yesterday was eventful

[94touring]

Go to work like any other day, had a day of flying planned as well at three hours of night flying that needed to be done.  My boss and one of the new pilots we hired were suppose to make a trip to Alamos Mexico with 8 passengers, taking two seperate airplanes.  I opted out of the trip because I didn't want to sit in Mexico for a week at the pay they had agreed on.  The new pilot loaded up the pax, bags, fueled up, and was on her way.  She got halfway down the runway and aborted, then another three thousand feet of runway go by and she goes off the end.  Scared the hell out of the four passengers.  I was out flying locally and heard some of the transmissions on the radio and decided to head back to check things out.  No one was hurt, plane was not damaged, but spit a brake pad on the right side somehow.  Looked like it was binding on the roll and perhaps why she aborted cause "it didn't feel good".  Fair enough I guess.  Also there was talk that the door popped open but I won't bother with that nonsense.  Anyways she taxiied back to the ramp, decided to go too fast and guess what....put the damn plane in a ditch.  THE BRAKES DON'T WORK REMEMBER!  Hit a rock and fubared the left prop.  Great.  Guess who gets to redo his day and fly people to Mexico.  Spend an hour redoing homeland security crap to cross the border, update flight plans, get a new plane (smaller by the way) and toss people and bags in it and off I go...after I have my girlfriend drive my passport to me.  Couldn't take full fuel cause I'd be about two hundred over max gross weight in an airplane that performs like crap under or near max gross.  Get to Obregon to clear customs and then from there is a short flight to Alamos to drop these people off.  Specifically show the fueler in Obregon to fill it to the tabs in the tank, roughly half tanks.....so I don't go over weight.  Whats he do...tops it off.  Well we're at sea level there and have tons of runway length so guess what folks, buckle up.  Takeoff was sketchy, took awhile and a few off and back on the ground again attempts while rolling, but hey she flew fine once I got enough speed.  Drop them off, grab a burger and hop back in the plane to back track my route.  Then three more hours of night flying till 1:30am.  Made for a long day.         

[MPlayle]

All I can say is "Ouch!" and "I'll bet you are TIRED!"

Cheers,
Michael Playle

[MiniGene]

Your pilot stories are always interesting.  Keep them coming!