The Flying Scotsman

by Bryan with a "Y" Friday, July 27, 2018 11:02 AM
I had a rewarding flight recently and it also lead me to this great safety tip.
Co-worker, 62 years of age, knows I fly because I am a pilot and so I tell everyone when I meet them (usually before I tell them my name).

Anyway. He has never been in a plane smaller than a big one. He is Scottish (looks and sounds like that actor), Says "I flew across the pond" a lot.

I call him yesterday and say "Hey I am flying myself to breakfast, wanna join me?"
He said (read this bit in a Scottish accent) "Awe Crikey Yeah! I got nothin goin on today. I'd love to have a go at it."

I am going to digress a bit. So he has a lot of crazy expressions. My favorite is when he is talking about computing instead of saying how you or I would say "You click enter and launch it" he says frequently "If you want to print the label, you just queue it up, hit the tit and you're off."

He said it once in a large meeting and I looked at my CEO deadpan and in my best normal non Scottish accent, said "Apparently we're gonna have to hit the tit in order to make this program work boss. We've definitely not been doing that."

But I digress.

So I fly to pick him up and he is like a kid in a candy store, filming, taking pictures, asking questions. I have never had a more enthusiastic passenger. He really reminded me of me when I am gonna be his age.

It was probably one of the most rewarding flights I have had since several others.
I ask his permission to show him some maneuvers and he I think agrees. I really can't understand any of his expressions. What does it mean in Scottish "No please no"?

We do a steep turn and he is loving it.

Then! I say "Hey, I can make you float a bit. Are you up for it?"
Then another crazy Scottish saying "God please Bryan, make it stop. I can't take it anymore".
Which I think means "Go for it". Who knows?

I fly the parabola and as I am pitching down, the engine gets pizzed! (not Scottish Pizzed meaning "drunk") It starts losing power. I pushed the yoke down harder to show the engine whose boss and it upped its game. Now the engine was really phoning it in. I pushed harder one more time to call its bluff and the engine wasn't having any of it. It was very lethargic. Obviously carb ice.

So I pulled back and leveled off and the carb ice must have melted at that point because the engine began running perfectly again. I have done this maneuver many times in carbureted and fuel injected planes and never had it create carb ice like this.

I guess the advice here is that if you are going to fly this way, make sure the conditions are not right for carb ice.
 
 

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