Tales

Pilot Not In Command!

This story was told to me by an old school teacher friend who is also a private pilot. Seems that during an exchange visit to the PRC he had decided to utilise a Chinese carrier as transport to his rural destination. A few hours into the flight, the copilot felt the call of nature and excused himself from the flight deck to visit the toilet. He got up, went outside and innocently closed the flight deck door and proceeded to the rear of the aircraft.

Sometime after, he finished his duties and made his way back to the cockpit. The copilot turned the door knob but it would not budge! He tried rattling it a few times but the door still would not open. The normal thing to do would be to knock on the door and the copilot did this and luckily enough, the pilot opened the door for him from the inside of the cockpit.

Having plenty of time, the two flight deck crew decided to have a look at what was wrong with the door. They engaged the autopilot and went outside to the passenger cabin, closing the door behind them. The passengers soon figured out the problem and got scared when they heard the two crew banging the door again and trying to pick the lock to no avail. After some more attempts they got the fire axe and had to bang the door down and deform it so that it looked like how the aircraft might look if they didn’t open it in time! The aircraft was eventually landed safely at its destination albeit with two very embarrassed crewmembers at the controls. (I suppose this story could be used as a follow up to Julian Green’s item in our April issue Tales. Ed)

P-51 Mustang Speedsters

During the 1950s No 24 (City of Adelaide) Fighter Squadron was one of several Citizen Air Force ‘City’ squadrons formed to train civilian pilots and ground staff. In May 1956, 24 Squadron deployed to Townsville for operation Comax Sprat, a training exercise combining RAAF bomber and fighter squadrons and involving both citizen and permanent Air Force personnel. At that time, 24 Squadron was equipped with CAC Mustang fighters and during the exercise it was necessary to move the squadron’s aircraft from Townsville to Cairns.

All went according to plan until one Mustang piloted by a young recently graduated civilian pilot, contacted the ground rather hard while landing at Cairns airport. Believing that damage to the undercarriage may have occurred, the pilot wisely decided to abort the landing and go around again so that the extent of any damage could be assessed from the ground. On retracting his undercarriage, it was discovered that only one wheel came up. The port undercarriage strut had apparently fractured as a result of the impact and the wheel dangled uselessly under the aircraft.

After some deliberation, it was decided to execute a wheels up landing (or wheel up in this case), and after all emergency services were in position, the pilot ejected his cockpit canopy and lined up on the grass verge of the runway. For one so inexperienced he completed a textbook wheels up landing amid clouds of dust and grass and finally came to rest elated that he and his aircraft were still in one piece. Imagine his amazement, therefore, when he looked up and the first thing he saw through the dust haze was a burly Queensland policeman, one big boot planted firmly on the wing, and with a notebook in hand asking “Now sir, could I please have your name, address and driving licence please?” (George Grotto)

Racing To The Bars

Having dispatched a Mustang, a member of the tarmac crew watched it taxi out towards the duty runway. He suddenly became aware that the spreader bar, used to restrain the undercarriage legs when the aircraft was being towed, was still in place. Frantic activity by several persons managed to have the aircraft halted before takeoff.

Had the spreader bar remained in place it may have bounced out of its sockets during the takeoff run, with consequences not even to be imagined, or had it remained in place would have prevented retraction of the undercarriage. The hero of the day was an airman who leapt on a bicycle, chased the aircraft until it stopped, and working far closer than many thought comfortable to a very large propeller, removed the bar and casually pedalled back with the offending item over his shoulder. (I Anderson, Albany)