Accident Probes

At approximately 1500 Central time, the airplane sustained substantial damage when it ditched into a lake following a partial loss of engine power. The solo student pilot was not injured. Visual conditions prevailed.

The airplane was substantially damaged at about 0707 Eastern time during an abnormal contact with the runway after takeoff. The airline transport pilot, co-pilot and two passengers were not injured. Visual conditions prevailed and an IFR flight plan was filed for the Part 135 on-demand aeromedical flight.

At about 1455 Central time, the airplane impacted terrain following an in-flight break-up. The commercial pilot was fatally injured and the airplane was substantially damaged. Visual conditions prevailed.

The airplane collided with wooded terrain within a canyon at about 1453 Mountain time. The student pilot, flight instructor and private pilot-rated passenger sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was consumed by a post-impact fire. Visual conditions prevailed.

At about 1003 Eastern time, the airplane was substantially damaged when it overran the runway while landing. Visual conditions prevailed; an IFR flight plan had been filed. Both airline transport pilots and one passenger sustained minor injuries.

The airplane impacted terrain and trees at about 1330 Central time. The commercial pilot and flight instructor were fatally injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual conditions prevailed.

The airplane was substantially damaged at about 0023 Central time when it impacted terrain. The pilot and four passengers were fatally injured. Instrument conditions prevailed for the flight, which was operated on an IFR flight plan.

Not all that long ago, flying in thunderstorm weather was more of an art than a science. Weather radar hadn’t been invented; the only real technology available was to use the ADF and avoid areas to which its needle pointed. Grizzled veterans with years of experience flogging DC-3s across the Great Plains had developed their personal methods for dealing with them. Too often, those methods allowed penetration—sometimes at low levels, maybe at higher ones—and didn’t stress avoidance. These days, a pilot with a fraction of the experience those captains had is favored with many more tools with which to locate and avoid convective weather. In heavy-iron operations—and even smaller ones—extremely capable airborne weather radar is the norm. Even flivver drivers can access satellite- or ground-based Nexrad weather radar imagery for not much in the way of expensive hardware or subscriptions. The Nexrad option also affords pilots the ability to scroll well beyond an airborne radar’s range to look at conditions they won’t encounter for hours, if ever, in near-real-time.

From almost Day One of our pilot training, we’re told to stay out of and 20 miles from a thunderstorm. We’re also told not to fly into instrument conditions without an appropriate rating and clearance. Yet, the accident record shows many pilots regularly ignore those admonitions. The accident record, however, doesn’t reflect the number of pilots who bend or break them and live to do it again. We’d guess that number is substantial.

No airplane is perfect for every mission. Designers make compromises in the hope of producing an airplane that will find enough buyers to be a marketing success. But buyers have proven they sometimes want what manufacturers won’t provide, so we have a lively market in aftermarket mods. One popular mod is for more powerful engines in airframes like the Cessna 172. The results include better climb, a little faster cruise and, unfortunately, higher fuel burn. All aftermarket modifications to an airplane come with drawbacks. They can be as simple as a bit of added weight and a logbook entry or complicated enough to require a lengthy supplement to the paperwork. The more we alter the airplane’s original performance, the more we need to understand the mod’s impact on the airplane’s other characteristics.