lobstaboy wrote:You do not need to speculate about what would be the right thing to do in that situation because you are going to make sure you never get anywhere near being in that situation.
I disagree. People may find themselves in the position where they take off with the trim set incorrectly, perhaps due to carelessness, inattention or distraction in checks. This is one of the take-aways - or perhaps two - don't take off with the trim set incorrectly but if you do, recognise it and know how to handle it.
StratoTramp wrote:Number 5. "deplane"
leiafee wrote:Human interaction and pressure on the spot though clearly is more of one - that strip owner almost certainly saved that passenger’s life by being what was undoubtedly seen as bolshy at the time.
Not necessarily. I don't think it's as clear cut as that. Maybe if he hadn't had people interfering with his decisions on the day, he'd have run through his checks properly and backtracked to get more runway with his wife on board. We don't know if he skipped the checks because he didn't want to stop and sink into the ground or whether he was annoyed and just wanted to go, or if he just plain forgot.
If the ground is a bit boggy, I'll sometimes do my run-up at the parking area assuming nothing's behind me. I'll then do my pre-take-off checks before taxying to the runway, so I'm ready to go. This isn't just for boggy ground, I do it when backtracks or immediates may be required, anywhere where it's possible to be in a situation where the checks may get skipped.
Rex123 wrote:I completely acknowledge that his own errors cost his life, most especially the shoulder belts. I honestly don't know why he didn't like wearing them; I suspect he thought they restricted movement as someone mentioned, but yes, obviously a fatal mistake in this case.
Did he wear them when he took you flying? Did he insist you wear yours? It's quite a fundamental thing in a very unforgiving environment.
proteus wrote:That's interesting that you are sure he'd flown a lot more post skills test.
There may be many hours post test and pre-licence, given the time taken to issue licences.
Rex123 wrote:My hope in posting is that a) I could speak to his character, because only someone that actually knew him in real life rather than from the pages of the report could do that and b) that in defending his character I'd ideally like that the lessons are acknowledged by all pilots here, not just by those who don't come to the conclusion that he was a terminal screw-up, because he wasn't.
There's a lot of depth to this.
As you probably know, the vast majority of aircraft accidents are caused by humans. We read accident report and discuss them on here so that everyone may learn what the common causes are and to try and avoid them. Many accidents are caused by poor decision making, and others by poor handling, and some by a combination of both where you may have heard of the Swiss Cheese model, with the holes in the slices of cheese lining up.
Part of the decision making process can be focused on the pilot's personality. This isn't just to say "he was a reckless idiot, I'd never do anything so stupid" but to also recognise traits which people may find themselves, for whatever reason, applies to them - maybe not every day but from time to time. These may include over-confidence, carelessness, inattention, skipping vital checks, choice of runway, all sorts of things.
It's fair to say that this report does include quite a lot of these points all in one. It reinforces to people who are perhaps a little over-confident that **** happens, and when it does, it can be very quick and very unforgiving, and as a low time pilot you may not have the skills to sort it out as quickly as it happens.
One aspect of discussing these is peer pressure. By people using the language as used in some posts in this thread, hopefully it'll discourage someone from participating in some risky activities, not just because it may be dangerous, but because we'll talk about it on here. If it encourages people to be a bit more methodical, if it encourages people to think twice about doing something they think they can do, but others think may be a step too far then that's got to be good.
That's not to say that some people can't be over-cautious or too risk averse, but hopefully there will be a balance to strike.