Aviation Safety

The Student pilot was on her first solo flight, performing touch and goes on Runway 17. During her first landing, she began her flare too early, bounced hard and ballooned. The airplane bounced a second time and went off the left side of the runway. The right landing gear impacted a runway sign as the pilot attempted to abort the landing. Reported winds were 180 degrees magnetic at 10 knots with no gusts.

At 2337 Eastern time, the airplane collided with trees and the ground while maneuvering during an instrument approach. Instrument conditions prevailed; the airplane was destroyed. The Airline Transport pilot and two passengers were fatally injured. Earlier, the flight missed the Localizer Runway 31 approach at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport. The pilot was then vectored for the ILS Runway 11 approach at Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

The airplane impacted trees and terrain during a forced landing following a loss of engine power during approach. The pilot stated that the airplane lost engine power due to “a depletion of fuel.” Inspection revealed the fuel system did not contain any remaining usable fuel. The fuel system was intact and no fuel smell was noted at the accident site.

At about 1201 Central time, the airplane was destroyed when it collided with terrain following a loss of control. The Commercial pilot and sole occupant was fatally injured. Visual conditions prevailed. Several minutes after departure, the pilot “found a problem and that he wanted to check it out on the ground.” While returning to the airfield, radar showed the airplane gradually descending at a ground speed of 170 knots.

The Airline Transport pilot and Commercial-rated copilot sustained fatal injuries and the airplane was destroyed after colliding with terrain at about 1107 Pacific time, shortly after takeoff. Visual conditions prevailed. Before departing, one of the linemen observed the copilot loading bags into the left front baggage compartment. He did not see him latch or lock it.

One of the reasons we fly airplanes is to go fast. I confess: Theres a certain satisfaction from pushing the airplane hard, up into its yellow arc. If youre lucky, you fly something capable of such speeds without much effort, even in the summer or at high altitude, when the air is thinner and indicated airspeeds lower.

Early in our flying careers, we do everything by the book. Watching a flight schools ramp, its not at all uncommon to see a student peering intently back and forth between the airplanes POH and, say, the engine compartment. We check everything during the preflight, even if the tires are still warm from the squawk-free flight just concluded.

Have you encountered a situation or hazardous condition that yielded lessons on how to better manage the risks involved in flying? Do you have an experience to share with Aviation Safetys readers about an occasion that taught you something significant about ways to conduct safer flight operations? If so, we want to hear about it.

In the early 1970s, I took my daughter on a flight from Orange County to Oakland in an American AA-1. A headwind required us to make a fuel stop. I decided Bakersfield would be a good place to refuel, relax and have a bite to eat. The tower cleared me to land on two-mile long Runway 30R, but then asked me to switch to the shorter 30L because a heavy military transport was arriving. “No problem,” I thought.

During the preflight inspection for a local training flight, blind rivets located halfway up the vertical stabilizer were found to be making aluminum oxide trails (smoking) on both sides of the vertical fin.