I had a close call this morning while cutting my grass (that's considered "at work" ). Got about half the yard done with my 1981 IH Cub Cadet 982, and as I rounded a corner my mower deck shut off. It has an electric clutch for the PTO that drives the deck. I just had this thing rebuilt over the winter so I'm sitting there scratching my head...what the heck is going on? I turn the PTO switch off and then back on. The deck comes back to life for a couple seconds and then nothing again. I notice my voltmeter is jumping all over the place so I figure my battery has come disconnected or is loose. Then I look down and can see through my console where my hydrostat controls go and see flames! I turned the tractor off and try to blow out the flames but they don't go out. Luckily I usually have some bottled water with me when I mow so I doused the flames with it. The fire was right between my legs, so that's a close enough call for me!

My electrical wire bundle plug had loosened up just enough that when I turned or hit some heavy bumps it was trying to short. Finally it did it enough to catch fire. I let it cool down while I went up to the house for some tools, then snugged the plug back to where it should be. Another close call happened then...I had the hood up on the tractor to work under it. A gust of wind blew it shut...right on top of my head. Grrrr!

After adjusting the plug, fired it up and everything works as advertised again.

I could damn near have my own thread on this one...flying with students was always interesting in that they find new and creative ways to try to kill you at 300+ knots.

However, we were all students once, and as such...

I remember my very first T-38 formation ride - inadvertent.

Set the wayback machine to 1991, and our intrepid young 2Lt FC is learning about no-flap landings in the T-38A.

A bit of background first. The T-38A was designed and built in the time of the 'Century series' of fighters. Thin, swept, 'hard' wings...where the 'buffet' or shake of the aircraft was used just like any other flight instrument to determine how you were doing. Also, the T-38 had one of the highest landing speeds of any aircraft in the USAF inventory (155 final approach full flap, 170 final approach no flap) and so you got a LOT of practice landing the aircraft before you went solo.

Which means a LOT of traffic pattern operations. Our 'overhead' traffic pattern starts directly over the runway at 1500 FT AGL, 300 knots. You then did a 180 degree turn to bleed down airspeed to 200ish knots, configuring on inside downwind, still at 1500 AGL, to arrive abeam the threshold at 1 NM lateral spacing (no wind). You then proceed until the runway threshold was about 45 degrees behind you, a position known as the 'perch', where upon you do a descending 180 degree turn, about 45 degrees of bank, final approach speed plus 20 knots to arrive at 1 NM final, 300 AGL on final approach airspeed. What it looks like from overhead is a racetrack. This is different from what folks are used to in non-military ops...the 'rectangle' pattern as it were with distinct crosswind legs. Military patterns have those too, but are either for larger aircraft or for operations to 'straight in' patterns - defined as having about 4 mile finals vs an overhead with only a 1 mile final.

Anyway, we would do no-flap overhead patterns, not because that's what we would actually do if we had a flap failure (a no kidding EP pattern would be flown as a straight in) but because it allowed us to get extra landings vs going all the way out for a straight in (1 overhead pattern usually only took half the gas and time of a straight in pattern). The no-flap overhead differed in the fact that because you were faster, and had less camber, your final turn had to be wider (displaced now 1.5 NM abeam the threshold).

Back to our young 2Lt out learning no-flap patterns and landings on a sunny morning in Del Rio, TX with his brave IP sitting in the back. Reaching the 'perch', I roll off to do my perfect final turn to a perfect final approach to a perfect landing and takeoff (a touch and go as it were). I few seconds into my turn, concentrating on holding my parameters, I overhear an aircraft behind me make his gear down call. No biggie of course, he's following me, no conflict. He's behind me after all, what could happen...

I roll out on final, my speed within a few knots of final approach, my aimpoint set, man I'm going to nail this final and landing...when I hear (and feel on the stick) an urgent 'I have the aircraft!'. After relinquishing control, I was just about to ask why when I see the largest T-38 I have ever seen come across the nose, gear and flaps full down, belly up to us. Close enough to hear his engines and read the 2 inch high 'CAUTION' stenciled in front of the main gear doors. My IP jinks around to the left of him and does a go-around. After cleaning out our shorts, we end up taking it around the straight in pattern and finish out the flight.

Didn't hear a peep from the RSU, the other crew, or anyone else...no one else saw how close we all came to scraping paint.

For those of you with good ACM or geometry skills, you can see exactly what happened. Basically, our larger displacement and turn radius caused us to take more distance around the turn. Though they started out behind us, their shorter turn radius and closer perch allowed them to make up the distance as they turned...while also being at a 45 degree bank kept them belly up to us the whole time. We both ended up in the same place at the same time...it was only because my IP had a wider scan that we didn't end up as a statistic.

Learned something that day...if the guy you're following is wide with pride...better to be wide and alive then on track and dead.

FC

Close calls at work huh?

Ok...army roadmove, I'm passenger in a truck with a kitchen trailer behind it. Driver fell asleep at the wheel and ended up off the highway, going down a mountain in Washington State (near Ellensburg actually, leaving Yakima Firing Center). He has to wrench the truck back onto the highway, truck and trailer fight for inertia, and truck looses, big mess on highway. We JUST avoid being killed. Three hours later a van driven by a friend in the same convoy has a blowout, her van rolled a couple of times. Both of us shaken, not stirred.

Riding in a '113, the track seizes on one side, and throws us off the road, right toward a GIANT rock outcrop. We miss it by two feet.

Waiting for Christmas vacation, at O'dark thirty in the morning, a 120mm mortar shell explodes no further than 100m away from our bunker, literally lifted me several inches into the air off my cot, sucked the wind out of us. Nice. Instant adrenaline rush! A Soviet 120mm mortar shell has about the same explosive power/payload/damage as a standard NATO 155mm artillery shell. So a lot. Way more than an 81mm.

That's just the Army, and I know I'm forgetting several others from that time. Accidental discharges, mine strikes, ambushes (real, I wasn't in them, but close enough that the shooting was LOUD), and the execution of a Croatian patrol member by his own team.


Since then, close calls with fuels of several kinds, falling objects, work vehicle close calls, propane spewing all over, bashed, cut, slips falls, many fires...yea, I'm getting into less dangerous daily work over the next two years. I don't think I have many close calls left anymore, already had FAR more than my fair share! I literally can't think about it too much, or it could affect my own state of mind for minding my safety. PS: I'm not accident prone myself...it's just all stuff that happens caused by others while in close proximity to me. One time I wondered if my life was the inspiration for the Final Destination movies!

Wow. Now I know why my friend in Test Pilot school referred to the T-38 as "Craptastic."

Well, if a modern fighter is like a new Corvette, a T-38A would be like your old MG...less performance, less comfortable, FAR less digital, and more MX intensive.

For what the T-38 was originally designed for, it has done a great job. It's flight characteristics are fairly forgiving as long as you didn't get behind the power curve. Even then, it's predictable as long as you have enough altitude to recover. And the T-38C mods have brought it closer in line with more modern avionics.

Mainly, it forced you to think ahead. If you had SA or crosscheck weaknesses, it would highlight them pretty quickly.

But, like everything else, it is getting long in the tooth, and at some point, will need a replacement.

FC

I don't have close calls at work as they tend to upset the passengers.... . Instead, I have uneventful flights and very rarely a flight that can be refered to as being 'interesting'.

I work at a highly dangerous enviroment,i surround myself with the most dangerous tools and sharp objects possible, even taking safety procedures once i cuted my finger, it was a deep cut, i though it would never stop to bleed,from that day on i swore an oath, i would never let my guard down again, i could had been disabled !

i'm a designer, and papercuts can be LETHAL !

Was working part time driving a tow truck for snow removal. Signs are posted telling people not to park on the street. Cars parked on the street are towed around the corner with an expensive ticket.

So I back up to this car and am reaching underneath the right side hooking the J-hook when I hear "get the @#$%%^ away from my car". Get up and turn around and this guy is pointing a rifle at me from about 30ft away. The cop who is writing the ticket is on the left side checking the VIN. Cop yells at the guy to put the rifle down while pointing his pistil at the guy. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. This is not one of the nicer areas of town especial in the middle of the night, which it was. Luckily the guy put the rifle down. Finished the hook-up real quick. Didn't see the cop the rest of the night so don't know happened to the guy.

The thing was that I had swapped turns with another driver.

Coming up on my retirement, well in 5 years... I'd say I'm lucky to be alive today... 10 years in the Army as a MP, and 15 as a civilian cop... lets see...

I was shot at 3x, all missed.

Taken hostage with a un to my head once.

Stabbed in the chest with a 6 inch screwdriver.

Thrown through a glass window.

Assaulted at least 1000 times, 5 serious, 2 against 5 or more.

At least 100 near crashes, spin outs, or off road chases, but have never hit anything else with my car.

Been in at least 3 serious crashes as a passenger.

rolling my Humvee once in the army, it righted itself... training exercise.

Crashed into at least 20 vehicles, on purpose... VIP protection training.

then some stupid stuff... like in the boy scouts throwing knifes between each others feet, closest wins, i lost with a knife through my foot.

Another officer at the range had an accidental discharge, went within inches of my leg.

on mid night shift as an MP... two MP vehicles would race down the runway then the autobahn, and I would jump from the top of one to the other... repeat... we were bored. lol

ya, lucky to be alive.