http://www.becomefighterpilot.com/fighter-pilot-training-the-ultimate-life-saver/Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:27:40 +0000hourly1http://www.becomefighterpilot.com/fighter-pilot-training-the-ultimate-life-saver/#comment-359Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:27:40 +0000http://www.afterburnerclub.com/?p=2397#comment-359I haven`t encountered a situation where knowing my emergency procedures helped me save my own life but I did encounter one where not knowing them could have been a real problem. Here my problem was that I was not able to identify what the problem was quick enough given my altitude. I remember I was with my instructor in a cessna 150 and we were doing a nav flight. When it was time to fly back home we were aligned on the runway of a very small airport that had no control tower. Another plane was about to go on the runway in front of us to take off as I was taking some time to complete all my engine checks. When he realized that the other plane was going to go on the runway he urged me to complete my checks quicker in order to take off, which I did. When I took off I noticed that the plane was taking significantly longer to reach its usual take off speed. Once in the air I saw the airspeed drop dangerously low while I was only at about 150 feet high. So I slammed the stick forward to avoid stalling but I couldn`t figure out what the hell was wrong. Then my instructor told me to retract my flaps: when I was rushing during my checks before take off I had accidentally put my flaps at 20 degrees. I`m not sure what would have happened had I been alone but I did get a few lessons out of that experience. Never rush when you are in a plane, know your procedures and don`t give in to an instructor who is telling you something you know can lead to mistakes.

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