In the Cockpit, Are Two Heads Better Than One?

Sometimes the multiplication of eyes and minds does not prevent fatal airplane accidents.

Peter Garrison

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

To hold the controls of an airplane is easy. To snatch them from another pilot, literally or figuratively, is one of the hardest things a pilot might have to do. [Credit: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

The article recounts two separate general aviation accidents – one involving a crash into an Alaskan mountain and another attempting to land in Oregon ground fog – both officially attributed to pilots continuing Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC).
A notable commonality in both incidents was the presence of multiple highly experienced and instrument-rated pilots aboard each aircraft.
The author suggests that the absence of a formal crew structure in these situations can undermine safety, leading pilot-passengers to hesitate in questioning the Pilot In Command (PIC)'s decisions or to become passively confident, rather than acting as a safety reinforcement.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The scattered wreckage of the 1948 A-model Bonanza was identified by comparing photos, taken from a circling Cessna, with ones of the formerly pristine polished-aluminum airplane. It had fallen and slid more than a mile after flying, under control and at cruising speed, into the sheer cliff that formed one face of a 12,000-foot mountain.

There it remained. The terrain was too hazardous to permit recovery of the wreckage.