"Dallas" wrote in message
nk.net...
My guess is that all of the high time pilots have at least one "big scare
story" they might share... How about it, what was your scariest moment?

Back during my training solo XC, I crossed over an airport on the way back
towards OKC and called traffic. A helicopter took off from that airport and
made position reports at the same altitude and area where I was. I stayed
straight and level because I wasn't sure if he was above or directly below
me. I kept looking around and as we each made position reports and finally
located each other.

Just after purchasing my plane flying a long cross country from southern
Minnesota on our way to McAllen, Texas. Over southern Texas we were flying
at night at 3,500 and saw a twin come under us by about 500 feet from the
right. Just after the twin passed, the engine started running real rough! I
had enough power to barely hold altitude but wasn't sure of the ground
features below. I looked for an airport beacon and saw one about 10 miles
away and headed towards it. Made the airport fine and found one of the spark
plugs had fallen out and was hanging by the spark plug wire. Put the spark
plug back in and continued flight another 20 miles to our destination for
that night. The annual was done just before that XC and the mechanic didn't
torque down that plug.

-Greg B.