Pilot in Senator Stevens Crash a Hero?
The pilot of the Otter that crashed in Alaska on Monday, killing Senator Stevens and three other passengers, encountered some very bad weather. Low ceilings. Fog and rain. Gusty winds.
Rugged terrain only complicated things. Fortunately, the pilot had tons of experience -- tens of thousands of hours. According to the Alaska Dispatch, had any less talented pilot been at the controls, the death toll surely would have been higher.
The fact there were four survivors is testament to [the pilot's] skills. [He] maneuvered that plane like no other mere pilot to save lives.
So is the pilot a hero? No. Not quite.
There's an old saying in aviation: "a superior pilot is one who exercises superior judgment so as to
avoid having to exercise his superior skills." In this case, a pilot exercising superior judgment might have turned around before tangling with the worst of the weather. Or, better yet, never left the comfort and safety of the lake lodge in the first place.
The Weather was Bad
When the pilot took off from the lake where the lodge was located, the weather was bad. It was bad at nearby Dillingham airport. It was bad at the river camp that was to be their destination. And it was bad everywhere between.
A pilot who flew the same valley where the crash occurred confirmed to the LA Times that it was bad there too. "It was just awful weather. . .I came through that valley at about 100 feet off the ground with about a mile of visibility."
Now, bad weather doesn't mean a good pilot must stay on the ground. For example, the airport at Dillingham has various instrument approach procedures that will allow planes to land safely in some pretty crappy weather. No undue risk. No sweat.
But this pilot wasn't headed to Dillingham. He was headed to a fishing camp on a nearby river. No instrument approach procedure would guide him through the clouds. If this pilot was going to get there, he’d have to do it without instruments. He’d have to do it by looking out the window. Seat of the pants stuff. All perfectly safe, as long as the weather is good enough for you to see where you are going.
Controlled Flight into Terrain
So what exactly happened? What we know about the accident is consistent with "controlled flight into terrain." Opting out of the instrument flight system, the pilot had to stay under the
clouds. He couldn't go through them because once inside, he wouldn't be able to see and might bump into something hard and pointy. So he had to stay in the clear and visually pick his way around the terrain in his path. But as he maneuvered under the low clouds and around the fog, he suddenly came upon a mountain's steep up-slope. He shoved the throttle forward, pulled the nose up and began a climb. But the terrain rose faster than could his aircraft. He bellied onto the rising slope while in full control of a perfectly functioning aircraft.
At least that how it looks.
According to John Bouker, the pilot who found the wreck:
The Otter had plowed into the hill. He bounced up the mountain. He looked like he was in a full-power climb. . the plane appeared mostly intact.
That’s a classic "controlled flight into terrain” scenario.
Poor Decision Making
This morning a pilot who used to fly search and rescue out of Dillingham called me to talk about the crash. He pointed out that the state of Alaska accounts for more than a third of all commuter and air taxi crashes in the entire country. That's right: one state accounts for a third of all the nation's crashes. And more than 80 percent of those crashes are due to poor decision-making.
Alaskans seem to accept aviation tragedies as part of life in the wilderness. My caller suggested that poor decision making seems to be not just tolerated, but sewn into the very fabric of Alaskan aviation community.
The question is not the whether the pilot had the skills to “maneuver” the aircraft around difficult terrain. Or whether he had the experience necessary to pick his way around the obstacles along the route. Or whether he brought the aircraft down with the least impact possible. The question is whether, given the weather, he should have attempted the flight at all.
I can easily imagine that a nice fire was burning in the lodge fireplace when the pilot loaded up his passengers. If ever there was ever a flight that didn't need to be made, it was this one.
Yet it was.
ir traffic control that his door was open and that he needed to return to the airport to close it. Plus, surveillance cameras
feels like it changes in an instant and, if you're wearing contact lenses, you can almost feel them jump off your eyeballs. The adrenaline rush is quite impressive. Especially the first time it happens.

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ult, while fuel exhaustion can be ruled out, fuel starvation is still a possibility.
land a Cessna 510 while on an instrument flight plan, about 1 hour prior to the accident. He reported that throughout the instrument approach he was unable to identify the runway environment. He performed a missed approach, and diverted to Modesto where he landed uneventfully. He stated that he has flown into the airport utilizing the instrument approach regularly over the last few years, and this was the first time he had to divert to an alternate airport..jpg)
engines. The NTSB will exclude members of the victims’ families and their technical representatives from the investigation, feeling that they have nothing to offer. (Sad but true.)
airspeed just above the minimum flying speed, the asymetric thrust generated by the operating engine can flip the aircraft onto its back and out of control. A "Vmc roll", as it is called, is almost always fatal. When an engine quits during the critical takeoff phase of flight, a pilot -- even one who does everything right -- may not be able to land the twin-engine aircraft safely. Fog and a short runway (such as Palo Alto's) make matters only worse.
the parachute is to safely return the aircraft to earth if it is damaged in a mid-air collision. Unfortunately, the parachute didn't help in this case. Video of the Cirrus wreckage, on fire, descending beneath its canopy is
ave an operating transponder. Most gliders don’t have transponders. We don’t know whether the Pawnee’s transponder was on.
three crew members on board. According to an article in the
The actuators move the helicopter's rotor blades, allowing the pilot to control the flight of the aircraft. The AS350B's hydraulics -- similar to a power steering system in a car -- help move the helicopter's actuators.
place in it. On Friday, the NTSB came out with a block-buster
airspace near major airports unless they have first obtained a clearance from air traffic controllers. If a pilot obtains the necessary clearance, controllers will dictate the pilot's path and use radar to monitor the pilot's every move.
When, as here, there is no post-crash fire, fuel exhaustion is a prime suspect. No fire often means that there was no avgas (aviation gasoline) on board to burn. But it's unlikely this accident was caused by fuel exhaustion. Though it didn't ignite, there was plenty of
he crash. The NTSB will ask Teledyne Continental Motors to participate in the investigation, and to help it determine the cause of the accident. As part of the investigation, the NTSB, along with representatives of Teledyne, will disassemble the engine and test its various parts. (Pictured right is an IO-550 engine being disassembled after a crash in 2001.) Of course, since Teledyne itself might be responsible for the crash, it's participation in the investigation presents a conflict of interest. It is like the police asking the suspect for help in solving the crime. To make matters worse, the NTSB will not allow the victims' families or the families' lawyers to participate in the investigation at all. The conflict of interest is discussed further .jpg)
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The Airbus makes extensive use of composite (non-metallic) materials. This makes lightning protection more of an engineering challenge. Engineers have to take extra steps to make sure the conductive path is unbroken by, for example, embedding the composite parts with metallic mesh. The mesh maintains a conductive path along the aircraft's exterior.
Miles O'Brien, a former CNN correspondent,
stall recovery technique before he makes his first solo. Could a professional airline captain have caused the crash by pulling back on the yoke instead of pushing forward? Well, not only did the nose pitch up, but the aircraft's