Hold my beer and watch this...

OK, so that's not what happened, but it was just as stupid. On November 7th, 2016 I flew down to Milledgeville, GA to pick up my wife. She had stayed the night with our daughter at college and I was just going to meet them at the airport, pick her up, and fly on home.

It was a nice night, smooth air, very little traffic, the kind of night I love to fly in. The landing at KMLJ, the Milledgeville airport, was smooth and uneventful. I taxied to the FBO and parked, just like I had done twice that weekend. I set the parking brake, got out and went over to the car where we talked for a minute or two before I grabbed the bags and headed to the plane. As I went through the gate, I saw the airplane start to slowly roll backwards. Everything happened in slow motion. I dropped the bags and ran toward the plane as it picked up speed, backwards towards a ditch beside the FBO. Ditch isn't the right word because it was really a ravine. I was running as fast as I could, trying to reach the plane before it went into the ditch, but I tripped and fell flat on my face. I watched my Susie go down the hill, into the ditch, bang up against the fence, and stop. My heart sank and I was stunned... What now...

When the plane came to rest, it was leaning to the passenger side and leaking fuel so I called the police, who also called fire department. They called a recovery service to remove the aircraft from the ditch. Being that the police saw this as a plane crash they called the FAA and I got a wonderful call from an FAA accident inspector. Luckily, the engine wasn't running and nobody was in the plane when it went into the ditch, so the entire incident was officially treated like simple hanger rash, which is not required to be reported to the FAA. The incident was closed. Now, to get it fixed...

I contacted the insurance company and they were GREAT! I got a call from their investigator who went and looked at the plane and told me to get an estimate from whomever I wanted to fix it. I called Bob Swink of Swink Aircraft Services for the repair estimate. Within a week, we had the estimate and a check was on its way. Insurance case closed. Bob removed the stabilator and rudder to repair and within a few weeks he was ready to re-install. We went to Milledgeville and within a few hours got the plane put back together. A couple of days later, I did a VERY thorough preflight inspection, then flew home almost 3 months after that fateful night.

So, what's the lesson?
ALWAYS chock the tires when you stop, even if the ramp is level. I now keep a set of chocks behind my seat and use them every time I step out of the pilots seat. Lesson learned!