I Killed Turbine Engine Famous NASCAR Driver Onboard

All right, this is a quick one. Hopefully this is a Saturday night. I want to get out of here. I don't want to spend a bunch of time here. But this is, this is a good one that I want to talk about. I had an engine quit with a celebrity race car driver on board. So this is embarrassing. I'm not going to call it stupid because this is a mistake that anybody can make when you veer from the way you have a flow of things being done. Right. So we've been talking about the overspeed. It has nothing to do with overspeed, but it does have to do with checklist. So this would, I think it's a great topic of conversation for a lot of people. Right. Depending on the aircraft you're flying, many aircraft checklists say fuel valve off at the end of your checklist when you're after shutdown and then it's turn fuel valve back on at the beginning of your next flight. Right? And that's the way some manufacturers have the checklist set up. That's the way they want it done. I was flying professionally, flying a 135 charter and we were flying a turbine powered aircraft where the checklist manufacturer's checklist says fuel valve off end of the day, fuel valve back on on your next flight. Well, many of you know, there are a lot of places and this isn't picking on anybody because there are a lot of people that just choose to leave the fuel valve on all the time. Right? Many places do that. And that's what we were doing with this particular aircraft who we worked for, you know, with the owner. That's how we did it. We left the fuel valve on. So new owner comes in and they're evaluating procedures and things we were doing and they were going, hey, how come you guys aren't shutting the fuel valve off and then turn it back on? And you know, I'm like, well, it's just way that's the way they do it here. That's the way they've always done it. And he's like, well, you know, I prefer that you guys do as per the checklist, shut the fuel off and then at the appropriate time after the shutdown and turn it on at the appropriate time at the beginning of the checklist. No problem, right? Well, what's the problem? The problem is when you change from doing something one way, you're going to have a habit of keep doing that. Right? So this takes place where everybody's instructed to start doing it as per the checklist, fuel valve on Fuel valve off. So we get this call, and they tell me, I'm going to go down and I'm going to haul this race car celebrity. At the time, I did not know who it was. It was Michael Waltrip. I didn't know Michael Waltrip, but I knew who Darrell Waltrip was because of, you know, indycars were being a kid hearing Darrell Waltrip all the time. So at the time, I didn't know who Michael Waltrip was. Then, of course, after this incident, I saw him everywhere. Because at that time, he was big on advertising for Napa. So here's Michael Waltrip. Every time I go in Napa, here he is on the wall, right? So we have this charter flight where I'm going to take him down to an off airport landing. And there was some people that had made a corn maze of his nascar, you know, out in a field, right? How cool is that? It's really cool. So I meet. I fly to another local airport to meet him and his people. They climb in. He's in the back. One of his guys was up front, and he actually was helping me with radios and stuff because he was experienced with riding along. And. And so I just. I'm kind of nervous, right? Cause I didn't even know. I didn't know who he was. I knew he was a celebrity, right? And he was a big deal from what everybody told me. So I go to do startup. Well, on the shutdown, when I went there and landed, as per the checklist, I shut the fuel valve off. Then I climb back in, because this is something we just recently changed. Because I'm nervous. I just go back to the check. I go back and do things the way we had been doing them. So even though it says fuel valve on, my brain just said fuel valve is on, right? Because that's the way we've been doing it. So I start the aircraft. Shortly after it starts running, the engine dies. Well, how embarrassing is that, right? When you don't. When you just. You start this aircraft, engine dies. You feel like a complete goof, right? If I'd have been on a ramp somewhere by myself and nobody would have saw it, okay, Whoops, I goofed. But no, it has to be with a crew of people on board and somebody in the back that's a, you know, famous race car driver. So I realized what I did. I go back, I start over with the checklist. Nobody says a word. So I go through, start the aircraft up, fly them over to the location where the corn maze is. We stop, I shut down I go, hey, everybody, just stay in the helicopter till the blades are done moving. And so Michael Waltrip's in the back seat, and he leans up and kind of looks through the hole, and he goes, hey, can I ask you a question? I'm like, yeah, sure. He goes, how come the engine quit after you started it? I fessed up and I said, well, I didn't turn the fuel valve on. Well, he's a race car driver, right? They have fuel valves. He know exactly what was going on. So I'm like, I. We recently changed the flow, and normally we left the fuel valve, we just leave it on. But we know we just changed things. So I forgot the fuel valve, right? So nothing bad happened other than me being really embarrassed. So I just wanted to share this one today because I thought, this is a good one. You know, back to my law enforcement days. It's like in firearms instructor school. They said, always carry your weapon right here. Don't put it up here off duty. And all the cool rigs, right? Because if something ever happens, your hands going to go here first. Right? It's the way you train and that. That's with anything, right? And it's also law of primacy, right? The way you teach someone is how they're going to do it. Somebody's taught improperly. Then when you try to change that, it's very hard to get that person to change. Right. It's just the way we are. So, again, I don't feel this one was stupid. I feel it's embarrassing because it was a celebrity in the backseat who I'm surprised didn't speak up sooner than what he did. Well, he waited until the flight's over. You think he would have said, hey, man, you know, are you wondering if I'm a competent pilot or not? Because the engine dies after I started up, or, you know, is there a mechanical problem? What's the deal? So there's one for you on something to think about. Because, yes, we all try to follow the manufacturer's checklist, right? Then there are times, depending on where you're flying, what school you're at, or what company you're with, sometimes people veer for a certain reason from the manufacturer's checklist. I'm just telling you real world. So anytime you make a change from what you normally do, I guess the best lesson is just to. You have to take special caution to go, hey, we've recently just changed something. So how are we going to. How are we going to rectify this so that moving forward, we don't make these mistakes because something has recently changed. So I think it's a great story. Again, I don't feel stupid. I just felt really, really embarrassed. So I'm going to get out of here. Top 10 checkride tips we'll put this down below. This was co authored with Dan Christman, 2018 Flight Structure of the Year. Dan and I put together things we've seen over 50 years between the two of us doing checkrides. And it's not just 10. There's a whole bunch of bonuses at the end where TAS went out and interviewed examiners in the Las Vegas area and we put those bonuses in the back. So good little book, free PDF down below. And it's pretty thin. We'll actually ship this paperback to you for free in the US if you just pay for shipping and handling. We send you the book for free. So that link will down be down below. So the feedback's been amazing. I've had phone calls, emails, text Messages, comments on YouTube. I like this series myself, and not everything that I'm going to talk about is necessarily something I did. Stupid. Many of things they will be, you know, But I'm just, I want to share stories that might help you along the way in your, you know, your flying endeavor. So. All right, this Saturday I'm gonna go edit this dude up and we'll see you in the next video. Peace out. Subscribe. Like put a comment down below. See you in the next video.