pct-
It's a tragedy for everyone involved.
tragedy, yes... by definition, tragedy ends in death, right?
Do you pilot planes?
no, i'm a sailor but...
i was a flight instructor, charter pilot, air ambulance
pilot and FAA designated examiner for fixed wing, single
and multi engine, commercial and instrument pilot license
applicants.
all the media and layperson comments you're hearing today
and tonight are speculative bullshit. mostly stupid. ignore
them.
give credence only to aviation experts and official FAA
and NTSB comments. they'll withhold judgement until all the
facts are in. even in 95% of cases involving possible
mechanical failures the ultimate cause of the accident is
pilot error and the pilot-in-command was the INSTRUCTOR
(if indeed one was aboard - i don't know for sure yet). the
responsibility lies with him/her... barring intentional
murder-suicide by the student or co-pilot.
one of the stupidest comments i heard was that the instructor
may have hesitated or been slow to react because of being
star struck... ha ha. lemme tell you, i was a kid in my early
twenties during my professional pilot days... my students
included, doctors, lawyers, politicians, celebrities,
millionaires and decorated pilots from WWII. i'm neither a big
ego type or a control freak but when you are the pilot-in-
command of a plane, no amount of admiration for a student's
social stature or even past heroic flight experience is great
enough to override your responsibility and attentiveness to/for
the safe flight conduct of the aircraft. that doesn't even have to
be drilled or trained into you - it's the natural
survival instinct that gives you that power. fortunately,
it's backed up by FAA rules and regs so it's a no-brainer
as well.
99 to 1 odds say pilot error is to blame in this accident.
the interesting part for me will be to hear what the errors
were and how their disclosure may help aviation safety in the
future.
the one percent chance is that it was murder-suicide or pure
criminal negligence on the part of the student to overpower the
control of the pilot-in-command. a millionth of one percent
chance would be that the pilot-in-command committed the murder-
suicide.
BTW - the JFK jr. crash was a combination of multiple errors
by an inexperienced VFR* pilot flying into marginal VFR/IFR**
conditions.
*VFR=visual flight rules
**IFR=instrument flight rules
but don't listen to me, i don't know hardly any of the facts
yet. mine is just educated speculative bullshit as opposed to
ignorant speculative bullshit by laypersons and media. <g>
wait for the official FAA report.
-ep |
