The pilot who was Unlicensed,Unprepared and Unqualified | The Crash Of D-CMMM
Vložit
- čas přidán 19. 03. 2022
- Donations are never expected but appreciated: paypal.me/miniaircrash
Join My Discord: / discord
Lear Jet Photo: Pedro Aragão
This is the story of a Learjet 24, tail number D-CMMM. On the 15th of september 2012 a Learjet 24 was to fly from Strasbourg airport in germany to bornholm airport in denmark. The flight was a short one, the pilots expected it to take a little bit over one hour. On the ground at starosborg the jet was fueled up and the pilots ran the pre takeoff checklists. That day the plane had just one pilot and one passenger for a total of two people onboard.
By 10:58 am the jet took off bound for bornholm, denmark. Much of the flight went by without a hitch. That is until the low fuel warning came on half way into the flight. The plane had a bit more fuel remaining but the pilot had to make a bee line for bornholm airport that was at this point 18 NM away, If the fuel in the tanks held out they should be able to make it to the airport.
At 11:32 am the pilot canceled the IFR flight plan, that is the flight plan that he had filed with ATC and started a visual approach to runway 29. He knew that he didn't have much time left in the air and he wanted to get down as fast as possible. As the learjet slowed down it lost altitude, by 11:37 am the plane was making the turn onto final and the tower cleared it to land. It looked like the fuel starved jet might actually make it. The gear was down, flaps were out. All it had to do was cover the few miles to the runway and theyd be in the clear.
But as the plane made the turn onto final their luck ran out. Both engines died, their fuel had run out. The learjet was now a lear glider. The pilot put out three distress calls as the plane started to lose altitude. The jet passed over the beaches of borlnholm quite low, and it impacted a cornfield just short of the runway. The plane was destroyed but the two people onboard survived.
Once this crash had happened a multitude of agencies got involved, The American NTSB or the national transportation safety bureau, the Danish AIB or the air accident investigation board and the german BFU or the ……., you know what i am not gonna try and say that, ill leave it up on the screen all sent representatives to help with the investigation. But right off the bat the investigators knew that something was off. The Lear 24 is meant to be piloted by two pilots but the accident flight had only one pilot. But wait it gets worse. In the pilots personal belongings , they found two airline transport pilot licenses issued by the FAA. Both licenses had the same license number but had different names and none of the names on the licenses were that of the pilot himself. So the investigators had a bit of a john doe on their hands, the NTSB the BFU and the danish AIB all went through their databases to see if they had issued a pilots license to this pilot but they all came up with nothing. At the end of the day the investigators had no clue if this guy was licensed or not.
The germans had more news to share, as it turned out the pilot wasnt the only thing that was un-licenced. The lear 24, tail number D-CMMM did not have a valid german registration. On the second of february 2012 the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt or the german civil aviation authority suspended the certificate of registration because the plane had a missing airworthiness certificate. So as per the rules this plane should not have been flying for quite a few months at the time of the accident. This is the investigation that just keeps giving and giving. - Věda a technologie
The "pilot" flying this Learjet, a guy called Nader Haghighi, worked as the Operations Director for Susi Air back in 2014. He was effectively my boss. At least for a few weeks. Senior management checked his employment history and he went on the run again.
Wtf? “Catch me if you can?!” Lol
Bro... Your boss do be flying planes tho
So HIRE first and THEN check his background?? seems that AIRPORT needs a shut down no?
Well, at least they lived through the landing....but who did the plane belong to?
It's assholes like this that make it difficult for ordinary ppl, who are getting established to do so.
Not gonna lie, the only entity I can think of that would hire an "off the grid pilot" like that is some kind of criminal organization.
No airline or even private millionare would ever hire someone like that to be a captain, let alone allow flight without a first officer.
This aircraft is also a bit too expensive for general aviation for hobbyists.
Wouldn't be surprised if his previous passengers were wanted or cargo illegal.
Or the CIA
@@francopetre6171 I think they wouldn't be too cheap to hire a first officer or maintain the plane properly
Did the plane belong to that famous airline AerMafia ?
You may have heard of Emiliano Sala. He was a football player, not involved in criminal activity and with plenty of money, who died in a crash caused by an unqualified commercial pilot in 2019.
Criminal or intelligence. Too many holes.
The crash was taken up by the Danish Press. It seems the “pilot” is Iranian, and had been evicted from the US for reasons unknown. He received a 10 month jail sentence and an entry ban into Denmark for 6 years. The charges were:
1) flying without a valid flight license.
2) harming a passenger (the passenger, a Polish national broke his back).
3) forgery, as he had an outstanding violation for paying with a expired credit card. Plus some dubious handling on landing permits.
Apparently the guy presented himself as Mexican. He was extradited to the German authorities before served time.
--
The German media names the pilot Leonardo R. Which is a cover name. The US disclosed him as “Nader Ali Sabouri Haghighi - he is internationally wanted. In Germany there are a lot of indictments out on Mr. Sabouri, in excess of euro 114.000 for unpaid speeding tickets, and a lot lot of stuff ordered but never paid by the pilots German company Bio Aerospace.
The plane was about 40 years old when it crashed, the plane was scrapped and an engine was placed on a museum in Bornholm.
After this Mr. Haghigi travelled home to Iran, he then resurfaced in Indonesia.
On march 9th 2015 he was sentenced to prison for 27 months by the Southern Districts of Texas - the charge was Stealing a US pilots identity.
@Asizo, thanks for the add-ons, I was wondering what came out of this investigation.
I’m not surprised that it was my district of Texas that threw the book at him!!!
Typical Iranian
This guy need to get a call from Spielberg because he clearly had a colorful past, checkered present and a helluva future...
Thank you so much as I was wondering what the upshot would be.
I used to hang around the Strausberg airport around the time this happened. He was the only jet stationed there, and for months he used to dash around, often with passengers (presumably paying) for short trips or sightseeing flights. From what I remember he seemed quite friendly. Nobody had any idea that anything could be wrong with the pilot or the airplane, until we heard about the crash. In German aviation forums and media it was later said that he was short of cash for running a Learjet. According to those forums the low fuel wasn't an oversight, rather he didn't fill up because he couldn't afford the fuel, and apparently he owed several thousand of euros to various airports for fuel he hadn't paid for yet. Also the pilot pretended to be Mexican, but was actually Iranian living under a false name to avoid being caught by the police who were after him for other offences.
About the missing registration not being noticed: It's not as if ATC checks each airplane that contacts them for legality. It's not their job to do that, and they don't have access to registration databases anyway. If anything it would infringe on safety because if pilots would live in constant fear of ATC ratting on them, they would avoid contacting ATC whenever they could. Who would want that?
Here's a short video of him taking off from Strausberg when everything still seemed fine: czcams.com/video/01mJDM2tt7s/video.html
Wow, that does not look like a trained pilot take off. More like a early trainee. Thanks for the clip.
@@constantinosschinas4503 most trainees would be upset about that take off. Nevermind maintaining runway centreline until 500ft, or positive rate for gear up. At that point he's still in the ground effect, and already banking and retracting the landing gear.
@@Musikur It looks cool though :)
great informative comment, thanks
Aerosucre moment
3:30 As a German, I can tell you: your pronunciation of "Luftfahrtbundesamt" was really good. It sounded just like someone with a thick English/American accent would say it.
Is it really a mini air crash investigation video if I don’t miss pronounce something?
@@MiniAirCrashInvestigation 😂
@@MiniAirCrashInvestigation mispronounce not Miss Pronounce.
Miss Pronounce would be the single daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Pronounce.
I have to agree. Sounded like a natural! x-x
@@MiniAirCrashInvestigation I would understand it, so it was definitely not mispronounced. Just a little soft on t and B. Very well for someone, who has not learned German.
Congratulations, you said "Luftfahrtbundesamt" correctly!
I bet it took a few tries off screen. 😂😂😂
Germany and Wales are famous for having long place names lol 😅
Ja genau das dachte ich auch, gut gemacht! Good Job!
Yeah it Was really good!
That looks like a typo sir
I never flew a 20 series Lear, but all I ever heard from anyone who ever flew them said the same thing…as soon as you start it, you are in a fuel critical situation.
I can attest to this. fuel hogs
Sounds like my car!
@@aircastles1013 hahaha these days, definitely!
In the 20 Series the most important instruments are the airspeed indicator and the fuel gauges. lol
lol
We had a guy locally who flew for 40 years while having No license. He flew with an instructor until he had about 100 hours--then bought his own plane and flew for the next forty years. This is likely more common than we know. Alphabet agencies have need of such persons for reasons of plausible deniability. He may have been in early stages of training.
Sounds like a student I had over 35 years ago, except he bought himself an airplane first. He and the airplane disappeared not long after he solo'd and we never heard from him again. I think he went north. Technically speaking, he had a student pilot permit that allowed him to fly solo but not to carry passengers, so he wasn't illegal until he missed the first medical for licence renewal.
You might be correct . It could have been a spook
Alphabet agencies can get any pilot they need out of the military, without the need of involving civilian instructors.
@@kewkabe that is true . But an unknown aircraft with an unknown pilot doing hinky shit .makes one wonder . Odly enough there is nothing said on who or what the passenger was
@@kewkabe They still use them. Barry Seal was one. A local guy named Buddy operated in that capacity. He flew a DC-3 with the seats removed and a large bladder tank where the seats were. I was approached several times to fly drugs out of the US either into Mexico or areas in South America. I declined as I wanted to live longer.
Did look up a bit more of info on the guys. In a few reports, I think it states that the passenger was a qualified co pilot but didn’t act so. The captain himself claimed to be Mexican but the investigators believed that he was Iranian. He was also part of a swindle of airplane parts back in USA.
It also seemed to have landed on a crop circle too
Thanks for the additional info !
Is anyone surprised . .. . ?
Interesting back story, thanks!
Well, after crashing the plane, he had more parts to work with
Hello and thanks for another great video. I came across with a similar situation 3 years ago. I was a first officer in the UK with embraer aircraft for a regional airline. A new Captain joined and flew with him few times. He was a nice guy but his cockpit behaviour and flying was strange. On our last flight he ordered 10 times more fuel than needed. He was fired next day. Turns out that he had a fake license. He wasn't even Captain. He was prosecuted by UK CAA. Things happen. Even in Europe or UK. There are holes in the system which people can slip through. By the way, can you please make a video about yourself. Most of us are big fan of yours but don't know you. Thanks for great work. God bless
This actually can be one of your new episodes if you are interested. I have photos and proof if you need. Thanks anyways for all the great work
KInd of like that movie 'Catch me if you can'..
Video about himself may not be to his advantage.. I remember I used to follow a Filipino guys channel until he came up one day and talked about himself. He was going for his first flight lesson!????!. He was a plumber with enthusiasm for aviation. The money from his channel enabled him to join a flying school. Most qualified pilots will proudly say their credentials. Look at yourself full picture bars and all. People remain anonymous for a reason!
@@haiwatigere6202 Yes, I used to watch that flip-kid channel also. This channel sounds like chyna and a cumputer (spell-check) busy-body. Big time fraud looking for attention and a quick dollar.
In terms of how small operators conduct themselves this reminds me somewhat of the the fatal PA-46 crash involving the footballer Emiliano Sala in 2019. All sorts of rules broken. Perhaps one for you to cover in a future video.
NIN fellow fan, why hello! I have Zero Sum recommended to me on the right of my screen and your DP on the left. How very fitting. One of my favourite songs. I shall listen to it now. "Shame on us, doomed from the start. May God have mercy on our dirty little hearts."
Agreed, the footballers haunting audio is tragic. Also reminds me of 2008 Mexico City Learjet crash, caused by wake turbulence, where both pilots lied about their qualifications (killing all 9 on board, and 7 on the ground, inc. passenger, Mexican Secretary of the Interior).
As a German I can say that I am not surprised about the fact that a non licensed pilot flew a non registered plane: we even had a guy back a while which became chief of medical staff without any qualification and he even treated patients with psychological diseases
Fake it till you make it!
Good grief! That is pretty scary. Wmost of us Americans think of Germany and Germans as always being "By the Book", allowing no nonsense. Especially with some like this.😳
Ich glaube, ich weiß, wen du meinst. :-)
I would bet that German data protection could contribute to something like this. Sometimes it seems to me that - with all "correctness" - data protection is more important that life and death here. If I remember correctly, one reason why the suicide Germanwings copilot was still able to fly until his deliberate crash in 2014, was the fact, that none of the dozens of psychologist was allowed to tell anyone at the airline or the authorities about his mental desease (?).
@@djytonly5653 as far as I know in the US the leaking of health Information to employers would be considered a HIPPA violation. So Germany is not the only one rigid in these things. Additionally please consider the overwhelming majority of people with mental illnesses who don‘t pose a threat to others which you automatically would stigmatize by leaking their health information to their employers which would open a whole other can of worms. So it isn‘t all black an white here and every society has to discuss by its own the consequences which they are wanting to weigh higher. And let‘s not forget: to fly that plane into a mountain was the decision of this one pilot - not more and not less
Oops Strasbourg in France not Germany my bad. Looks like my geography teacher was right I do suck at this places on map thing 😂
Edit: theres Strasbourg in Germany as well lol
I guess you were too busy learning about airplanes over geography
Never make that mistake in presence of French and German people, there have been quite a few wars about the location of Strasbourg.
No, I think you were right the first time. The incident report says Strausberg, DE to Bornhome, DK (EDIT: Bornholm DK). Strasbourg , FR, would have been a bit longer of a flight.
Maybe the pilot made the same mistake when calculating how much fuel he needed.
If the plane had crashed on the French/German border, where would they have buried the survivors ?
Found my new favourite channel to tune in for breakfast, very good job! What a surprising story.
I’ve been a flight instructor for 37 years. The overwhelming majority of my students have shown professionalism and followed rules assiduously. I had one student, many years ago who I refused to sign off for a flight exam because his logbook showed clearly numerous rules violations. In the case of this story, an old and nearly obsolete Lear 24 can be purchased for a pittance. Someone with some aviation background (licensed or otherwise), could purchase an aircraft for barely above salvage value, Pilot credentials and airworthiness are checked only (I’m speaking USA standards) if the pilot has a random ramp check from an FAA inspector. I could see the possibility of someone with total disregard for rules operate for months or possibly years before being spotted.
I can believe that. It's not like a low-time C150 driver can handle a jet. The mere fact that the pilot could fly it suggests that he is qualified...And if people on the ramp watch two men climb aboard, it's reasonable that they would assume that they are both flying.
He was apparently capable of taking of and landing the aircraft. I would use the word ‘qualified’ to mean that he has the system knowledge, instrument proficiency and currency required to competently command that type of aircraft with the assistance of a competent first officer. This is more akin to someone who can wield a knife acting as a surgeon. From my observations, aviation is not setup to easily detect this level of fraud. If I wanted to joyride in a jet, a LR24 would be an amazingly inexpensive aircraft to acquire. I see a Learjet 25 for sale for $325,000; cheaper than many new single engine aircraft. It’s a difficult aircraft to fly even with 2 pilots tho.
@@tonycollins9203 takeoffs are optional,landings are mandatory 😂
Lots of pilots fly without medicals. Your FAA license is valid for life, unless revoked. The requirements are that you've had a bi-annual flight review and a current medical. If an old geezer cant pass a medical, and never tells anyone, who would stop him?
Nobody. And IMO they shouldn't.
Because its an arbitrary test and very un-scientific. And the program was put in place in 1911, half a decade before Sopwiths fought the Red Baron over the trenches of WWI. And before anyone knew anything about how medical conditions could effect flying safety. The BasicMed system for sport pilots has proved unequivocally that there is a greater chance of getting killed in a commercial plane crash than ever getting killed by an incapacitated private pilot.
As an inexperienced former student pilot please answer this question.
If he was low on fuel, should he not have kept his high altitude, that way if ran out he'd of had more altitude to glide to the earth with, like the space shuttle.
Does that make sense?
I mean if low on fuel, why would you descend before you have to, cause now if run out and only 2000 ft above the ground, you haven't much glide path.
Should he have kept the highest altitude possible until close to airport?
And say, had he been at 10,000 ft or 5000 ft when ran out of fuel, would his chances of making it had been better?
The joke about the 20 series is that it takes off "fuel critical." Some pilots use the transfer pump to "pack the tank" on one side and then top off the other side, then start and taxi on one engine, and start the second engine during the final yards of taxi while approaching the runway, saving some fuel that will be gulped down heartily by the CJ610 straight jet engines..
I like how the simulation plane has "SUBSCRIBE" as a tail number.
I just loved that last comment... "if this guy can get a job flying a plane, you can ask that girl out". Sound advice.
Even though this is about a jet-powered airplane in the 21st Century, the accident basically comes down something as old as the human race: hubris.
1. An undocumented solo pilot flying what is a two-person aircraft.
2. Taking on the absolute bare minimum of fuel
3. Flying an airplane that is not supposed to flying
While I'm glad that both the pilot and passenger survived, it's a shame that such a marvelous airplane was destroyed due to ego.
I didn't expect to see that incident here, thanks a lot! There was quite a lot of talk about it for several years in the local community!
Did anyone ever find out what had actually happened?
Crazy to find such an off-grid plane flying in EU with an unknown pilot. They were lucky to survive. I guess they couldn't afford any reserve fuel for the private jet lol. If you really want to enjoy a floor show of ineptitude though then all you gotta do is hang around a busy boat launch ramp for a while.
Or UsA small airport. Many crappy landings from non trainer airplanes..
They had fuel. The "pilot" didn't access it
@@70baja Kinda. They had enough to finish the landing if the fool pilot had known how the fuel system functioned. But they didn't have enough fuel to meet any minimum reserve requirements.
@@jimmyjames8736 agreed. Technically, he could have made it but no margin for a go-around, etc
>
Isn't THAT the case! I HAVE PROVIDED THAT ENTERTAINMENT MYSELF...
Long ago we had a plane go down in Manchester NH. Turns out the guy only had a Canadian student pilot license, he had his wife on the plane. He had flown from Canada to VT and refueled with jet fuel using a funnel, (it was a piston engine plane), when it started running rough he landed in Manchester. A mechanic jumped in without doing even a simple fuel drain test, the plane crashed on take off.
Sounds like real Darwin Award material!
Sounds to me like the pilot that fueled it incorrectly might of been charged with the death of the mechanic, why the mech didn't check fuel 1st and if he could have known the difference visually I have no idea but somebody needed to have been held accountable.
@@donc9751 The pilot was held accountable, but it's been so long I forget what the outcome was. You can tell by the color and and the different levels the fuels would have shown in the clear sight tube if they had of done the simple tank test. I do remember the pilot never told him he had just refueled an hour ago, and understandably no one asked him what his rating was or where he had came from.
@@josephrobichaud5198 Thank you Joseph! I appreciate the info!
Strange that if he'd put Avgas in a turbine it would've been acceptable.😎
The most incredible part of this incident is how a Learjet transformed itself into a Cessna Citation.
Ha! Noticed that as well. Interesting story though.
MACI had a little flash message in the corner that an update broke the Learjet in the sim.
@@BigBlueJake That is why don't update software until the project finishes.
just a trick of the light ! 🤣
Side note I love this channel it is my favorite aviation investigation channel of all . Keep up the great work bro! Very good clear descriptions and analysis.
Well narrated! Thank you!
0:42 -- You even got the animation/timing right on the low fuel warning! Procedures in the ol' Lear 24 were basically: Rotate, Positive Rate of Climb, Gear Up, Declare Fuel Emergency, Land.
Seriously, the things had no endurance but darn if they weren't fast... and loud and fuel hungry.
Really love the fact that the CJ4S tail had subscribe written over it... Great video as always
Great episode, thanks!
Although this guy couldn't show a license he clearly knew how to fly something. Somewhere he had a paper trail, the problem is knowing who he really was. Who ever that is has a history. Maybe Mr X had a license to fly something but it was revoked.
It seems to me they "investigators could have found out who he really was in this day and age.
The guy is alive, can't they lock him up until he plausibly tells who he is?
A Lear 24 is not something you learn to fly by watching CZcams. The guy definitely had jet training...most likely ex-military.
@@kimchristensen3727 If he could hand fly that airplane, the idea that he lacked experience is a joke.
@@andreasu.3546 Under german law, no. The Police can detain someone for only a short time, 12 hours if I remember correctly, in order to find out who he is. After that they have to put him in front of a judge or let him go. I don't know the exact rules in Denmark but it's likely something similar.
@@andreasu.3546 Lock him up until he tells you what you want to know?
That’s a Guantanamo Bay thing.
And then you blink and we are water boarding people for their identity.
Great upload 👍 always better when it's an event I haven't heard about
Great sense of humour AND a professional report and story.
“One pilot and one passenger for a total of two people on board”, terrific start to the dialogue, great information - thank you! 😳🤓😕
great video, great pronunciation of german, great MSFS2020 footage and good audio. can't wish for more. Thanks again!
Many thanks!
It’s like all those “when you lied on your resumé but got the job anyway” memes. Unbelievable! I bet someone in HR got a proper bollocking for that one.
Short and sweet. I really enjoyed this video as it was so different. Very interesting, thank you ......
Long time subscriber… I just have to say your videos are 100x better with the accompanying flight sim videos.
There are a lot of people flying without a license. For themselves and their aircraft. Private ownership in rural areas has many bush pilots flying without documentation.
Learjet24 a bush plane?? I won’t even think of taking off in a 737, cuz it’s a freaking jetliner. Most bush plane pilots won’t even feel comfortable entering Bravo airspace. Its two different worlds, my friend.
@@nickieshadowfaxbrooklyn5192 I'm not saying they would feel comfortable. I'm saying they are out there by the hundreds. You also have "sport" licensed pilots flying outside the box. Those you would see in a bravo airspace. Remember there are people that will jump in any plane and fly it. They had the aircraft repo show a few years back. They had class time but not actual time in many of those planes they recovered.
No bush plane but bush country, everything is fine as long your taxes in germany.
To answer your question towards the end: Man, if I knew how to get a job like that, I wouldn't be sitting here, studying these super annoying ATPL subjects!
On a more serious note, this whole story with all these mistakes makes a lot of sense as an unlicensed pilot would likely not know about basic stuff like planning alternates, fuel transfer and certain legal limits that need to be met. In fact, I'd argue that this is the hardest part about getting your license - many pilots in training already have some kind of previous knowledge in terms of flying because they've been interested in that topic for a long time, so reading a PFD, MFD and pushing a few buttons shouldn't be too difficult. The hard stuff, however, is studying the stuff around flying. Legal minima, planning requirements, certain separations, navigation with true and magnetic tracks, getting deeper into the instruments, or as I like to say "studying the overhead panel", which is arguably one of the hardest things to do etc..
Still, I wonder how these companies don't check basic FCL requirements. Then again, this company was operating an unlicensed plane with not enough pilots, so I guess they wouldn't care about valid licenses anyway.
There seem to be many people here assuming that there was "a company". It would appear that the aircraft was owned by some dubious people who found a dubious pilot to fly it. Everyone seems to assume that the pilot had no qualifications, but is it not entirely possible they were involved in the sort of operation that no-one wanted to be traced back to themselves, hence using a false licence. I do agree that forgetting to refuel the aircraft shows a lack of professionalism, but perhaps he was worried about other things (like a police raid).
@@SuperHeatherMorris According to others in the comment section, this pilot was quite in debt, and cut back on the fuel to safe money. He has unpaid speeding fines etc, etc. Seems like he was living the high life, on debt.
2:14 made me laugh so hard as a German XD.
Yeah, we are known for really complicated words and I always enjoy poor non-native speakers looking at them and going "The hell?".
If anyone wonders, what it means: It can be translated as "Federal agency for flight accident investigation".
German has got to be the weirdest language I ever attempted to study.
Definitely hilarious..u know what not even gonna try it...loved it
@@FGuilt It's not that weird if you know how to parse German words. "Flugunfalluntersuchung" might look horrible, but is simply a compound consisting of smaller words that have cognates in English. It's
Flug + Unfall + unter + Suchung.
Flug = flight, you can see the similarity right there.
Unfall = accident, but literally in German it's an "un-fall", figuratively an unfortunate event. So consisting of shorter words that exist in English exactly the same to form a new meaning.
Untersuchung = investigation, but literally it's an "under-seeking", once again consisting of shorter words who have relatives in English that look quite similar, stuck together to form a new meaning.
So if you know that German is not that impenetrable, is it.
As an ex-medical examiner for the UK CAA, I can tell you that there is always someone trying to break the rules!! Its a constant war to find them before there is a problem - and nobody got past me on my watch..(as far as I know..!!)
I always watch your vids keep up the amazing work!!!
wtf are vids?
The plane was owned and operated by Cosa Nostra Airlines, a division of Mafia Industries International.
Fantastic video and wow, how does that even happen!😸
I love what is written on the tail of the aeroplane, so smart!
In the intro you wrote D-MMM instead of D-CMMM, For the rest the video was absolutely SUPURB as always.
You wrote supurd insteas of superb. For the rest your comment was goot as always.
Yes, I have known pilots with questionable backgrounds. I knew a guy who just jumped in an airplane, started the engine and took off thirty seconds later. He was quite unaware if the airplane was even airworthy. He never checked or did a preflight inspection. Meanwhile I was doing a thorough walk-around inspection with a student. We just looked at each other in wonder, as the guy who took off was my employer. A few years later he got killed in a (self induced) flying accident. Nobody was surprised. Fortunately, he didn't kill anybody else. Nobody ever checked his qualifications, as he owned the aircraft.
I have also known another pilot who was very prone to self-induced emergencies. One time he made a rather nice emergency landing on a country road. Just a bit of damage to one wingtip. Investigation showed that he had forgotten to switch his fuel selector to a tank containing fuel (the first bloody item on the checklist in case of sudden power loss). He had a full wing tank, yet ran out of fuel feeding his engine. He had a few more incidents like that. He managed to BS his way into a small carrier flying turboprops. He hasn't killed anyone, so he blundered his way to captaincy there. But he has never gotten hired by a real airline, not even a low-cost carrier. Although he tried a few times he has always failed the selection program. More than once based on poor flying skills and procedural knowledge. I will not let anyone I know get into an aircraft of that carrier.
Just out of curiosity (I have no no clue how aviation works), who checks a pilot license, or a plane's license?
If someone is just a private pilot, can ot buy an airplane without showing any papers?
Then when he/she want to take off from an airport, does the airport have authority to verify the plane or the pilot or their responsibility is just to ensure the orderly use of the airspace, whatever is flying there?
As a private pilot at which points in your life you have to present some paperwork and what are the chances getting caught by not doing so?
@@gabiold In Australia , if you hire a plane you go for an initial check ride, provider checks your licence is current and your flying is current i.e. days between flights based on licence type, medical is current. If you own an plane it would be more difficult to check pilot credentials and AC maintenance releases by authorities i.e. CASA; as there is almost no policing of this (until an accident happens) , In all the times I have flown I have never seen a CASA inspector doing random checks of pilots and their credentials. Btw, I fly club planes which means they know me and I know the plane.
I've seen quite a bit of that though outside of the US and they were able to do "sport flying" despite having no qualifications or medical checks.
@@NightMotorcyclist Yes, it is easier in countries where regulations are less strict. But both stories I mentioned occurred in the US. Although the latter guy is now flying for a European carrier in a country where regulation is at least as strict, if not more so.
@@gabiold Yes, that is a good viewpoint.
In the market of private airplanes nobody checks your licence when you by a small airplane. After all, there's no reason why you cannot own an airplane, even if you are not allowed to fly it.
But when you want to fly it, it needs to have a valid registration and you will be subject to spot checks when someone suspects 'foul play'.
Once you get into commercial aviation, carrying passengers or cargo, your business needs to be properly certified and operating under the appropriate regulations (typically FAR 91, FAR 135 and FAR 121). It gets more difficult to avoid inspections because your aircraft need to have the correct and current papers submitted for their periodic checks. But it is not impossible, for less conscientious individuals, to violate a rule or two.
Although, this hardly ever occurs in the world of 'real airlines', which you are likely to travel on.
But, in the end, an airplane is also just a machine.
If an Airbus A380 were to sit at the beginning of a long runway, with a ladder to climb up to the entry door and enough fuel, I could kick away the ladder, never get on the radio for ATC permission, start up the airplane and fly it to New York by myself (I happen to be qualified on Airbuses). But they are never parked there. Fortunately, the people who could park it there, like that, are all part of the system which avoids such uncontrolled operations.
Kind regards,
Garret
Amazing!! Love your videos!! Glad both occupants survived$!
😂 I was not prepared for a life lesson at the end of a plane crash video! Love your stuff!
Everything about this flight was sketchy--and that is a serious understatement.
This episode was the "Soap Opera" of air crash investigations, it almost feels like a script for a show lol. Very interesting to say the least.
This just highlights just how safe commercial air flight actually is at the moment in today's world. It can support many multiple failures and in different levels all at the same time without causing an accident. Hats of to all the people who make the commericial aviation industry so fault tolerant.
Rly good one, you said the name perfectly, what baffles me most is how much shady business was going on mounting up to this incident, thank you for the awesome content!
did the air crash investigators not ask the company how he got hired? also great videos as always, they are so intreseting to watch, keep it up!
The "silver lining" brought a smile to my face, made my day :)
You always have the most interesting tales!
Thanks for that delightful ‘silver lining’. It helped restore my jaw to the closed position.
Another awesome video, thank you! Has there ever been an incident where an aircraft managed to land but ran out of fuel during taxi?
yes... VAS aviation has a recording of the ATC where a plane runs out of fuel on a taxiway at LaGuardia NYC
I had a near incident flying into Harlingen, TX once, in a Piper Cherokee 180, as a private pilot with one passenger, from Westheimer Field in Norman, OK. I was only single engine land VFR rated. Took off from Westheimer due south, as it turns out, to Harlingen. A 30,000 foot thunderstorm was crossing in an East direction directly south of Norman along the Red River, separating Oklahoma and Texas. I had to adjust course and fly south-southwest and skirt along the backside of the thunderstorm to the west. I refueled in Coleman, TX and took off towards Harlingen. This was the first time I had ever flown this Cherokee. As I got close to Harlingen, my fuel was indicating very low, on both tanks. My fuel calculations from Coleman to Harlingen were good, but I encountered unusually high head winds along the route, causing less efficiency. With both fuel tanks indicating near empty as I approached Harlingen, I contacted Harlingen and asked permission for priority landing. It seems there were about 12 other aircraft in the vicinity trying to land at Harlingen. I had only about 150 hours, but a great instructor, although a little different. He taught me well, especially cockpit management, along with the first three most important rules of flying...
1-fly the plane
2-fly the plane
3-fly the plane
I got the priority clearance and the tower held off the other aircraft. I did not declare an emergency. As I was still several miles out, I made a decision with regards to fuel management. I decided to burn all fuel in one tank until empty, than switch to the other wing tank. This way there would be no other considerations when the second tank was expired, except to perform a power off emergency landing. Since the Cherokee is a right side entry and exit door only, I decided to burn up all fuel in the right tank first, in case of an eventual power off emergency landing short of the field. This would hopefully avoid any fuel fed fire outside the right side exit door. I had never experienced a tank running dry. It is not, or in my case, was not ever part of the training. Once the tank began to run dry, the little 180 hp Lycoming opposing 4 cylinder engine slowly, but steadily began losing hp. I allowed the rpm's to reduce to about 1100-1200 rpm, with the throttle still at cruising speed position. At that point I switched tanks. The rpm's slowly rose back to 2400-2800 rpm's, and I was about at a two mile final. I saw the fire trucks gathering near the threshold of the runway, and with the fuel gauge needle bouncing off the pin at the empty side of the gauge, I asked the Lord to deliver us that last mile. With the fierce head wind it took a lot of forward force on the yoke to get that light Cherokee down. As I touched down, with a huge sense of relief, and the fire trucks turned onto the runway behind us to follow our Cherokee to parking, I contacted Harlingen for a progressive taxi to the FBO I was looking for, as this was my first trip to Harlingen. After getting directions, my thoughts turned to running out of fuel while taxiing. Feeling greedy at that point, I once again pleaded with the almighty above to just hand out one more blessing. My parents were waiting at the FBO, and my mother noticed the fire trucks, and pondered to my father what could be going on. His response was, "Oh, I have a pretty good idea", knowing I was on schedule to be operating an aircraft near that airport at that time. Thanks, dad, lol! As it turns out, I made it to parking. The fire chief waved his trucks back to their hangers and took notes as he questioned me. The point is a pilot really doesn't know the accuracy of fuel level sensors, unless he is standing on the ground, looks into a full tank of fuel at the opened fuel cap, and looks to see if the fuel indicator, switched to that tank, indicated full. From there on, in the air, there is no way to know the accuracy, on a low wing small aircraft, such as a Piper Cherokee, unless the pilot has many, many hours in that aircraft. And even then, fuel level sensors, regardless if they are capacitance or float, can begin to fail, while on a flight. Needless to say, I did not top off both tanks. The Cherokee has a 25 gallon tank on each side. I only had 15 gallons pumped into each tank. At 10 gallons an hour fuel rate for the Cherokee, and being mid day, a minimum of 30 minutes flying time of fuel is required when landing, I believe. That means I needed a minimum of 5 gallons of fuel on board. With only 15 gallons added to each wing, I will never know how much fuel was left, and neither will the FAA. I'm sure it is possible I was near or at below minimum. But, I used that experience for the rest of my time flying aircraft. I was so glad I didn't run out of fuel before making the runway, and then almost as happy during taxiing.
Really astonishing that this flight was cleared to fly with an approved flight plan. While filing a flight plan, it’s necessary to quote the fuel on-board. And it’s mandatory to carry a certain amount of fuel as reserve for emergency. Not sure whether this pilot did all those computations. I wonder how come even the operator had no information about this pilot.
Yes, did Eurocontrol accept the flight plan? Was it fraudulent too?
@UCDgDmAXkWp56t_tihzlBhdg I found the full accident report, including the flight plan. The pilot said it was a general aviation flight, initially VFR but switching to IFR after takeoff, expecting 30 minutes in the air, naming no alternate airport.
@@AdrianColley From the video, it’s evident that the pilot cancelled the IFR flight plan and requested to fly with VFR as soon as the low fuel alarms went on in the cockpit. I don’t think it’s possible to leave or arrive at an international airport without filing a flight plan.
The story implied that he had fuel, but neglected to transfer it to the wing tanks
@@egvijayanand Why should one have to file a flight plan, to land at an international airport?
Luftfahrbundesamt, you said that absolutely well! Spot on pronounced 😊👌🏻
Your channel is growing fast recently, that's deserved !
I hope the guy able to create such a situation will never pilot or even drive anything !
NTSB- National Transportation Safety Board. I’m sure you know that. Love your channel!
So what happened to the pilot ? Who was he flying for ? Did he go to jail ? Please find out.
It's like telling a long joke and then omitting the punchline.
I agree, I think information was missing in this video.
Sounds like the aviation version of Just Rolled In.
@@SirDeanosity lmao, I've watched a lot of his videos. Good one, dead nuts on!
I think he's a captain for Ryanair now.
thank you for the dating advice. very encouraging and convincing!
Dude, you are so adorable!
My favorite channel.
This is "close to home" for me, gave me goosebumps. I Googled D-CMMM to look at the registration. It was serial number 328. I flew serial number 325 for 6 years, "back in the day." Yes, it requires two pilots, and with that, it's a handful of an airplane. It also requires a "type rating." What they did would void any insurance on the airplane. Very sketchy. I'm sure there's a lot more to the story! Some more snooping determined there is more. What I found is, there was a licensed co-pilot. Their flight plan was filed for 30 minutes with 1:30 fuel. One hour of reserve fuel was legal, but those CJ-610 pure turbojet GE engines drink fuel at low altitudes. I'm guessing because they had little or no training that that caught them by surprise.
I've seen them for sale at around $70K.... I can think of several illicit cargoes worth a lot more than that.
@@jimeditorial The one I flew was new, but the flight time on the engines and airframe of old jets hugely affect the value. I wouldn't be surprised to see an old one for free that needed heavy maintenance and both engines rebuilt. I knew of a Boeing 727 available for "free" like that. lol
i come from Denmark and the airport on the island of Bornholm is called Røne
I don't mean it bad I just wanted to say it as a little bit of help
Again, a informative documentary brought to the point; i enjoy your videos that bring a light on not so known incidents / accidents.
In regards of the german government; yes, there is alot of bureaucracy but through that also quite some room for "self interpretation".
Also: the german government is quite fond of "incentives" to get then after their legislative period a cozy job in a board of a company they favoured in their legislative period.
LOL That warning on the fuel diagram! "Make sure the crossflow valve is closed before turning off the battery, or the plane may be found resting on one of the tip tanks later." 🤣🤣🤣
Strange case. I think it's great that they both survived.
Who was the passenger and what was the mission 🤫
Looked it up online, Pilot got off quite easy, charged with fraud and endangerment.
But it would seem the "passenger" had a pilots license which would have meant he was qualified to fly he was even sitting in the copilots seat.
Seems weird, almost like some details are deliberately omitted.
Why wouldn't the passenger help?
Did he help?
Or was he actually flying and swapped seats?
Somethings a bit dodgy about it.
Just because the passenger held a pilot license does not mean he was qualified in that airplane. Need more details. Could hold a private license, non-instrument or multi-engine rated, no jet experience, not type rated. I hold an FAA certificate for commercial, single and multi-engine, and instrument ratings and I would not for an instant consider trying to fly a Lear Jet or any aircraft I had not been trained to fly and was appropriately certified.
That ending quote though, great job🤣👍🏻
Great last line !….. and good sound advice for my daughters !
"One pilot and one passenger, for a total of two people on board."
Hold on while I check your math...
I ran these numbers by the accountants they said the math checks out
Stop bullshittin. :)
Very interesting! For one thing, the plane itself was clearly illegal (not registered *anywhere*?), and the fact that it was considerably above the price-point of a Cessna 172 says that there was dark-money involved.
The other thing that just leaps out is that, while clearly lacking qualifications, the pilot clearly had a fair amount of knowledge of the Lear.
To me, that says he was at least a fairly experienced ground-crew member (remember the guy who stole a 737 single-handedly, and was pulling aerobatics before his luck ran out?).
The other person, the sole passenger, was not identified by gender. Hmmm …
The way I read this is that the guy was ground-crew for some flavor of criminal organization (or perhaps a Russian “Oligarch”), and he took his girlfriend out in the boss’s plane to try to impress her.
Love your videos and the in depth investigation information, but LOL'd when I saw the tail name in this video. Well played!
Truly a fascinating story
A landing that you can walk away from, is a good landing. Pilot did a good job putting it in a field, regardless of the bad operation and planning regarding the fuel.
He was just lucky!
@@johnhaddad3401 And unlucky to run out of fuel.
My Flight Instructor used to tell me any flight you can walk away from is a good landing, any landing where you can re-use the airplane is a great landing.
@@danielthompson6880 Well as that youtuber, and then the Red Bull crew, proved a few months back, you can walk away from a flight, (via parachute) and there can/usually will be a bad landing.
Those two stunts started with three pilots and three airplanes, and yielded three pilots and one reusable airplane...
One of the passengers' had a broken back because of this landing. I wonder if he walked away too...
Holy Flugunfalluntersuchung Batman! That was a luck break they caught!
What's your experience on civil-aircraft flight?
"I have over 1000 hours of War Thunder jet combat experience"
You're hired
It amuses me how no-one seems to have brought up the livery on that plane in the video, especially the tail. Then again, I've already done what it says so, maybe others have seen it but are being quiet :P
Always gotta love these videos, takes me back to when I used to watch TV all the time before I had a computer!
I like how their plane had, "Subscribe," painted all over it.
There has to be more to this story! BOTH the pilot & passenger survived. I am sure they had to be interrogated by authorities. What did they say????
What should they say? Hi, we‘re doing training flights as drug runners. The cartel will pay for any damage…😛
Yeah, exactly, stuff is missing here. What's the company the pilot was flying for, for example. Was he self-employed?
@@benjbk Since they were not investigated harder than that and never got bottom of it, it seems.. my bet would be on alphabet agencies black operations or prep work for it. Definitely shady shit, just how shady... well with alphabets its very very fucking shady...
@@Hellsong89 I would think they train their pilots
People drive cars untested unlicensed and uninsured all the time and get away with it so I'm not surprised with this story ! Thanks for sharing!!
Damn the last bit of motivation got me.
I know a few pilots who flew their boss's plane by themselves, no passengers on board, because the two pilots where in an argument over a safety issue. And the captain simply took off on his own, leaving the other pilot at the airport. Some people don't care about the rules/laws of aviation, they just wanted to prove a point.
not all planes and not all operations require 2 pilots
@@buckmurdock2500 Lears do.
I saw worse . I was working at CGF and several months before had switched to pilot controlled lighting . Beech pilots on a demonstration flight never checked for this change and on a snowy morning missed the runway by 10 feet and landed in the grass and mud . These were Pilots employed by Beech Jet to show the jet to potential buyers
The Russians were showing off the SSJ
In Indonesia and flew into a cloud with a
Mt behind it at 6000ft. Killed like
50 VIPs
Love the segue at the end 😁
Fantastic video, thank you. It is "very thought provoking" for sure, I find myself thinking that if that "pilot" was thorough enough in all other ways to convince everyone then surely that thoroughness would've extended to procedures such as fuelling and fuel management?
The guy was clearly a good pilot being able to actually fly and put a Lear down in a field without killing anyone, he just needed to get his ticket
Sounds like he had hundreds of hours on is home simulator.
Just like all the other "good pilots" who end up making general aviation the single most dangerous form of transportation. I can virtually guarantee this guy would have sat down in the plane with an examiner and failed three times before he left the ground on dangerous habits that nobody had the knowledge or motivation to call him out on.
I wonder that every time I watch a dash cam video lol
Also, you inspired me to follow my dreams to enter aviation so I applied as an air traffic controller. I passed all the tests and interviews but failed on a technicality :(
Will give it another go next year.
Good luck for next year! I'm also thinking about doing a career change into aviation. I wish all the cool jobs weren't so expensive to get qualified for....
I'm in a similar situation right now; "How on earth is that person Prime Minister? He's clearly unqualified and definitely incompetent."
Canada or UK :-)
lol
You pronounced "Luftfahrtbundesamt" perfectly ! Good job!
That is just wild and mind-boggling. And yes you said it correctly 😁
This is going to be interesting
Without knowing more about the pilot we can only guess, but my guess would be that the pilot was hired from outside the EU and wasn't even in the EU legally, and so entered the aviation market, pardon the pun "under the radar".
Nice. Lol
Sounds like he may be one of Hunter Biden's pilots
"If this pilot is able to fly this plane without a license then you too can follow your dreams of being a dental surgeon with a van down by the river" 😆
And whats wrong with us mobile dentists ! just wait until you get toothache . i shall double the fee🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@emmachamberlain7587 my health insc is just a Latter Day Saints prayer card 🙏🏼
Never , that pilot shouldn't fly at all. I like your videos. I did someday very long time ago asked a person can You drive a car? The answer was " yes i can but i do not have the license " I didn't ask of that. Can you drive a car were my question. So we went to the store and got some beer and end of the story. He did drive very well!!
In 'Fate is the Hunter' Earnest Gann relates an incredible story of an unlicensed 'pilot' who faked his way into an airline job. He got away with it for a while but then......
Great book!
Sounds like a book I would enjoy
GEM of a book and I remember that story! The guy eventually took his own life which, given all the information Gann detailed in the book, isn’t surprising at all.
Maybe landing in the corn was an escape plan for the plane's occupants - no airport boundary fence to climb over!
As always, excellent job. Now we know where Frank Abagnale got off to.
"Lear Glider" 👏🏻 well played!