Bad Vibrations

It was going to be a grand day flying. I had just earned my private pilot’s license and was now able to take passengers. My little brother, Joe, had never been flying so this was going to be a big deal. I rented the trusty Cessna 152 that I had taken most of my lessons in and briefed Joe on what was going to happen. We hopped in the plane and planned on flying over the family homestead and the little town of Buffalo. As I rolled out on the uncontrolled rural runway all was well. No traffic in site or reporting in on the radio. We would have the sky to ourselves.

I slowly increased the throttle and we rolled down the runway. We were soon airborne and Joe was amazed. He loved it. Joe was mesmerized by the earth sinking away and stared out the window at everything getting smaller. He was now experiencing a new dimension. Up.

No sooner had we reached 100 feet than a very loud banging and continuous vibration shook the plane. It seemed to be coming from Joe’s side of the plane.  I had already experienced one mayday when an engine quite on me so I was having a hard time believing that it was happening again. Only this time something must have let loose and it was trying to free itself from the plane. Could it be the gear? Did I run into a wayward raccoon on the field? I had no idea.

The only thing I could do was to continue climbing until I could turn back to the runway. I still had engine power and all the control surfaces seemed to be working. A quick scan of my instruments and gauges told me the engine was fine but obviously something had gone seriously wrong. Vibration in the air is not a good thing. The plane was now almost humming. I asked my now terrified brother what he could see out his side of the plane.

He quickly discovered that he had closed his door on the end of the seatbelt. Now the seatbelt end was banging on the side of the plane. I felt a huge sense of relief that my wings weren’t falling off. I asked Joe to open the door and pull the belt back into the plane. He immediately started crying. He was so terrified that apparently it didn’t take much to send him over the edge. He refused to do it because, he told me, if he did, “we would both get sucked out of the plane.” This was the era when sequels to the original Airport were hitting the theaters.

I didn’t have time to explain to Joe that this was not a pressurized aircraft and I was afraid of the belt damaging the side of the plane. So I reached over and opened the door much to Joe’s horror. He gave me the most heartbreaking look, and seemed to be thinking, “Why would you want to kill me?” He instantly saw that he was o.k. and he grabbed the belt and I shut the door. The rest of the flight was uneventful and enjoyable.

I don’t think he ever flew with me again.