I flew down to see my folks over the weekend renting a plane from my local FBO, a Cessna 152. They have two 152s available, and this was not normally the one I rent as I had a bad experience with it some months ago with radio and transponder problems. Let's just say it left a bad taste in my mouth. But, the other plane was not available.

I flew down on Sunday morning and encountered quite a bit of haze which cut the visibility down to 3-5 miles. I was familiar enough with the route that it didn't present a problem per se, but I certainly would have preferred clearer skies.

I parked the plane overnight at the small airport close to my parent's home, M23 in Newton, MS. Because the airport is not attended on weekends I had to track down someone to fuel the plane Sunday afternoon. I have to tell you, the folks were very willing to help me once I did get in touch with them.

My plan was to leave early the next morning to head back, but a call to FSS put a kink in things. Due to extremem haze and fog I would have to wait another couple of hours for things to clear up.

Now, I have not one thread of "get-there-itis" in me and was happy to wait for VFR conditions. (I'm not IFR rated as of yet.) However, when the time came for to depart, guess what, I had radio problems again. Fortunately, there was a mechanic onsite at the time and he helped me get things in working order sufficient to make my flight, and gave the use of a hand-held radio to boot, just in case I needed it.

The runway is 3000' long and, while that's plenty long for a 152 to get it's takeoff roll and climb out over some nearby trees, I decided for practice sake to do a short-field takeoff. I set the flaps at 10 degrees, revved the engine, then let go the brakes. Everything was working as it should, and I got airborne with plenty of runway to go. After climbing to a safe altitude I released the flaps, or so I thought.

Turns out, though I didn't realize it at the time as I was too busy eye-balling those trees, that the flaps didn't reset. In a word, they STUCK! I noticed something wasn't right. I should have been gaining altitude and climbing at Vy. I had to lower the nose to get my speed up to anywhere close to Vy.

Well, I cleared the trees with sufficient clearance, but less than I was comfortable with. Of course, I was at altitude before I realized what was wrong and was able to correct the problem.

I know stuff happens. Things go wrong. It's inevitable. But, this is a problem I found how once I returned to the FBO and complained that had occurred before with a student pilot on his first solo! I suspect it's happened other times as well. I fault the FBO for not tending to this. It could literally have been for me a matter of life or death.

To be fair, I've always had good experiences with my local FBO. They've treated me well, and are good people to deal with. But, this is inexcusable in my opinion.

Though I'm still under 100 hours, this was a first for me. Had I not recalled what my instructor always drilled into my head, "When something goes wrong, fly the plane," I might have not handled it nearly so well. Think of a student pilot who has much less experience.

I'd be interested in hearing about any close calls you've had. Please feel free to leave a comment.