Mid-air Collision Near Newberg: Hillsboro Aviation Seminole Descends onto Bonanza
It looks as though it was the twin-engine Seminole that caused the mid-air collision between it and a Beech Bonanza near Newberg, Oregon. The crash killed the the 58-year old Bonanza pilot. The Oregonian quotes sources saying that:
the larger Piper PA-44 Seminole was executing training maneuvers in the area,
making a series of rapid ascents and descents shortly after 4 p.m., when it came down upon a Beech Bonanza V35. . . [cutting it in two].
The Seminole (N3062H) was owned by Hillsboro Aviation, a flight school in Hillsboro, Oregon. As it turns out, the crash was not the flight school's first. In fact, in recent years the school has been plagued with training accidents. The most serious of those was in September, 2009, when both a Hillsboro Aviation flight instructor and his student were killed while training in a Robinson R22 helicopter.
In addition to this week's fatal accident, and the one in 2009, Hillsboro Aviation aircraft have crashed in June 2008, June 2010, September 2010, and October 2010.
In August 2010, the FAA indicated its intent to fine Hillsboro Aviation $580,000 for numerous safety violations, including improper maintenance of its aircraft. Though the FAA investigation looked into the September 2009 fatal helicopter crash, the FAA ultimately decided to levy the fine for violations unrelated to that crash -- specifically for what it found to be Hillsboro's intentional falsification of various aircraft maintenance records.
Of course, Tuesday's crash may be entirely unrelated to the previous Hillsboro Aviation training crashes and the conduct for which the FAA cited the flight school. Nonetheless, the school's safety record is abysmal.
Yet, Hillsboro Aviation remains in operation.
Hillsboro Airport (Class D) is the busiest airport in the state of Oregon. Portland International (Class C) is second and only 8 miles away. Aurora is the busiest non-towered airport in the state of Oregon and only 19 miles away. The Newberg VOR is in the middle. Needless to say, this airspace is extremely congested. I would hope, that the author would take note of the fact that after the mid air collision, the HAI instructor completed the super human task of landing a crippled twin engine aircraft in a field without rolling it over. In the collision the aircraft lost its nose section, all electronics, the nose gear and the left engine. Taking into account that neither he, nor his student sustained injuries and walked away would lead me to believe that even Capt. Sully Sullenberger would probably be impressed. It is a tragedy that a life was lost in this accident. However I believe you are wrong to bring up previous accidents against their flight school, after their instructor clearly made the best of his situation and saved the life of his student in heroic fashion.
Allen-
Thank you for your comment.
Before conducting training maneuvers, it's the instructor's obligation to "clear the area." That is, look around to make sure that there is no conflicting traffic. I've flown into HIO and PDX many times and agree that the area is congested. But that just makes it all the more important to be careful before conducting training maneuvers involving abrupt turns or changes of altitude.
You suggest that the instructor acted in "heroic fashion." I have to disagree. A hero is one who risks his own life to save others. In this case, the instructor did what he could to save his own skin. That is not heroism. That is survivalism.
Sorry to be so harsh. I recognize that all the facts are not in, and we shouldn't jump to conclusions. I do not mean to condemn HAI's instructor and it would be unfair to do so based on what little we know. But flying is serious stuff. The emergency to which the flight instructor reacted appears to have been one of his own making. A skilled pilot is not one who manages to land a stricken plane. Rather, it's one who manages to avoid the accident in the first place.
HAI's safety record speaks for itself. As I mentioned, I'm not sure there is any connection between all its previous crashes and this one. But certainly we have to ask about whether an inadequate safety culture was a contributory factor.
Mike Danko
Good points made by both parties here. If I may throw in my own two cents. As a flight instructor, I know how critical it is to clear an area for traffic, and both preaching and practicing this is key to safely executing any flight. However, even when being extremely vigilant, I have still had more than one very close call with other aircraft. You simply cannot always see them, and they may not be monitoring the frequency for the area that they are flying through, as many areas have a CTAF but transitioning aircraft may be monitoring an ARTCC. In any case, accidents like this happen, and though steps can be taken to mitigate the risks, it is not always possible to avoid them.
Regarding Hillsboro and it's 'abyssimal' accident rate. I have heard many bad things about Hillsboro. Mostly from it's competition. One fact that I think is being overlooked here. Hillsboro is one of the largest flight schools in the country, with hundreds of employees, dozens of aircraft and hundreds more students passing through each year. The company flies more than 55,000 hours annually. With this high of an op-tempo, the odds of an accident occuring is bound to catch up much more quickly than a smaller operator. Conversely, one of the reasons Hillsboro has survived it's 'abyssimal' safety record is due to it's size and overall success in completing its operations. You don't grow a flight school of this magnitude over a 30 year period by being grossly negligent. And when many other schools cannot financially survive a fatal accident from in it's ranks, Hillsboro can, and they have.
I am not saying there have not been issues and I am not saying that there isn't something that needs to be changed. What I am saying is, lets try not to make blanket statements and be objective about all of the facts.
My opinion here is totally unbiased as I have never flown for or with Hillsboro and have absolutely no ties with them whatsoever. Just voicing my thoughts.
The author of the above article should offer a comparison to other flight schools to give the reader a quantified sense of why this is bad. Stating that the flight school's safety record is "abysmal" simply implies that it is bad.
Please provide citations and comparisons, otherwise this is simply an opinion article.
A company's "safety record" encompasses not just the number of times its aircraft have crashed, but the number of times the company has departed from standard safe practices even if no one died as a result. After all, if an aircraft flies passengers for years without ever having gone through an annual inspection, but does not crash, does that mean the flights were safe? Of course not.
The FAA has found that Hillsboro Aviation has returned aircraft to service without performing required safety inspections, has installed unapproved parts, has allowed unqualified personnel to perform maintenance on its aircraft, and has outright intentionally falisified maintenance records. Kind of scary, unsafe stuff if you ask me. Even if no one died as a result.
I don't know of any other flight schools who have shown such a wanton disregard for safety. Nor do I know of any other schools who the FAA has fined more than $500,000 for safety violations. Maybe some such schools exist, but I just don't know of any.
In short, it's hard to compare HAI's safety record to others because HAI may be in a class by itself. Nonetheless, on this record I have no problem characterizing HAI's safety record as abysmal. How could someone not?
Mike,
So Sully wasn't a hero either? Just a survivalist? You're getting petty, so I will too. A person can act with distinguished ability and be called a hero. This guy probably doesn't ask to be called a hero, but don't take it away from him.
Dave -
Take it away from him? I don't follow.
Assume for a moment that the instructor caused the accident by failing to clear the area before conducting his maneuvers. (And this is just an assumption for argument's sake.) As a result of the instructor's fundamental lapse in airmanship, someone died. Why would anyone want to pin a medal on this guy simply because he survived while his victim did not?
That makes no sense. I don't think it's "petty" to suggest that if the isntructor screwed up and someone was killed as a result, the guy should not be lauded as a hero. Rather, he should have his license looked at and he should be held accountable for the harm he has caused.
Sully may have been a hero. Maybe not. But one thing's for sure: Sully did not create his own emergency. And wasn't responsible for anyone's death. I really don't get the comparison.
The thing I do not understand about this tragedy is why the instructor had decieded to perform such maneuver over UBG. UBG is considered to be the last aerospace you wanna perform a maneuver, any kind of,by every pilot in OR. Some of IFR operation have to be performed over UBG for sure as there is UBG VOR which published as a IAF or MAP on number of approach charts. But still,even those IFR operations must be performed with extream caution and should be avoided unless really necessary.
In my very personal opinion, it cannot be said to be a nice move performing such abrupt maneuver over UBG but there is no doubt the instructor did a such a wonderful job after the impact.
Mike,
I thought we were talking about landing a crippled plane without injuring anyone. I am not assuming the instructor was at fault like you are. The only facts that are apparent is that there was a collision, and one aircraft was able to land away from a populated area and save the 2 lives. Maybe the instructor cleared the area. By the time you finish clearing one area, another may not be clear. Maybe the BE35 pilot wasn't paying attention. We will never know. But what I do know is that in the aviation incident business, you don't assume. I'm surprised you jumped right in to that mode.
Sully landed a crippled airplane and this guy landed a crippled airplane. That's the comparison.
Mike,
From the information that is given it is not fair to make the Hillsboro flight instructor the responsible party. To say the instructor did not clear the area is a big assumption considering he is a professional flight instructor and that is one of the rules that they live by.
Let’s take a look at some of the evidence that has been release in the form of eyewitness testimony, news reports, as well as damage to the Seminole and see if we can paint a sensible scenario.
Eyewitness accounts as well as radar have the Seminole in the area performing maneuvers. Eyewitnesses also place the bonanza in the area headed northbound presumably back to Starks Twin Oaks Airpark where it was based. The damage on the Seminole as reported in news accounts and elsewhere was to the right side rear of the fuselage. The other damage to the Seminole could have come from the forced landing. I would also like to add my own eyewitness account of the weather conditions at the time of the mid air. I happened to be flying just two miles south of the location where the mid air occurred at that very time. The sun was low on the southwestern horizon and there was a haze left by the fog from that morning. The haze and the sun combine to create an instance when looking to the south through the northwest the visibility was next to zero.
With this information we can determine that the Seminole was traveling roughly east bound and descending while the Bonanza was traveling north. That puts the Bonanza in the Seminoles blind spot below the right main wing. Lets combine this information with the weather conditions at the time of the mid air and it is quite possible that the Seminole never saw the Bonanza coming from the South of there position because of the sun, the haze and the blind spot.
If this is true, it puts the Bonanza in the position of the last airplane able to see and avoid the collision. Which I think the Bonanza attempted. I think the Bonanza saw too late the Seminole and pushed forward raising the tail causing it to strike the Seminole and consequently become separated from the rest of the aircraft. It could be that the Bonanza pilot is the one responsible.
I also agree with the comment Scott made about even when being vigilant to clear the area for other traffic it is possible that an area that was clear seconds before could now have an airplane in that space. This is especially true when dealing with higher performance airplanes such as the Bonanza. The Bonanza is at least 20 knots faster then the Seminole in level flight. Now put the Bonanza in a shallow dive and it could be even 40 knots faster.
The Bonanza could have been in a shallow decent doing 160 knots. Combine that with the winds that were out of the south that day and it is quite possible the Bonanza had a ground speed of 180 knots. Which means over roughly the 30 seconds when the Seminole was looking for traffic, the Bonanza could have covered over a mile and a half. And let’s face it, we don’t buy Bonanzas to go slow.
A comment that I would like to make to the other local pilots in the area, is that we don't know what kind of maneuvers the Seminole was performing. It could be that the Seminole was performing maneuvers that are consistent to the way we operate every day in that area. Lets wait for the NTSB report.
And Finally to Mike. It is because of this young Flight Instructor's skills as a pilot, that there were not two more fatalities. We don't have to make him a hero, but we don't have to make him a villain either. While I am no fan of Hillsboro Aviation, and work for the "Competition" lets not let our biases for the company dictate our view of this Flight Instructor. I know personally several Hillsboro Aviation flight instructors and would put their professionalism and skills against any Pilot Standard you suggest.
Chase-
Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
I agree with much of what you have to say. It is too early to condemn the HAI instructor. The eyewitness testimony seems damning, but eyewitnesses are often wrong. On the other hand, I see no reason to pin a medal on the HAI instructor, either. Zero. None.
I've said that it's the instructor's obligation to clear the area before conducting training maneuvers. I stand by that. It seems unlikely that the Bonanza would have climbed into the Seminole. Rather, more likely that the Seminole descended into the Bo, as the witnesses report. Seems to me the Bo, cruising straight and level at an appropriate altitude, would have thus had the right of way. Nonetheless, I agree it's too early to draw any firm conclusions. Assumptions I have made concerning what the instructor pilot did or did not do have been for the purposes of argument only. Time will tell.
Mike
The news is always overzealous about 'slamming' flight schools and rubbing their reputation in the dirt. "This is not the first accident" - well of course not. And it's probably not going to be the last.
We have to remember that as pilots/flight instructors, we have a responsibility to safety at all times. But we are only human. Both the student and veteran pilot alike all fall victim to the circumstances of hazardous attitudes eventually.
Perhaps the journalists could take some criticism themselves. You don't have to 'glorify' the mistakes of a training institution just so people will find your story more appealing. Maybe a more 'constructive' approach to your story writing might inspire more readers.
James,
I personally find this story to be very helpful. Any flight school will tell you that they have an excellent safety record. But do they?
Do you think Hillsboro Aviation tells every new student who signs up that they deliberately falsified maintenance documents, that their mechanics used incorrect parts and an unqualified person to repair aircraft? Are they going to tell you how many of their helicopters and planes have crashed or how many people have died?
This is information that anyone would want to know before attending a flight school, or sending a loved one to flight school. Who in their right mind would ever attend Hillsboro Aviation after knowing this?
James, you say "The news is always overzealous about "slamming" flight schools and rubbing their reputation in the dirt." Why would you be trying to protect a clearly unsafe flight school? They have a terrible reputation and they are clearly getting worse. Their reputation should be rubbed in the dirt or something much worse.
Um, what ever happen to S###t happens. I was a student, just earned my private license through this school. And as far as safety goes, it was drilled into me over and over and over. If I did anything slightly out of line the instructor would jump on me so damn fast, to the point I could hear their comments even when I flew solo, no joke. My CFI and I were doing touch and goes at Aurora and my CFI spotted another plane flying really low around the pattern, he was qucik to get on them "Hye guys what are you going to do if your engine fails? Can you make it to the runway? probably not!!!! Why don't you get some altitude" i probably should use all capitols for that one but you get the idea. So the idea of thinking that these guys goof of, and don't take safety seriously is laughable but idiotic at best.
Not to mention that it is sometimes hard as hell to see other aircraft especially when they are at a lower altitude. You can announce your position, you can do clearing turns, but it only takes one split second to miss a small speck flying below you. then think of the distance and speeds, that and the Piper is a bottom wing plane so your view below you is hindered (which i never liked about them). It doesnt take much at all, that and with unlucky odds of actually hitting one moving object with another moving object.
But anyway my two cents from actual personal experience with this school.
To comment on the comments:
compitition always hates this school cause this school has the most resources.
Hase is a pain to spot other aircraft through
the instructor saved the other guy and yes himself, despite probably being scared to death. I don't know if thats a hero. But then again they call people who saved thimselves in battle hero's and they give them medals. So who knows on that one.
Number of crashes???? jsut about all of those crashes are R22's, which most chopper pilots complain about being one of the scariest unstable helicopters they ever flew. This coming from Blackhawk pilots at my unit. I did a flight in one of them, no way, would rather fly the Schwieser or however ever its spelled.
This artical was talking about a school thats been in business for 30 years, with unbelievable amount of flights, and they have what a few crashes to show as an example, most of them R22's lol most airlines have more crashes then that.
Any they talk about parts and falsifying maintenance records. Have any of the crashes been a result of this? Nothing indicated in this artical, but are they implying it? Some of you guys are.
There's a difference between an instructor pilot who made it back and a combat veteran. Sorry. No comparison. An instructor is not a hero. On the other hand, this guy is: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/young-111582-yuba-veterans.html
Mike- what does your link have annnnnnyyyyything to do with the topic of discussion?
Sean - I fixed the link. Story about a former client of mine. Mike
I think the real argument here is the legality. Mike, being an aviation lawyer, is faulting the HAI instructor because he appeared to be in the wrong in LEGAL terms. Even if a pilot does everything they are supposed to, when they are supposed to, they can still be found to have been 'at fault'.
Two weeks ago I almost went head on with a Cessna 172 while operating an H269 with a student. Both of us were scanning and had just started a descent when the 172 flashed about 100 feet above us going the opposite direction. If we had not started that descent...
Two pilots actively scanning for traffic in a busy area. I think we missed them because they were right on the horizon until we started that descent. We were also operating at 500 feet AGL, which for that area is well below standard fixed wing traffic. It can be easy to miss air traffic even when being vigilant. However, even though I was being vigilant, if there had been a mishap, I would have been in the wrong. Fixed wing traffic has the right of way over rotary wing.