Flight 50
08-09-96
1986 C-172P
TEB-N07-TEB
0.9 dual
2 landings
"Intro Radio Nav VOR & ADF"
sky clear, squall line 20 miles west, vis 6 miles, haze. 75F, alt. 30.01
Today I'm in 6FR, which is the good news. The bad news becomes apparent as we climb off of 24: I notice a small blur of movement at the front of the cowling. But for some reason I dismiss it as a shred of insulation or cloth, and put it out of my mind. As I turn to intercept a radial off the TEB VOR, C. asks:
"See that loose screw?"
"Uh..."
I look again. He's right- it is a screw. It's come loose and is dancing madly as we climb with full power. It's very unlikely that it will come loose (it's a Dzus fastener with a collar that should keep it from coming out completely), but if it does, it will very likely strike the windscreen.
C. decides we should land at N07 to see if we can secure it.
On the way, we continue with the planned lesson: navigating via VOR and NDB. I'm a little hazy on the correct procedures, but it is becoming clear, and I do pretty well with that.
Soon I'm in the pattern at Lincoln Park, then I'm too high on final for 19... again. I try to refrain from diving, and somehow I make it work. I've got 6FR at 65 coming over the road... but I fail to notice that our rate of descent is a little too high....
The plane bounces after I touch down.
"Don't let it-" C. begins to say...
We bounce again, then she settles down.
In my befuddled state, I fail to catch the first words of a transmission on the CTAF, but I hear enough to know it's a comment on that landing.
As I turn off the runway, C. keys the mic and nearly shouts, "Would you care to say again?"
There's no reply.
"I thought not!" snaps C. He's very angry at this comment, but having not heard it clearly, I shrug it off... it was a bad landing, after all.
Maybe this heckler has annoyed C. before...
I decide I don't really care.
I shut down the engine and hop out to tighten the screw... so, that's what the little screwdriver at one end of the fuel sampler is for!
We depart, and the screw stays put. We had planned to do some unusual attitude recovery after the nav work, but time is short, so I head back to TEB and make a good landing on 24, exiting onto taxiway Charlie.
Reflecting on the lesson afterwards, I decide that I was a fool to fly that morning. Why? Because I was tired. My rowdy upstairs neighbors had kept me up, tossing, turning, and fuming...
"You can obviously fly the airplane, Sean," C. says afterwards, "but... I don't know what it is..."
"Well," I interject, "I was too tired to stay ahead of it today, I guess..."
I tell him about my lousy night, and he seems sympathetic. I wish he'd admonish me for flying anyway, but he doesn't.
I feel ashamed. I have learned very little about radio navigation today, but I have learned a great deal about the preflight decision-making process.
The airplane was not really fit to fly, with that loose screw, and yet I failed to notice it.
And I was not really fit, either-I'd hardly slept, then ran for the bus, coffee in hand... then walked nearly a mile from the bus stop to the field, because I overslept and missed the earlier bus that would've dropped me right there. I was tuckered out before I even got into the plane. I knew this, but chose to ignore it.
Next time I oversleep after a bad night, I vow, I'll stumble only so far as the telephone, then call to cancel the lesson.
Then I'll go back to bed.
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