December 13, 1990. Do the checklists!
Routine Can Be Dangerous.
Getting in to a routine pattern can cause complacency, even to the point of failing to do simple checklists. I learned a valuable lesson about the failure to complete all checklists before departure.
I was living in Orlando at the time, but also working on Sanibel Island in a property project. I had a place to stay down there and even a ramp car I kept at Ft. Myers Airways at KFMY.
I was working on building up my logbook, eventually hoping for a career or at least a business opportunity in aviation. This flight was very routine for me as I did it once or twice a week. Using some money I made on the property deal, I purchased 30 hours of tach time in a PA-23-250 Aztec (It’s now been changed to PA-27 to differentiate it from the 4 seat Apache.)
Knew The Aircraft
I flew this plane a lot. I got my Multi CFI in it about a month after this flight. The owners were friends of mine, Tom and Sue from Oveido. Tom was flying for Cherokee Express, (although soon to depart for American Eagle) and Sue worked as a Flight Attendant for American. The Aztec was for sale and they hoped I would buy the plane from them eventually.
Don’t Skip a Checklist Item, Ever!
I got called for an afternoon meeting on Sanibel, about 2 hours from now. I had to fly of course and I needed to go fast. The Aztec would do 165kts so I wanted to take it for this trip. I called Sue and asked her if it was available for a few days. “Yes and Tom just filled the outboards (mains). He did a 4 hour flight to the Bahamas and back yesterday and everything is working fine.”
I was so used to flying N6290Y down to FMY that I got complacent. I skipped a few items on the check list. My mistake.
Engine Sputtered
I was flying over the Winter Haven area when the right engine coughed and sputtered. It was failing. Oh my. Well I went in to Memory Items mode. Everything forward, Identify, Verify, Feather, Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. I was right over Lake Wales airport. “Miami Center this is N6290Y, I just lost my right engine. I’m going to land at Lake Wales and see what’s going on. I don’t need any assistance at this time, I’m right over the airport.”
“Roger 90Y let us know when you are down safely.”
I landed on one engine without any incident. After all I had practiced a lot!
I ran through the checklists and I saw it. Aww Geez. The fuel selectors were on the Aux tanks, the inboards! The inboards were not filled!
Found The Problem and Fixed It
I switched them both to the outboards (the mains), which were full (of course). I went through the entire start up checklist and both engines came on just fine. I departed and continued my flight to KFMY without incident. Well almost. I got a message from someone on the center frequency who said “John go to Company.” I thought I recognized the voice, so I switched over to Cherokee Ops frequency and Tom directed me to another frequency.
“What happened?”
“Uh, you left it on the inboards. I ran it out of gas.”
“You didn’t do the checklist?”
Lengthy Silence. “John?”
“I screwed up. I was in a hurry and skipped a few items. One of them I skipped was verify fuel on outboards.”
Well the rest of the conversation will remain “classified” between Tom and myself. After extensive apologies and a check ride with Tom later that week, I was allowed to keep flying the plane.
Lesson Learned. Do All Items on All Checklists for All Flights!
There is never any reason to skip a checklist. Anyone who does so is playing with fire. I know I had an ego problem (and probably still do) and said things to myself like “Checklists? We don’t need no stinking checklists!” but not any more. Don’t do it! There’s no future in it!
