Veteran Pilot Warns About Recognizing the Hidden Danger

86-year-old recounts near-disastrous experience with weight and balance.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

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The author says that had he entered a stall spin, the water would have been gone during a postcrash inspection. [Image: Joel Kimmel]

Key Takeaways:

A near-catastrophic flight in a Cessna 205 due to an aft center of gravity caused by unnoticed water in the tail cone highlighted the critical importance of meticulous pre-flight inspections beyond just calculating weight and balance.
The author learned and consistently applied the technique of "full stall" (slow) landings across various aircraft and gained critical awareness of actual aircraft performance variations and environmental hazards like mesa downdrafts.
Life-saving proficiency in instrument flying helped overcome a critical artificial horizon failure, reinforcing the ultimate safety principle: "if you have time to spare, go by air," urging pilots to only fly when aircraft, weather, and personal conditions are optimal.

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I obtained my private pilot certificate in 1970 in a Cessna 150. We all remember our first solo. During mine, a United Airlines flight came in and I needed to extend downwind. A little frightening.

My wife followed with her own solo a few years later, for safety for our little family of two children. Rules were different back then, and our first family flight was in that Cessna 150, with no seat belts for our 4-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter.