Quote:
Originally Posted by wooohooo
I'm pretty interested in all these flying stories
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I only have one that might be considered "interesting"
My instructor was a family friend and took me up for training when he had time away from his real flying job (EPA) anyway, one afternoon on a crapy drizzly day were flying his 172 at about 7k when..wham, engine burps,coughs and quits. Don quickly took the controls,trys restarting the engine with no luck and radioed Sydney airport with mayday and tells them he's going to have to find a road after we get under the clouds. I am absolutely freaked at this point and all Don says is don't worry kid this happened to me over the channel twice (he was a WWII vet) and this plane glides better than a hurricane and I made it back both times. (didn't help me for some reason)
Anyway, we descend out of the clouds at about 2k and the only road in site was a small little dirt road but it was lined with poles so Don tells me "buckle up tight" were going land in that field over there, "it's nice and flat" I can't even explain how scared i was but he seemed calm as hell.
Don cranks the flaps way down to get as slow as possible ( hard to slow a dead-stick plane as the prop actually usually acts as an air-brake when its spinning) we touch down at about 70 knots and everything was fine except the bumps and the damn barbwire fence that we couldn't avoid!!!
The thing almost flipped us it stopped us so fast but we were all-right and I let out a big woohoo and for some reason I felt the need to get the hell out of that plane very fast, I jump out slip on the wet grass and go chest first into a big sloppy cow paddy.
I'll never forget that day and mostly because everytime I can smell a cow field I think of it.