Just when you thought it was safe to break the surly bonds, Mickey steps in and deals you dirty:
( A forty-two-year-old man) was flying a 1968 single-engine Cessna that crashed into the Pawcatuck River on Aug. 2 after the engine failed about two miles from Westerly Airport.
(The man) says a Federal Aviation Administration investigation found that mice had built a nest in the plane and when he pulled a device that prevents icing, the mice and their nest were sucked into the carburetor, causing the engine to seize up.
(He) says that without actually opening up the plane and looking inside there would have been no way of knowing the mice were there before takeoff.
I hate to judge before all the facts are in, but looking inside the plane before take-off is known colloquially among the aviation community as performing a “pre-flight inspection.” It’s considered such a good idea that one could almost call it a generally accepted practice.
That and following the checklist to verify the proper operation of carb heat before take-off. Twice.
This sort of thing is why my insurance company wants to jack my term rates up on me by 50% over that initially quoted. In consequence of which I’m leaning towards AOPA.
As soon as I saw that article I sent it off to my private pilot father-in-law.
And since I also told him about this place, he’ll see this post as well – Hi, Larry!
By insurance, do you mean life insurance?
Term life, yah. I was quoted $130 a month for a $500k pay-off to age 72. When the actual agreement came in, they’d added another $100 per month for “my aviation activities.” Which means that I’d be flying to pay my flying insurance bills. Meh.
This reminds me of a civil mishap report where the pilot made a forced landing due to fuel starvation. Each fuel tank had fuel lapping the fuel caps, and the gauges confirmed he had a full bag. Approximately ten minutes after takeoff it got very quiet and he glided to an otherwise uneventful off-airport landing.
During the mishap investigation they found that the fuel bladders had collapsed, and instead of several gallons of gas per tank there were only a couple of gallons. The only way this could have been discovered was by removing the wings, so the pilot could not have known.
AFAIK, this is the only fuel starvation incident where the NTSB didn’t state in effect that the pilot was so stupid he ran out of gas in flight.
The fact that this Gomer was from Torrington, Connecticut… says it all. Best
The wife recently decided that she needed a much larger life policy on me, so we had the sit-down meeting with the insurance salesman. As we were going through the questionnaire, I was forced to fess up that I not only fly a small plane, but it’s a homebuilt besides. That little nugget sure got his pencil moving, and I could tell by his look that the premiums had just risen significantly.
I asked him for one favor: under no circumstances was he to inform either myself or the CFO (Chief Female Obstructionist) what the difference in cost was because of my flying.
He, of course, did. Bastard.
I’m waiting for him to sue Cessna.
daveg,
How appropriate a handle- CFO! Fortunately, she had a weak moment when I, er…”we” wrote the check for the airplane. How ironic as she is the CFO for her company.
geo6
As for mickey setting up house keeping in one’s flying machine, liberal use of the fabric softener sheets in key place on the plane keep the little bastards out. Even snakes. But I don’t have any forward of the firewall or in places where they would be a hazardfor a bunch of good reasons. As for adding mice with your fuel-air mixture you’d think checking Carb Heat on the run-up might have “enriched” it enough to get a real significant drop in either manifold pressure or rpms. Enough so you couldn’t take off. If it was done of course, as you said.
Lex, if you can break even on your flying, you are way ahead of most folks.
And yeah, use a checklist. Even us grunts had them. We’d laminate them and call them “plastic brains.”
Summer of ’69 O.C. MD, working as ground boy in trade for a little cash and instruction. One of the money makers is pulling banners. One afternoon we lost a plane (pilot walked away OK). Blackie, the FBO just rolled another Cub out, fueled it, ran it up and declared it ready for the next days work. Next day, first pull, just after hooking the loop, well into his climb out, engine quits. Pulled carb heat on the run in, bird’s nest in the heater box. Our guy walked (sort of) away from this as well, but got his head battered a bit in the bird cage. It was an interesting summer for a boy just out of high school. One last thought, Cubs were so darn cheep in those days, if only I had known.
Fabric softener sheets. Really.
{scribbles another entry in the Future Ownership notebook}
Maybe he flew for the military in the past and didn’t have anyone to walk around with him on the pre-flight, lifting panels for him.
Who was that Navy pilot(sorry, avaitor) mentioned in “Over the Beach” (I think) who was so famous for cursory (at best) to zero pre-flite (’cause thats what ground crew is for) that they gave him a bird w.o. an ENGINE. As story goes, he supposedly went dir. to a/c, hopped in cockpit and, when he hit the shiny switches…….
I think it was before your time, Lex.
In the Navy, we lift our own panels, thank you.
One dark night, a bird was spotted with it’s tail sticking out past the end of the ship. LT Pilot starts pre-flight down one side, LT NFO down the other. Crossing under the bird, LT N notices LT P has disappeared. Fearing the worst, calls man overboard. Sure enough, LT P had fallen into the drink. Recovered safely, but with new callsign: “Jumper”
Pre-flight inspection wouldn’t have found Mickey. The run-up is a different matter. I always pulled carb heat at run-up to insure it operated. In this case it would have operated with a vengeance!
Lex,Re your comment # 2 above…One of the many joys of free market civilian life…to these gimlet eyed insurance Pecker-Woods you’re just an acturial caculation…kind of takes the nobility out of heavier than air flight…does it not? Best
I suspect the pilot won’t overlook the deep cowling inspection in the future. I’ve been pretty good about looking for animal infestation in the plane ever since reading “One Zero Charlie” as a newly-minted private pilot, in which the author almost overlooks a birds nest in the cowling of his Citabria. When I lived in Santa Fe, NM, the local dauber wasps delighted in building mud nests in pitot tubes, which I discovered the hard way. “Airspeed’s alive” is now part of my mantra after brake release.
Oh, and life insurance rates are a hoot when they find out you’re a pilot AND you have a hint of the dreaded sleep apnea. Good thing my employer offers a policy with a low premium.
Competely off thread…I just watched the USA Womens Beach Vollyball team defeat the Belgians…it’s now my new favorite spectator sport for a multitude of reasons… Best
This guy might have learned to fly from the spanish Navy. I’ve seen them fly their helos, prety much walk up and get her cranking
Lex, if that quote is not from Navy Mutual Aid Assn, give them a call or check them out online.
claudio
I like fuel injected engines even better after hearing this.
Pitts-Just flew to One Zero Charlie last month *after* reading the book. Nothing like the book anymore-been “upgraded’. Nice place though and they hauled away all the wrecked planes.
Ditto on the volleyball. Wife wanted to know why I was studying the screen so intently.
Said I was looking for the hand signals.
I thought it bad form to print Lex’ 8/11/08 “Unbelievable” link for a cheat sheet while watching.
Women’s beach volleyball, and synchronized diving: total justification for the big screen HD TV!
We surfed to the Olympics last night to find women’s beach volleyball. I think The Hubby stopped breathing. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure he hasn’t resumed a normal breathing pattern since.
Men.
Horn-Dogs of America unite…Best
Steve H, you might want to add this to your list.
If someone gets a little airsick in your plane and the smell lingers after the clean up. Put a few dryer sheets over the area and leave the plane in the sun for a couple of hours. No more smell.
Wilko – glad to hear that Galt is prospering, even if the mom & pop atmosphere is gone. I’ve never been there, but some year I’ll have to stop in if I ever make it back to Airventure, since it’s on the way.
The folks at Galt are terrific and it’s not completely changed. Cows are right up to fenceline and there’s a nice trout lake off the end of rwy 27.
The barnstorming era FBO’s continue to decline though.