Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamak86
haha, the Line guys used to refer the 150s as "beer can with wings" or "death traps".
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Never flown in a 150/152, but I saw 3 of them landing in a strong wind one night at ACT when I was in the pattern. It almost looked like they were hovering coming into the headwind for landing. Kinda freaked me out a little. Maybe if I win the Skycatcher from Sporty's I'll fly one, but you gotta give it to me for free in order for me to get inside it. 172 = best trainer in the business.
Anyway, today was fanfuckintastic. I was making one of my regular runs from 7F7 to KOZA. KOZA is arguably one of the best rural airports in the world, great FBO, 75 x 6000 strip that's rated to 80,000lbs. (feel free to look that up, I was just as surprised when they told me about it) It was an unusual day there today. Normally, if there's 2 planes in the pattern it's a busy landing there, but today we had 3, that we knew of at least. I did my usual 10 callup, all 3 of us coming into the pattern were going to refuel. It was a helicopter from the Game Wardens, an Aztec and then my 182. We're all communicating and sorting ourselves out, everybody's talking to the unicom to get set up in line for a refuel, everything is going normal. The helicopter sets down near the Jet-A, the cool-ass helicopter guys just go where they want, and he calls that he's clear the active. Normal day so far. The Aztec, who as it turns out is being flown by a volunteer and the sherriff as they are out with the Game Warden looking for a missing child, it's wide open out in West Texas, anyway he turns base and I enter the downwind for 16. Everybody is communicating, everybody doing what they should. He got down and cleared the active, so I came off a slightly (maybe 1mi) extended downwind and called the base, got everything set up for a decent crosswind landing. Then I turned 2mi final, fortunately only 10° flaps due to the wind, and all hell broke loose. Some guy in a Baron, who hadn't talked to any of us, hadn't talked to the unicom, was on a VFR flight and not talking to FSS, cut low and in front of me on his own final. He had descended directly into the base leg, so he was high and behind me coming into the pattern, one of the few blind spots in a 182. I gunned it and broke hard right, all while saying some creative things on 122.8 to him. The elevation at KOZA is 2381, and I was reading 2880, so I was pretty cautious about maneuvering coming from landing speed, with 10° flaps, in a 16 wind that was shifting between 090 and 170 on runway 16, and I felt every bit of it during the scariest turn of my entire life. I circled back around and went to pattern alt and did it all over again for 16 after I physically saw that that jackass was clear of the active. The landing was really smooth, something I would have been proud of had I been carrying passengers. But, it gets a little more interesting. The airport manager is the wife of the Justice of the Peace, basically the local judge in TX. He was out there helping everyone refuel, and he is a 10,000+ pilot himself. That guy didn't talk to anyone on the radio, yet he got out of his plane and started cussing out the pilot of the Aztec that was carrying the Sherriff, who was inside the FBO at this time. Then he thumps the guy on the chest. So you have me, the Justice of the Peace, the Game Warden and the Sherriff all on the ground at the same time. They took this guy in for simple assault. The lesson here is always pay attention outside, always communicate, and try not to thump people on the chest when you're surrounded by a judge, a cop and a game warden. The story will be in the San Angelo Standard Times tomorrow morning if anyone wants to get their take on it. My plane is the blue and white 182 in the picture, but I was out of frame in the FBO when they were taking them. Weird things happen to weird people.
09-02-2009, 12:14 AM
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