Twin engine charter with 4 coworkers and we ran out of gas, seriously.

quote:

Originally posted by 08 Cayenne:
Twin engine charter with 4 coworkers and we ran out of gas, seriously.

Those confusing fuel gauges, man. E means you have extra

I've told this story before, it isn't necessarily bad, but is amusing and amazing to me.

My dad was a pilot and we owned several planes. He probably owned a plane for over 25 years. Either he didn't own one at the time, his was being repaired, or he didn't want to put hours on his, so he rented one for a business trip.

His business was in the Carolinas, and my mom and I were travelling to Florida to visit my grandfather. It was around 1969, and I was 15. He planned to drop us at Charlottesville or the like to catch a commercial flight to Naples, Florida, then continue to his destination.

He wasn't completely familiar with the rental plane and suddenly with alarm, he starts messing with the tanks switches and an appeal to "Find an airport!" I look out the window and spot one immediately, point to it and say: "Right there!" We land quickly at a small airport with no manager or gas. My dad quickly realizes he's not flying out of this airport until he has fuel delivered, which eventually came in 55 gallon drums. There is two guys in a Bonanza he procures to take us to catch our commercial flight, for $50.

On the way to the airport, the pilot is in touch with the terminal informing them he's bringing two ticketed passengers for the airliner preparing to depart. We land very close to departure time, so to ensure the plane doesn't leave without us, the pilot parks the Bonanza in front of the airliner. We get off the Bonanza with our luggage, walk up the stairs of the airliner, the attendants take our luggage and show us our seats. The plane departed the terminal about 10 minutes later.

Me and my mom are one of few commercial passengers to fly without entering the terminal.

OK ... Since "ugeesta" is a good sport after I made fun of him, I'll share my two ...

1) About fifteen years ago, my sister got married at Duke University, so a bunch of us flew down from MN - there were two flights coming home that Sunday after the wedding - tired and hungover I jumped on the early one ( 8:00 AM ? ) - I think the second flight was at 1:00 PM.

Anyway, winter storm warning in MN - I'm up against the window and feel like shit. We circle Minneapolis for an hour and end up landing in Duluth for gas. Screwed around and finally land in Minneapolis.

My cousins, who took the 1:00 flight, beat me home. I borderline had a meltdown.

2) Was doing an externship in Huntington, WV, when I was going to school in Chicago. Was flying to WV in a little 30 seat twin prop plane with about 8 people on board and it's rough as shit - about 5 out of 8 were puking their guts out and the entire plane stunk - for some reason it didn't bother me. Not a fun one.

MDS

I’ve got a couple. First was our honeymoon. We decided to visit St Thomas. I was still in residency and my wife was working as an assistant prosecutor. Needless to say we were on a budget. I went through whatever budget websites I could find and put together the trip. We landed in San Juan PR and had our final flight to STT. The airport in San Juan is an interesting place. If they were going for 50’s retro they nailed it. Unfortunately it was built in the 50’s and it hasn’t been touched since. No big deal though as we’re only there for a couple of hours. I thought it was odd when we checked in and they asked us each what we weighed and and also weighed our carryons. It’s getting dark and it’s starting to rain a bit. They announce a flight delay. There is a tv monitor in the corner with radar on it so I check it out. As I’m standing there a younger guy (I was 28 at the time) walks over and says “what do you think?” I said I’m not a meteorologist but it doesn’t look good. He replies “I think we can make it, let’s go”. He is the pilot! So we walk out on the tarmac to this massive 7 seat plane! Our seats are assigned based on our weight with one passenger sitting beside the pilot. Our other passengers are a new crew coming to work at the refinery and they’ve had some time waiting in the airport lounge and enjoyed a drink or four. The pilot fires up the first engine without trouble. The second engine fires but sounds awful. One of the refinery guys speaks up and says this sounds like his old 75 Chevy, and that thing never ran worth a shit! We take off and the next 30-40 minutes were about as scary as could be. We landed safely but it was interesting flight.

Second was on the return flight from PR to Charlotte. Cruising along and the overhead comes on: any medical professionals on the plane please raise your hand. I look around and no hands so I raise my hand and told to report to the back of the plane. The attendant points to an elderly lady in a seat says she thinks she’s having a seizure. I check for a pulse and find nothing. We lay her in the floor and start CPR. About that time a nurse, a respiratory therapist, and a willing volunteer/boy scout leader with recent CPR training appear and offer to help. The scout starts compressions. The attendant asks me what I need to which I reply “what have you got?” She hands me a stethoscope which is of limited use. We get the AED and hook it up. No shockable rhythm after 2 minutes continue CPR. They then ask me if I want the drugs. They have a small black case with 3 vials, epinephrine, lidocaine and something else I can’t remember. I ask for the epi and the nurse says how much. I reply “syringe full”. Another non shockable rhythm and continue CPR. They don’t have stuff for an IV so I stuck the epi in the IJ. Next pulse check, shockable rhythm! We fire the AED and continue CPR. The attendant hands me the phone with the pilot who says he can have on the ground in Charleston SC in 12 minutes. EMS is waiting for us when we arrive and removed the lady from the plane. At one point during the process the lady’s husband walked back after he realized it was his wife having the medical issue. We had him seated facing forward quickly as we didn’t need two people in trouble. Afterward one of the attendants spoke up and said she was worried when everyone boarded because the lady couldn’t make it all the way to her seat without stopping for a break. Unfortunately the story doesn’t end there. We sit in Charleston SC for a bit before resuming our trip to Charlotte. They announce they’ve contacted everyone’s connecting flights and they are waiting for us. We are going on to Charleston WV which means our connection is at the other end of the airport. We ran all the way and arrived at the desk. The plane was still there. The staff inform us the gate is already closed. I was tired, frustrated and had to be back at work the next morning. There was no gate! This was a small plane where the door functioned as steps to board. No go. My wife calmed me down as she reminded me we were both alive and well unlike the couple we dropped off in Charleston SC. We get a room in Charlotte but ironically our luggage made the plane we missed. Arrived the next morning. I told my boss about the incident and he looks at me says “dumbass, don ever raise your hand for that kind of shit”. I didn’t say anything but that really disappointed me because he’s a very good physician but I know he’s serious that he wouldn’t raise his hand.

I had the big fan on the front stop turning.
It took a BIG ball peen hammer to beat the dimple back down in the seat.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:

Me and my mom are one of few commercial passengers to fly without entering the terminal.

Before Castro came to power in Cuba, hijacking was not a really big problem, airport security was nothing like it is today.

In 1966 I had a "real job" at Bell Labs, and I did a lot of moonlighting, flying air taxi from a small airport in Monmouth County NJ to the three NY metro area airports -- Newark, LaGuardia, and JFK.

Our standard pre-departure procedure was to telephone ramp control for the airline that our air taxi passengers were connecting to, for approval to take our passengers to the airline's ramp area.

After landing and taxiing to the airline's ramp (gate) area, we would be met by an airline employee in a golf cart, who would take the passengers and luggage directly to the airline airplane. The passengers did not go into the terminal; they boarded their airline flight from the ramp area.

A guy that worked for me owned an old biplane with open cockpits. He and his son were flying one day when the propeller came off. He said you can't imagine how quiet it got. He landed it in a field and they hitchhiked into town and got a new propeller and pin. They went back and installed the new propeller and flew back to the airport.

I flew a lot for work.

1. We were the perpetrators in this instance. My wife and I flew from Atlanta to Boston to I introduce my grandmother to her 8 week old great grandson.

As soon as we took off we realized our son had an ear inflection. He howled for the entire flight. We felt terrible for him and terrible for everyone else on the plane. The flight attendants took turns rocking our son, walking the aisle. As soon as the door landed he stopped. We stopped urgent care before visiting my grandmother.

2. Flying from Dallas to LAX we hit an air pocket and dropped like a rock. I don’t know how far we dropped but I did see a flight attendant hit the the ceiling. Lots of screams. We landed safely and were met just short the gate by medics and ambulances. For me it reinforced the seatbelt always on rule.

3. Flying from Dallas to LGA, halfway down the runway during take off we heard a loud pop. The front wheel had just started to come off the runway. The pilot reversed the engines and slammed hard on the brakes. A luggage door popped open.

Now for my best flying experience, one I still remember every second of. This was pre 9/11.

Singapore Airlines had just started flying the 777. I used miles to upgrade to a first class seat from Singapore to HK. It was a late night flight and the front cabin was almost empty. The Captain was out front greeting arriving passengers, and shaking hands. I stopped and asked him a few questions about the plane and told him it was my first flight on the 777. We had a nice chat.

I was shown to my seat and settled in. In a few minutes a flight attendant approached and said the Captain wanted to know if I’d like to his guest in the cockpit. Woo! I stood up and started to follow down the aisle when she stopped and told me to grab my things.

I got to the cockpit. The flight attendant took my hanging bag and put in a closet in the cockpit.

The co-pilot got up and put me in a seat on the back wall of the cockpit, centered between and just behind the pilot and copilot. He belted me in and put a headset on. He gave me a quick safety briefing... what to do and what not to do. He showed me how to work the escape hatch above my seat.

Then... we flew to HK. During the flight the captain explained everything he was doing and why. He pointed out other planes headed in the opposite direction.

I jokingly asked if it was legal for me to ride up front. He told me it was at the Captains’s prerogative. He told me they had different rules than we had in the US.

Obviously this was a different time and I’m sure it’s no longer possible.

Sitting in a cockpit at night, flying into HK airport is a magnificent sight to behold.

One thing that stuck out: I always assumed a landing aircraft landed heading straight down to the runway. We came in pointing a bit off center, an odd sensation. I was also surprised that instead of a wheel the cockpit had what I’d describe as a desk with a joystick.

I can’t even explain how incredible this experience was.

Flying has been all downhill for me since then.

quote:

We came in pointing a bit off center, an odd sensation.

Compensating for a crosswind component.

Standard stuff, nothing to get excited over.

I understand. I never thought about it and it was my first Time seeing it.

It is one of the techniques that we start to teach beginning flight students in the first few hours of training.

As they learn that, the next lessons focus on transitioning to a flight attitude in which the longitudinal axis of the airplane is aligned with the runway, and the upwind wing is lowered, so that we are sort of "tilted" into the crosswind, instead of pointing toward it.

A round trip from BWI to Phoenix on a packed Southwest flight. I now know how a sardine feels when stuffed into a small can.

Waiting to board a Cessna 172 for my first sky dive and they first had to fix the plane so it would fly.

quote:

Originally posted by Andyb:

Those confusing fuel gauges, man. E means you have extra

...or "enough".

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:

3. Flying from Dallas to LGA, halfway down the runway during take off we heard a loud pop. The front wheel had just started to come off the runway. The pilot reversed the engines and slammed hard on the brakes. A luggage door popped open.

Wow. That pilot made a choice well outside established procedures. Except in exceedingly rare circumstances (of which a door warning is not generally one), even before the nose comes off the ground, you hit a certain speed and are committed to fly. I'm curious when this happened and what airplane it was on. Professional curiosity and all.

^^^^^
There are many of these stories in which I'd like to know what equipment was being flown...

quote:

Originally posted by Otto Pilot:

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:

3. Flying from Dallas to LGA, halfway down the runway during take off we heard a loud pop. The front wheel had just started to come off the runway. The pilot reversed the engines and slammed hard on the brakes. A luggage door popped open.

Wow. That pilot made a choice well outside established procedures. Except in exceedingly rare circumstances (of which a door warning is not generally one), even before the nose comes off the ground, you hit a certain speed and are committed to fly. I'm curious when this happened and what airplane it was on. Professional curiosity and all.

It was a DC10. Mid 90's.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:

It was a DC10. Mid 90's.

Given the early history of the DC-10, that was actually my number one guess. Interesting and thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Otto Pilot:

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:

3. Flying from Dallas to LGA, halfway down the runway during take off we heard a loud pop. The front wheel had just started to come off the runway. The pilot reversed the engines and slammed hard on the brakes. A luggage door popped open.

Wow. That pilot made a choice well outside established procedures. Except in exceedingly rare circumstances (of which a door warning is not generally one), even before the nose comes off the ground, you hit a certain speed and are committed to fly. I'm curious when this happened and what airplane it was on. Professional curiosity and all.

Wow. That means he was well past V1 and had just hit Vr. In other words he's thinking, "Well, I'd rather crash on the ground than drop from the sky." If by hook or crook he keeps it on the runway, all the better.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
Waiting to board a Cessna 172 for my first sky dive and they first had to fix the plane so it would fly.

Sounds like you already were equipped with a parachute, regardless of the outcome?