First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster

   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster
  • Thread Starter
#31  
LOL, my 170 engine quit at 5000ft, started with a tap tap sound, went away on left or rt mag but there on both mags.
Noise progressed until from a tap tap it became a heavy louder bang bang so I pulled the throttle at which time it made the loudest kabang and it stopped with the prop perfectly horizontal.
Wife screamed and said we are going to crash.--Oh, crash, well I had a mini motor bike lashed to the rear seat tiedown points so we reached back and donned the 'crash helmets'.
That made us feel better.

Under us was a farmers field that was 6000 ft long so not to worry.
Proceeded to do an actual circuit approach, down wind etc etc and then final but only problem was the AC just would not slow down as usual as it normally would, full flaps + side slips (wife screaming) and me on FSS calling MAYDAY, hey what better time to do so.
FSS kept urging me to dive to restart until I literally told them to shut up.
At the end I finally put her down in the last 1000 ft or so.
Big issue was that the field was recently worked and the wheels sunk in that nice fluffy topsoil, rolled 75 ft and stood on its nose so slowly that we even tried to throw our weight to make it fall backwards. Unfortunately gravity had other ideas and we ended up inverted.

The prop and spinner were not in the slightest way damaged! My luck as if it had stopped vertically we would not have flipped.

I had the insurance check in hand, delivered 2 days later right there in the field! Talk about service.

I dismantled the AC there in the field and with the farmers tractor to help (roped the prop hub to his FEL and he lifted and I lifted the tail and rotated the AC back to upright.
Naturally at this point the wings and empennage had all been removed.
Loaded the AC into a U-Haul and drove my injured bird back to home where I rebuilt it over the winter months.
The accident was in Nov and it was back flying in May with new paint scheme as well.
Oh, more luck was with me as I located an O300D with lower time than the failed engine for only $2000, firewall forward.
After selling off al the undamaged old engine parts (jugs, prop, mufflers, carb etc etc) I actually showed a profit.

In my favor was my knowledge of interchangeable parts, ie lots of the Cessna 100 series share parts with a few simple changes or additions. (ie, small stiffener or extra rivets) ex seats are structurally the same for all 100 series.

LOL, one big frustration was driving home in a U-Haul truck that was locked at 50 MPH, heck it did 50 going downhill.

Oh, and the wife continued to fly with me and that C170B years later got traded even for a C182F also a nice bird.

Hey, I did mention a Tractor so this posting is qualified!

Hey! I did mention I am having my FIRST lesson tomorrow right? Actually went up with a buddy just a little while ago....basically first time in years and years since I been up....not sure I am cut out for it.....a little more detailed post in my other thread.
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster #32  
Red,

I'm sorry you are getting some of the responses that are being posted. I hope you can put it in context.

People come here all the time asking about their first tractor. I don't see responses to that with pictures of crashed tractors, or stories of limbs being torn off, etc. But put two wings on the machine and some people can't seem to resist greeting an aspiring new pilot with dark horror stories of things that go bump in the night. I've never understood that.

I've been part of the pilot community for 30+ years. Certificated pilots focus very hard on safety during training sessions, during recurrent training, and if attending programs or seminars on a particular safety topic. We all know the issues and risks, we train for them, and we work to deal with them just like operators of tractors and other equipment.

I hope you can look past the posted crash photos and anecdotal stories, and put them in context. For comparison, I flew lots of various planes for many hours over many years. I've landed small airplanes in most of the 48 Continental states. I flew the Cessna 182RG to the Arctic Circle and back. All without a scratch. It's a great hobby and if it's right for you I hope you enjoy it!!
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster
  • Thread Starter
#33  
FINALLY! Got to have my first lesson this evening. WOW! That was incredible! I went up with a buddy a little over a week ago and I am not sure what happened between that flight and this one..... but this first lesson and me being in the left seat was spectacular! I took the thing off, and landed it and just flew around. What an incredible experience! I did not want to quit. I would have stayed up there till we ran out of gas.

I didn't know life still had things like this left in store for me.
 
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   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster #34  
Congrats! It will just keep getting better. It's funny has most of us couldn't wait to get out of school but later in life it's so much fun to learn something new. You'll learn aerodynamics, weather, flight planning, risk management and so much more. Flying will change the way you see the world, at least it did for me.
Most importantly, have fun!
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster #35  
FINALLY! Got to have my first lesson this evening. WOW! That was incredible! I went up with a buddy a little over a week ago and I am not sure what happened between that flight and this one..... but this first lesson and me being in the left seat was spectacular! I took the thing off, and landed it and just flew around. What an incredible experience! I did not want to quit. I would have stayed up there till we ran out of gas.

I didn't know life still had things like this left in store for me.

Good job!!! :thumbsup:
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster
  • Thread Starter
#36  
When is the weather going to break????!!! It is spitting snow in KY right now....Ugh! I would probably have about 12-15 hours under my belt if I didn't have to cancel so many lessons due to weather. Anyway, at roughly 5 hours now in 3 lessons...14 landings and a few stalls. Reading text in Rod Mochado with Sporty's App video lesson plans. I like the Sporty's video app much better.

Landings so far are difficult....not scary, but difficult. I can get it on the ground....but holy cow I cannot believe some of the landings on that grass strip my instructor lets happen. That little Cessna 150 must be really tough..... I am having a blast and am determined to get this approach corrected. Couple time approach was perfect but I was coming in crabbed and did not realize that was okay so I was trying to correct on approach and screwing things up. Anyway, just an update.
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster #37  
Crabby landings always amaze me. Last year when I was in the back seat as my kid took an introductory flight on a very, very windy day, we landed in a cross-wind and I was amazed at how easy the instructor set that thing down. We had been bouncing all over the place from take-off through 30 minutes of flight around the county, getting bounced all the way down on the approach, and crabbing in and them instead of THUD onto the ground, we went poof with nearly no feel to tell we were down. Most excellent. My kid was impressed, too.

You'll get it down with practice. Glad you are enjoying yourself. :thumbsup:
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster #38  
Any landing you can walk away from is good enough for me.

I wonder who said that?
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster #39  
Any landing you can walk away from is good enough for me.

I wonder who said that?

Ahh yes....

"If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing."
- Chuck Yeager
 
   / First Private Pilot Lesson - Crop Duster #40  
Probably every single pilot ever! :laughing:
 

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