Fear No Evil: To Live and Fly Another Day, Fly Another Day

Most important obligation of an airplane owner is to know when not to use it.

Peter Garrison

Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Weathering bad weather is best done by the book. [iStock]

Key Takeaways:

A newly certified private pilot, pressured by an upcoming international flight, disregarded explicit warnings from an experienced FBO manager against flying in dangerous night instrument conditions.
Despite initially agreeing to stay, the pilot later returned to the airport after hours, fueled his plane, and departed at 8:05 PM into a moonless night with instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).
Lacking sufficient experience and instrument training, the pilot became spatially disoriented upon encountering showers and crashed just 14 minutes after takeoff, highlighting the critical importance of knowing when not to fly.

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The pilot, 43, was a Baptist pastor. He had a wife and five children. His private certificate was so fresh that the plastic card had not yet come in the mail.

He had devoted his flying to his life’s mission of “church planting,” that is, establishing new congregations in obedience to the “Great Commission” of Matthew 28: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…” A director of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, he apparently collaborated with the International Mission Board. He had a reservation on a flight from Baltimore to Europe on January 13, 2023.