18-04-2006, 10:57 PM
I was having a great flight in my lovely Learjet 45. I decided that I would fly from San Francisco to Las Vegas and that required flying in the
very high mountains along there. I was only at about 9000ft but I thought it would be enough to stay above any small mountains. That
was my first mistake. My second was when I forgot to look over altitudes of all the mountains I was flying over before taking off. Of course
I just HAD to fly over the highest part of the range. Anyhow I left for a light snack and let the plane fly on autopilot, that was my third
mistake. I come back a good 30 minutes later to see my plane nearly landed on the hilltops and then, you guessed it, my worst fear was
realised. I had come back just in time to see my lovely little Learjet plod head-on into the highest bloody mountain south of the Rockies.
My passengers, I'm sure, were a little annoyed at the sight of ground 10 feet from the aircraft, but none of them survived so I don't have to
worry about that.
Of course that plane was trashed. So I purchased another Lear 45 and decided to try the flight again. This time I flew at 12000ft and
avoided any mountains even close to that altitude. The flight was perfect. I didn’t make a single mistake and had a passenger
satisfaction of 98%. I was coming in to land, clear day VFR approach, and there was little traffic in the circuit. My speed and altitude were
good, my engines and instruments were showing proper readings so I turn base leg. I drop a bit of flaps and make a few ATC calls. I
turn final- a little far from the runway I'll admit but that, it turns out, helped me very much this time around. I drop my gear and receive
those fatal words: "Uh Captain the gear is not locked down; it may not hold our weight” I was crushed by my airplanes sudden failure. I
quickly declared mayday, did a quick system check and headed in to land. I touch down, a little hard perhaps but the gear DID have to be
locked down, and ease on the brakes. The power had been pulled just before landing so I need not worry about that. I was about 3/4
down the runway when I realised that my aircraft wasn't slowing down! I tried everything to stop it but nothing worked. I concluded that it
must be a problem with the brakes. I quickly flip on the parking brakes and go hard right rudder looking to swerve the aircraft to a stop.
Yes I know that it would never have been done in reality but I was running out of room and I didn't want to crash into the little house at the
end of the runway.
Anyway, the plane finally stopped-much to the fear of the passengers-and I begin to shut down the aircraft. Then, to my horror, did I
realise that I had forgotten to shut down my speed hold on autopilot. I always flew circuit with t on just to stay at a certain speed. But the
minor problems in final made me forget to shut it off. Total cost of the aircraft was about 4 million. Cost to repair damage was just a little
under what I spent for the plane itself.
All in all, I learnt a very valuable lesson: Never fly the Learjet 45 again :P
Oh and by the way, this was not the first time I had the exact same failure as my second flight. As with this time I forgot to shut of my
speed hold after declaring emergency and was flying, yup you guessed it, a Learjet 45.
very high mountains along there. I was only at about 9000ft but I thought it would be enough to stay above any small mountains. That
was my first mistake. My second was when I forgot to look over altitudes of all the mountains I was flying over before taking off. Of course
I just HAD to fly over the highest part of the range. Anyhow I left for a light snack and let the plane fly on autopilot, that was my third
mistake. I come back a good 30 minutes later to see my plane nearly landed on the hilltops and then, you guessed it, my worst fear was
realised. I had come back just in time to see my lovely little Learjet plod head-on into the highest bloody mountain south of the Rockies.
My passengers, I'm sure, were a little annoyed at the sight of ground 10 feet from the aircraft, but none of them survived so I don't have to
worry about that.
Of course that plane was trashed. So I purchased another Lear 45 and decided to try the flight again. This time I flew at 12000ft and
avoided any mountains even close to that altitude. The flight was perfect. I didn’t make a single mistake and had a passenger
satisfaction of 98%. I was coming in to land, clear day VFR approach, and there was little traffic in the circuit. My speed and altitude were
good, my engines and instruments were showing proper readings so I turn base leg. I drop a bit of flaps and make a few ATC calls. I
turn final- a little far from the runway I'll admit but that, it turns out, helped me very much this time around. I drop my gear and receive
those fatal words: "Uh Captain the gear is not locked down; it may not hold our weight” I was crushed by my airplanes sudden failure. I
quickly declared mayday, did a quick system check and headed in to land. I touch down, a little hard perhaps but the gear DID have to be
locked down, and ease on the brakes. The power had been pulled just before landing so I need not worry about that. I was about 3/4
down the runway when I realised that my aircraft wasn't slowing down! I tried everything to stop it but nothing worked. I concluded that it
must be a problem with the brakes. I quickly flip on the parking brakes and go hard right rudder looking to swerve the aircraft to a stop.
Yes I know that it would never have been done in reality but I was running out of room and I didn't want to crash into the little house at the
end of the runway.
Anyway, the plane finally stopped-much to the fear of the passengers-and I begin to shut down the aircraft. Then, to my horror, did I
realise that I had forgotten to shut down my speed hold on autopilot. I always flew circuit with t on just to stay at a certain speed. But the
minor problems in final made me forget to shut it off. Total cost of the aircraft was about 4 million. Cost to repair damage was just a little
under what I spent for the plane itself.
All in all, I learnt a very valuable lesson: Never fly the Learjet 45 again :P
Oh and by the way, this was not the first time I had the exact same failure as my second flight. As with this time I forgot to shut of my
speed hold after declaring emergency and was flying, yup you guessed it, a Learjet 45.
Kevin
The world is moving faster; your turboprop isn't!
The world is moving faster; your turboprop isn't!
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