Stupid PIlot Tricks

As another year dawns bright on aviations horizon its time to glance back with jaundiced eye at what our fellow pilots have accomplished in the you-wont-believe-this department. Each year we scour the latest NTSB accident/incident reports for which probable cause has been determined and cherry pick those aviators whove made the supreme effort to ding a wing or to go the extra mile on the last whiff of avgas. We seek the best of the worst-the crme de lbuffoons-whove taken pranging airplanes to new lows and survived. Well analyze 2009, but given that we pilots try the same spar-bending antics over and over again, hoping for different results (the very definition of insanity), this could be from any year.

Editorial Staff

Friday, August 01, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The article humorously catalogs a recurring pattern of bizarre and often avoidable aviation accidents, primarily from 2009, stemming from fundamental pilot errors and poor decision-making.
Common "stupid pilot tricks" include mishandling landings, misidentifying controls, running out of fuel, and disregarding aircraft limitations or personal certifications.
These errors are demonstrated by a wide range of aviators, from highly-rated professional pilots making basic mistakes to amateur experimental flyers and uncertificated individuals performing dangerous stunts.

See a mistake? Contact us.

As another year dawns bright on aviation’s horizon it’s time to glance back with jaundiced eye at what our fellow pilots have accomplished in the you-won’t-believe-this department. Each year we scour the latest NTSB accident/incident reports for which probable cause has been determined and cherry pick those aviators who’ve made the supreme effort to ding a wing or to go the extra mile on the last whiff of avgas. We seek the best of the worst—the crme de l’buffoons—who’ve taken pranging airplanes to new lows and survived. We’ll analyze 2009, but given that we pilots try the same spar-bending antics over and over again, hoping for different results (the very definition of insanity), this could be from any year.