AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2020 - 100

P&E

NEVER AGAIN

Rental pilot
reluctance
Listening to your inner voice when something feels amiss
BY SEBASTIAN TEUNISSEN

100 | AOPA PILOT November 2020

the preflight inspection on this day. Although
nothing looked loose or unusual, something
didn't feel right, so I returned to the office
and asked if this had been addressed by the
maintenance crew. I was assured that it had
and that everything was OK. As a relatively
low-time pilot I was reluctant to challenge
the experts, and I pushed my little niggling
worry to the back corner of my mind.
On takeoff, the little Rotax quickly accelerated us down the runway. I eased back on
the stick and the airplane climbed swiftly.
As the threshold flashed by below, a slight
shudder ran through the control stick.
Turbulence, I thought-not unusual in this
weather. I banked to the north and continued to climb. Fifteen hundred feet and I
retracted the flaps. The shudder came again,
only stronger-this time accompanied by a

ANNA MILL

FLYING RENTAL AIRCRAFT can pose some
interesting challenges. There is always
extra uncertainty about maintenance,
safety, and airworthiness. I've always tried
to do thorough preflight inspections, but
especially so when flying an unfamiliar airplane or one that others have flown before
me. Since these aren't my airplanes, I don't
have the owner's familiarity and awareness
and must rely on others. However, overreliance can lead to dangerous situations,
as I learned the hard way some years ago
in Danbury, Connecticut.
I had flown the Tecnam P92 Echo out of
the local FBO on several occasions without
incident. However, the last time I had flown
it, I had submitted a squawk regarding the
elevator: It had felt sloppy during flight. I
therefore paid special attention to it during

banging sound, as if somewhere, behind
me, someone was trying to get my attention. Whatever it was, it worked. I became
hyper alert. Waiting for whatever came
next, I continued to climb. More altitude
can only be good, I reckoned.
Bang. Bang.
The noise increased as the shaking got
worse. The stick bounced around in my
hand and controlling the airplane became
more difficult. Then the banging stopped
as suddenly as it had started. But so did the
movement of the stick. I had no pitch control. I could still move the stick side to side,
but fore and aft-it was frozen. I had to get
back on the ground before things got worse.
"Danbury Tower. One Two Zero Sierra
Foxtrot. I'd like to return to the pattern," I
radioed the tower.
Pushing the transponder button, I let
the controller know where I was and gently banked to the right, away from town and
out over the hills east of the airport.
"Sierra Foxtrot, right downwind,
Runway Three Five. Number two to land."
The controller advised. "Report midfield."
"Report midfield. Sierra Foxtrot."
A Citation jet coming in from my left
was on short final for the intersecting runway, 26. It passed behind me as I continued
downwind for Runway 35. This gave me
time to think about how I was going to get
the airplane back on the ground.
I could bank the airplane, but I couldn't
adjust pitch. How was I going to manage? I
didn't want to make any sudden moves or
use any force on the stick.
Farther downwind, I added 10 degrees
of flaps. The nose pitched forward. More
flaps, and more of the hills below became
visible. I retracted the flaps and the nose
pitched up again. I had some control.
The elevator was jammed. But, what
about the trim tab? I added some up trim
and the nose pointed higher. Between flaps
and trim, I figured I could land this thing.
"Sierra Foxtrot, say intentions," crackled through the headset as I turned onto the
base leg. "Are you staying in the pattern?"
"Negative. I'll want to pull off and
check the plane. I've got a bit of a
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2020

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