AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025 - 18

ON COURSE
Attention to detail
Small mistakes can have big consequences
BY KOLLIN STAGNITO / Editor in Chief
AOPA Foundation Legacy Society member
SOME PEOPLE AT the airport cautioned me not to fly with " Brad, "
a private pilot who built a gorgeous Van's Aircraft RV-9A. That
surprised me. He was meticulous and his airplane showed amazing
attention to detail. Finding it hard to believe he wouldn't be equally
careful with his flying, I took a short flight with Brad and both he
and the airplane performed well. But since that time, he had gotten
in trouble for busting both Class D airspace and Class B airspace
on two separate occasions. Brad had taken remedial training as
part of the FAA's compliance program and asked me to fly with
him to have dinner at an airport restaurant about 50 miles away.
Based on my last flight with him, I didn't have any concerns
about going to dinner with Brad, but I did plan to help with
navigation since we would be flying under Class B airspace. He
preflighted the aircraft and we jumped into that well-equipped
beauty. Taxiing to the runway in the free-castering nosewheel
RV-9A can require tapdancing on the brakes to maintain
centerline, particularly with any crosswind, but Brad did fine.
All seemed normal during the runup, and we took off on the
westbound runway-almost directly in line with our destination
airport. Boy, can that airplane climb, and it's quick-two attributes
that had contributed to Brad entering airspace without authorization
when he got behind the airplane and lost situational awareness.
Traveling at 150 knots on 160 horsepower, our dinner
destination was soon 10 miles off our nose-and the runway was
again almost perfectly aligned with our course. Brad made calls
for a straight-in final and carefully used his checklist as we made
our final descent into the airport. There was a crosswind from the
right and Brad crabbed into the wind to maintain a straight track
down to the runway threshold.
Besides being about 10 knots fast on final, the flight was going
well until the moment we touched down. We landed a little long
and then the airplane quickly started drifting to the right. " Hey,
Brad, watch the centerline, " I cautioned. " I'm trying to get us back
on track but... " Brad's voice trailed off.
We continued to veer right toward the edge of the runway
as Brad applied as much brake as possible without flat-spotting
the tires. A few feet from the runway's edge we finally slowed
enough for Brad to regain control and taxi to the ramp. " What just
happened? " I asked after we shut down. " I don't know, " he said. " I
was using aileron and rudder and brakes, I just couldn't stay on the
18
AOPA PILOT / January 2025
centerline. " And then he froze as a look of realization came across
his face. He climbed out of the airplane and walked to the tail, and
I could see his face was pale. " I forgot to remove the rudder gust
lock, " he confessed. I was dumbfounded.
As the builder of this experimental aircraft, Brad has installed
a pin that would lock the rudder in place while the airplane was
parked outside on windy days. The pin did not have any kind of
flag to warn it was installed. I learned Brad had routinely used the
rudder gust lock even though the airplane always sat in a hangar.
On this day, he had forgotten to remove it during his preflight.
We were able to taxi before takeoff because the airplane
does not require rudder inputs to steer the nosewheel-it's free
castering. Differential braking can keep the airplane on track at
low speeds, but not at high speeds. The preflight control check
felt normal because the control stick moved freely, but if he had
pressed on either rudder pedal (which evidently, he did not), they
would not have budged.
We were fortunate that our direction of takeoff, flight, and
landing were all in a straight line to the west. I still shudder to
imagine what could have happened if we had a strong crosswind
on takeoff requiring rudder to keep us aligned with the runway
as we accelerated at full power and began our climb. Would he
have recognized why he did not have lateral control and taken
the correct actions before we ran off the runway or drifted into
trees once aloft? He clearly did not comprehend why he lacked
control on landing as he was applying right aileron and left rudder
to remain on track only to continue to drift right.
Brad was demoralized by his oversight and asked me to fly us
back home after dinner. The reality, though, is we all make mistakes.
As pilots, we are held to a high standard because sometimes small
mistakes can have terrible outcomes. Although we never again flew
together, I believe Brad's mistake rattled him enough to slow down
and pay more attention to his preflight checklist and flying-it sure
made me more cautious about my
own preflight inspections.
We all can learn from the experiences
of others. If you have a Never
Again story to share, please submit
it to pilot@aopa.org
kollin.stagnito@aopa.org
KOLLIN STAGNITO,
AOPA senior vice
president of media,
is a commercial pilot,
ground instructor, and
owner of a Cessna 170B.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025
