Stupid Pilot Tricks

While the self-righteous denigrate those who mess up, we shout our barbaric yawp in praise of folly.

pberge

Friday, January 10, 2025 at 10:12 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The article humorously recaps aviation accidents from 2021, primarily attributing incidents to "stupid pilot tricks" and poor judgment across various aircraft types.
Examples include helicopter mishaps (e.g., bull-related tail rotor strike, wire cutting) and fixed-wing foibles (e.g., overspeed, door falls, low-altitude entertainment flying, gear retraction errors).
The "winner" of "Stupid Pilot Tricks" was a Falcon 900EX crew attempting takeoff with an invalidly certified captain, significantly overweight, on too short a runway, and with incorrect settings.
Ultimately, the article satirically concludes that human error and incompetence are persistent factors in aviation, as "stupid never takes a holiday."

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Once again it’s time to review 365 days and sleepless nights of merriment and angst afforded the flying community by those who think “safety first” is the initial rehab step after crashing.

Rules: Any documented goof is fair game, but we don’t shade the dead; might come back to haunt us. We lampoon 2021, the most recent year that NTSB (National Transportation Something Board) provides “completed” analysis of accidents from the year that brought us COVID, Prince Harry, and Megyn.