Friday, August 25, 2006
A Little Joke
(2)
Score one for duplicitous foresight.
I took some film at Salina (which I still have) as I preflighted the airplane. The fun thing about that flight is that somewhere over western Kansas I faked an engine failure. My friend was flying the airplane (from the right seat, of course). He was not a pilot, but he knew a little something about flying. He was doing ok, when I reached down between the seats and shut off the fuel valve (I would later use this trick in the Twin Commanche). The engine ran for a while then quit suddenly. We were several thousand feet above the terrain at the time. He looked over at me in panic, his mouth wide open.
I said, 'Emergency procedures!' (By the way, 'emergency procedures' included full power, rich mixture, electric fuel pumps, carburator heat, max props.) He did the procedures. Nothing worked. I suggested that we had plenty of altitude and could pick and choose an emergency landing site. He seemed to be at a loss, apparently wanting me to take over. I then revealed the joke by turning on the fuel switch. He was not amused.
Score one for duplicitous foresight.
I took some film at Salina (which I still have) as I preflighted the airplane. The fun thing about that flight is that somewhere over western Kansas I faked an engine failure. My friend was flying the airplane (from the right seat, of course). He was not a pilot, but he knew a little something about flying. He was doing ok, when I reached down between the seats and shut off the fuel valve (I would later use this trick in the Twin Commanche). The engine ran for a while then quit suddenly. We were several thousand feet above the terrain at the time. He looked over at me in panic, his mouth wide open.
I said, 'Emergency procedures!' (By the way, 'emergency procedures' included full power, rich mixture, electric fuel pumps, carburator heat, max props.) He did the procedures. Nothing worked. I suggested that we had plenty of altitude and could pick and choose an emergency landing site. He seemed to be at a loss, apparently wanting me to take over. I then revealed the joke by turning on the fuel switch. He was not amused.
