Weekend Jet Accidents in the USA

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The one thing I noticed moving to 121 was the amount of resources available and additional training given for these more challenging airports, often requiring special qual for captains. At the 135s and 91 flight departments I worked for starting out, which in hindsight weren't the most reputable, there was none of that. I remember one morning first leg of a long augmented crew trip was into Tegucigalpa. I asked the lead captain if I could be up front for the first leg since it's always been a bucket list airport for me and his answer was "sure, what's so special about it?". So I showed him the approach plate and his eyes widened by a fair amount.

On the flipside I was asked to take a Gulfstream into Heber City about 3 years ago. Weather and snow had just come through and it was going to be overcast a little above mins for the RNAV-A. Neither of us had ever been and I wasn't sure about runway conditions, just overall got bad vibes about it so I convinced the owner to go to SLC instead and arranged a limo. The next morning a Citation went off the runway. Not sure if it was runway condition related but it made me feel better about my decision to chicken out.

Gotta look out for yourself out there
 
GypsyPilot said:
I wonder whose bright idea that was?! I can’t believe the airport authority went along with that.
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It can be done with that tow vehicle they used, but the key is clearing a trail for the tires so they have no resistance against the struts, having something firm for the wheels to roll onto, and utilizing proper towing points with the chains, which are normally the same points used for long term tie down of the jet. If the jet doesn’t move fairly easy, stop and reassess. None of which can be seen in the above clip. Seems they just threw something around the nose strut and Leroy Jenkins’d it….
 
KLB said:
I usually notified clients over an hour out of my plans to divert. It pretty much came down to the ceilings being high enough where we would have field in sight by Red Table by the time of arrival. I elected to divert to RIL if it were lower than that. This gives the clients' ground transportation enough time to drive over and be there by the time we landed.

I really didn't leave it up for debate with the management companies honestly. I'd send them a message letting them know of my intentions. Some would haggle, but I didn't change my mind once it was made up. I've even had it where a company would contact ATC and tell them they wanted me to go to ASE, but I would not change it once we got ground transportation rolling towards RIL. These are the type of pressures corporate pilots have to deal with.
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If the weather was questionable, AKA not VFR, we would have drivers at RIL and EGE set up just in case we diverted to either. The 91 guys I was flying for at the time was " convenience over cost." 99 percent fo the time we ended up in ASE, but occasionally, the winds wouldn't be great or the vis or something would be up and down, we would just shoot over to RIL or EGE and he would be on his way shortly after. Driver already there.

RIL has a TON of short notice drivers available as well. They are used to it...
 
I've been to Aspen once, but have tried five times in total. We usually change plans on the ground and just go to RIL. I think I've only diverted once in the air. It just isn't worth it.
 
Crockrocket94 said:
If the weather was questionable, AKA not VFR, we would have drivers at RIL and EGE set up just in case we diverted to either. The 91 guys I was flying for at the time was " convenience over cost." 99 percent fo the time we ended up in ASE, but occasionally, the winds wouldn't be great or the vis or something would be up and down, we would just shoot over to RIL or EGE and he would be on his way shortly after. Driver already there.

RIL has a TON of short notice drivers available as well. They are used to it...
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One of my trips to ASE terminated with a missed approach and divert to RIL. While on the miss, for those that don’t know - that’s outbound on a LOC-BC to LINDZ, a driver in RIL has flight aware alerts set up for diverts and is ready at the FBO. Practically seamless, aside from the climbing & turning onto a LOC-BC inside a valley…
 
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SteveC said:
At my shop we had set company minimums quite a bit higher than the approach mins, almost up to VFR. PIC's had to have done prior trips into KASE before going there as captain. Definitely no green-on-green. Sim training at KASE every year. (At one point I was considering "airport in sight crossing Redtable" as minimums.) (Later, after I had backed out of the D.O. position, the standards group relaxed the company ceiling/vis minimums somewhat, a decision I wasn't crazy about, but I think they might have tightened up the"prior experience" requirements(?).)

We had company minimums and limitations at quite a few (a dozen?) airports. And they were clearly communicated to customers when booking flights, so the pressure was removed (at least partially) from the crews. Pilot management stressed to the crews that we expected them to follow company minimums/limitations and praised them when they made those hard decisions. Trying to establish a strong safety culture is huge.
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My “proud father” moment was when I was CC’d on an email chain after a trip confirmed. The pax were all aware of our duty and flight time limits and worked to fit their itinerary around our FOM limits without even needing to ask me.
 
pwttogfk said:
My “proud father” moment was when I was CC’d on an email chain after a trip confirmed. The pax were all aware of our duty and flight time limits and worked to fit their itinerary around our FOM limits without even needing to ask me.
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I have my current clients locked in this way also. They know that I have know more than 14hrs of duty and only 12hrs of that is useful to them. They also know that I can only do 10hrs of flying a day and the time starts as soon as the wheels begin to turn.

Once we had delay due to JAX facility closure at the beginning of a long day with 4 stops and max duty. I informed them that we weren't going to be able to do it all in one day and that we will have to shut it down and get hotels for the night 3/4 a way through the trip. They were completely fine with it. This was my "winner" moment.
 
MikeD said:
They do make crash recovery cranes, even specifically for that such as “Tilley” on aircraft carriers. Some of the larger airport ARFF departments have their own crash recovery cranes, such as Orange County Fire at KSNA. Other larger ARFF depts have their own air-stair trucks in their depts, complete with emergency lights etc.
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KSNA? The last 121 accident I remember at KSNA was an Air California 737 in 1981.

Yea, that's a total.

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I literally grew up watching tractor pulls most summer weekends.
 
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