Close Calls

[Freewheel]

Well let's see how this thread goes......

 

With the recent cloud theme of the last thread i wanted to share something with you all that happened to me, well i guess it didn't happen to me, something i did. A "while back" i was flying to my destination and on my route was a rather tall mountain with a bit of wispy cloud around the top. I could see it from a long way off and as i approached i contemplated my chances of making the climb over it verses going around. I had flown that way before and as i got closer i thought to my self "it looks a bit tight", but continued. I slowed up and added power and started to climb into a steep little valley, cliff face on one side and cloud on the other. Near the top it got very tight and i barely made though, it was so confined that there was no room to turn except into cloud and that's really no option. It haunts me and i have never forgotten it, that i could have gone around and it would have added maybe seven minutes to the flight compared to taking the chance and maybe having it not turn out so well.

 

As a pilot, especially a new one we face a lot of pressures from ourselves, customers and our bosses but at the end of the day no job is worth getting killed over and don't forget that usually if that does happen you are not alone...... After that i became a lot less concerned with taking an extra .1 to get back home or even getting home that day, that one flight was a huge step for me and i learned that it's just not worth the gamble. Safety, it has to be the number one consideration.

Let's not forget most companies (and pilots) get paid by the hour. Why risk your life and equipment and get paid less for it? It should be the other way around don't you think?

[Elvis]

Many years ago my Newbie Pilot learned not to fly through converging thunder storms in a Bell 47. On a positive note it did clean all the bug guts of the rotor blades.

[212wrench]

As the pilot was cooling off the machine at the end of 5 hours of skiing, I poked my head into the C-box compartment and there was a mouse staring back at me with eyes as big as quaters. Probably deaf as a door nail, but when we let him out, did he have a story to tell the rest of the mouses.

Have a good safe weekend all.

[Elvis]

As the pilot was cooling off the machine at the end of 5 hours of skiing, I poked my head into the C-box compartment and there was a mouse staring back at me with eyes as big as quaters. Probably deaf as a door nail, but when we let him out, did he have a story to tell the rest of the mouses.

Have a good safe weekend all.

 

 

PETA will be looking into this now. You have taken this poor mouse away from it's family.

 

[ISE DA BY]

PETA will be looking into this now. You have taken this poor mouse away from it's family.

 

 

I know this is off topic but speaking of PETA, just the other day I seen I guy wearing a shirt that said " I'm a member of PETA......People Eating Tasty Animals" Thought it was pretty good. Anyways back to the thread.

[old dog]

As the pilot was cooling off the machine at the end of 5 hours of skiing, I poked my head into the C-box compartment and there was a mouse staring back at me with eyes as big as quaters. Probably deaf as a door nail, but when we let him out, did he have a story to tell the rest of the mouses.

Have a good safe weekend all.

 

I've got a lotta time in 212's, but I've never heard that story.

 

Poor little guy; darn funny, though!

[Helilog56]

Okay.....that story reminds me of my wrenching days!

I was doing an import on a Hughes 500, that came out of Texas. While poking my arm into the fuel cell compartment, I felt something sharp against my hand while trying to pull out the main fuel line. Upon inspection of my hand, there was two puncture wounds.......thinking it was some left over lockwire, I got the shop vac out, and proceeded to try and clean the area......it sounded as though I sucked up something substantial.

 

Upon opening the shop vac, I managed to retrieve a rather large "Black Widow" (female).

 

I then realized, the "puncture" wound, was the fangs from the spider! At the same time, my hand was starting to swell like a balloon.

 

I put the spider into a clear specimen container and went up to the hospital.

 

The nurse asked me what may have "stung" me...?????!!!!

 

The ensueing kaos in the emergency room, caused by the scream of the nurse, when I put the culprit on her desk........did not go over to well!

 

How was I supposed to know, she was afraid of spiders?????

[DGP]

Along these lines..bit off topic...we had brought a couple of 205's in from Equidor...all kinds of bugs and weird butterflies...anyways one of the engineers brought in this fake huge spider that had an air line with a squeese bulb attached so you could make it move....so there was the avionics guy in there ripping and tearing...I gave that thing a little shot....well I will tell you...the scream was heard all over the hangar...he came running out of that machine like his pants were on fire..had to show if the thing before he was going back in

[R22Captain]

I know this is off topic but speaking of PETA, just the other day I seen I guy wearing a shirt that said " I'm a member of PETA......People Eating Tasty Animals" Thought it was pretty good. Anyways back to the thread.

 

 

go hunt some seals eh....

[Hello-bird]

Eating Animals

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_animals