Sad news over at Skymates

God speed Robert. It was a pleasure getting to know you. I couldn't sleep at all last night. My last image of him was smiling from the front seat trying to get that Seminole engine started early this cold cold morning. You'll be missed...
 
I'm new with training and stuff like this scares the hell out of me. How do you guys deal with hearing stuff like this? Do you have to take the "it wont happen to me attitude?" Do you think about stuff like this the next time you go up? Because at the moment I really dont wont to go back up for my next lesson.
 
Papa Charlie said:
I'm new with training and stuff like this scares the hell out of me. How do you guys deal with hearing stuff like this? Do you have to take the "it wont happen to me attitude?" Do you think about stuff like this the next time you go up? Because at the moment I really dont wont to back up for my next lesson.
Click to expand...

I think the "it won't happen to me" attitude is possibly the worst thing you can do. If you take that attitude, you might miss something on a pre-flight that could cause it to happen to you.

The way I deal with it is taking it as part of the career I've decided to follow. This is the SECOND airplane that I've flown that has wound up in a fatal crash. The first was a flying club airplane in FL that had an engine failure and crashed short of the runway. I didn't know the pilots that were in 307, but I DID know the guy that was flying the one in FL. He lived but needed major surgery. The other pilot with him happened to be sitting on the side that the telephone pole went through. A twist of fate in deciding who was gonna fly would have meant my friend wouldn't be alive right now.

This career is dangerous, there's no denying that. That's why pilots in general SHOULD be paid higher than most people b/c they have to deal with it on a daily basis while looking after the safety of their passengers and students. You just have to do your job, pay attention to details and hope fate doesn't hunt you down.
 
Papa Charlie said:
I'm new with training and stuff like this scares the hell out of me. How do you guys deal with hearing stuff like this? Do you have to take the "it wont happen to me attitude?" Do you think about stuff like this the next time you go up? Because at the moment I really dont wont to go back up for my next lesson.
Click to expand...

The "it won't happen to me" attitude goes out the window quickly after it almost is you a handful of times.

Do your job, do it safely, take your time with learning how to do this gig and add in a good dose of luck and you'll be ok. But if you think getting into this is safer than riding in a car, then you're mistaken. Once you're in a 121 cockpit you're pretty safe, but until then there are a lot of things that can go wrong.

I mean I wish I could sugarcoat it, and maybe I've had more close calls than most folks with as little time as me, but things DO go wrong, and sometimes the cards are stacked so heavily against you that there's little you can do.
 
Papa Charlie said:
Do you have to take the "it wont happen to me attitude?" Do you think about stuff like this the next time you go up?
Click to expand...

The "it won't happen to me" attitude is an attitude that CAN get a pilot killed... Hopping into an airplane is very, very different from hopping into a car... It requires that you know your airplane very well, and in particular the procedures for dealing with emergencies. It requires that you think proactively, like "if I had an engine failure right now, where can I put down this airplane"... Some emergencies (like weather) can be eliminated by just good planning and judgement, even if it involves cancelling a flight. Others by making sure you get a good and well maintained airplane. And yet for others it's just a matter of luck I guess. Risk has been a part of a viation since the its birth...
 
I've lost my share of friends and relatives to flying. I would not say it is a horribly dangerous career, but accidents do happen.

This one hits home for selfish reasons, and I feel alot like you do today papa charlie; I am flying a 1968 Arrow right now and had planned to stay in it for the next 70 or so hours. I was looking forward to my flight to Houston tonight. Now I am nervous.

My biggest fear has always been structural failure. I think it cmomes from my AF days flying on a 45 yr old behemoth wrought with old age problems.
It seems to be fairly rare, as far as it being the sole cause, but I fear it nonetheless. So to hear a 1973 Arrow, that I have seen before, disintegrated from a place not far from me, hits home big time.
 
Rest in peace my friends...

My first time back on the forum in a few months, very surreal news.
I'm still training and I pay extra attention to emergency flows and precautions. But, structural failure? I guess one is hosed when a wing falls off. Does this happen that much on older airframes?

Sad, sad news...
 
I do not want to imply that this "WAS" the cause. It is supposition based on what we know only, and a bit of my fears' paranoia helping out too.

All we know is the plane crashed. Witnesses saw it breaking apart in the sky. Thats' it. Does not 100% mean that it was structural failure. 3 good people and their families need to be remembered right now.
 
Papa Charlie said:
How do you guys deal with hearing stuff like this?
Click to expand...

It never gets easy. My father was an NTSB accident investigator during the majority of my childhood. All the stories and pictures he brought home never deterred me from flying. It just motivates me to want to be a better pilot.

I was lucky enough to never miss an EAA convention in Oshkosh, WI for the first 21 years of my life. My father was often the active investigator on-call during the convention, and during that time I was there with him, I actually witnessed first-hand 5 accidents (one fatal) and was on the scene shortly afterwards of more others than I can count. The best you can do is learn from each of them and apply the lessons to your flying, decision making, and pre-flight inspections.

When it comes to comparing the safety of flying to that of driving, though, I have to disagree. I have surely seen my share of airplane accidents in my life, and I hope I never have to see another, but none of it compares to what I've seen on the highways. Last New Years Eve I had to drive 2 hours from the far side of Ft. Worth to the other side of Dallas at 2am. I swear I counted at least 4 severe accidents on the side of the road along with countless other smaller ones. I would rather fly over those streets any day.

My heart goes out to all the friends and family affected by this tragedy.
 
BenWlson said:
When it comes to comparing the safety of flying to that of driving, though, I have to disagree. I have surely seen my share of airplane accidents in my life, and I hope I never have to see another, but none of it compares to what I've seen on the highways. Last New Years Eve I had to drive 2 hours from the far side of Ft. Worth to the other side of Dallas at 2am. I swear I counted at least 4 severe accidents on the side of the road along with countless other smaller ones. I would rather fly over those streets any day.
Click to expand...

Comparing airplanes to cars is a safety aspect is a skewed statistic at best. True, there are more total number of car accidents than aircraft accidents. However, a higher percentage of airplane accidents are fatal. Basically, what it means is airplanes might have fewer accidents, but if you DO have an accident the odds of surviving it decrease exponentially compared to automobiles.
 
BenWlson said:
It never gets easy. My father was an NTSB accident investigator during the majority of my childhood. All the stories and pictures he brought home never deterred me from flying. It just motivates me to want to be a better pilot.

I was lucky enough to never miss an EAA convention in Oshkosh, WI for the first 21 years of my life. My father was often the active investigator on-call during the convention, and during that time I was there with him, I actually witnessed first-hand 5 accidents (one fatal) and was on the scene shortly afterwards of more others than I can count. The best you can do is learn from each of them and apply the lessons to your flying, decision making, and pre-flight inspections.

When it comes to comparing the safety of flying to that of driving, though, I have to disagree. I have surely seen my share of airplane accidents in my life, and I hope I never have to see another, but none of it compares to what I've seen on the highways. Last New Years Eve I had to drive 2 hours from the far side of Ft. Worth to the other side of Dallas at 2am. I swear I counted at least 4 severe accidents on the side of the road along with countless other smaller ones. I would rather fly over those streets any day.

My heart goes out to all the friends and family affected by this tragedy.
Click to expand...

Interesting - the only stuff that really bother me, though - is stuff you can't really control such as in-flight breakups and some mid-airs. Accident reports are perhaps the best source of information once you get your ticket, though - they give a really good indication of the decision making process during each stage of the flight.
 
RIP
So sad I have lost a good friend also.
This might be the second arrow in flight break up in one month.
 
Very unfortunate to hear and my prayers go out to the families.

My very first flight instructor was killed while flying pipeline about a year ago.. that was rather hard to take just because I knew he was a good pilot and it's hard to imagine him getting in a situation that he couldn't get out of.

You hear about accidents in aviation but it's always hard to feel connected to the pilots and families without knowing them, but when something finally does happen to people you know it really hits home and puts you back into reality of the types of dangers we face when we get into an airplane each and every day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top