It sure sounds like this pilot was not totally committed to IFR flight in IMC. He was rated for it; I wonder why he didn’t do it? Sometimes the noise and obscuration of rain on the windshield along with turbulence can undo even the heartiest of souls. If you’re not completely focused and committed to your instruments you can panic and lose everything. It’s a game of willpower over circumstances. Who is going to win? Stay calm; focus.
It may be a surprise but not all who have a IFR rating have a lot of experience in hard IFR conditions, and if one should feel panic taking over one's abilities tend to shrink, that's a sad reality.
I know pilots out there with all kinds of ratings who can only fly when it's completely sunny and winds no more than 5 kts. What's the damn point of getting those ratings if you won't and can't use them?
I have done similar. No one LIKES flying IFR when no auto pilot, so you TRY to keep going VFR. Ist cloud OK; second OK; 3rd and things went sideways - ASI rising; altimeter spinning; RCDI pegged: turn and bank pegged; engine screaming; the NOISE. Pulling back just made things worse...."Power back to idle to reduce descent; roll wings level with ADI; PULL, HOPE! " Soaring up at 300kts, ALIVE! Is like walking on air. It changes you. CAVU skies!
A real tragic waste. This pilot got good advice from a DPE and ignored it. Staying one more night would have averted this disaster. Or filing and flying IFR. He had less than 300 hours of experience - not a lot to be flying a twin and already have IFR, Multi, Commercial, and Instructor ratings. Sounds like he was making great progress through his ratings, but missed some essential judgement skills. We can all learn from this tragedy - yes it can happen to you!
If this pilot is instrument rated then why can't he fly safely??? Its because he was lazy and never practiced instrument flying, it had been so long since he practiced instrument flying that when he needed that skill he could not do it. They will give anyone a pilots license.
Idiot statement. They give “anyone a pilots license “ ? I’m Pretty sure you don’t have one and you probably never will. If he was IR , he could have simply picked up a Pop up clearance. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t current unfortunately
@@garygazman3827 He can't have been current or he would surely have filed an IFR flight plan to start off with I would have thought. It is hard to believe he'd fly in between mountains in IFR or even near IFR conditions on a VFR clearance. But many accidents are like that. Add a bit of get-there-itis, his training, even if not current, and ATC responses I can see why he did most of what he did. Add to that possible overloading due to a lack of currency... Overloading is so damn insidious. Not that they can be blamed, but I didn't think the ATC handling was all that clear which may not have helped. And when he was just saying "copy", I was wondering if he not only heard it, but properly understood it (I thought he might be overloaded...). I got I was only a rec aviation pilot though so using ATC and such weather was out of my ballpark. So, grain of salt...
@@thx1137Unfortunately he didn’t file , BUT weather changes rapidly and can be totally different than what was forecast , especially in the mountains. He obviously didn’t even know the VFR basics of staying above the published MEA in that area etc. I file IFR no matter where I’m going or what the weather is ( even on clear blue skys ) so I can be in and work the system. It’s the safest place to be.
It sure sounds like this pilot was not totally committed to IFR flight in IMC. He was rated for it; I wonder why he didn’t do it? Sometimes the noise and obscuration of rain on the windshield along with turbulence can undo even the heartiest of souls. If you’re not completely focused and committed to your instruments you can panic and lose everything. It’s a game of willpower over circumstances. Who is going to win? Stay calm; focus.
Question: I am not a pilot. If he was IR, and current, couldn't he have just flown IFR even though he had filed as VFR?
It may be a surprise but not all who have a IFR rating have a lot of experience in hard IFR conditions, and if one should feel panic taking over one's abilities tend to shrink, that's a sad reality.
I know pilots out there with all kinds of ratings who can only fly when it's completely sunny and winds no more than 5 kts. What's the damn point of getting those ratings if you won't and can't use them?
I have done similar. No one LIKES flying IFR when no auto pilot, so you TRY to keep going VFR. Ist cloud OK; second OK; 3rd and things went sideways - ASI rising; altimeter spinning; RCDI pegged: turn and bank pegged; engine screaming; the NOISE. Pulling back just made things worse...."Power back to idle to reduce descent; roll wings level with ADI; PULL, HOPE! " Soaring up at 300kts, ALIVE! Is like walking on air. It changes you. CAVU skies!
So basically he was trying to scud run and never opened a chart, great choice
A real tragic waste. This pilot got good advice from a DPE and ignored it. Staying one more night would have averted this disaster. Or filing and flying IFR. He had less than 300 hours of experience - not a lot to be flying a twin and already have IFR, Multi, Commercial, and Instructor ratings. Sounds like he was making great progress through his ratings, but missed some essential judgement skills. We can all learn from this tragedy - yes it can happen to you!
My father was a commercial charter pilot and I recall him speaking of his early days in aviation " I had just enough experience to be dangerous".
Continued VFR into IMC, in the mountains…
Yeah , if he was IR, no reason he shouldn’t have filed or picked up a Pop Up clearance
Was Seneca pilot alone ? Hope so - 😢
Yes he was alone. Inexplicably the pilot was instrument rated and chose to fly vfr.
If this pilot is instrument rated then why can't he fly safely??? Its because he was lazy and never practiced instrument flying, it had been so long since he practiced instrument flying that when he needed that skill he could not do it. They will give anyone a pilots license.
Idiot statement. They give “anyone a pilots license “ ? I’m
Pretty sure you don’t have one and you probably never will. If he was IR , he could have simply picked up a Pop up clearance. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t current unfortunately
@@garygazman3827 He can't have been current or he would surely have filed an IFR flight plan to start off with I would have thought.
It is hard to believe he'd fly in between mountains in IFR or even near IFR conditions on a VFR clearance. But many accidents are like that. Add a bit of get-there-itis, his training, even if not current, and ATC responses I can see why he did most of what he did. Add to that possible overloading due to a lack of currency... Overloading is so damn insidious.
Not that they can be blamed, but I didn't think the ATC handling was all that clear which may not have helped. And when he was just saying "copy", I was wondering if he not only heard it, but properly understood it (I thought he might be overloaded...). I got I was only a rec aviation pilot though so using ATC and such weather was out of my ballpark. So, grain of salt...
@@thx1137Unfortunately he didn’t file , BUT weather changes rapidly and can be totally different than what was forecast , especially in the mountains. He obviously didn’t even know the VFR basics of staying above the published MEA in that area etc. I file IFR no matter where I’m going or what the weather is ( even on clear blue skys ) so I can be in and work the system. It’s the safest place to be.