Postby Henni » Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:35 am
For obvious reasons I will not mention names and places here.
I once visited a friend for a braai at his place in my microlight. Later, he asked me to fly along whilst taking another person for a ride in his microlight.
During our flight, he was skimming the earth and I was flying quite a bit higher.
When we flew over a quarry, he dived into it, stormed the other side and only just, just pulled out of it.
When we landed, he said to me "You are a chicken, hey!" I replied that I also do low flying often and that it is fun, but ONLY if I really know the area well. I asked him what would have happened if his engine quit in the quarry. He replied that a properly maintained engine would not quit, period!
Well, later that day, he asked me to attend to the braai whilst taking someone else for a short flip. After an hour, I became worried and took off to search for them.
Shortly later I saw the scene of a badly bended microlight with two people standing next to it. I landed, they were bruised, but o.k.
He told me what happened. He flew low and stormed some trees with the intention to do a shoot-up just over them. When they reached the trees, the passenger became frightened and in his panic inadvertently touched the kill switch, stopping the engine.
They had just enough flying speed to reach the top of the trees when the wheels caught, flipping the aircraft over and both of them fell with the aircraft inverted to the ground. They were lucky to be alive.
Many years ago, someone in his seventees who was still flying regularly told me: You get old pilots and you get bold pilots. You DO NOT get old bold pilots. He told me how many friends he lost through flying incidents.
Flying low is fun, but I've had more engine outs and belt failures than I care to remember. Always be aware that your engine can quit at any time and always have a suitable landing site ready, even whilst flying low. And always practice engine out landings so that you do not become rusted. It might just save your life one day. Nothing agrivates me more than to hear about a microlight pilot being killed by an engine out situation.
When I fly, my altitude always changes directly in relation to the obstacles on the ground. Remember, most microlights do not glide far. Never, never be in a situation where your life only depends on whether your engine is running or not. Life is just worth much more than that!
Henni
... low tide you are practically low flying along a runway, safe as houses. Except the sea gulls... I have notices they take off horizontally so aslong as you are over 10feet up you should be fine.
