Weather Accidents

Again we follow in the footsteps of the late crash investigator Macarthur Job and focus on aviation accidents. This time, instead of taking a look at forecast ingredients, well look at cases of where the pilots simply made the wrong decisions for the weather.

Tim Vasquez

Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilot decision-making, often influenced by overconfidence or an incomplete understanding of weather, is a key factor in aviation accidents.
Mesoscale phenomena like outflow boundaries, while challenging to predict, can be better identified by pilots using modern radar and detailed weather models for pre-flight risk assessment.
Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) in complex environments like mountains highlights the critical need for comprehensive weather awareness and conservative flight decisions, rather than relying solely on in-flight technology.

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Again we follow in the footsteps of the late crash investigator Macarthur Job and focus on aviation accidents. This time, instead of taking a look at forecast ingredients, we’ll look at cases of where the pilots simply made the wrong decisions for the weather.

Of course, no one climbs into the cockpit expecting things to go wrong, and I would venture to say every pilot takes off confident they can handle the weather. However, NTSB files of weather-related accidents are filled with stories of overconfidence and incomplete understandings of the real situation that’s taking place. Our analyses will hopefully let you improve the record by adding your knowledge distilled from the forecasts.