Breaking a plane

One of my partners in our 1974 Citabria bounced a landing and had a
prop strike. We are rebuilding the engine and buying a new prop, of
course, but he feels awful about it. This has caused me to speculate;
how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?
I'm not asking about wear and tear, but actual incidents resulting in
damage. Is it common or unusual?
CPW

cpw wrote:
One of my partners in our 1974 Citabria bounced a landing and had a
prop strike. We are rebuilding the engine and buying a new prop, of
course, but he feels awful about it. This has caused me to speculate;
how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?
I'm not asking about wear and tear, but actual incidents resulting in
damage. Is it common or unusual?


I don't know about other guys but I've had a prop strike into turf taxiing on a
grass strip with a C-182. I've also totaled a Lance and dinged up a C-210 that
lived to fly again; both after dead stick landings.

Don't stand next to me in a lightning storm, if you know what I mean.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

In article .com,
"cpw" wrote:

how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?
I'm not asking about wear and tear, but actual incidents resulting in
damage. Is it common or unusual?

Define "long time pilots"

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Is it common or unusual?

We're not exactly long-term, but Mary and I haven't busted anything
yet, in 12 years and 1500+ hours...

(Knocking on wood, with my fingers crossed, and a rabbit's foot in my
pocket...)

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Interesting question. I have little flying experience myself but as an
A&P I have seen more than a few accident aftermaths, though not as many
as you might think. I realize you're not looking for a systematic or
organized approach to this but I have to wonder what about the accident
prone versus the fortunate? I know some long time pilots with
thousands of hours over decades with no accidents at all and some who
have had major repairs to pilot induced damage several times in a few
years. Go figure.

John Dupre'


cpw wrote:
One of my partners in our 1974 Citabria bounced a landing and had a
prop strike. We are rebuilding the engine and buying a new prop, of
course, but he feels awful about it. This has caused me to speculate;
how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?
I'm not asking about wear and tear, but actual incidents resulting in
damage. Is it common or unusual?
CPW

cpw wrote:
This has caused me to speculate;
how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?

Bad ju-ju to answer that... G

RN,

Don't stand next to me in a lightning storm, if you know what I mean.


Is it the numbers? (if you don't watch "Lost", just ignore my comment)

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

I have been flying 23 years and so far not a single ding on anything..
Of course I do fly the "beast"and the day is still young.. G

Ben
www.haaspowerair.com
cpw wrote:
One of my partners in our 1974 Citabria bounced a landing and had a
prop strike. We are rebuilding the engine and buying a new prop, of
course, but he feels awful about it. This has caused me to speculate;
how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?
I'm not asking about wear and tear, but actual incidents resulting in
damage. Is it common or unusual?
CPW

I've had two incidents in 30 years.
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.


cpw wrote:
One of my partners in our 1974 Citabria bounced a landing and had a
prop strike. We are rebuilding the engine and buying a new prop, of
course, but he feels awful about it. This has caused me to speculate;
how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?
I'm not asking about wear and tear, but actual incidents resulting in
damage. Is it common or unusual?
CPW

On 27 Oct 2006 03:37:37 -0700, "cpw" wrote:

One of my partners in our 1974 Citabria bounced a landing and had a
prop strike. We are rebuilding the engine and buying a new prop, of
course, but he feels awful about it. This has caused me to speculate;
how many long time pilots have flown without ever damaging an aircraft?

"It ain't the years...it's the mileage."

36 years of flying, ~20+ years of ownership, nothing to speak of (yet) but my
total time isn't all that high. We've got a guy in my EAA chapter who has
crashed four times in 50 years...three due to mechanical problems (including a
case of jammed controls) and once when landing in unexpectedly-deep snow.

Ron Wanttaja