Student Pilot Illegal Operation
Before I went on Army active
duty, I logged about 30 hours of flying.
That included 8 hours of solo cross-country time, always to places where
I did not have to talk on the radio.
I did one illegal operation
in that 30 hours.
I took Stan Wright-Hay for a ride.
I came up with a plan. I
went to the flight school at
The weekend before I called
So the next weekend, I rented
the
On the approach to this dirt
airstrip, I blow the approach. I am
too high. I put the plane into a
severe forward slip to rapidly lose altitude, while not gaining speed, but I am
too late entering that maneuver.
Next to the ground I come out of the slip and aligned the craft for the
touchdown. I touched down at about
mid-field on this 2000 foot strip.
I am panicky about stopping before the end of runway. I jam both heals down on the independent
brakes but my foot slips off the left one.
The plane ground loops. My
life flashes before my eyes as I pray for forgiveness. We are pivoting to the right on the
right wheel. I
havethe stick full right trying to keep the left wing
from hitting the ground. God
please be good to me this day!. The pivoting stops and we careen off
heading perpendicular to the runway, out into the brush, and come to a
stop. After taking a few deep
breaths, I taxi back to the runway, and on to the
runway to the approach end. We look
all around. We do not see a single
person. Somehow with the engine
running, Stan and I change seats.
Now I have a new challenge.
I have never piloted from the rear seat. Being a taildragger, I can not see but out the side windows. Oh well, my instructor does it. So I jam the throttle full in. With my eyes moving left and right, I
kept us going straight. Then I
force the stick forward lifting the tail off the ground. Now dancing along on the two front
tires, me pumping the rudder pedals, to keep the
longitudinal axis pointed down the runway, I can sight along Stan’s left ear and
see down the runway and also see the airspeed indicator on the left side of the
panel. At 60 I lowered the tail a
little and we are airborne. After
awhile with Stan working the controls, I head back to Whiteman.
God is my co-pilot. Experience is my teacher. I learn flying one incident at a
time.
I take Stan back to Whiteman, drop him off, and then return to the plane to