No Noticeable Damage

I read your magazine every month and have never written a letter on an article in my life, but will now. In the December 2016 issue, the first NTSB report involved a Vans RV-6 Experimental. The report states the commercial pilot and passenger were fatally injured; the airplane was destroyed...there was no noticeable damage to the fields corn stalks. Really? Someone should care about the corn stalks? Everything else was destroyed, including lives, but the corn stalks made it!

Editorial Staff

Friday, January 06, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The magazine defends NTSB report phraseology, explaining that details like "no damage to corn stalks" serve a critical investigative purpose by describing the crash site and inferring aircraft dynamics, such as a near-vertical descent.
Regarding 20:1 slope obstructions, the FAA issues restrictions like Notams preventing night operations as a risk mitigation strategy, based on terminal procedure design criteria, when it lacks the authority or ability to physically alter obstacles.

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I read your magazine every month and have never written a letter on an article in my life, but will now. In the December 2016 issue, the first NTSB report involved a Van’s RV-6 Experimental. The report states “the commercial pilot and passenger were fatally injured; the airplane was destroyed…there was no noticeable damage to the field’s corn stalks”

Really? Someone should care about the corn stalks? Everything else was destroyed, including lives, but the corn stalks made it! This should have been edited. If I was related to the people fatally injured in his accident, I would be appalled.