Accident Probes

A safe flight is a puzzle. Put all the pieces together correctly and you can get a pretty picture indeed. If one piece is missing, you can still see the picture, usually. But sometimes, if the wrong piece is missing, the puzzle is ruined. Unfortunately, when a piece is missing from the safety of flight, the price is higher than merely sighing and putting the puzzle box back in the closet.

Pilots love to talk about accident scenarios in terms of chains. Break one link and the chain fails, sending all of the airplanes occupants home to have dinner with their loved ones. Its a nice story. It has closure and finality. Its also a myth.

An accident can also be caused by something as smal…

Accident prevention is a big part of most pilots training. You learn whats most likely to go wrong, and then you try to figure out how to handle it with the highest probability of a safe landing.

Weather briefings, preflight inspections, recurrent training, annual inspections, proper maintenance and pilot proficiency are all important pieces in the risk management puzzle. Without all of them, the picture is ruined.

And so it was on one August morning that a Grumman Tiger was flying VFR from a private strip near Ketchum, Okla., to Oklahoma City. Skies were clear, the wind was calm and visibility was reported at 10 miles.

At the controls, and alone in the airplane, was a 66-year-o…

A balmy summer day. A low-and-slow taildragger. Some would say there is no better way to wind up a weekend fly-in than a leisurely trip back home, accompanied by a few friends in their nearly identical airplanes.

Flying with friends has its share of joys. The camaraderie is great when droning along. Theres always a friendly face – and someone to have lunch with – during fuel stops. And pooling experience gives some of the advantages of a multi-pilot cockpit, even if those multiple pilots are in different cockpits.

But there are also some dangers, as well. The temptation to fly in formation, even loosely, cannot be ignored. Peer pressure may lead you into weather conditions that make…

Mooney proves up to the challenge of a huge cabin and fuel load, but the ice in the clouds was the icing on the cake.

Pilots love control. From the first flying lesson on, instructors preach the need to be in control of the flight and the airplane.

And despite the fact that those FAA people on the radio are called controllers, most pilots secretly believe those folks are really coordinators. Theres no question whos really in control. After all, FAR 91.3 says the PIC is the final authority and you can do what you gotta do.

However, situations routinely develop where competent and qualified pilots who know what they have to do fall into the trap of letting outsiders dictate a course of events that run counter to the pilots safety. This goes beyond ATC, of course. Pilots find themselves pushed by…

Aviation is full of mysteries. Perhaps rooted in reality, they take on an almost mythical air about them. Pilots know they are true, without being able to justify that position and without really knowing where that knowledge came from.

The downwind turn, operating lean of peak and flying on the step have all been part of that aviation lore – and in fact may be so still for some pilots.

The fact is that many pilots treat their airplanes like its a complex remote control for a big screen TV. They know only enough about its operation to meet their anticipated daily needs. Instead of studying the book on the airplane and engine, they put their effort into learning to fly instrument a…

Malibu loses engine on takeoff and the pilot hightails it to the runway, only to come up short on altitude and airspeed.

Take an 80-degree summer afternoon, clear skies, high pressure and light winds. Add an airplane, a friend or spouse, and pick a destination a few hours away. While youre at it, throw in the family dog.

This is a scenario many general aviation pilots would consider the ultimate in personal aviation – the perfect time to embark on what may be the perfect trip. For one Colorado pilot, however, the prognosis wasnt so sunny.

The pilot had accumulated more than 14,500 hours, many of them as a Part 135 helicopter pilot. He had single and multi ratings and instrument ratings for both airplanes and helicopters. He had once been a flight instructor. Even though he was retired, he still held a…

Nearly every pilot has stuck his head in the lions mouth.

You realize its happened only after the crisis has passed. You have the metallic taste of fear in your mouth and the pounding of your pulse to remind you of the fleetingness of your mortality. Its not much fun, but at least you have seen the enemy and will have a better shot at recognizing him next time.

If there is a next time.

Busy airspace is one place where constant vigilance is the order of the day. During good weather, that vigilance depends on scanning outside the airplane and being alert to the dynamics of the airspace as well as the possibility of traffic.

Some pilots, particularly those who routinely fly IF…

Theres a classic childrens story in which a little train says I think I can, I think I can – and lo and behold, it can. The power of mind over body is ably summed up in the tale, as it is in cliches such as when theres a will, theres a way.

But whos fooling whom?

Sure, there are times when you can suck it up and get through whatever it is you have to get through. Who hasnt had to work through a deadline or clear a fallen tree before dawn or pull an all-nighter through college? Sometimes you just have to do it.

But for every time you manage to endure the agony, there are countless times when you punt. With your exhaustion swaddling you like a Los Angeles smog, you wearily…