"Too low. Gear."

I find the stuff about the USAF inquiries interesting. In the UK, when there is a fatal accident the Coroner gets involved. His job as a government appointee is to determine the cause of death. There was a shocking Royal Air Force Puma crash in 2007 where the crew were acting in a fairly unprofessional manner, which caused all manner of public recriminations. The UK Defence Department has a shady history of blaming the crew in less than open accident enquiries, with findings in the past having been "altered" by senior officers to reflect poorly on deceased crew. This only came to a head very recently with a damning report into the whole airworthiness approval structure in the UK military. I don't know how much similar issues may prevail in the USAF, but openness I think is generally a good thing. Not so much to hang aircrew who will always get it wrong from time to time, but to prevent systemic coverups and unwarranted risk-taking within the "system".

Both reports below are long reading, but for those interested in organisational and operational culture deeply informative.

The report into the Puma accident I mentioned can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...elicopter-crash-at-catterick-on-8-august-2007

The brutal report on the UK MoD airworthiness establishment is here:
http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc0809/hc10/1025/1025.pdf
 
@Joshwa , that's exactly why we have privileged investigations. In many ways, an accident report that lists "Pilot Error" as the only causal factor is probably a disservice to the community. Sure, the pilot screwed up...by why? Was it his training? His squadron culture? Was it his 8th deployment in 4 years?

The public, unfortunately, doesn't care. They just want someone to hang.
 
Landing gear up.... What's the big deal? I do it all the time in amphib seaplanes. Gear down on the water is not a good thing.

 
In the height of the fuel saving craze circa 2005-2006, NWA went sofar as to study ideas and draft procedures that would call for gear down inside 1000' afe on all visual approaches. The numbers looked good on paper, but I don't think anyone that had ever been in a cockpit ever let that idea out of bldg A.
 
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