Wow Joe, so many things wrong with the Cessna pilot’s actions. Not only is that a blatant disregard for aviation safety by actually CREATING a Runway Incursion on his part by putting both himself and you in danger, but then to actually have the nerve to take off when you’re more or less still on the runway, and then be all like “oh, what are you talking about? I didn’t do anything wrong, I saw you well clear of the runway, I mean you were only in the grass with a flat tire and I had plenty of room to take off, so what is all the fuss about?” when questioned is one of the most childish things I’ve ever heard of in almost 6 years of flying.
In addition, how could the pilot have possibly been in such a rush for that he couldn’t have gave you a “Hey, you need any help with anything? Looks like you might need some assistance down there” call on the radio, or at least WAITED until you got off the Runway before taking off. We’ve all been in a rush before (to those that haven’t, I applaud you), but I’ve never had a time where I went flying that I was in such a hurry to take off, that if someone needed a hand, I wouldn’t have been able to lend one. That guy should be lucky I wasn’t there to join you; I probably wouldn’t have been very civilized over the radio if I witnessed that go down. In regard to your tire, what type of tire (size and PLY strength) are you using? For almost two years, I used a CHENG SHIN ultralight 11x4.00-5 6 PLY tire, and I had 3 blow out on me since owning my plane. At first I just accepted that “oh, it’s a plane, things break”: The 6-PLY tire is rated for 400 lbs, and N6399U weighs 636 empty (with ~ 235 on the main pilot side gear) so I never saw any reason to upgrade. However, after thinking about it, when I’m sitting in the plane, that’s an additional 185 lbs almost all on the main pilot side tire, pushing it at (if not over) it’s 400 lb rating just from me sitting in it. Throw in a passenger and/or the shock of a hard landing, and I was almost certainly going over the 400 lb limit. I also have 72 lbs of fuel in a header tank, which puts even more weight on the tires. Because of all this, I’ve started using a 11x4.00-5 8 Ply which is rated for 475 lbs, and although still early (changed my latest one at the beginning of 2020), the tire has held up so far. So long story short, I recommend the an 8 PLY over the 6 PLY. Hope you get the ole’ bird fixed and back up in the air soon! V/R Sam Spanovich N6399U 74S, Anacortes WA _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
