Scott

The club had a basic J-3 Cub that fit nicely into the relatively low hangar. When they upgraded to a Piper Colt, tricycle gear, the tail was too high for the door. The answer was to take a milk bucket, shape a hook from a piece of steel bar, and cement the hook into bucket. When hooked onto the tail tiedown ring it lowered the tail enough that one person could move the plane into and out of the hangar.

After a take off an instructor noticed the need for a large nose down trim input. After a touch and go they needed an equal amount of nose up trim. When they came around the second time, sure enough, on the runway was a familiar looking bucket and hook, although scratched and dented!

I am reminded of a military experience when I was stationed as a USAF test support pilot at Edwards AFB in California’s Mojave Desert. For some reason I was dispatched to the Army’s test center on our base to assist in a Huey flight. I reported for the briefing and found myself scurrying after the PIC, who was busy doing admin work instead of preparing to fly. Fifteen minutes before launch, we walked to the chopper and, sans preflight, hoped in to start checklists. The Army pilot turned beet red when, after engine light-off, the blade failed to start its rotations. Said pilot shut down, got out, and untied the rotor blade (made easier because the hot engine exhaust during start-up had cooked the nylon tied-down rope). Maybe I should have said something about a preflight or even refused to fly, but at least I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut when the PIC returned to the cockpit to attempt flight again… successfully the second time around. I never flew with that Army unit again.

Thinking it was a maintenance run I gave it no further thought until a few minutes later I watched a high wing aircraft doing touch and goes with a long bright yellow rope streaming from the tail tie down.

Then it all made sense.