A Young Eagles Flight Adventure - - NOT!

Editors Note****** I revamped this story just a bit to make it easier to read and corrected some obvious grammatical and spelling errors. Apologize to my readers for that. This version should be much better.

It turned out to be a pretty nice airplane work session over the weekend, despite getting nailed with tons of snow Saturday evening into Sunday. Before I cover the details of the build, there is something else I thought might be worth mentioning that happened to me early Saturday morning. It concerns a matter of aviation safety, and I thought that other pilots might benefit from it.

I was planning on flying Young Eagles Saturday morning at KFTG for the second YE rally of the year. YE flights have become so popular that the chapter rallies that are held each month are booked at least a year or more in advance, and EAA Chapter 301 cranks out about 50+ first flights for kids during each and every rally. I feel privileged to participate in this event, and even moreso when I get to fly.

Anyway, since I do not yet own my own airplane, I have to resort to renting an airplane from the local flying club. One thing that really concerns me is how extremely expensive renting an airplane has become compared to when I first learned to fly in 1980. I am frankly a bit shocked at the state and age of equipment that exists in most flying club fleets these days, compared to the grossly out of proportion rental rates that they charge. Personally I think it is just another example of American greed at work here, but I digress.

Chalk it all up to another of what I would rate as my top 5 reasons for wanting to build and own my own bird. The aircraft that are currently available for rent are a mix of old and new, and the equipment and avionics in these older model aircraft is pretty lacking. The problem that I see is that they are charging expensive rates for newer aircraft of the same model, and they are also basically charging you the same rate for an aircraft that, from an equipment/avionics perspective, does not even come close to what the newer airplanes have. I can't believe that the cost of insurance, maintenance, and fuel are making these older airplanes just as expensive to fly as the newer ones. In fact, I think what is really going on is that they are using the older aircraft in the fleet to help cover the actual cost of renting the overly expensive newer models. This is nothing short of robbery IMHO, and is  truly a sad state of affairs for those wanting to learn how to fly today.

Anyway, I had scheduled a C-182 for the flight on Saturday, and the weather was perfect, except for it being extremely cold and prone to frost in the morning. Gee - sounds like deja vu from the first time I did this in November of last year. So I arrived at the airport (KAPA) early in the morning before the club opened. I had scheduled an early morning departure so I could arrive at KFTG by 0745 local for the briefing. The club places the aircraft books and keys in a lockbox and you get the combo the day before so you can retrieve it without waiting for the office to open up.

So I  opened the lockbox, and my airplane book is nowhere to be found. A couple of folks with access to the office had also shown up early, so I was able to sneak into the office, and sure enough, found my airplane book sitting neatly on the shelf. Not to worry yet - perhaps it went down for maintenance, but I would have expected a note or a phone call had that been the case - but I received neither. Anyway, I retrieved the airplane book and headed out to do the preflight so I could be on my way.

I opened the airplane up, and alas - it was almost starved of all fuel. This is not uncommon for a C-182, which is a prime cross country airplane, having flown several hundred hours in them during my former years as a Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue Pilot. Still no problem - called the fuel truck and the fuel was on the way. Then I turned on the Master switch to lower the flaps and began my preflight - so far so good. Everything else inside the cabin checked out, or so I thought, so I then proceeded outside to walk around the airplane. As I reached the tail one of things that is routinely done is to check for freedom of movement of the control surfaces. This is done by physically grabbing the elevators and such and moving them gently from one extreme to the other. If everything is normal, you hear and feel nothing other than the smooth operation of the counterbalance springs, and perhaps some slight noise from the hinges that attach it to the HS. Unfortunately for me, I hear this very loud squeal and a very distinct grinding noise, all coming from inside the cabin. I returned to the cabin to move the controls this time to see if I get the same noise. Sure enough - the co-pilot side control yoke was starting to bind on something, but the pilot side still felt OK. Both yokes are joined together behind the panel so that either of them can control the same control surface.

This became an instant deal breaker for me. Sure, I could overcome the slight binding with normal control pressure, and the noise, while disturbing, was not ultra-overpowering to me - just annoying enough to catch my attention. The problem was, and my thought process was, what if it gets worse after I become airborne - what then? What if they totally freeze up during a critical phase of the flight? Even more importantly, what if I encounter this problem with a Young Eagle and their parents onboard for their very first small airplane flight? I was not willing to even remotely consider that possibility. So the decision to abort became relatively easy when I took the well-being of my passengers into account.

Having had this grinding noise type of problem before, I new that it had something to do with the mounting bracket or bearing on the copilot side controls. Unfortunately, since the pilot and copilot control yokes are mechanically joined together, they both need to be working properly or else you may have a problem.

By now I recognized that I was starting to experience something that I have taught countless other pilots to recognize over the years. I call it the "3 strikes and your out rule," but it is also better known as the "catastrophic chain of events" in most post mortum NTSB accident reports. No matter what you call it, it often times leads to an undesireable outcome for a pilot and their passengers. The premise is that most aircraft accidents are not attributed to just one single factor, but are usually comprised of a series of linked events that lead the pilot further and further toward a devastating outcome, driven by the series of actions or inactions taken by the pilot. Pilots must learn to recognize when they enter into this situation, and then take the necessary action to break the chain.

Strike 1: The airplane book was not available, making me late and pressuring me ever so slightly to hurry up and get going. There was a possibility that the airplane had been grounded without my knowing it. Action - I chose to preflight anyway and then further assess the situation after that was done.

Strike 2: No fuel in the airplane - more time wasted - more pressure to hurry, but this was also expected, and was of the reasons why I arrived early enough take care of it.

Strike 3: Grinding noise and binding of the control yoke - Ok -  this was not something I was willing to compomise on. If it don't work right, and the potential outcome might be very bad - don't risk it. I broke the chain right here.

And then came yet another strike. Strike 4! It was as if it was affirming my decision not to fly, or at least that is how I took it. I needed to raise the flaps back up and secure the airplane so I could return to the office. But when I actuated the switch, nothing happened. No upward travel at all. I then thought I could try to lower the flaps all they way down and then back up to see if that would work, and it did, for a moment anyway. The flaps came back up to the point where they had about another 10-15 degrees of travel remaining, and then the flap motor cut in and out several times until they finally retracted to the full up position.

I returned to the office, reported the problems to the dispatcher, who by this time had opened the office, and then I left for home. The one thing that disturbs me is that the airplane had flown the day before, and I can almost assure you without a doubt that the control yoke was exhibiting the same behavior on that flight,  but they flew it anyway.

It is decisions like this that face pilots on every single flight, no matter if it is an airliner or a small GA airplane, some of the decisions that must be made are very much the same. I wanted to jot down this experience in my blog to hopefully benefit any fellow pilots that may read it.  I wanted to reaffirm to others that there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying that you probably won't get to go flying today... Better to live and fly another day than to die and never get the opportunity to do it again. Extra vigilance must also be applied when flying unfamiliar rental aircraft that may be in less than "mint" condition.

I was proud of myself for making the decision to stop the ever-progressing chain of events that were unfolding before my eyes, but still frustrated about the whole experience, and the realization that I was not going to get to participate in this month's YE rally. This is the reality of being a pilot -sometimes you just have to say "not today."

Instead, I chose to view this experience positively as follows:

-I went home and started working on MY airplane - so the day was not a total loss at all.
-I am using these experiences as strong motivators to finish my project someday. I am so sick and tired of dealing with flying rental airplanes, and schedules that don't match mine, and airport security crap, etc., that I am more than willing to continue the long and expensive process to one day own and operate an airplane that I built with my own two hands.
-I may have saved someone's life by taking the action that I did to ground the airplane and demand that it be repaired. That is perhaps the most rewarding feeling of all, and in the end is really what all the preflight preparation is all about.

The moral to the other pilots out there:

 Don't forget about the reasons why you perform every step of the preflight checklist, and how important it is to do it right, and to pay attention to what your senses are telling you. Part of the problem is that flying has become so reliable these days that we rarely have to face a problem serious enough to force us to make an outright no-go kind of decision.

So if this sort of thing happens to you, recognize the events that are unfolding around you, evaluate your situation and potential options, understand the risks for taking each option, and make the correct decision - even if the decision you will have to make is to stay on the ground.

Fly safe, and all you builders out there don't forget to fly every once in a while!