Strange Things Students Do

captain_v1.0 · Post by **captain_v1.0** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 3:42 pm

Just wondering if some current or former instructors or students care to share any stories from their teaching or training days. And don't be afraid to rat out another instrutor of flying buddy because those are some of the best tales of all.

I had one student who would key the mike and xmit a "DING!" everytime ATC asked for an ident, another guy folded his VNC into a hat during our xcountry and wore it the rest of the way.

There was one $marta$$ who took off on her first solo in the left seat and when I met her back at the taxiway to pick me up she was sitting on the right which sort of explains why it was more of a triangle.

WRX · Post by **WRX** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 4:27 pm

I donot like to talk about the student but... I guess the strangest thing that happened was doing 6 PERFECT circuits in a row at first try.

captain_v1.0 · Post by **captain_v1.0** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:01 pm

NP wrx, but everyone makes mistakes, take me for instance I still make alot but at least I learn from them. Once I flared at 50' in a PA44 so it's not just students.

MRO · Post by **MRO** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:42 pm

I had one student who got so nervous on the radios that he would pinch his arm every time he made a call. He was holding the push to talk with one hand and pinching his forearm with the other. He arm was always red by the end of the flight.

Right Seat Captain · Post by **Right Seat Captain** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:03 pm

One of my first flights as an instructor, we were doing a simple X-country. I had failed to notice a gentle 90 degree turn, since the landscape all looked the same. On my map, things were still where they were supposed to be, but as it turned out, they were not. There was just a lot of towns with the same landmarks around it as where we were supposed to be going. At our destination, there was a town on river, that had a big bridge crossing it. Where we ended up also had the same looking town, on a different river with a bridge crossing it. So we went looking for the airport, and to my surprise, it was not there.

We after some looking, I finally called up center (we were uncontrolled for our trip), and asked if they could lend a hand. I was turning it into a lesson of what to do if you don't know where you are. They told us where we were, and I was really surprised, and quite embarrased. They gave us a vector to get us to where we wanted to be.

The next time the student came by, he bought himself a GPS. Since then, I have yet to hear the end of it from my colleagues, and someone suggested I call up Garmin and offer my services as a salesman.

mellow_pilot · Post by **mellow_pilot** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:47 pm

This is more of a strange things instructors do, but given that last few posts, it seems acceptable. It was during my private training in Quebec City. My instructor and I were doing stalls. We had just completed the air work and were going to head back to the airport, but we had ended up over a "scattered layer" which seemed a bit more like broken to me, but hey, he's the instructor. So anyway, we find a hole and he tells me to drop the flaps to full and start a rapid descent through the hole. I've got the sucker in a tight descending turn at about 60 knots, trying desperately to stay away from the clouds. Well folks, the Katana didn't want to drop fast enough, so after a quick check for traffic and a mixture moved to full rich, he says ok, spin it down below the cloud deck. Aye, aye sir. Apperently I wasn't fast enough because a very emphatic "DO IT NOW" came from the seat beside me. He's in a big hurry to drop this puppy, well ok, I can do that.

So the stick goes from about half rearward travel to full aft and left aileron, glider entry styles. Simultaineously the rudder snaps right. The airplane grudgingly wallows it's way through a rotation or two and sort of settles out at a very nose high attitude with one wing low and the stall horn complaining in my headset. That was weird. Both sets of eyes start to search the cockpit for the cause of the strange reaction from the plane. Our gaze falls on the flap selector at the same instant. I guess we'll just select that to the up position... It was a great lesson on why checklists are to be followed before manouvers. Bottom line, aggressively spinning a Katana with full flap is an uncomfortable thing to do.

PS The incident was not reported, which I now know is a huge problem! If you F### up, tell someone.

hazatude · Post by **hazatude** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:52 pm

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/offer- ... ition=all/

Mornazinomoretuzzi · Post by **Mornazinomoretuzzi** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 6:54 am

I still remember it like it was yesterday first time doing spins with what I now know was a "green" instructor. Lightly loaded 152 I was aggressive on the entry, he panicked and crammed the throttle home after the first rotation. Shook his head pulled it to idle and told me to recover. Did not say a word about it later, his face was bright red the whole way home

. Felt a little badly for him.

BTD · Post by **BTD** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:11 pm

Haha,.... That last one is pretty funny.

I have probably just had the normal ones everyone else has had.

Ask student to recover from a spiral. They cram full power (power was about 1/2 i think)

Power off stall with lots of flaps, wing drops, student moves to correct with rudder but applies rudder in direction of drop. Look out spin here I come!!!

No harm done by either. Just causally sit there and guide them through. If they knew how to do it already. I'd be out of a job

I love it though.

mculshaw · Post by **mculshaw** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:18 pm

Best one for me was in the circuit in a 172...

Student is doing their downwind check.
Primer
Master
Mags
Carb Heat - Push In
Mixture - Pull Out

WOAH
- I look at him
- He looks at me
The engine sputters!
we both push the mixture rich.

He'll never confuse the carb heat and the mixture again

MC

Older Returning Pilot · Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:33 pm

I was training an RCMP member up in Northern Alberta, so between the 2 of us and 1/2 fuel, we were just inside the utility area for the plane. We were out practising spins, so I showed the student the way to enter them and recover, he stated he wa ready to give it a try, well everything up to the entry was good, but upon entry intio the spin, to this day I have no idea what happened, we where upside down in a full spin, I took control and recovered, and we did another spin, with no problem. The next day me and the CP went out and tried to get the 152 to do the same thing to no avail, we were both aerobatic endorsed, so we did things to that little plane, I am pretty sure Cessna had never seen, but we could not get that a/c to go full upside in the spin, even using aelerons. Any Ideas????

Mornazinomoretuzzi · Post by **Mornazinomoretuzzi** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:41 pm

Inverted flat spin in a 152

!!!!! I would have needed a new pair of trousers. I have heard a story or two about this in a Pitts. Although, I do not believe the pilot was even intending to do a spin. Maybe CofG panic and forward stick at the wrong time??? Sounds like and adventure...

How many turns?

Justwannafly · Post by **Justwannafly** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 7:25 pm

Inverted flat spin in a 152 !!!!!
EEK!!!!

Gybouski · Post by **Gybouski** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 11:34 pm

is an inverted flat spin in a 52 possible?!?!?! ahahahahahaha thats awesome.

umm.... my most stupid moment when i was training was not being able to tell my instructor how you would identify if the engine restarted in a zlin during a restart after an engine failure... so he pulled the mixture and said lets play this one out for dramatic effect... hahaha. and no we didnt pile it into the trees we restarted it... eventually.

BTD · Post by **BTD** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:37 am

Gybouski,.....who was that instructor? You can PM me if you'd like.

BTD · Post by **BTD** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:38 am

By the way.... I'm just curious, I'm not going to go and tell.

Where'd who go? · Post by **Where'd who go?** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:31 am

TTJJ · Post by **TTJJ** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:45 pm

It has been a while since stories like these have been posted. I miss them.

Here is the AvCanada thread of the same topic about 7 months ago.

Keep them stories coming!

http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=5494

Spader · Post by **Spader** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:02 pm

I once had a student panic and forget all that he learned while on his first solo. The 2 flights before, I did not have to say anything and he showed me probaby 12 near perfect circuits so I was fairly confidnent in sending him up solo.

So I got out on the ramp and off he went while I went up to the tower to montitor his performance from up there. He did his run-up and then got permission to taxi on the runway and and take off. He did a good climb out, and good crosswind turn, but then I noticed he did not make a turn onto downwind where he should have. He just kept going and going on the crosswind untill finaly I asked the controller to call him an tell him to turn. He called and asked him to turn but there was no response and no turn. So we called again and waited and then called again, not getting any response. by this time he was way out there, and of course I am in a big panic trying to figure out what he was doing. Finally after what seemed like half an hour ( was actually only about 10 min.) he calls the tower and reports that he was in our practice area and had made a few mistakes. I got on the radio and talked him back to the airport where he did a succesful landing.

What had happened was, he was so nervous about his first flight that he tried to switch to our outer tower frequency after take-off (used when leaving the airport). He had the wrong frequency set in the radio so we could not get a hold of him. He usually used a tower to mark where he turns downwind, but was so busy inside the cockpit that he missed the tower and just kept going. Once he saw some of the landmarks in the practice area he knew someting was wrong, fixed the radio and called us.

A 6 min single circuit turned into a almost 25 min flight. When he got back on the ground and out of the airplane it looked like he had just taken a shower becaue he was sweating so much. We now look back at that and laugh because he is now one of the better pilots I know.

BTD · Post by **BTD** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:29 am

Lol, Does that count as a succesful solo on the Instructor forms???

Blue Side Down · Post by **Blue Side Down** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:52 am

Mornazituzzi wrote: I have heard a story or two about this in a Pitts. Although, I do not believe the pilot was even intending to do a spin. ?

The inverted flat spin is a perfectly normal maneuver for some aircraft, including the Pitts. Spinning a spam can with power on, now that's scary... (keep an eye on those wings- oh wait, where'd they go?)

Mornazinomoretuzzi · Post by **Mornazinomoretuzzi** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:58 am

BSD, What is the procedure to enter the inverted flat spin? Better yet, what is the recovery???

TI-ANB · Post by **TI-ANB** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 4:16 pm

mculshaw wrote:Best one for me was in the circuit in a 172...

Student is doing their downwind check.
Primer
Master
Mags
Carb Heat - Push In
Mixture - Pull Out

WOAH
- I look at him
- He looks at me
The engine sputters!
we both push the mixture rich.

He'll never confuse the carb heat and the mixture again

MC

I did that one once...

Blue Side Down · Post by **Blue Side Down** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:32 pm

Pm sent

Mornazinomoretuzzi · Post by **Mornazinomoretuzzi** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:24 am

Nice, and do not fret, what I fly will never be doing one of those...

Strange Things Students Do

Strange Things Students Do

OOPS

hah