What could possibly go wrong?

[guyvapeur]

I think it was my last year of high school when I went to work for my uncle on the farm. Being a city slicker I got a lot of rubbing from my cousin who worked the farm also. I was always trying to show my uncle that I was alert and could be counted on to find and solve what might be dangerous situations. One day, I noted that I had a good sized rock in my rear dual wheels. This I pointed out to my uncle. He told me not to worry and that the rock would find it's own way out. The next day, we each took a load of grain into the flower mill. Uncle followed behind me all the way. As we entered the weigh scale, I desembarked from my truck and went to the rear. It is then that I noticed a fist size hole through the passenger side windshield of my uncle's truck. He never admitted to me that the rock came from my duals but when I looked on the seat of the cab, I saw a rock sitting there....and it looked much as I had seen it the day before.

[Robin Craig]

I guess I could state once more that there are many old pilots and many bold pilots but very few old and bold pilots.

I am human as is everyone else here. We all make mistakes. Those of us who are lucky get to learn a lesson and our friends are not hurt. Others are not so lucky.

I have had some accidents which were CAUSED by errors I made, they did not just "happen".

Steel tracks on a steel deck nearly cost a friend his life during load up. I had experienced the same a few years before and offered snow mobile tracks for grip. . . . .

Sadly, those of us who have grey hair are not always listened to by others.

That child driving the APC is negligence, period.

Should not have happened.

R

[warren brown]

I bought a whipper-snipper (line-trimmer thing) - fired it up first time, lowered it into the grass and it hit gravel shooting a stone about a quarter inch big through the back window of the Land Rover - smashing the glass to smithereens. They are one dangerous power tool! Very glad it didn't hit someone though - it'd be like being shot with a .22.

My other close call was a hill start with the Blitz - I was in the cab talking to the local copper in the main street, the truck pointing uphill the policeman standing next to me - unbeknownst to me, while we were talking, two friends of mine decided they'd stroll behind the truck (on the hill!) and stop to have a chinwag.
Said goodbye to the copper, revved engine, released the handbrake and moved forward - fortunately I'm not bad at hillstarts - but they jumped 30 feet in the air. Frightened the living daylights out of me too - could have been catastrophic. Note to self - always bloody check!!!!!

We do have to be careful if we wish to continue with our vehicles.
Some years ago the Veteran Car Club went on a run to the NSW Southern Highlands and a 1910 SCAT tourer was cleaned up on the expressway - several people killed. At the newspaper where I worked, there was (naturally, in typical Australian knee-jerk fashion) a call to ban old cars from our roads.
A similar discussion to the Blitz on Anzac Day tragedy.

It's probably fair to say modern traffic is way too fast and thick on our roads now and there are a lot of very agressive drivers out there. The other weekend I happened to catch up with a few vehicles from the AMVCS returning to Sydney on the expressway - slow of course - and vehicles like the M37 Dodge with its high canvas tarp were easy to see. Not so the WWII jeep however - tiny and slow compared with the rest of the flat-out Sunday arvo traffic doing at least 110 kmh. Cars roaring up behind - the stop lights suddenly on the brakes hit hard, swerving into the overtaking lane...Very, very scary stuff. My blood ran cold.

[Howard]

Always make sure the ignition is OFF before trying to free seized ignition points.

[Mike K]

lawn mowers :

When I was a kid in the 1960's a friend two houses up had a very lucky escape .

His old man was mowing in the back yard , as my friend walked out onto the back verandah , a blade flew off the mower ( probably a Victa 2 stroke foot chopper ) , the blade embedded itself in the wooden verandah post about 10 inches from my friend, at head height

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Howard

Always make sure the ignition is OFF before trying to free seized ignition points.

Its a bloody shame there was no footage of that incident.

I still promise H, that will be the only time I will be very pleased at your misfortune....at least it meant we'd found why we had no spark in the old girl

[warren brown]

Mike - I remember there was supposedly a wing in Sutherland Shire Hospital called the 'Victa Ward'. For lawn mowers in thongs (flip-flops, not G-strings) who finish up a few digits short.

[Mike K]

No names . But a fellow MV enthusiast here in australia had some trouble starting a Chev 216 in a Blitz . The inlet manifold became flooded with petrol after repeated attempts to start the thing. The bonnet and engine covers were lifted and spark plugs removed . OOPS....... the ig switch was still in the ON position .

As the fellow lent over the motor , something sparked and there was a big BOOM ..... the poor fellow spent a week in the burns ward of a hospital.

true story ....