Embarrassing moment!

On Wednesday, we had a major snowfall here (about 35cm), so, on Thursday afternoon, the weather being nice and clear, I decided to take the afternoon off and give a look at the Laurentians from above. It's always a "sight" to see that old mountain chain covered in snow after a major fall. So, I called my wife to tell her I was picking her and our guests (her cousin and his wife)for some flying.

We took off around 1:30pm and we had been flying for about 45min. and were now at 7000ft. and 165 mph. when, all of a sudden, we hear a loud "bang", like a shotgun being fired in the plane. Immediately, I reduced throttle in case something was wrong with the engine, but it still pulls strongly and all the dials are in the "green", so I start checking (very gently) the controls, but everything seems in order. While doing all that, I also had checked the GPS for the nearest airport, and, luckily, there was one about ten minutes away. I called them to let them know I was coming in for a precautionary landing after hearing a loud "bang" in the aircraft, and I already had dropped the gear in case of a hydraulic malfunction and before possibly losing all the hydraulic fluid. When I finally lined up the runway to land, with the flaps up since I didn't know if the linkage/mechanics were all right, I saw that the airport had called for emergency personnel in the form of an ambulance, a fire truck and two police cars (more than likely all the emergency staff they had in that small place).

The landing went quite normally,and after I got off the plane, I asked my wife's cousin to hand me my wife's wheelchair parts, so I can put it back together and get my wife out of the plane. So, here comes the frame, then the footrest, and then, I hear my wife's cousin ask: "Yves, did you know there is a flat tire on the wheelchair?"

Well, do I need to tell you I had a hefty bar bill to pay after that one.

That musta scared the hell out of you!

....... but you deserved the bar bill after

I guess you can laugh now!
Andy

Yves,

I would have had a heart attack!

Glad it all came out well.

No pictures I guess? Eh?

Shut up Mac!

Better safe than sorry when it comes to small vessels in the air! Sounds like you did everything correctly.

So, I'm beside myself in anticipation... is it true... is adrenalin brown?

Well everyone knows that wheelchair tyres will burst at high altitudes

PS; I bet my bar bill would have been much higher

Sorry for the delay in answering the few questions above, but the weather is gorgeous today, so I had to spend some time with my trusty Cessna to make up for doubting it's reliability earlier this week.

GrahamNR17, I didn't have time to be scared when it happened (don't ask about later...).

Mac, I didn't have a heart attack, but my back seaters almost did (it was her first flight).

Graham NR17, I don't know about yours, but mine definitely isn't brown.

impotentspider, I've been flying with my wife for 27 years, as high as 22,000ft., and never had a tire burst before, so I guess there might have been a weak spot in the tire tube, and, as far as bar bill is concerned, I can tell you firemen can really bring the beer down.

Alfpics, everybody is laughing now, especially at me for disturbing so many people for a wheelchair burst tire.

I was on a brand new A340 coming in to land at a European airport on a delivery flight - we got down to about 10 to 20 feet from the ground but carried on level and I could see the end of the runway ahead - flight deck door open and as we went over the end, the pilot pulled up and went around. I also noticed the fire engines leaving their posts.

We went around and as we approached I could see the fire engines and they started following us down the runway!

Oh ****

And as we slowed down they caught up and foam water coming from all directions, but no announcements or emergency exits opening.

It certainly worried us VIPs as they had forgotten to brief us on the arrival ceremony!

Hello Andrew,

Having once been airbourne as a passenger in a Short 650, about 20 minutes after take off from London Stanstead,there was a bang and the aircraft rocked violently!
The camshaft had broken in the starboard engine,(I should say that I was sitting next to an ex airframe fitter at the time, who diagnosed this).
The captain then informed us that the aircraft was perfectly capable of flying on one engine, and that we were returning to London Stanstead. The next message was that we would have to circle to await landing instructions(yea right, we then saw all the aviation spirit being dumped from the wing tanks)!
The cabin crew by now had smiles plastered to their faces, which were not in the least bit convincing, rosaries were now evident, as were passengers saying prayers to the Almighty!
The next message was to remove pens, dentures, and any sharp objets, and to assume the "Brace" position, for an emergency landing.

On the final approach I could just make out the crash tenders and ambulances,and as we touched down, they were now racing along side the aircraft,with the foam nozzles aimed directly at us.

I should add that at this stage not only was my bum making buttons, but as I looked up, in the distance there was a red and white chequered, brick building, gettting ever closer, and as we could'nt use reverse thrust with only one engine, we were all hoping the brakes were going to stop the aircraft.

Obviously we stopped just short, or I would not be relating this.

Our duty free was duly confiscated,(I now wanted to cry,as they took away my Grand Marnier), and an officious customs person then informed us that we were in the wrong room, and that we had come through the wrong door.
To say that I "lost my rag" is an understatement, but after cooling down, I continued my journey via London Heathrow,it's one of those situations where you need to fly again now, or your nerve is gone, and you know you'll never set foot on an aircraft again!
I now have now worries about turbulence,takeoffs or landings as I'm in the hands of the pilot, and it's his call!

I can now laugh about it with family and friends, but believe me, it was a hairy experience at the time,and I hope it's never repeated.

You were lucky, it was only the tyre on the wheelchair!

Peter

I wouldn't call that embarrassing. Seems like an appropriate response , by all involved (in the air and on the ground) to a rather unexpected surprise.
Now the important thing is...the bar was open.



(also that there was no real danger and nobody got hurt..but seriously, that bar could've been closed!)

I have never had a personal experience like that related Peter just above. But thankfully I have no great fear of flying, despite having read technical aviation publications out of interest... a catalogue of what can go wrong. I say "thankfully" because I had one experience that would have put anyone's nerves to the test.

While taxiing down a runway prior to taking positions for take-off, I could see on an adjacent runway a similar aircraft on fire. And not just a little fire; the whole thing was engulfed. I was about to remark on this to my fellow passenger when I thought better of it. Perhaps this would only increase their trepidation?

In any case I am always struck by the professionalism of those working in the airline industry. They perform truly heroic tasks when required. If in doubt look up the story of the Gimli Glider.

The Gimli Glider pilot was also a sailplane pilot flying at the same club as me. He is an outstanding pilot, but ultimately, he was blamed for the whole affair. It's sad, but he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Wow, yeah. I have no idea how he could be to blame if the chain of incidents as reported in, say, the Wikipedia article is anything like the truth.

Seems to me that he pulled everyone's bacon out of the fire. I'd say he's a hero.

The reason he was blamed for the accident is because he took off with inoperative fuel gauges, even after having confirmation by the tech dept. that he had enough fuel. If he hadn't taken off, he would still have been in trouble, with his employer that time, because the plane wouldn't have made it's next "rendez-vous", with the correspondence and so on. If nobody had made mistakes with the stick gauges, he would have made it to Vancouver without problem and the company (Air Canada) would have been very happy, because, even if the plane was flying illegally, they still would have made money out of it. The pilot was blamed by the Dept. of Transport, but the employer, who told him to go anyway, was not held partly/jointly responsible. Of course, they could afford better lawyers...