High-Risk Flights

General aviation pilots all too often routinely undertake flights in the face of obvious or hidden hazards. In too many cases, such pilots come to grief because they ignored obvious risks or failed to identify, assess and mitigate subtle risks. The key to addressing these hazards is to do a proper risk assessment, mitigate these risks and then decide whether youre ready to accept the remaining risk.

Robert Wright

Monday, April 18, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Poor risk management is identified as the primary cause of many general aviation fatal accidents, often resulting from pilots failing to identify, assess, and mitigate both obvious and subtle risks before and during flights.
The author criticizes the current pilot training system for not adequately integrating risk management, which contributes to pilots overlooking critical hazards in common flight scenarios (e.g., single-engine operations in IMC/over terrain, flying without an autopilot, or with inoperative equipment).
To enhance safety, pilots are urged to consistently conduct thorough risk analyses for all flights—assessing likelihood and severity, mitigating high-risk factors, and consciously accepting any remaining risks—and to continue this process en route.

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On December 1, 2013, a Beechcraft B36TC turbocharged Bonanza crashed in mountainous terrain in central Idaho while en route from Baker, Ore., to Butte, Mon. All five occupants were killed. The NTSB accident report stated the probable cause of the accident was “continued flight into known light-to-moderate icing conditions over mountainous terrain.” Reporting stations along the flight path advertised widespread marginal VFR and Airmets had been issued for moderate icing, mountain obscuration and moderate turbulence, and wind shear. There also were numerous pilot reports of icing conditions for various locations in Idaho and along the route of flight.

In reality, the NTSB’s finding in this accident might more properly be called a result rather than a probable cause. In my view, the clear cause of this accident was poor risk management by the Bonanza pilot. I know it’s always easy in hindsight to come to such a conclusion, yet the pilot of this Bonanza launched on this flight despite the fact that he was flying an aircraft that was not equipped for flight in known icing conditions. Even a cursory review of the weather would have revealed the almost certain presence of ice in the clouds at the minimum en route altitude of 13,000 feet.