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The Cessna 152 that I learned to fly with was jam-packed
with problems. The radio stopped working, the transponder failed, the vacuum
pump broke - and much, much more. But my biggest worry was that the seat would
break.
Because I'm so short, I had to slide the seat up to the
furthest notch in order to fly. My feet could then reach the rudder pedals, and
I could control the yoke (the airplane's steering wheel).
Snaps and Stalls
When I was taking flying lessons, occasionally while
practicing stalls or during take-off, the seat would snap and go rolling into
the back of the plane, taking me with it. This, as you can imagine, is very dangerous.
Not only could I no longer control the plane, but I also risked stalling the Cessna.
Let me explain. Normally, when the seat flies back, you're
holding onto the yoke. And when you go flying back, you take the controls with
you. This brings the plane into a steep climb and possibly a stall. Luckily for
me, the few times this had happened were when I was with an instructor, who
could just take the controls and land the plane safely.
Naturally, my instructor did not want me to solo again until
the seat was fixed. But with enough persuasion, the airport replaced the old navy
blue seat with a new bright red seat. I thought this would fix the problem - so
did my instructor.
High Winds
Now flying my third solo, I was doing things as usual. It
was unusually gusty that day, however, and the runway's location between two
hills did not help with the turbulence. The conditions were probably on the
borderline of what I was allowed to fly in, but I went anyways. This was not a
good idea.
About a thousand feet into the air, while I was still
climbing, a gust of wind pushed my plane on a steep angle and my seat snapped.
The combination of the seat going and the gust blowing scared me half to death.
Luckily, the seat fell back only a few notches instead of the usual all the way
back. But I was still left unable to reach the rudder pedals, and extremely
afraid that this would happen again - only much worse.
I loosened my seatbelt so that I could inch up on the seat
and just about reach the rudder pedals with the tips of my toes. This flight
was over as far as I was concerned. The next order of business was getting the
plane down on the ground safety.
Be Prepared
I landed that plane safely, but wouldn't fly it again until
that seat was tested and fixed for good. Although my story had a safe ending, a
problem like this could have gone wrong for anyone.
Later, I learned that a week earlier, a woman had rented
this very same plane and just about gotten the wheels off the runway when the
seat snapped with her in it, too. She put the plane right back down on the
runway, using the entirety of the 4,000-foot surface before taking the plane
back.
It's hard to prepare for a situation like this because
it's so rare and unexpected. The only advice I can give is to make sure that
everything about the aircraft is in top condition before you fly. Yes, we had
inspected the seat and shaken it back and forth before the flight to see if it
would stay in position. And it did. But you never know what can happen while
you're in the air.
Next entry:
Learning to Fly: Getting Lost (Part 1)
Previous Entries:
Learning to Fly: Going Solo
Learning to Fly: Choosing a Plane
Learning to Fly: Ground School
Learning to Fly: Meet Tinypilot18
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Re: Learning to Fly: Take Your Seat
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