AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018 - 98

P&E

98 |

NEVER AGAIN

in, shut the doors, and started up. For an
off-airport takeoff, you apply full power
then fly the tail using forward stick to
balance on the main wheels and once the
airplane is rolling sufficiently, pull on full
flaps to get airborne as soon as practical.
But in between the beginning of the takeoff roll and the getting airborne part you
get bounced and beat around quite a bit.
This particular takeoff was no exception and just after I broke ground, in a
fairly flat attitude with the terrain falling away below me, I noticed the stick
had become nearly immovable. I couldn't
get much deflection on either axis, roll or
pitch; maybe an inch in any direction. At
least there wasn't anything immediately
in front of me to worry about yet. After
experimenting for a few seconds I looked
in the back seat. The entire pile of meat
had shifted forward and the lowest layer
had pushed the cover box off of the rear
control stick stub, then settled itself down
over the stub to form a nice tight grip on
it. So, now while flying along at about 75

miles an hour with the machine trimmed
for only its present power and flap configuration, I had to attempt to shift a large
mass of meat and bone enough to get sufficient aileron and elevator authority to
control my flight path and land at the base
camp. This is not easy to do, since Cubs
are hands-on fliers. After several fatiguing minutes with one hand on the stick
and the other behind the seat lifting and
shoving at the pile of meat, I had managed
to shift it sufficiently to obtain enough
stick travel to make it work-hopefully. I
didn't have the luxury of a great deal of
reserve fuel, so I couldn't spend time on
the problem for very long. By this time I
was able to fly a series of wide turns, putting me into alignment with the base camp
landing strip, and I was already at the necessary altitude for its touchdown point.
The landing wasn't anything special
since the wind was still easterly at six to
seven knots. Had it gotten gusty, increased
in velocity, or been variable, I would have
been in trouble.

Oxygen
Specials!

While unloading the meat pile I determined what had happened besides the
load shifting: The stick cover box had been
held in place with sheet-metal screws and
Tinnerman nuts, which-through a long
series of rough takeoffs and landings-had
shaken themselves out and allowed the
cover to be pushed out of position. This
prompted me to think about such little
details as missing screws during preflight
inspections, and further, about some better
means of securing gelatinous or moveable
loads in the cargo spaces. Off-airport operations are inherently risky, but the risk can be
mitigated by attention to details both small
and large.
AOPA
MARK OWEN is a commercial pilot and flight

instructor with more than 5,000 hours.
DIGITAL EXTRA Hear this and

other original "Never Again"
stories as podcasts every month
on iTunes and download audio
files free (www.aopa.org/
never_again).

http://www.aopa.org/never_again http://www.aopa.org/never_again http://www.preciseflight.com/sunnfun

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018