keep the plane somewhat level. They shut down operations after the flight for the rest of the day.
Scariest thing I ever did was on a short solo flight. I flew from SJC to SMF. I stopped at Sacramento to check weather before flying back to San Jose and the visibility was 10 miles. I was flying VFR and when I got near SJC, the ATC said the visibility was still 10 miles. When I was 3 miles out, I still couldn't see the airport due to fog. I estimate the visibility was only 1 mile but ATC insisted it was 10 miles. Pretty scary as a new pilot trying to find the airport.
Passenger on a commercial flight from Orlando to Tampa. Weather was so rough that the seat belt light was on for the entire flight and totally necessary. Up, down, down, up 10 or more feet at any jolt. No seatbelt and they would've been scraping you off the ceiling. If Disneyland had a ride like that, people would be losing their lunch. That was almost 50 years ago and I still remember that one.
I do really enjoy your videos. They’re a great learning tool for many of us. It’s too bad the Kim doesn’t want to get engaged more on flying the Baron in IFR through weather in all the facets that go with it. She’s lucky to have a mentor sitting next to her like you that’s willing to teach. I just wish she’d pay more attention to what you have to offer.
I can’t believe how long I’ve been watching you!!! Sense that 1st video without any sound to 42 thousand views a video!!!! I was glade you kept it going!!!!
Nice to see your content again. I am certain you are really busy, however your videos are awesome. Both these personal types and when you post videos of you flying jets as well. The more the better! I know it takes a lot of work to put this content out. Keep up the great work.
I was on final at about 500ft and I allowed myself to be distracted by another plane who was coming in right base in opposition to the standard circuit pattern. My airspeed got slow and I felt a buffet, (approaching stall), as I fly aerobatics the response was instant and subconsious, nose down, power in, and all was well, I landed normally and no drama. But I was bloody annoyed with myself that I let something distract me from flying the plane. A great lesson learnt. !!
Going to Canada back in 1979 for a friend's wedding in Brandford from Columbus, OH. Nighttime with thunderstorms to the west flying over Lake Erie. Had to divert into London and wait it out for about an 1hr. Scary flying at night with buildups and lightning off the left wing. We knew the weather was coming in, but we got delayed and the weather almost snagged us. Fortunately, we were across and on the ground by the time that bad stuff caught up to us. Both of us were new pilot with 150 hrs and learned a couple of valuable lessons that night. Never AGAIN!
I was in my glider being towed at around 50 feet when I decided to close the DV panel window. When I looked back out I was way out of position behind the tug plane! Frantic inputs required to get back in position. I learned a valuable lesson- concentrate on the flying first, small things can wait. . .
I’m sure the tow pilot was reaching for the release handle and praying he would not have to pull it. As a tow pilot, I’ve been in that position. Had a little come to j**** meeting after the glider pilot landed.
@@billtisdale6122 : I think it felt a lot worse than it was in reality, having never been out of position before. I was an early solo pilot at the time getting over confident, maybe?
I succumbed to a microsleep whilst driving home with a trailer after a long two days with minimal sleep. The car drifted from the inside lane to the outside and the rumble strip woke me. I fully understand the adrenaline rush comment you made, because that rush got me the last 20 minutes home. I could easily have killed my mother and myself. I've never driven tired since.
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I was on my final cross-country flight in UK for the licence. Flew from Exeter to a grass strip on a saddleback hill. Landed fine. Got my paperwork signed. Did short field takeoff but the plane tipped violently to port, and I was staring down at the grass, with the wing tip about 10ft off it. All I could do was turn down the hill (fortunately no trees) and build my speed up before climbing away. Very lucky escape. Another time, solo, flying north into a very strong wind at 2000ft, towards Bristol. I approached the Mendip Hills and unknowingly got caught in a downdraught. I ended up full power, pulling back as hard as possible, still heading for the hills, until I passed the downdraught and shot up dramatically! Very un-nerving. I always respected wind and hills after that!
Thank you so much for posting this and all of your videos. They help me so much. I’ve had 2 scary incidents. I was flying back to Ft Lauderdale from Brooksville. There was a solid black ceiling at 11,000 feet. I checked weather at numerous airports which would be along my course and they all reports the same. I didn’t want to fly but I HAD TO GET THERE so I took off. Back then we didn’t have ForeFlight and weather in the cockpit like we have today. As soon as I passed the top of Lake Okeechobee I entered a thunderstorm so bad I couldn’t see the prop some real good old fashioned Florida rain. I was petrified but made a decision not to panic. I made sure I was flying straight and level. Aviate. I had a 430 so I spun to knob to tell me where the nearest airport was and luckily it was behind me. I turned to it. Navigate. Shortly after making a 180 I was out of the soup. I called out to Okeechobee traffic and informed them that I was inbound. As if there was anyone else in the pattern. Lol. Communicate. I landed safely, spent the night in a hotel and flew home the next morning. I learned a lot from that experience by sharing it with some other pilot buddies. I learned that if you fly into something like that to just make a 180 degree turn and you’ll fly right back out of it. I learned that you can figure out where the rain starts by looking at the ground and where you can no longer see the ground, that’s where the rain starts. But the most important thing I learned was that “get there itis” can be deadly and nothing is worth that. Of course now many of us are lucky enough to have some weather reported to us in our cockpits and that situational awareness component is really empowering. I certainly enjoy it. Thank you again for posting.
It's great to see you dropping videos again! Many of my favorite youtubers have kinda gone dark. I am trying to get back in gear.. My queue is overflowing.
I’ve had a few scares, one was a night sortie in a OH-58A. I collided with a tree and cut it in half. Another was in a Piper Aztec. We had the left engine catch fire on takeoff and we made an immediate turn back to the runway. The wing burned off as we touched down and we set fire to the runway as we slid down it. The source of the fire could not be determined.
I've missed those kind of videos. Thanks for sharing this flight and the insights of your pilot mindset bouncing weather. As I am no pilot I haven't had a scary moment like you've described yet. Even on the Autobahn here in Germany there was always somebody there to take over or there was enough time to take a nap at the next rest area. Greetings from St.Augustin Germany
Hey Chris, great to see you and Kim back in the Barron! Also, your reference to the Eddie Murphy comedy video raw was hilarious, I want to talk to you! Three great points you made in your video that I will use with my instrument students. Thanks a bunch as always for the great content!
Always enjoy flying along with you guys. Years ago as a relatively new pilot I was doing circuits at night on a warm spring for my night endorsement in Canada. After about eight full stop circuits I decided to do one more and call it a night. i had noticed ground fog off to the right of the active runway during the last takeoff but it seemed to be stationary and not interfering with visibility. I got permission to take off, lined up and began to accelerate. I put my head down for an instant to check the engine instruments and when I looked up there was no runway in sight and I couldn't see any references. Shocked, I pulled the power back and contacted the tower for a "slow" taxi back to the ramp. Only after did I realize that I had avoided by a few seconds from taking off into near zero visibility.
Flew in to an ice pellet storm @140 to get over the weather at St John’s NM in a Bellanca SuperViking with no oxygen. I did however sandblast the leading edge of every surface of the airplane on that flight.
About 20 years ago, when I was learning to fly, my instructor and I were on the final leg of a cross country in a C-150. We had just left Emporia, KS en route home to Olathe, Johnson County Executive, and could see a rain storm off to our left. At first, we appeared to be paralleling it, but as we got closer to Olathe, we could see we and it were going to converge at some point. As we continued, we thought we could beat it to the airport. However, as we were on final, and just over the numbers, about to flare, the gust front hit us from the left. In a second, we were pushed off to the right and were over the grass to the east of runway 36. I powered up and prepared to abort, but my instructor intervened. He said, “My airplane. I want to get Down!” He jammed in full left rudder, and forced us down. The landing was flat a firm to say the least. We taxied down the runway using left rudder And aileron to the first exit. The cross wind had to have been 40+ knots. The airplane was wallowing so much, my instructor thought we might have damaged the gear. He got us to parking in the middle of a severe thunderstorm, intact with no damage. He asked me later where I was going to go. I had notions of turning east and getting ahead of the storm. I think he just laughed at me. He was a retired airline pilot with MANY hours and was pretty unflappable. I’m just glad he was with me.
I was an Army IP at Ft Rucker AL 85-94, had to land at Enterprise a few times due to weather. The Army sent a few buses to pick us up! (20 IP's and 40 students) Thanks for the video!
Flying into IMC after leaving an airport where I took my FAA exam for private pilot. My Examiner tried to discourage me from flying back to my home airport, which was about 33nm away. I told her I would return if it looked bad. Not long after departing the airport, I saw a wall of white out cloud in front of me. Looking back where I left, I couldn't see the airport for the IMC conditions. So I was committed to continue to fly back. I only has a very small view of the ground directly under me. When arriving at my home airport, the clouds cleared just enough to see the runways. Even though I stayed calm, I was really on edge. Thankfully, I had flown 2.3 hrs night flight, not long before this, from KCLT to KDAN under the hood. I would never chance that again. Lesson Learned
Coming in a little high and eventually slightly fast after correction but committed to land due to conditions, knowledge of local airport and the runway length. Landed a little fast and had to use a lot more runway than normal, normal braking, cruising down to and pulling off on the last ramp. Never any true danger due to a decent length runway but got the heart pumping. Too high or too fast equals automatic go around for most situations. Just go around, you know you love to fly, so fly on. Have fun, be safe, make the right decisions and don't worry about it. Do the most conservative and right thing at all times. Flying, "hours of boring time at altitude, followed by and preceded by a few minutes of stark terror" (the takeoff and the landing) as we have heard it said by many. Every minute is fun and interesting to me even after all these years of flying.
Worst moment...3rd solo flight. Less than 12 hrs total time. Practicing touch and goes with storm approaching. Miscalculated how soon storm would reach me. I was turning base when it got a hold of my C150. Storm tossed my plane around. Strong up drafts followed by strong down drafts. Knew I was gonna die! Quickly had to compose myself and take control. Very shook after successful landing. Didn't fly again for several weeks. I became afraid of the plane. It wasn't until I came to grips acknowledging I made a bad decision and the event would never have happened otherwise. It wasn't the plane that almost killed me, it was my poor choice. That was in 1975.
My 1st solo and 1st approach to landing of (3). Left base leg and my windshield was quickly filling up with a Cessna Agtruck, HEAD-ON--thankfully he did a 360 and let me continue without deviation. Everything else went well. I was 18.
Flew from KTME to KCVB back to KTME. When I landed I did not want to wait behind a Duke to fuel. I decided to chance the flight back to KTME with a strong headwind and storms building. Almost starved the engine of fuel and found a fuel stop on the way. always slow down to speed up.
Apart from compulsory spin training in a Tomahawk when learning (we did that in the UK once upon a time) the scariest thing was nearly loading the Archer with Jet A1. In a hurry. Didn’t read the signs properly. One bowser looked much like the other. Thanks to the fellow pilot who sidled over and asked if l was flying a diesel powered Pa28. I could have had a field with my name on it just after takeoff. I now check, double check and re check each time I fuel up.
I was on my second solo the next day. I was landing and had to do a go around and I forgot to take out one set of flaps. I was climbing out but my airspeed would not increase even flying level. I was near stall speed. I knew to just fly straight and not turn till I got more airspeed. Finally realized about the flaps. I started then taking out the flaps and regained airspeed. I then made my crosswind turn. I was really scared. Whew! Do not ever forget to take out the first set of flaps when doing a go around.
After a couple of hours of aerobatic flying with my Ex P-38 Pilot Instructor, we were in process of landing. Coming over the threshold still around 30 feet above the pavement, the wind came around hard and pushed me over the parked aircraft at Sussex Airport in NJ. My instructor was a big guy, nearly 300lbs I'd say. So not only blow to the right, he was in the right seat and we leaned in that direction. His hand immediatly went up to the windshield as I punched the throttle and floated above these other planes about 5 to 10 feet over them. I regained power and slowly pulled up. My instructor had already given up to the crash.... I had no fear back then. At around 22 years old, I had been flying since I was 4 on dad's lap and lessons began at around 14. At 16 I was flying a few times a week. My Dad and I did wreck a 1948 Aeronca when landing in a field to take a piss. That tore landing gear off one side when we hit a set of groundhog holes and then plane laid over on it's back. We walked away and both pissed in the field... That sucked.
I'm lucky. I flew in the Army years before getting fixed wing rated, so I scared myself more times in helicopters than I have in my -182. My scariest was coming back to Fort Campbell from a cross country to upstate NY. My copilot and I decided that with very careful flight planning we could miss one fuel stop, and continue to Louisville for refuel. As we were being vectored for the approach approaching Louisville (at night) one 20 minute fuel remaining light illuminated and shortly there after the second one did. We requested and received current position direct to the runway, and ground taxied from the approach end of the runway to refuel. We made it, but I certainly learned a lesson that night.
I worked on my license for a little while..haven't completed it yet though I intend to. Anyway, when I was actively training my flight instructor (a guy I hadn't ever flown with because my regular instructor had just gotten a job with a commercial airline) and I did a short cross-country to a small controlled field to the northwest of our home airport. Once we took off we turned 20 degrees to the northwest (our left) and were essentially lined up on the runway we wanted to land on at the other airport 25 or so miles away. We called the tower 10 miles out, and with no one else in the pattern he cleared us straight in and advised us to call again at 5 miles. We called at 5 miles and were cleared to land. In the meantime, a helicopter approaching the field radioed for clearance. He reported 10 miles to the northwest of the field, meaning he was heading at us heading SE. The tower cleared him and advised of our approach saying he was cleared behind us. I remember my flight instructor commenting at the time that he thought that was odd, but we proceeded. I had the controls and was just touching us down with the intent of doing a touch-and-go. I touched down, flaps up, power in, and was just about to rotate to take off again. The helicopter crossed the runway RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. I saw the whites of the helicopter pilot's eyes as he crossed diagonally in front of us, just missing our right wing. My flight instructor screamed for the controls, while letting out an impressive string of swears because now we were being buffeted by the other guy's wash. We got in the air and tried not to have a collective heart attack. The tower was screaming at the helicopter pilot over the coms. It was wild.
Decades ago I was driving back from visiting my girl in Pt. Charlotte down 41 to N. Ft. Myers. It was about 2:30 am after a day of work that started at 6:00 am. So I was many hours from my usual wake-up call of 4:30 am. Tired. Blasting the A/C on max with the tunes turned up to an insane level was not cutting it. I awoke to find myself in my driveway with the motor running on my truck. I could not remember turning on Pine Tree Rd or any of the other steps from US 41 to my driveway. Nor how long I had been idling in my driveway. It’s been four decades since that trip (or even more sadly, the girlfriend - she was special) but I remember the night and the morning real well but not the missing 10 minutes in the middle. Even as tired as I was it took a couple of hours to calm down enough to fall asleep. Learned my lesson.
Flying over the NC mountains. Got into rollers that pushed me down and ground speed dropped below 45 mph. Then picked me up and increased elevation by 3k feet. It was a harrowing 30 minutes that day.
Scared? Yep. Flew with that "gotta get there" attitude: low fuel in a C-140 (tail dragger) such that after landing, on roll-out, the engine quit. I thought about landing at an alternate just to get a few gallons to get home, but didn't.
Night VFR, wasn't paying particular attention and suddenly realized I was disoriented and had no idea which direction I was headed. Great instructor had advised if that ever happened, as long as the plane was ok (and it was), just sit there, gather my wits and figure it out. Slowly used VFR references and VOR (it was in the early 1980's so thats what I had). Eventually found I was exactly where I had intended to be but it was a good lesson.
I have fallen asleep on final approach and woke up just in time,...most times. Fortunately it was on my flight sim MFS2020 so,...ya. No real P.P. L. For this guy! Staying grounded!😊
I was solo training, prior to my private license, flying at 4,500-ft. and I decided to perform a couple of power-on stalls. As I pushed the throttle-to-the-metal and pulled hard on the wheel the Cessna 150 just stood vertical hanging on the prop. Just then the stall broke and the plane did a perfect wingover. That REALLY scared the poop out of me! But pulling a little too hard coming out of a short spin G-dive both doors on the Cessna popped open! Obviously, a little too much stress on the airframe. That REALLY, REALLY scared to poop out of me. Anyway, safely landed and fifty years later still talking about the experience.😵💫
Luckily I haven’t had any crazy mistakes yet but I’m still a low time pilot. One of the scariest things that happened to me so far was I almost got myself stuck in IMC while VFR. It was a case of get-there-itis. Luckily I caught myself and diverted. The scary part was realizing how easy it is to make bad decisions while in the moment. In hindsight it’s very easy to know what the right call would have been and luckily I made that call. Definitely made me a much better pilot. Funny story that scared me was on my solo XC during training. As I was approaching my destination I put my mixture to full rich while descending. I realized I was still a bit high for full rich so I leaned at a low power setting. I was on about a 15 mile final and felt I was still high for the approach and pulled out some power. The engine started to sputter and I immediately looked for a place to land then went through my flows and quickly enough I realized I leaned the mixture too much and quickly threw it right back to rich and all was good 😂
I departed KTTD, made my turn to the south to leave the traffic pattern. Apparently I fell asleep shortly after leveling off at 1000 AGL. I woke up with my head hung down. I was only out for a minute but it sure taught me a lesson. My friend Tom, another pilot/instructor was with me in the left seat. He saw me jolt awake and asked, “Did you have a nice nap?” This happened over twenty years ago and I have never flown tired again.
As a glider pilot my first out landing gave me a slack feeling in the scrotum, but I was 17years old at the time the landing was good no damage to aircraft or me. I learnt about flying that day
Took my son out of school for his birthday to go flying our C172 in the local area. Overcast day in the late winter/early spring. Ceiling was measured and predicted to stay above 5000 ft. But was not the case. While transiting from nearby airport back to home the ceiling started coming down and about 8 miles from home we were scud running at 500' AGL. Windshield iced up. I stayed calm but all those very bad scenarios and thoughts went through my mind, especially since I had my young son with me. I could see out the side windows and down to the ground so I made a plan to slip it in on landing but didn't know if that would work. This adrenaline pumping went on for what seemed like an eternity with my mind racing. I sent up many prayers! And then, as if on que I could see that the avionics vent fan on top of the dashboard had melted me a 3" square hole in the ice where I could see enough to land the plane safely. I NEVER did that again and now take my preflight and weather planning very seriously! No, my son never had a clue we were in trouble.
My Scary... While VFR at night, I entered a cloud that I didn't see until I was in it. Immediately rolled into a standard rate left turn, away from terrain. Time compresses, 1 minute feels like an eternity when executing a 180.
Your airplane is awesome and the instruments are super cool. I’m a sailor but rekindling my interest in aviation, along with my girlfriend. I’ll subscribe to your channel now that I’ve discovered it. Cheers!
As a passenger on a large aircraft only 2 things come to mind: The scariest was multiple missed approaches to NAS Norfolk, VA in a C9 due to heavy fog. Ultimately we diverted to MCAS Cherry Point NC to wait for the weather to clear. The second was a landing at Chicago O'Hare during thunderstorms. The wings were flapping and the ride was exhilarating. Other passengers were crying, screaming and thinking we were going to not make it. I was laughing with my arms up like riding a rollercoaster. The guy next to me on the plane went to a rental car desk to drive back to BWI. He worked for FAA and told me he was never flying again. Sadly, your get-home-itis hits home as that is what happened to my father and uncle in May 2014 when they flew their Mooney into the side of Howell Mountain just east of Yellowstone. They were flying from Cody, WY to Twin Falls, ID. They had weather issues and were about 50 feet too low to clear the mountain.
Dropped flight following from long island NY to MHT at 2500 ft. with chart in right seat, looking for area left n right and when I looked up from my chart there was a guy looking right in front of me. I instantly it knew twas a skydiver (scf to 10000 ft). Power back, looked up, no one else and dove to 500 AGL. I was shaking so bad!
Handy Hint for your Bug issue. In the British Military we used to use Avon Skin So Soft to keep the Bugs away when you first hear of it you think it is an Old Wives Tale but it really does work In Jungles and Swamps around the world
It wasn't me .... I knew of a guy (friend of a friend of a friend) who decades ago would fly from Florida to the northeast several times a year in his twin. His route was off the coast and out of the way of most ATC. So he would have a clock with an alarm set for when he needed to contact ATC upon arrival. He would intentionally sleep during the flight. CRAZY !!! Think he has since passed away due to age.
Wasn't flying but going from Minnesota to Colorado I was driving a 24' Uhaul and I fell asleep in Kansas and woke up in Colorado...will never rely on coffee to keep me awake again...I don't think I drove more than 5 miles while unconscious but t h at was enough for me!
always enjoy your flights. We just moved down from ID, sold a Jetprop when we arrived but buying an Acclaim to be based at KPGD. Learning from your tactical approach to convective weather, really nothing like it in the NW part of the country. Should be a learning experience
Scariest thing I've done is unintentionally fly into clouds on my first passenger XC flight from TMB to EYW with only five flight hours post-checkride (50hrs). Literally a brand new private pilot! Halfway into the flight at 3,000, I got distracted and next thing I knew I was surrounded by clouds. Thankfully these were not fully formed CBs, but they were enough for me to lose ground reference. My first dumb thought was to descend below the clouds. But after descending to 1,500 and still seeing no ground, I stopped the decent and thought "maintain course and attitude and just fly the plane straight and level." I was in the clouds for about 30 seconds, but it was the longest 30 seconds of my life. My passengers were none the wiser, but I certainly was. When we got back, I called my instructor and told on myself (holding myself accountable). He gave me a well-deserved chewing out, but I preferred that to a casket.
I was a 19ish student pilot back in the '80s, out on a solo building hours in a 172. I flew out to a lake I was very familiar with and decided to fly low over it, but I approached too fast, in too steep a descent, and had to pull way too hard on the yoke to recover. Scared the crap out of myself and never tried anything that stupid again.
One trick an instructor taught me in the event I was sleepy on a cross country was to put my finger up into a handle or handgrip of the airplane. Then if I fell asleep, my finger would let go dropping my arm and thereby waking me up.
So far, doing my first power-on stall and forgetting to take my right foot off the rudder. Soon as the stall broke the plane banked hard to the right and my CFI had to grab the yoke and level us out. Never made that mistake again!
My scary moment I had just completed my solo and was making my secon solo to Santa Barbra. On my return I was using flight following, and I was going to transision SFR over LAX . I checked ATIS for TOA and all was good so I began my turn to SFR all was good. When I got to the other side the weather Marine Layer had closed in and I was still with flight following but I was clearly VFR on top with a solid cloud layer below. Flight Following kept trying to release me finally with emphatic desporation the controller said the field is 6 milen straight ahead and released me to TOA control. I was preparing to return to Van Nuys back thru SFR. But the controller said the field is right there. I spoted a sucker hole and went for it and contacted TOA "entering on the down wind " "Negative I have traic in the down wind make 360 for separation. I did now below the deck and I spoted the other trafic about 1 1/2 miles ahead on the downwind made the landing but frecked out. TOA is tower training facility they asked me to taxi to base of tower. I did and they met me I figured that would be the last time they would allow me to fly, but they were very nice and took me up in the tower where three people wre review tapes. They explained alot of things I could have done and should have done, but then said the controller should never have done what he did. I dont know if he got in trouble I hope not but the FAA does not provide that information, I learned they are all safe and sound on the groud and I alone can fly the plane. I review I would have demanded climb to SFR again and return to Van Nuys.
One of the worst mistakes I ever made was simply taking off. This was before I got my PPL. Wanted to do my cross-country solo but the weather was too poor. Figured I could at least do solo pattern work, and the crosswind was just under my endorsed limit. As soon as I got over the tree line, it was like the plane got kicked from the side. What the AWOS didn't tell me was that it was incredibly gusty that day. I rode a bucking bronco around the pattern, somehow managed a stable approach until about 5 ft over the runway where the headwind changed and dropped me right on the runway. Then the plane weathervaned into the wind and it took all I had to (barely) keep it on the runway. Taxied straight back to the tie-down to call it a day. Lessons learned: Get a feel for the weather yourself. No matter what the AWOS said, I should have known to expect the gusts. Also, though I had dealt with crosswinds before I didn't expect the plane to weathervane into the wind so strongly once the wheels were down. Finally, since I just fly for fun, I have no business going up on a day like that. It's not fun.
I was climbing out in a MD-80, it was a night flight & overcast from about 2500' all the way up to maybe 190' & I was the Captain on The Flight. I had Autopilot on & I was just enjoying the ride. As We began to break through the Clouds I spotted what looked like Landing Lights directly in front of us. I actually contacted ATC & asked them if They were following any other Aircrafts or if anyone else was up there & descending near us. They replied "Negative," & indicated that the Sky was Our's & cleared us to 370' as we completely broke through the Overcast. There still were those "Landing Lights" that seemed to be on a colision course with us. I had a brief discussion about it with my F-O, who agreed that it appeared to be another aircraft, & I was about to turn the Autopilot Off & take evasive action when The F-O said, "Oh, I know what that is,,," & He explained that Mars & Jupiter, or a couple of Our Planetary Neighbors were passing soclose to each other, at least from our perspective on Earth & They were appearing to be One Giant Planet in Our Sky. I think that I took my first breath in about Three Minutes. He said that he'd read that in the Newspaper just that morning, but had initially forgotten about it when I asked Him if that appeared to him to be The Landing Lights of another Aircraft at Our 12 O'clock Position. I believe that it's called a "Conjunction" when two extraterrestrial Bodies pass so close to one another from Our Earthly Perspective that they appear to be One Single Body, But That Night I Just Called It TERRIFYING!!! LOL!!! 😄
Taking off in questionable wx, this was way before all the tablet app stuff, in a King Air 90. The worst turbulence I ever experience, negative G's, everything kept flying up, pens, coffee cups, the bucket. I thought that I was about to go west/fly west....
Flying a sailplane and was thermaling over a brush fire. Got too low, below 300' and lost sight of the airport. Burning embers coming into cockpit through the vent. Started heading in direction of airport and was constantly getting small 50 to 100 fpm lift. Regained altitude and returned ok.
![งมหอย จับปลา มือเปล่า หาอยู่หากินแบบวีถีอีสานกับแก๊งเซียนหรั่ง ม่วนคัก! [ขอนแก่น] @Sianstudio](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JEJZg6N-AbU/mqdefault.jpg)
The one I will never forget...I was flying with 3 friends from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Toronto International in a Beechcraft Bonanza A35 on a gorgeous, severe clear, fall evening. We were heading up there to video tape the UofM marching band at an exhibition performance at a football game. Three of us were impatiently waiting for the fourth to arrive. We were starting to run late and my two friends were getting more and more antsy. I pulled the airplane out of the hanger, completed the pre-flight and waited. The fourth guy finally arrived, wheels squealing as he rounded the corner to the hanger. Apologizing profusely, he began throwing video equipment into the baggage hold I had opened, as he jabbered away. I'm like, Bob...what does this gear weigh? He just kinda laughed as he continued to pile cases into the back. My normal impulse would be to get the scale out of the hanger, pull all of that stuff out of the airplane and carefully weigh each one and perform a detailed W&B.
But I didn't.
We were in a flat-out hurry to get there, and I foolishly succumbed to the urgency to get there in time.
My first clue things were not right was the little chirping of the stall warning as I rotated and the shallow climb angle I had to adopt to keep that thing quiet. I was nursing the normally aggressively climbing bird to gain altitude. But finally, we settled at a cruising altitude of 9,000 feet. I turned on the autopilot and set the altitude hold.
About an hour into the flight, our "level" flight had turned into a long, steady sine wave, as we began to porpoise up, then down, then up again...gaining and losing 200-300 feet each cycle. As the flight progressed, this became even more pronounced and frequent. The autopilot was working its servos off, but to no avail.
One thing I was not acutely aware of, as a relatively new Bonanza pilot, was that in that airplane, as the fuel burns out of the two main tanks, the CG slowly begins to move aft. This was and is a non-trivial piece of information about this airplane.
As I approached Toronto, I had my hands glued to the yolk as I pushed to assist the autopilot. Finally, as I switched it off, the full force of back pressure was upon me. Even with the trim full forward, I was pushing that yolk forward with all my strength to keep us level, particularly as I reduced power in the pattern. My passengers enjoyed the sparkling, beautiful view but their pilot was breathing heavy and struggling to push the wheel forward.
I successfully landed the airplane, but it wasn't pretty and it wasn't smooth. And as I taxied off the runway, the first thing I noticed was that I could not see over the glare shield. It was like I was taxiing a tail-dragger and I steered back and forth, navigating our way to the ramp.
There, with sweat pouring off of me, I mercifully shut down and breathed again.
As I looked out the window, I saw a customs officer emerge from the terminal headed our way. Just then, my hefty front seat passenger opened the door and stepped onto the wing. As he did, the airplane was rocking head to tail like we were riding ocean waves. As he stepped off the wing, the entire airplane suddenly lurched up, sending the tail tie down slamming into the tarmac and the nose into the air.
The guys laughed hysterically. However, not me. I was too busy thanking God from my guts for our unlikely and undeserved safety that night. Obviously, the customs officer was more than a little curious about what in the Sam Hill we had in that airplane. Let's just say, it was a tense little encounter as we unloaded the airplane.
I realized that had our flight gone on for another half hour or so, we may well have not made it out alive that night.
They say that when you start flying, you are given an empty bag of experience and a full bag of luck. And that the trick is to fill the bag experience before emptying the bag of luck. Every word of that little metaphor came alive for me that night. Obviously, we sent all the equipment back with the marching band, none of it came on board back with us on our return to Ann Arbor (via DTW for customs).
Thereafter, I became one of the most persnickety and anally retentive weight and balance pre-flight airplane drivers that ever yelled clear.
I couldn't even tell this story for years and years. Too damn dumb and irresponsible. But, clearly, I was meant to learn from this experience. And so should everyone who flies.
Thanks for sharing. I have seen a plane or two over the years touch down with the tail farther down than you would want. Glad it turned into a learning experience for you rather than for us to read about in a report.
I was glad to see you guys flying together. I know you have both been busy, but I have missed this type of content.
Glad you enjoy it 🙂
Get some rest!
My scared the hell out of me moment was my first fairly long cross country from Centex to northern Arkansas. I was a new pilot and allowed a ATC get me flustered so i deviated to a small airport in Oklahoma to gather myself. When i got there the winds were terrible on approach so i decided to go around. On clime out and about 400 feet the engine shut down, silence!!. I immediately pushed the yoke forward and switched the tanks in the old tripacer. Luckily the prop was wind milling and it fired right up and was able to come back around and land. I learned to never get so distracted i forget to switch the tanks.
glad to see you back missed you guys
😊
My first, and so far the only, big scare was back in 2014, as a newly minted pilot, I had been practicing short take offs and landings at our airport (KAOV) in a Cherokee 140 and had my numbers down pretty good. I knew exactly where I'd get the plane to stop or take off. The next day, a friend of mine and I decided to fly to Gaston's Resort (3M0). During take off, I knew his extra 250lbs would make my take off role a little long, so I was prepared for that. However, we went past where I thought we should have came off the ground. My mind began to really frantically decide what to do... I immediately aborted and pushed the nose forward... but the aircraft became airborne. With not enough runway left to bring it back down, I quickly re powered on riding the stall buzzer climbing, leveling, climbing, leveling... until I finally made it above the trees at the end. They were the closest I'd ever been to trees (felt like 20 feet or less). After we got in the air, my passenger knew something was wrong but was calmly stating "you've got it". I said man, that did not go as planned, I looked about trying to assess what happened, and discovered it... I checked my left and right mags before take off... but somehow when going back to both, I went to a single mag. We took off on a single mag! After flipping to both, the aircraft lunged forward and we decided that the problem had been fixed and we would continue to Gaston's. And did, and had a great time. Lesson learned, Visually... Identify. Don't just feel for the clicks.
I think we've all managed to do single Mag takeoffs. Scary stuff, glad it worked out and your pax was so cool.
@@BaronPilot passengers really make or break a flight. On my first passenger flight I took my cousin and sister up. My sister was cool throughout besides at the beginning when I told her about sterile cockpit and she still decided to run her mouth and I had to tell her to shut up, she learned quick tho. My cousin on the other hand, who insisted on the right seat was acting like such a baby. I would turn the plane and he grabbed my arm screaming “don’t do that!”. “Don’t do what? Turn the plane so we don’t go face first into that mountain?”. I was still naive at the time and luckily weather was deteriorating so I terminated the flight, but in hindsight, regardless of the weather, if I have a passenger who can’t take that little bit of turbulence and is freaking out, it’s just not a safe or fun flying environment and I think I’d terminate the flight a lot sooner if they don’t chill.
On the contrary I’ve had great passengers which absolutely loved going up and it made flying so much more fun. To be able to share a love for aviation with others who don’t have the same opportunities. And my ex girlfriend was a great passenger. She always stayed calm and was very understanding if we ever had to divert or cancel a flight for the benefit of safety. There was never any pressure from her.
Roll
Been to Gaston's many times. Great place. Glad you made it out safe. Blue skies!
Love the Triumph shirt❤
glad to see you guys are still together
Glad you enjoy watching us.
MY GOODNESS, this lady is exhausting! ... Barley made it through this video.
I’m not a pilot but had the same experience on the freeway of not just closing my eyes for a second but falling asleep for what could’ve been a few seconds to 10 seconds, it was the last time I drove tired, caffeine, loud music, windows down are only ways of fooling yourself that you can stay awake. Love the flat track + Triumph shirt.
SO GOOD to see you both back in the cockpit! Thanks for the latest video!
VFR pilot, took off below ceiling on a 150mi XC in an archer. Forecast called for improving ceilings. Opposite occurred, picked up ice, windscreen started to ice up, pulled a 180 and landed back safely w ice still on the screen.
Eeek.
Never trust the weather.
Just a passenger, but none-the-less, my scariest flight was as a paramedic on a medivac flight to a remote gravel strip in Alaska in a 206. It was so windy with gusts and sheer that the small plane landed so roughly that he flexed the landing gear enough to break a brake line to the left wheel. The take-off wasn't much better with the pilot fighting from stop to stop to keep the plane somewhat level. They shut down operations after the flight for the rest of the day.
Love reading these stories as we learn so much from them. Thank you everyone for sharing.
Great to see you guys flying together again.
Scariest thing I ever did was on a short solo flight. I flew from SJC to SMF. I stopped at Sacramento to check weather before flying back to San Jose and the visibility was 10 miles. I was flying VFR and when I got near SJC, the ATC said the visibility was still 10 miles. When I was 3 miles out, I still couldn't see the airport due to fog. I estimate the visibility was only 1 mile but ATC insisted it was 10 miles. Pretty scary as a new pilot trying to find the airport.
What in the world...? Did you have to return? Divert? Did you make the landing?
@@HittokiriBatosai I kept telling the ATC that I couldn't see the airport. When I was about a mile away, I finally saw it and landed the airplane.
Passenger on a commercial flight from Orlando to Tampa. Weather was so rough that the seat belt light was on for the entire flight and totally necessary. Up, down, down, up 10 or more feet at any jolt. No seatbelt and they would've been scraping you off the ceiling. If Disneyland had a ride like that, people would be losing their lunch. That was almost 50 years ago and I still remember that one.
Lol that’s a hour and a half drive. Hope it was a connecting flight lol
@@KingKo0 It actually was a connecting flight. Orlando to Tampa to Hartford, CT. I was in the Navy being transferred to a ship up north.
Great flight (The) Baron Pilot! Loved the landing, like a carrier pilot you planted the Baron firmly on the runway. Thanks for taking me along!
Glad you enjoyed it.
I do really enjoy your videos. They’re a great learning tool for many of us. It’s too bad the Kim doesn’t want to get engaged more on flying the Baron in IFR through weather in all the facets that go with it. She’s lucky to have a mentor sitting next to her like you that’s willing to teach. I just wish she’d pay more attention to what you have to offer.
Glad you guys are back. Great video threading the needle through weather.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I can’t believe how long I’ve been watching you!!! Sense that 1st video without any sound to 42 thousand views a video!!!! I was glade you kept it going!!!!
Nice to see your content again. I am certain you are really busy, however your videos are awesome. Both these personal types and when you post videos of you flying jets as well. The more the better! I know it takes a lot of work to put this content out. Keep up the great work.
Glad you enjoy them. Thanks for the kind words.
been a while since your last post. nice to see you again
3 weeks. Just busy with work. 😞
I was on final at about 500ft and I allowed myself to be distracted by another plane who was coming in right base in opposition to the standard circuit pattern. My airspeed got slow and I felt a buffet, (approaching stall), as I fly aerobatics the response was instant and subconsious, nose down, power in, and all was well, I landed normally and no drama.
But I was bloody annoyed with myself that I let something distract me from flying the plane. A great lesson learnt. !!
Distractions can come quick and in many forms. Nice job.
Nice to see the Bird is back
Going to Canada back in 1979 for a friend's wedding in Brandford from Columbus, OH. Nighttime with thunderstorms to the west flying over Lake Erie. Had to divert into London and wait it out for about an 1hr. Scary flying at night with buildups and lightning off the left wing. We knew the weather was coming in, but we got delayed and the weather almost snagged us. Fortunately, we were across and on the ground by the time that bad stuff caught up to us. Both of us were new pilot with 150 hrs and learned a couple of valuable lessons that night. Never AGAIN!
Glad your back
Thanks
Great video. Very much appreciated. Best wishes.
Thanks for watching
I was in my glider being towed at around 50 feet when I decided to close the DV panel window. When I looked back out I was way out of position behind the tug plane! Frantic inputs required to get back in position. I learned a valuable lesson- concentrate on the flying first, small things can wait. . .
I’m sure the tow pilot was reaching for the release handle and praying he would not have to pull it. As a tow pilot, I’ve been in that position. Had a little come to j**** meeting after the glider pilot landed.
@@billtisdale6122 : I think it felt a lot worse than it was in reality, having never been out of position before. I was an early solo pilot at the time getting over confident, maybe?
I succumbed to a microsleep whilst driving home with a trailer after a long two days with minimal sleep. The car drifted from the inside lane to the outside and the rumble strip woke me. I fully understand the adrenaline rush comment you made, because that rush got me the last 20 minutes home. I could easily have killed my mother and myself. I've never driven tired since.
it's so easy to do. Glad it didn't end badly.
Please Like, Subscribe, Share and comment below with your story about when you've scared yourself in an airplane. Also stop by baronpilotshop.com. If you want to help support the channel visit patreon.com/baronpilot or click join above.
Typo in your domain link. I added an “r” and all is good. :) Checking out the link now.
@@bryanyoutubechannel thanks! 🙊
I was on my final cross-country flight in UK for the licence. Flew from Exeter to a grass strip on a saddleback hill. Landed fine. Got my paperwork signed. Did short field takeoff but the plane tipped violently to port, and I was staring down at the grass, with the wing tip about 10ft off it. All I could do was turn down the hill (fortunately no trees) and build my speed up before climbing away. Very lucky escape.
Another time, solo, flying north into a very strong wind at 2000ft, towards Bristol. I approached the Mendip Hills and unknowingly got caught in a downdraught. I ended up full power, pulling back as hard as possible, still heading for the hills, until I passed the downdraught and shot up dramatically! Very un-nerving. I always respected wind and hills after that!
glad it was after you got your license 🙊
Yay! You're back. As others have said, missed you.
Never too far. Just crazy busy. Nice to be missed!
It is a wonder you could takeoff with that rock on Kim's finger lol..... Been missing you guy's
I noticed that "sparkle" also. Congrats to both of you, It's about time!
It's nice to be missed. The second engine helps with payload! LOL
Good morning from Minnesota!! Great episode!
I've definitely nodded off driving. Very scary!
Thank you so much for posting this and all of your videos. They help me so much. I’ve had 2 scary incidents. I was flying back to Ft Lauderdale from Brooksville. There was a solid black ceiling at 11,000 feet. I checked weather at numerous airports which would be along my course and they all reports the same. I didn’t want to fly but I HAD TO GET THERE so I took off. Back then we didn’t have ForeFlight and weather in the cockpit like we have today. As soon as I passed the top of Lake Okeechobee I entered a thunderstorm so bad I couldn’t see the prop some real good old fashioned Florida rain. I was petrified but made a decision not to panic. I made sure I was flying straight and level. Aviate. I had a 430 so I spun to knob to tell me where the nearest airport was and luckily it was behind me. I turned to it. Navigate. Shortly after making a 180 I was out of the soup. I called out to Okeechobee traffic and informed them that I was inbound. As if there was anyone else in the pattern. Lol. Communicate. I landed safely, spent the night in a hotel and flew home the next morning. I learned a lot from that experience by sharing it with some other pilot buddies. I learned that if you fly into something like that to just make a 180 degree turn and you’ll fly right back out of it. I learned that you can figure out where the rain starts by looking at the ground and where you can no longer see the ground, that’s where the rain starts. But the most important thing I learned was that “get there itis” can be deadly and nothing is worth that. Of course now many of us are lucky enough to have some weather reported to us in our cockpits and that situational awareness component is really empowering. I certainly enjoy it. Thank you again for posting.
Great story and great lesson. Thanks for sharing. 🍻
It's great to see you dropping videos again! Many of my favorite youtubers have kinda gone dark. I am trying to get back in gear.. My queue is overflowing.
I’ve had a few scares, one was a night sortie in a OH-58A. I collided with a tree and cut it in half. Another was in a Piper Aztec. We had the left engine catch fire on takeoff and we made an immediate turn back to the runway. The wing burned off as we touched down and we set fire to the runway as we slid down it. The source of the fire could not be determined.
Holy Crap!!
I've missed those kind of videos. Thanks for sharing this flight and the insights of your pilot mindset bouncing weather. As I am no pilot I haven't had a scary moment like you've described yet. Even on the Autobahn here in Germany there was always somebody there to take over or there was enough time to take a nap at the next rest area. Greetings from St.Augustin Germany
Autobahn!!! So Jealous!! Glad you enjoy the videos!
Hey Chris, great to see you and Kim back in the Barron! Also, your reference to the Eddie Murphy comedy video raw was hilarious, I want to talk to you! Three great points you made in your video that I will use with my instrument students. Thanks a bunch as always for the great content!
Sure great to see you back in St A…
Always enjoy flying along with you guys. Years ago as a relatively new pilot I was doing circuits at night on a warm spring for my night endorsement in Canada. After about eight full stop circuits I decided to do one more and call it a night. i had noticed ground fog off to the right of the active runway during the last takeoff but it seemed to be stationary and not interfering with visibility. I got permission to take off, lined up and began to accelerate. I put my head down for an instant to check the engine instruments and when I looked up there was no runway in sight and I couldn't see any references. Shocked, I pulled the power back and contacted the tower for a "slow" taxi back to the ramp. Only after did I realize that I had avoided by a few seconds from taking off into near zero visibility.
great reaction
Flew in to an ice pellet storm @140 to get over the weather at St John’s NM in a Bellanca SuperViking with no oxygen. I did however sandblast the leading edge of every surface of the airplane on that flight.
Hi KURT lol it's Terry
That sucks
@@bikefreakstl Terry Martin??
@@kurtswihart2097 yezzir
About 20 years ago, when I was learning to fly, my instructor and I were on the final leg of a cross country in a C-150. We had just left Emporia, KS en route home to Olathe, Johnson County Executive, and could see a rain storm off to our left. At first, we appeared to be paralleling it, but as we got closer to Olathe, we could see we and it were going to converge at some point. As we continued, we thought we could beat it to the airport. However, as we were on final, and just over the numbers, about to flare, the gust front hit us from the left. In a second, we were pushed off to the right and were over the grass to the east of runway 36. I powered up and prepared to abort, but my instructor intervened. He said, “My airplane. I want to get Down!” He jammed in full left rudder, and forced us down. The landing was flat a firm to say the least. We taxied down the runway using left rudder And aileron to the first exit. The cross wind had to have been 40+ knots. The airplane was wallowing so much, my instructor thought we might have damaged the gear. He got us to parking in the middle of a severe thunderstorm, intact with no damage. He asked me later where I was going to go. I had notions of turning east and getting ahead of the storm. I think he just laughed at me. He was a retired airline pilot with MANY hours and was pretty unflappable. I’m just glad he was with me.
I was an Army IP at Ft Rucker AL 85-94, had to land at Enterprise a few times due to weather. The Army sent a few buses to pick us up! (20 IP's and 40 students) Thanks for the video!
Flying into IMC after leaving an airport where I took my FAA exam for private pilot. My Examiner tried to discourage me from flying back to my home airport, which was about 33nm away. I told her I would return if it looked bad. Not long after departing the airport, I saw a wall of white out cloud in front of me. Looking back where I left, I couldn't see the airport for the IMC conditions. So I was committed to continue to fly back. I only has a very small view of the ground directly under me. When arriving at my home airport, the clouds cleared just enough to see the runways. Even though I stayed calm, I was really on edge. Thankfully, I had flown 2.3 hrs night flight, not long before this, from KCLT to KDAN under the hood. I would never chance that again. Lesson Learned
Coming in a little high and eventually slightly fast after correction but committed to land due to conditions, knowledge of local airport and the runway length. Landed a little fast and had to use a lot more runway than normal, normal braking, cruising down to and pulling off on the last ramp. Never any true danger due to a decent length runway but got the heart pumping. Too high or too fast equals automatic go around for most situations. Just go around, you know you love to fly, so fly on. Have fun, be safe, make the right decisions and don't worry about it. Do the most conservative and right thing at all times. Flying, "hours of boring time at altitude, followed by and preceded by a few minutes of stark terror" (the takeoff and the landing) as we have heard it said by many. Every minute is fun and interesting to me even after all these years of flying.
Worst moment...3rd solo flight. Less than 12 hrs total time. Practicing touch and goes with storm approaching. Miscalculated how soon storm would reach me. I was turning base when it got a hold of my C150. Storm tossed my plane around. Strong up drafts followed by strong down drafts. Knew I was gonna die! Quickly had to compose myself and take control. Very shook after successful landing. Didn't fly again for several weeks. I became afraid of the plane. It wasn't until I came to grips acknowledging I made a bad decision and the event would never have happened otherwise. It wasn't the plane that almost killed me, it was my poor choice. That was in 1975.
Welcome back!
🙂
I have missed you two flying together and didn't even know it.🤗
Thanks for the kind words!
Glad to see a video. I was talking to a friend today about how all of my favorite aviation channels are not releasing content.
Hopefully they will soon. For now you can watch a Baron Pilot video until they do 😂😂
@@BaronPilot 😂😂 you are on the list bud. Are you going to OSH?
@@dennisnbrownalways!
@@BaronPilot catch up there!
My 1st solo and 1st approach to landing of (3). Left base leg and my windshield was quickly filling up with a Cessna Agtruck, HEAD-ON--thankfully he did a 360 and let me continue without deviation. Everything else went well. I was 18.
Flew from KTME to KCVB back to KTME. When I landed I did not want to wait behind a Duke to fuel. I decided to chance the flight back to KTME with a strong headwind and storms building. Almost starved the engine of fuel and found a fuel stop on the way. always slow down to speed up.
Slow down to speed up. So true
Great come pilot !
Apart from compulsory spin training in a Tomahawk when learning (we did that in the UK once upon a time) the scariest thing was nearly loading the Archer with Jet A1. In a hurry. Didn’t read the signs properly. One bowser looked much like the other. Thanks to the fellow pilot who sidled over and asked if l was flying a diesel powered Pa28. I could have had a field with my name on it just after takeoff. I now check, double check and re check each time I fuel up.
I was on my second solo the next day. I was landing and had to do a go around and I forgot to take out one set of flaps. I was climbing out but my airspeed would not increase even flying level. I was near stall speed. I knew to just fly straight and not turn till I got more airspeed. Finally realized about the flaps. I started then taking out the flaps and regained airspeed. I then made my crosswind turn. I was really scared. Whew! Do not ever forget to take out the first set of flaps when doing a go around.
After a couple of hours of aerobatic flying with my Ex P-38 Pilot Instructor, we were in process of landing. Coming over the threshold still around 30 feet above the pavement, the wind came around hard and pushed me over the parked aircraft at Sussex Airport in NJ. My instructor was a big guy, nearly 300lbs I'd say. So not only blow to the right, he was in the right seat and we leaned in that direction. His hand immediatly went up to the windshield as I punched the throttle and floated above these other planes about 5 to 10 feet over them. I regained power and slowly pulled up. My instructor had already given up to the crash.... I had no fear back then. At around 22 years old, I had been flying since I was 4 on dad's lap and lessons began at around 14. At 16 I was flying a few times a week. My Dad and I did wreck a 1948 Aeronca when landing in a field to take a piss. That tore landing gear off one side when we hit a set of groundhog holes and then plane laid over on it's back. We walked away and both pissed in the field... That sucked.
I'm lucky. I flew in the Army years before getting fixed wing rated, so I scared myself more times in helicopters than I have in my -182. My scariest was coming back to Fort Campbell from a cross country to upstate NY. My copilot and I decided that with very careful flight planning we could miss one fuel stop, and continue to Louisville for refuel. As we were being vectored for the approach approaching Louisville (at night) one 20 minute fuel remaining light illuminated and shortly there after the second one did. We requested and received current position direct to the runway, and ground taxied from the approach end of the runway to refuel. We made it, but I certainly learned a lesson that night.
I worked on my license for a little while..haven't completed it yet though I intend to. Anyway, when I was actively training my flight instructor (a guy I hadn't ever flown with because my regular instructor had just gotten a job with a commercial airline) and I did a short cross-country to a small controlled field to the northwest of our home airport. Once we took off we turned 20 degrees to the northwest (our left) and were essentially lined up on the runway we wanted to land on at the other airport 25 or so miles away. We called the tower 10 miles out, and with no one else in the pattern he cleared us straight in and advised us to call again at 5 miles. We called at 5 miles and were cleared to land. In the meantime, a helicopter approaching the field radioed for clearance. He reported 10 miles to the northwest of the field, meaning he was heading at us heading SE. The tower cleared him and advised of our approach saying he was cleared behind us. I remember my flight instructor commenting at the time that he thought that was odd, but we proceeded. I had the controls and was just touching us down with the intent of doing a touch-and-go. I touched down, flaps up, power in, and was just about to rotate to take off again. The helicopter crossed the runway RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. I saw the whites of the helicopter pilot's eyes as he crossed diagonally in front of us, just missing our right wing. My flight instructor screamed for the controls, while letting out an impressive string of swears because now we were being buffeted by the other guy's wash. We got in the air and tried not to have a collective heart attack. The tower was screaming at the helicopter pilot over the coms. It was wild.
Great to see Kriss and Kim in the Baron again, been a while
Decades ago I was driving back from visiting my girl in Pt. Charlotte down 41 to N. Ft. Myers. It was about 2:30 am after a day of work that started at 6:00 am. So I was many hours from my usual wake-up call of 4:30 am. Tired. Blasting the A/C on max with the tunes turned up to an insane level was not cutting it.
I awoke to find myself in my driveway with the motor running on my truck. I could not remember turning on Pine Tree Rd or any of the other steps from US 41 to my driveway. Nor how long I had been idling in my driveway. It’s been four decades since that trip (or even more sadly, the girlfriend - she was special) but I remember the night and the morning real well but not the missing 10 minutes in the middle. Even as tired as I was it took a couple of hours to calm down enough to fall asleep. Learned my lesson.
Flying over the NC mountains. Got into rollers that pushed me down and ground speed dropped below 45 mph. Then picked me up and increased elevation by 3k feet. It was a harrowing 30 minutes that day.
Not fun!!
Thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching
Scared? Yep. Flew with that "gotta get there" attitude: low fuel in a C-140 (tail dragger) such that after landing, on roll-out, the engine quit. I thought about landing at an alternate just to get a few gallons to get home, but didn't.
Night VFR, wasn't paying particular attention and suddenly realized I was disoriented and had no idea which direction I was headed. Great instructor had advised if that ever happened, as long as the plane was ok (and it was), just sit there, gather my wits and figure it out. Slowly used VFR references and VOR (it was in the early 1980's so thats what I had). Eventually found I was exactly where I had intended to be but it was a good lesson.
Night adds way more complexity than people realize. Great advise he gave you.
I have fallen asleep on final approach and woke up just in time,...most times. Fortunately it was on my flight sim MFS2020 so,...ya. No real P.P. L. For this guy! Staying grounded!😊
I was solo training, prior to my private license, flying at 4,500-ft. and I decided to perform a couple of power-on stalls. As I pushed the throttle-to-the-metal and pulled hard on the wheel the Cessna 150 just stood vertical hanging on the prop. Just then the stall broke and the plane did a perfect wingover. That REALLY scared the poop out of me! But pulling a little too hard coming out of a short spin G-dive both doors on the Cessna popped open! Obviously, a little too much stress on the airframe. That REALLY, REALLY scared to poop out of me. Anyway, safely landed and fifty years later still talking about the experience.😵💫
Luckily I haven’t had any crazy mistakes yet but I’m still a low time pilot. One of the scariest things that happened to me so far was I almost got myself stuck in IMC while VFR. It was a case of get-there-itis. Luckily I caught myself and diverted. The scary part was realizing how easy it is to make bad decisions while in the moment. In hindsight it’s very easy to know what the right call would have been and luckily I made that call. Definitely made me a much better pilot.
Funny story that scared me was on my solo XC during training. As I was approaching my destination I put my mixture to full rich while descending. I realized I was still a bit high for full rich so I leaned at a low power setting. I was on about a 15 mile final and felt I was still high for the approach and pulled out some power. The engine started to sputter and I immediately looked for a place to land then went through my flows and quickly enough I realized I leaned the mixture too much and quickly threw it right back to rich and all was good 😂
Had a fairly close one with a straight in when I was on base. Not fun, won't ever forget that one.
I can relate to that
I have a biennial flight review tomorrow...hopefully I won't scare my instructor! LOL...
I'm sure you wont. LOL
I departed KTTD, made my turn to the south to leave the traffic pattern. Apparently I fell asleep shortly after leveling off at 1000 AGL. I woke up with my head hung down. I was only out for a minute but it sure taught me a lesson. My friend Tom, another pilot/instructor was with me in the left seat. He saw me jolt awake and asked, “Did you have a nice nap?” This happened over twenty years ago and I have never flown tired again.
Like me you learned quick! LOL
As a glider pilot my first out landing gave me a slack feeling in the scrotum, but I was 17years old at the time the landing was good no damage to aircraft or me. I learnt about flying that day
Took my son out of school for his birthday to go flying our C172 in the local area. Overcast day in the late winter/early spring. Ceiling was measured and predicted to stay above 5000 ft. But was not the case. While transiting from nearby airport back to home the ceiling started coming down and about 8 miles from home we were scud running at 500' AGL. Windshield iced up. I stayed calm but all those very bad scenarios and thoughts went through my mind, especially since I had my young son with me. I could see out the side windows and down to the ground so I made a plan to slip it in on landing but didn't know if that would work. This adrenaline pumping went on for what seemed like an eternity with my mind racing. I sent up many prayers! And then, as if on que I could see that the avionics vent fan on top of the dashboard had melted me a 3" square hole in the ice where I could see enough to land the plane safely. I NEVER did that again and now take my preflight and weather planning very seriously! No, my son never had a clue we were in trouble.
My Scary... While VFR at night, I entered a cloud that I didn't see until I was in it. Immediately rolled into a standard rate left turn, away from terrain. Time compresses, 1 minute feels like an eternity when executing a 180.
Good to see a video! It seems like you make a lot less videos than you used too!
Just been busy. Trying to catch up
Your airplane is awesome and the instruments are super cool. I’m a sailor but rekindling my interest in aviation, along with my girlfriend. I’ll subscribe to your channel now that I’ve discovered it. Cheers!
Welcome to the channel and thanks for subscribing!
As a passenger on a large aircraft only 2 things come to mind: The scariest was multiple missed approaches to NAS Norfolk, VA in a C9 due to heavy fog. Ultimately we diverted to MCAS Cherry Point NC to wait for the weather to clear. The second was a landing at Chicago O'Hare during thunderstorms. The wings were flapping and the ride was exhilarating. Other passengers were crying, screaming and thinking we were going to not make it. I was laughing with my arms up like riding a rollercoaster. The guy next to me on the plane went to a rental car desk to drive back to BWI. He worked for FAA and told me he was never flying again.
Sadly, your get-home-itis hits home as that is what happened to my father and uncle in May 2014 when they flew their Mooney into the side of Howell Mountain just east of Yellowstone. They were flying from Cody, WY to Twin Falls, ID. They had weather issues and were about 50 feet too low to clear the mountain.
That's super sad, I'm sorry for your loss. A consolation: a beautiful place to rest, in peace.
Dropped flight following from long island NY to MHT at 2500 ft. with chart in right seat, looking for area left n right and when I looked up from my chart there was a guy looking right in front of me. I instantly it knew twas a skydiver (scf to 10000 ft). Power back, looked up, no one else and dove to 500 AGL. I was shaking so bad!
Thanks.
Handy Hint for your Bug issue. In the British Military we used to use Avon Skin So Soft to keep the Bugs away when you first hear of it you think it is an Old Wives Tale but it really does work In Jungles and Swamps around the world
Just bought a 2004 Baron 58. KLQK.
NICE!! Congradulations
@@BaronPilot Was an owner operator in A phenom 100. Missions have changed a bit and the Baron fits the spot!
@@greghall9141 oh I would miss the Phenom. But I understand missions changing.
It wasn't me .... I knew of a guy (friend of a friend of a friend) who decades ago would fly from Florida to the northeast several times a year in his twin. His route was off the coast and out of the way of most ATC. So he would have a clock with an alarm set for when he needed to contact ATC upon arrival. He would intentionally sleep during the flight. CRAZY !!! Think he has since passed away due to age.
Well that's dangerous.
Wasn't flying but going from Minnesota to Colorado I was driving a 24' Uhaul and I fell asleep in Kansas and woke up in Colorado...will never rely on coffee to keep me awake again...I don't think I drove more than 5 miles while unconscious but t h at was enough for me!
Talented
always enjoy your flights. We just moved down from ID, sold a Jetprop when we arrived but buying an Acclaim to be based at KPGD. Learning from your tactical approach to convective weather, really nothing like it in the NW part of the country. Should be a learning experience
Glad they help.
wanting to avoid bumping into something embedded
Scariest thing I've done is unintentionally fly into clouds on my first passenger XC flight from TMB to EYW with only five flight hours post-checkride (50hrs). Literally a brand new private pilot! Halfway into the flight at 3,000, I got distracted and next thing I knew I was surrounded by clouds. Thankfully these were not fully formed CBs, but they were enough for me to lose ground reference. My first dumb thought was to descend below the clouds. But after descending to 1,500 and still seeing no ground, I stopped the decent and thought "maintain course and attitude and just fly the plane straight and level." I was in the clouds for about 30 seconds, but it was the longest 30 seconds of my life. My passengers were none the wiser, but I certainly was. When we got back, I called my instructor and told on myself (holding myself accountable). He gave me a well-deserved chewing out, but I preferred that to a casket.
Good videos! I lived in Jax Beach for a while. Was in St. Augustine a couple months ago. Are you also flying a Lear 60 now?
I was a 19ish student pilot back in the '80s, out on a solo building hours in a 172. I flew out to a lake I was very familiar with and decided to fly low over it, but I approached too fast, in too steep a descent, and had to pull way too hard on the yoke to recover. Scared the crap out of myself and never tried anything that stupid again.
That will do it!
I hope training is still going well
Will wrap up her series soon.
Chris, your humor is the same as mine "Sarcastic humor", that's how I met my wife !
One trick an instructor taught me in the event I was sleepy on a cross country was to put my finger up into a handle or handgrip of the airplane. Then if I fell asleep, my finger would let go dropping my arm and thereby waking me up.
took off from Dodge Kansas on my Solo Cross Country Back Home to Wichita and Forgot to calculate DA. Did not climb very well.
So far, doing my first power-on stall and forgetting to take my right foot off the rudder. Soon as the stall broke the plane banked hard to the right and my CFI had to grab the yoke and level us out. Never made that mistake again!
My scary moment I had just completed my solo and was making my secon solo to Santa Barbra. On my return I was using flight following, and I was going to transision SFR over LAX . I checked ATIS for TOA and all was good so I began my turn to SFR all was good. When I got to the other side the weather Marine Layer had closed in and I was still with flight following but I was clearly VFR on top with a solid cloud layer below. Flight Following kept trying to release me finally with emphatic desporation the controller said the field is 6 milen straight ahead and released me to TOA control. I was preparing to return to Van Nuys back thru SFR. But the controller said the field is right there. I spoted a sucker hole and went for it and contacted TOA "entering on the down wind " "Negative I have traic in the down wind make 360 for separation. I did now below the deck and I spoted the other trafic about 1 1/2 miles ahead on the downwind made the landing but frecked out. TOA is tower training facility they asked me to taxi to base of tower. I did and they met me I figured that would be the last time they would allow me to fly, but they were very nice and took me up in the tower where three people wre review tapes. They explained alot of things I could have done and should have done, but then said the controller should never have done what he did. I dont know if he got in trouble I hope not but the FAA does not provide that information, I learned they are all safe and sound on the groud and I alone can fly the plane. I review I would have demanded climb to SFR again and return to Van Nuys.
One of the worst mistakes I ever made was simply taking off. This was before I got my PPL. Wanted to do my cross-country solo but the weather was too poor. Figured I could at least do solo pattern work, and the crosswind was just under my endorsed limit. As soon as I got over the tree line, it was like the plane got kicked from the side. What the AWOS didn't tell me was that it was incredibly gusty that day. I rode a bucking bronco around the pattern, somehow managed a stable approach until about 5 ft over the runway where the headwind changed and dropped me right on the runway. Then the plane weathervaned into the wind and it took all I had to (barely) keep it on the runway. Taxied straight back to the tie-down to call it a day.
Lessons learned: Get a feel for the weather yourself. No matter what the AWOS said, I should have known to expect the gusts. Also, though I had dealt with crosswinds before I didn't expect the plane to weathervane into the wind so strongly once the wheels were down. Finally, since I just fly for fun, I have no business going up on a day like that. It's not fun.
Really enjoyed this video. How are you capturing the ForeFlight footage while flying?
I had single engine failures on two separate occasions due to fuel system issues (1 solo, 1 w/ CFI) before receiving my PPL.
That will get your attention
I was climbing out in a MD-80, it was a night flight & overcast from about 2500' all the way up to maybe 190' & I was the Captain on The Flight. I had Autopilot on & I was just enjoying the ride. As We began to break through the Clouds I spotted what looked like Landing Lights directly in front of us. I actually contacted ATC & asked them if They were following any other Aircrafts or if anyone else was up there & descending near us. They replied "Negative," & indicated that the Sky was Our's & cleared us to 370' as we completely broke through the Overcast. There still were those "Landing Lights" that seemed to be on a colision course with us. I had a brief discussion about it with my F-O, who agreed that it appeared to be another aircraft, & I was about to turn the Autopilot Off & take evasive action when The F-O said, "Oh, I know what that is,,," & He explained that Mars & Jupiter, or a couple of Our Planetary Neighbors were passing soclose to each other, at least from our perspective on Earth & They were appearing to be One Giant Planet in Our Sky. I think that I took my first breath in about Three Minutes. He said that he'd read that in the Newspaper just that morning, but had initially forgotten about it when I asked Him if that appeared to him to be The Landing Lights of another Aircraft at Our 12 O'clock Position. I believe that it's called a "Conjunction" when two extraterrestrial Bodies pass so close to one another from Our Earthly Perspective that they appear to be One Single Body, But That Night I Just Called It TERRIFYING!!! LOL!!! 😄
Taking off in questionable wx, this was way before all the tablet app stuff, in a King Air 90. The worst turbulence I ever experience, negative G's, everything kept flying up, pens, coffee cups, the bucket. I thought that I was about to go west/fly west....
Chris I love the way you BUST her shops! Hope to meet you Both at Osh.
Glad you appreciate my humor. See you there!!
Flying a sailplane and was thermaling over a brush fire. Got too low, below 300' and lost sight of the airport. Burning embers coming into cockpit through the vent. Started heading in direction of airport and was constantly getting small 50 to 100 fpm lift. Regained altitude and returned ok.
I hope you light the smell of burning wood. LOL