Tragic Plane Crash : Forced to Fly
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- čas přidán 29. 07. 2023
- Witness the events leading up to this ill-fated journey, the pilot's apprehensions about the weather, and the haunting pressure he faced. Join me as I pay tribute to the lives lost and uncover the vital safety lessons learned from this heartrending story.
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I was in a similar situation - doing a 7 times cancelled Navex, so determined to complete - "Mission Fixation"......small cloud; thru it; bigger cloud; thru it; next cloud and things go sideways - altimeter unwinding in a blur, speed through the roof. Pulling back just made things worse. Wanting to QUIT but death seconds away...."Power back to idle to reduce descent rate; level wings using ADI; pull hard now." Soaring up at 300kts, ALIVE! Like walking on air!...flew the next day, confident I had faced the worse and won. 19 years old; it changes you when this happens. RAFVR training saved my life. Thanks fellahs!
That's an incredibly harrowing experience you've shared, and I'm relieved to hear you made it through safely. Thank you for sharing.
You are very welcome. the RAFVR treated us well. At 18, given a batman to clean our clothes and bring us tea in the morning.
Major drinking and mayhem in the Mess at night; nothing ever said! Pulling high G gave me terrible nightmares - vertical dive auguring into the ground. Waking sweating, terrified; several times a night. Is why the RAF let us go crazy, drunkenly rolling a car against the Guardhouse wall! Nothing said, car gone in the mornings. Aching ass being strapped in so tightly, sitting on parachute/dinghy pack; sinus pains when climbing too fast. But also climbing into the sparkling sunshine while the plebs trudged along far below. CAVU skies!
Your RAFVR days seem to be full of excitement, challenges, and unforgettable moments, sure you can write a book. I really enjoy hearing stories like these. Once again thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome. In our Squadron, we had a lotus Elan, a Sunbeam Tiger(!), a TR2, a TR3 and my convertible Vitesse with competition rear end. Both TRs destroyed hitting roudabouts at high speed - I would ride in the Lotus, doing 120mph on surface streets early in the morning. Officer's 1250s (ID) so no speeding tickets.......racing at night on the closed runways, lights off!. My brother flies an RV8, and I built/flew C-IAVW an aerobatic biplane. Keep up the videos. Imperative we learn from others and their mistakes. Flying challenging, but will bite you hard....sadly, one of my family mocked my service despite our losing 2 pilots. "What danger?" she scoffed. Annoyed me beyond belief.
I am ex RAF, Don't believe you
Pilot in Command must be exactly that.
"Fly us, or find a new job" Happens al the time in Professional Yachting as well, Idiot owners, surrounded by Yes men and not used to being challenged.. Rip to all 😢
My experience is that some people will feel you were pressuring them to do something just because you respectfully as them if it’s advisable or if they are willing to. People who don’t know how to say no are probably way more common than those who really won’t take no for an answer. Not speaking to your specific situations, just making a general observation on human nature.
Flew bn2 with 8 passengers as a very young pilot . But I had been trained well by very good experienced instructors over several years beforehand. I have always undertaken advanced training at every opportunity . At 71 years of age I have a totally clean flying record of 56 years operation in gliders, light aircrsft and slightly larger aircraft like the bn2. There is no substitute for appropriate level of training and then putting lessons learned into practice regardless of bad influences. And there have been some bad influences in my 56 years of aviation.
Sort out the correct course of action quickly and then act decisively. Its the only safe way to do snything especially aviation .
When someone said that the hardest thing to say is NO they're correct.
Life and flying experience has confirmed that on so many occasions.
Keep well and safe everybody!
Your perspective, given the vast experience and longevity of your aviation journey, is truly invaluable. Thank you for imparting your wisdom and for the well-wishes.
I knew this young pilot. He was an outstanding and attractive young commercial pilot at our Westline Aviation Flight School at Tempe Airfield (FATP). The accident occurred around 2006.
And I knew the king of England.
276 total flight hours and 2.6 in type.....you have to be kidding.
What could possibly go wrong with qualifications like that. The kid was close to what astronauts have 😩😩😩
This accident was discussed at great length at the time on Avcom - a South African general aviation web forum. It seems that the owner of the aircraft exerted immense pressure on the young and apprehensive pilot (conversations overheard at the fuel pump etc). It was a tragic event, two entire families and a young pilot needlessly lost their lives. It remains a text book reference in South Africa for young pilots to stand their ground and not permit their better judgement to be overruled.
Imagine the danger of a flight crew beholden to cultural rank and social politenesses? Perhaps fasting rules too that lower glucose levels.
No cultural rank, social politeness or fasting rules played a part in this accident (if I am reading correctly between the lines, we are in Southern Africa, not Northern Africa). IIRC the aircraft owner was also a pilot and from memory, basically 'bullied' the young, anxious pilot into completing the mission.
Absolutely was. Owner, experienced-flyer, older person vs young newbie subaltern.
@sailflyboy I appreciate your input in this conversation. Thank you!
It has to be understood and agreed upon beforehand that the PIC makes all operational decisions. This PIC was MARGINALLY qualified to begin with.
The young pilot tried to warn the hothead owner about the conditions but the owner insisted to push on. I can imagine the conversation with owner: I have dealt with this type many times. You cannot reason with them in situations like this: in their own eyes they are invincible.
They? I didn't think the owner was on board. My immediate questions would be what was the owners financial situation? Was he fully insured and how much did he owe on the plane and/or maintenance due? Was the families aware a pilot with 2 hours experience flying this particular plane was flying them? This reeks of set up to fail.
In life it's a lesson that sometimes one has to recognise a potentially dangerous evolving situation. Be it having doubts about a walking trip; or a shared expedition, or even moving in with someone. One might come to regret that missed opportunity, or one might find one has dodged the bullet.
The most difficult thing for a pilot to learn is to say NO!
It's always when the kids miss a day of school than the rest of their lives. Also, perhaps check what the highest elevations on your route are before departing, regardless of the weather? Such an entirely unnecessary tragedy.
Continued flight into IMC by a VFR pilot and likely a VFR only aircraft is probably one of the top 3 causes of such accidents. It appears likely to me that this pilot had a good fix on the weather problems and let himself be talked (pressured) into performing the flight anyway. One thing ALL PILOTS should remember is this..."MY SEAT HITS FIRST". I can think of no better reason to NOT take the flight. If the Owner, or some high ranking (influential) individual INSISTS on going when conditions are NOT conducive to a successful mission, just toss that individual the keys and let them take their own chances! I speak from experience gained while in the military (as a pilot that, at that time, was a Captain having to tell a 2 star General that we weren't going due to conditions AND STICKING TO MY GUNS and later in life (as a corporate pilot) stopping a passenger flight at the third stop due to a problem with the aircraft. STICK TO YOUR GUNS OR DIE---FIRST! A pilot has a basic responsibility to stick to his guns in the face of pressure from anyone that has NO BUSINESS attempting to stick their noses into the "GO/NO GO" decision making process. As a pilot, one should NEVER, NEVER, EVER forget that!! I speak from only about 12,000 hours of flight experience, but have been the lucky recipient of good advice along the way!
Your insight, drawn from significant experience and countless hours in the skies, is invaluable. Thank you for your contribution.
@@flightpathaviation1 I thought "insight drawn" could come from pure reason
Pilot's fault, since he has ultimate responsibility for the safety of his passengers.
21 years old 😮 that’s a no for me
He was as green as grass, to stay alive in aviation one needs to know their limitations I don't think he had yet figured out his limitations, or if he had he was unwilling to go against his boss.
Navigation charts show the terrain elevation in that area. Pilot should have not been flying that low and turned back before then.
New to your channel. Excellent video. I’m predicting that your channel will continue to growth very fast. Congratulations!!👍🏼😀
Thank you for the kind words and for supporting my channel!
The focus on his “experience” in that aircraft is pointless. The islander is a dirt simple aircraft to fly, for any pilot that has the basic skills. The problem probably lay in his skills, experience, or abilities in IFR flight. As others here have commented, it’s simplicity itself to read a chart for altitude minimums and stay above them. IF you know where you are. And if you don’t lose control if you enter heavy cloud.
The same sad story. VFR into IMC. And the same question: With or without the formal IFR certification, the aircraft flies! Why pilots are so stubborn to go lower and lower until CFIT, instead of going high, borrowing some time, and looking for alternatives?!
The pilot should have said no, even if he had been fired. There has to be a boundary.
Nice video. Love the animation.
Thank you for the kind words. Creating engaging content is top priority and I'm commited to improve. I appreciate your support.
I left several flying jobs, I wanted to live another day.
Who in their right mind would put their families in the hands of a pilot with only 275 total time and having learned to fly the specific airplane literally yesterday, in a flight with a need-to-return schedule? Of course he'd be pressured to complete the flight against his better judgment - even if he had it.
Let's blame the dead pilot.
@@johnlomax563 Who exactly blamed him? He did not have the necessary experience for the flight, for making a point of waiting further for the return trip and for the conditions he encountered as a result. That's far from blaming him.
How would passengers know the pilot qualifications, they would not, and never do. It the responsibility of the chief pilot to manage that. Mechanical issues rarely cause the crash, it's the pilot. The BNI has been a very reliable aircraft.
@@stevecarlisle3323 The owner of the aircraft was one of the passengers. It was up to him to hire a more experienced pilot given that his usual pilot was unable to perform that particular flight.
@@coriscotupi there ya go, the aircraft owner was not the pilot, but he was hungry enough to go flying with someone who was not able to deal with conditions.
Tragic for all but the boss.
The unfortunate part..(and I can say this as I’m a NON-current helo pilot with ‘only’ a PPL) IS: We GENERALLY never know the accumulated time of the pilot(s) in an ANY AC that we choose to fly in. Unless we know them personally, which is almost never, it’s usually a crap-shoot as to the education, certification, etc of the PIC.IF they had KNOWN this pilot had only
if the weather looks sketchy the pilot should just tell the passengers, "cant fly today, the weather is too dangerous"; the pilot doesn't have to say no or confront any overbearing owner or passenger
As a young inexperienced pilot, this kid should have asked himself, is this flight worth my life? If he was uncomfortable making the flight, he should’ve chose being fired, over being forced to make a flight his gut told him not to do. He’d still be alive and most likely everyone else also. Because they would’ve had to find a pilot that could make this trip in bad weather.
Why didnt he use his altimeter.
No need for the music
The music is fine, your personal taste is irrelevant, if you don't like it move on.
Never allow an employer to place your life in a situation where you could die. A reputable aviation company will appreciate the fact that you know your limitations. You’ll live to see tomorrow and get another job.
If you have a place to go, just take the bus, ya dingus.
For your health.
-Dr. Steve Brule
If the pilot had of increased altitude and flew high he wouldn't hit terrain. My guess is he was not trained in the very basics of instrument navigation ie altimeter speed and direction it would seem. It was reckless to employ a pilot with barely 3 hrs flight time in the plane and then expect him to fly in dense fog. I wonder why he gave up his life and didn't just say NO.
All very sad
276 total hours? That's not even 4 months experience for the average commercial jet pilot. Anyway, this had two more really bad things going for it: VFR into IFR, and Get-There-Itis. Unfortunately, all three aligned.
Terrain, Icing, Night, IMC.
Choose only one.
He was not flying a jet was he? Its a BN-2 so will not necessarily attract super experienced pilots on type,. . .
@@TRPGpilot True enough. I'm just noting that 275 total hours, and only 2.6 hours on type, is basically still a beginner compared to a commercial airline pilot. I'd be very apprehensive about getting on a plane with him. And the owner insisted he fly into poor weather!
@@james-p yes true, valid points.
I don’t care if a passenger is the owner. It’s your choice as the captain to fly or not. It’s better to be jobless than dead.
It does no good, I suppose, to armchair quarterback after an event like this, and we perhaps do not have all the facts. But I just cannot understand the pilot's rationale in this situation. We have terrain and navigation charts with us as we fly which have been clearly printed with elevation figures at every potentially consequential location; he should have known what the elevation of the highest peaks and ridges were along his route. Besides that, each sector square on our aerial maps has printed within it a "Maximum Elevation" figure which indicates to us what the lowest safe altitude we can fly within that particular sector is - assuming our altimeters are calibrated correctly at the time... Why then did he choose to fly beneath those charted altitudes in weather which did not allow him to see the terrain? It is baffling.
Yes - very strange. Always plan a minimum safe altitude for VFR in case of going into IMC. My only guess is he wanted to remain visual with the surface.
Wow, again from memory - the aircraft was lacking necessary IFR equipment - he HAD to remain visual. So he was scud running through the hills away from Nelspruit when he lost visual contact with the ground at low altitude. As the farmer who saw him last said - 'I saw him, he disappeared into a cloud, then I heard the crash'....Nothing new here, just the same old tragic story.
You nailed it, this has happened before, and I knew a more experienced pilot than this who also hit a ridge while descending through cloud, though it happened in the 80's before GPS was around, but many have died in a similar fashion, it is far from a new thing. New technology should help reduce it, if competent to use it.@@sailflyboy
@@sailflyboyYa might want to have your memory checked then. Unless some of the equipment was broken or removed, there is NO WAY a BN-2 Islander was delivered without at least a basic IFR panel. That only requires a sensitive altimeter, VSI, gyro attitude, gyro heading, nav radios and gauges, and the necessary vacuum and electrical backups. Islanders were sold as airliners, and every agency in the world would have required IFR equipment.
One of the critical instruments for IF flight was U/S, preventing him from filing an IF flight plan. It was privately owned (by the guy who forced the pilot to fly). if I could be bothered I would go back to the Avcom thread and find out the reason the aircraft was not able to fly IF on that day, but there were dozens of pages about the accident at the time. You are welcome to dig pout the accident report if you wish.
I flew for a guy like that many years ago, he told me I would be fired if I did not make a flight from Austin to Houston thru LIFR AND numerous enbedded TRW. I told him to fire me..somehow that evening a little later he found someone to fly him in my place; the next morning I learned that the aircraft disintegrated in flight in a thunderstorm.. don't ever let anyone make your decisions for you.
Not unusual at all for a plane like this to not have GPWS.
That is true, though my homebuilt has Garmin TAWS so some GA aircraft have it.
You should let me narrate probono vs autobot.
Pilot made the wrong call and crashed
He wasn’t trained on the use of an altemeter
VFR is dangerous
HEY CT HEAD the OWWWWNERRRR got the lives killlllled!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doesn’t this plane have retractable gear?
No, it doesn't.
@@Jigsaw407 wow! 👍
@@IdeologieUKNot sure why you’re “wowing” extremely common for lighter aircraft to have fixed under carriage 🤷♂️
@@markhepworth wow, as in highly inefficient and draggy. It’s a lot bigger than a 182RG.
@@IdeologieUK And a lot cheaper to build with far more cabin space with fixed undercarriage,as well as stronger for the rough strip operation.
9 lives lost because 1 narcissist "had to get there."
There was no mention of why the pilot was flying too low. And it would be nice to hear a real human narrate the video rather than an AI generated voice.
Accident wouldn't have happened if Maverick was the pilot 😊
The Earth is the Lord and the fullness there of.
Keep your "thumping" to yourself.
BS
You don't know. You only think you know. It's not called "blind faith" for nothing. Ric from Oz 🙍♂️ 🇭🇲 🦘 👍 😎
@@richardhewitt1648
"You don't know. "
Nor do you. Blind faith...what a silly reason to believe something.
@phillipzx3754 Have another look. I was responding to the original post. Not hard to work out, or maybe it was. 🤣
The Suns rays are no longer golden do to the fact of dumping chemical into the air. It is now a while sky
INdeed. The number of contrails shades the earth below.
You Speak the Truth Sir. From your lips to the Peoples' Ears. Heavens I Wish They Would Listen!!!
tinfoil hat says what?
Kook much?
@@andyharpist2938Back to school for you, chum.
Hey that is what I wanna do put my entire families lives in the hands of a 21 year old with ZERO experience flying MY plane. This is what they mean when they say the rich are different. But not always in a good way. The pilot should have said find someone else to fly your plane. But that's the difference between a child and an adult. RIP to the pilot and the kids.
Classic VFR into IMC! 🥲