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The local tycoon and chief egotist at the small airport I instructed at one summer had a 195 with a "shaky jake" 350 HP Jacobs and crosswind landing gear that he could barely stay ahead of. Over the years it was in the shop three different times for crumpled wingtips or collapsed landing gear. The first week I was there (young and foolish) he offered me a ride while he practiced crosswind touch and goes. The airport was in a valley with wicked turbulence, the paved runway was only 30 feet wide, and the grass alongside was soggy and soft. He barely kept the plane under control and came close to losing it at least three times on every circuit. I managed to hang on and keep my mouth shut through 3 T&Gs until he decided he'd had enough, but I never did that again. Years later, he became an instructor, and a pretty good one, but he never truly mastered the 195, and never sold it either. When he couldn't fly anymore he parked it outside his bedroom window.They wrecked a beautiful Cessna 195 on our airport several years back. A highly talented and very experienced pilot I know said he had flown it and it nearly got away from him.
he never truly mastered the 195,
He had a Super Cub for that.Maybe it was the perfect airplane to put on floats.
He probably foolishly thought he could avoid buying a new prop, engine, and nosegear assembly. 210s have minimal prop clearance with the nose strut compressed and lots of weight on the nosewheel. If taxied off pavement onto soft ground at anything faster than a cautious slow walk, they are apt to dig in the nosewheel causing a prop strike, and possibly a nosegear collapse, a sudden-stop bent crankshaft, and maybe even a buckled firewall. Hull value drops to near zero for anything other than a brand new bird.one day, with the PAFB ATIS reporting winds 29 kts G 35 kts out of 060 a guy in a Cessna 210 decided the correct runway to use was 29. He did a great job getting it on the numbers but then could not stop, and foolishly decided to try to make a 90 deg turn at the end of the runway rather than just going out onto the ample grass overrrun.
There've been times when I've picked up the mike and asked if a "tailwinder" had looked at the tetrahedron or one of the windsocks and then suggested it appeared the wind wasn't favoring the pilot's chosen runway. We frequently got students stopping in on solo cross countries who would make that mistake.When I saw him fly by, I turned on the radio, heard him announce downwind for 29 and thought, "Nothing to do now but walk down to the end of the hangar row and watch the wreck.
You had a radio, and didn't make a call?Well, he no doubt did not think to check the AFB ATIS for WX; I did it every time I flew, before we got an AWOS. How he decided a strong quartering tailwind was preferable, I do not know. When I saw him fly by, I turned on the radio, heard him announce downwind for 29 and thought, "Nothing to do now but walk down to the end of the hangar row and watch the wreck."
When I realized he was going to make a very high speed turn toward my side of the runway, I suddenly wished I had not decided to attend the festivities.
Better hope the pilot's lawyer didn't know you had that option and didn't use it!You had a radio, and didn't make a call?
I watched a Hawker Hunter land wheels-up, with one of the ground crew watching with hand-held radio held firmly in his hand. He didn't last much longer after that.Better hope the pilot's lawyer didn't know you had that option and didn't use it!
True, but if you're at an airport with no tower or ATIS, where Unicom is the CTAF, and you transmit wind, runway, or altimeter information over the Unicom, you have just given an airport landing advisory, like it or not. Pilots accustomed to ATC will take it as a directive rather than an advisory, and you can be held responsible for the consequences. That's why I always refrained from giving specific wind and runway information and cued pilots to observe indications and conditions and act accordingly.telling a pilot his gear isn't down isn't a landing advisory, likewise, re-iterating information that is on the ATIS is ensuring that the pilot has current info.
Sorry about the girls. The "Photos" and "Drive" apps are on strike on my android today and I can't do anything with images. I had a good one to post, but I can't seem to access it.But, there aren't any girls or women involved in this discussion....
Harry Lehman's son still lives near there. My father grew up on Beacon Hill Road and got his first airplane ride from Franklin Reid whose father owned the airport.Beacon Field! On US 1 south of Alexandria. Now Beacon Mall - or least it was when I lived near there. The owner of the field bought Hyde Field in Maryland across the river; I kept my Ercoupe there.