Ive seen a lot of stupid stuff happen when I was involved with aviation. The one that really got me was a cheif pilot of a charter operation with a faa eaaminer rating trying to start up an taxi a twin aircaft that was on jacks and the tire off the one landing gear. Luckily he only got the one engine started before everyone was waving at him to shut it down.
Now that must have meen one heck of a fast preflight.
John
Naah, just adventureous. It can be a lot of fun. I remember jumping from an H-19 (Sikorsky S-55 in olive drab) at about 10K in the 60's when I decided it would be a hoot to climb up the outside of the aircraft and wave bye to the aircrew. The wide-eyed look I got was priceless.
And then there was the Beaver passing through 4k over Ft Rucker airfield when the engine momentarily lost putt-putt. I think the pilot said a magneto failed and after he switched to the other and turned to tell everyone it was okay he discovered he was the only occupant. The four of us all waved to a very surprised tower operator as we passed by (some
100-200' from his window). And yes we all did "stand ups" right in front of the terminal building.And there can be times when it isn't so much fun. A gagle of us all tried to exit an aircraft at once for some relative work. I caught something during the exit and damaged the ripcord where it attached to the stiffner to the point that I couldn't pull at 3500. The reserve worked fine and everything was peachy keen until I realized that the landing would be smack dab in the middle of a very smelly swamp. Of course everyone wanted to hear what happened, but only if I stayed down wind. Even a year later and after several washings there was still "hint of swamp" from my gear on a damp day.
I read about one jump plane, a DC-3, that stalled and went into a spin when the jumpers all walked to the back to leave. Apparently the pilot had let it get a bit slow just before the jump zone. A few jumpers managed to climb up to the door and bail out, but most had to ride it down. The pilot managed to recover and land OK. I suspect there were a number of scrapped jump suits in the trash after that. Certainly some of them needed laundry.
-- Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)
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