16 | AUGUST 2019 FLYINGMAG.COMT & T
TRAINING
& TECHNIQUE
HAZARDOUS ATTITUDEI.L.A.F.F.T.
REALITY BEGAN TO SET IN, ALONG WITH
PANIC, AS I WONDERED HOW IN THE WORLD I
WAS GOING TO GET THIS AIRPLANE BACK ON
THE GROUND IN ONE PIECE.
fine and gave me his blessing to do
the flight.
I arrived at the airport after dark
and began my pref light. Of course,
I was in a hurry, and upon enter-
ing the cockpit, I noticed that there
were several differences compared
to the Warriors I had learned to f ly.
While this gave me an uneasy feel-
ing, the pressure of rescuing the
abandoned student and CFI per-
suaded me to push on with the flight.
Can anyone say, “Hazardous atti-
tudes”? Specifically, I fell prey to
two types of hazardous attitudes.
The first was impulsivity. I noticed
that the aircraft was trimmed some-
what nose high, but in my rush to
leave, I reasoned that it would be OK.
I also rushed through my pref light
and checklists. Second, I displayed
a macho attitude by agreeing with
the f light school owner that I did not
need to get a checkout in the aircraft.
Looking back, there were several
differences compared to the other
aircraft I had been f lying—not the
least of which was the Warrior’s
tapered wing, while the older
Cherokee bore a constant-chord,
Hershey-bar wing. I finally made my
way toward the active runway about
10 minutes before the tower closed.
Once again—and you’ll note a theme
here—I rushed the run-up and soon
found myself taxiing onto the active
runway. During the run-up, I noticed
that the aircraft trim was set just
on the nose-high side of neutral, but
I surmised that I liked it trimmed
slightly nose high for takeoff and
climb, so I left it there. After receiv-
ing my takeoff clearance, I had anormal climb-out and was excited to
be able to feel those extra 20 horses
that the Warrior lacked.
Reaching 2,500 feet msl, I pushed
the nose over to level the aircraft.
Sensing the nose-high trim, I tried
to use the electric trim to adjust the
nose down—but nothing happened.
Realizing that the electric trim was
not functioning, I reached down
and tried to turn the trim wheel
manually to no avail. At this point,
I was starting to have some trouble
keeping the aircraft level, and my
arms were starting to fill with lac-
tic acid from fighting the airplane.
My arms became so exhausted that
I had to brace my knee against the
yoke to keep the airplane somewhat
level, while giving my arms a much-
needed reprieve. Realizing the
seriousness of the situation, I imme-
diately called Columbus Tower
before they closed and advised them
that I had an issue and was return-
ing to the airport.
Reality began to set in, along with
panic, as I wondered how in the
world I was going to get this airplane
back on the ground in one piece.
Reflecting on this incident with sev-
eral hundred hours of experience, it
doesn’t seem as intimidating; to the
young, inexperienced pup behind
the yoke back then, it was borderline
terrifying. Flashbacks of rushing
through the phone call with the
f light school owner and the hurried
pref light came crashing down in my
head. For the first time in my life,
I wished that I was on the ground
instead of in the air.
As I turned the airplane backtoward the airport, a miracle
occurred. The tower controller asked
about the nature of my problem, and
after telling him of my quandary, he
simply said, “Press the trim enable
switch under the yoke.” I looked,
and sure enough, there was a white
switch under the yoke with no plac-
ard or any marking. I thought that
must be it—and I had, in fact, won-
dered what that switch was during
my pref light. After I pushed the but-
ton, the electric trim came to life,
and I was able to relax and trim the
aircraft for straight-and-level f light.
In all of my arrogance of the day,
I neglected the fact that, although
similar to the aircraft I had been
f lying, there were definite differ-
ences in the Cherokee 180 that war-
ranted getting a checkout. Luckily
for me, I get to chalk it up to expe-
rience. Being a CFI, now I am able
to draw upon that situation when
talking to our local f lying population
about the importance of checkouts
and f light reviews. The possible acci-
dent chain here was long, but inter-
estingly enough the break came from
none other than the Columbus Tower
controller. Fortunately for me, the
controller was the owner of the air-
plane and leased it back to our club
for rental. What are the odds?
After gaining control of the trim
wheel, I thanked the controller and
turned around, heading to Lagrange
to pick up the stranded pair. The rest
of the f light was uneventful, and I
would come to make many great mem-
ories in that old Cherokee. Looking
back on this event, an unfortunately
all-too-common situation occurred.