Accident Case Study: VFR into IMC
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Link to certificate, WINGS credit, and ASI transcript: bit.ly/ACSVFRI...
Description: VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions is a leading cause of fatal GA accidents. This video, which was rendered from a 2008 online course built in Adobe Flash, re-creates an actual VFR-into-IMC accident and examines the lessons we can learn from it.
Kudos to every single one of these air traffic controllers, they did their best but could not save this man from himself.
Don't forget about the Delta crew that also tried to help. This pilot that died had a death wish attitude.
He was clearly determined to kill himself, wasn’t he? At least he didn’t take his family and friends with him-unlike most of these accident case studies where the pilot’s poor judgment costs...well, everything. Everything.
Indeed! Compared to the other ATC from this series, we really can't point the finger at anyone here. They tried to get the guy to give up several times. And he was already more than illegal when flying 300 feet above. I don't understand this one!
@@LeantoPeak he was rolling the dice. People do it. What i hate is when people see behavior they don't understand, their knee-jerk reaction is to create some law.
@@ivanabcdefg9375 well he was way past illegal on this one, not sure how more laws could have helped him. May he RIP.
PILOT: How's it looking?
ATC: Really bad, visibility 1/2 mile, ceilings at 500 feet, heavy snow.
PILOT: Good to go!
ATC: VFR flight not reccomended. New forecast: Blizzard warnings. All passes.
PILOT: I'll just slide back in and slide back out.
ATC: Also, mutiple tornado warnings and wind shear alerts.
PILOT: Nice and clear right here! I can see for miles!
ATC: 5 Russian Mig-15's out of your northwest.
PILOT: I'll just poke along the highway here.
lol
So sad too, because no one needs to lose their life this way.
That was funny but had relevancy for the situation. Love the Migs part.
ATC: “There is actually 2 hurricanes converging along your flight path, wind variable at 150G200KT..... also reports of softball size hail. There is heavy volcanic ash and a solar eclipse over you path, it will be dark for 2 min.”
Pilot: “I can still see the road here, let me just fly over and check it out, maybe I’ll turn around if it looks too bad.”
LOL!
Many years ago I'm riding in the back of my father's and his partners K35 Bonanza. At that time my father had around 26,000 flight hours and his partner was approaching 30,000+hrs as he approached the end of his commerical career. We're in central Idaho flying into a cabin we owned on a small primitive strip, I was 17 and had just soloed the month before. The Bonanza had a full avionics panel so I felt confident we would transverse the terrain and arrive within an hour. We were flying VFR around 8500ft. They asked for weather up dates as the trip progressed and the weather began to detoriate. Finally we received a report the ceiling was 9500ft in our imediate location and was continuing to decrease. Dennis who was flying left seat turned to my father and said "What do you think William?" "Shall we leave this to the more experienced pilots?" My father responded: "You know D,G (Dennis's initials) "I was thinking the samething, besides I know this fabulous steak house in Boise that has the best prime rib!" Besides "Dad responded) this front will blow through by morning and we'll likely awaken to clear skys and not a ripple! Which we did!
Dennis said to be to my Dad (directing the question towards me) what don't we ever do? My dad responded: never put yourself in a situation where it takes 100% of your ability to get out of it, because sooner or later you're going to need one percent more than what you have, and you're going to bust you ass!
That quote will stick with me for a good long while, great story
sounds like a hollow life
I'm a sailor with tens of thousands of miles and decades under my keel. I love the "Shall we leave this to more expereinced pilots" quote! Seems like I'm always trying to talk new sailors on the dock out of putting to sea in dicey conditions. They simply don't understand the power and fury the sea is capable of unleashing, even with a GOOD forecast. The only times I'll take on such conditions is if A) I'm sea-trialing / shaking down my boat for a long passage after making numerous upgrades that require testing in strong conditions, or B) I'm caught out in them unexpectedly.
Prudent seamen avoid bad weather when possible. Fools charge out into it thinking they are invincible. Sooner or later, they get their asses handed to them by the sea. I watch these air-accident videos because I figure I still have a lot to learn about safety, and especially the mindset and preparation that creates it.
@@TheWilliamHoganExperience My advice from my true story : I lived in a Port town when Hurricane Bob showed up. My friend's 40 foot wooden sailboat was on a mooring a short drive from the Bar that I lived above. It stayed open, got busy that night and my friend and his friend were there, called me to join them then wanted my help "to check the boat". I found that a bit odd but trusted them. The protected Harbor was rather calm but dark. The boat looked fine except we saw just one side. Now these clowns "want help" paddling to it to check the other side. Still trusting what they said, I joined them. Next we boarded the boat but now these 2 clowns slip the mooring and put out. When I ask what they're doing he tells me that they're going to take it out. I looked at them like they're idiots and reminded them that a Hurricane has come to town and they only think that they are smarter than meteorologists.
We just clear the Jetty and you can see a Coast Guard vessel at the mouth of the nearby river apparently assisting a larger ship. We're now in 8 to 10 foot swells in a wooden sailboat with a diesel that had a history of stalling and not restarting for a long while... and both of them had experienced that several times.
Having lived near the sea, it turned out to be less rough than I thought it would be but the 2 guys who tricked me into all of this began to panic. We got back okay because they kept their heads but I was pretty angry that after ignoring me, they decided the sea, in a hurricame, was too rough.
My advice for you when you pick a crew or are picked for a crew is this : The "don't worry" crowd is not a group to rely on. They are not prepared. It was a surprise for me given that the engine of that 40 ft sailboat had quit on a different trip, just offshore from some rocks. It started and ran again after all their efforts either worked or the flooded carburetor had enough time to drain. Either way the results were; no panic, no outside help and we resumed the trip. Those 2 guys were the same people with me for Hurricane Bob and I lost a lot of respect for both of them being so deliberately foolish and then suddenly; more worried than me.
That's where they seem to match this Pilot in this video. My guess is that previous trips to the same destination had worked before and so, no more prepared than perhaps previous flights, this guy tried again and he was remarkably close to his destination yet along the way, the option he kept talking about (turning around) ended as he began following the interstate through the valley. When finallly, he turned back he had zero visibility, he lacked visual references and was surrounded by rising terrain, dropping ceiling and precipitation/likely icing conditions. Too late for anything but a landing on the Interstate where there was hopefully no overpass. All along his route he ignored the advice of more experienced people (with regard to the weather).
He finally changed his mind far later than the 2 idiots I went unintentionally sailing with. But they (and I) lived.
@@TheWilliamHoganExperience Well its it the old saying, isn't it? "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots".
"I'll just drop in and take a peak." This is one of the most important videos any pilot should watch. The sheer pride, egotism, and total lack of professionalism by this pilot made this a literal suicide mission. Just for giggles I reproduced this trip with the exact METAR in Xplane 11 and it was literally a nightmare. In order to make it I had to scud run the highway in the canyon the entire time and almost crashed multiple times. I ended up making it but in real life I would have never taken this flight with those METARs.
He took a peak alright
You should tone down the arrogance, simmer. This man’s death gave you the gift of thinking that his ADM mistake was “obvious.”
@@banjo2019 You should tone down the arrogance, actually... He was told before he ever took off that his flight was not advised, and how many different controllers, flight service, and other aircraft, told him that he was making a fatal mistake attempting what he attempted?
He showed his arrogance in other facets as well, if you take a wider look at it -- he attained his commercial and was not a low-time pilot, but apparently didn't think he needed his instrument rating, because he could just "pick his way along" mere hundreds of feet above the ground, in mountainous terrain?
This man's death gave a crystal clear look of why VFR pilots should never fly anywhere near IMC, if the fact that VFR into IMC has been and will likely remain the #1 killer in aviation didn't make that completely obvious.
One of my favorite kills. This guy ticks me off with his arrogance and stupid phrases like "pick my way along" and "slide in there and take a peek" all with his cowboy accent. His best contribution to society is his death account.
Where did you get the METAR?
Whoever produces these videos is doing an incredible job with relatively simple tools. The suspense is engaging without being distracting, and the lessons and points come across crystal clear. Very, very well done.
Absolutey! Hope for many more..
I want more
If you think these are impressive, you’ll fall out of your chair when you see the latest videos coming out of the USCSB (Chemical Safety Board) th-cam.com/users/uscsb or th-cam.com/users/uscsb one of these two.
They have a world class narrator and state of the art, highly detailed computer re-creations unlike anything you’ve ever seen!
conqururfear I meant to tag you and @djchemical above
The suspense if my favorite part.
Sad, this reminds me when I flew with my student on a cross country flight to Watsonville along the West coast. Airport reported overcast at 1100 , visibility 10+, overcast layer covered the whole area of about 20 mile radius of the airport including Monterey. But inland was severe clear.
I knew we would not be going to Watsonville and will divert, but I let him fly it anyway to see what he was going to do.
Upon approach he gets the ATTIS. Then I start asking him questions.
1- are going to Watsonville? Yes
2- what the ceilings? 1100' overcast
3- what the TPA? 1000'
4-How you going to get below the ceiling? (Only option was over the ocean to the West. The overcast covered the whole valley area and we would not be able to get below the overcast for the mountains were in the way preventing our descent from the West, North, and Southern areas). Over the ocean and then come in, the area is at / near sea level.
5- how far out over the ocean are you planning to fly to get under the overcast? As needed but looks like just 3-5 miles (which is correct the overcast extended over the ocean for about 3 or 5 miles.
6- So you are going to fly at 600 feet to stay legal over water and then continue over land for another 5 miles or so dodging obstructions while looking an airport that you have never flown to? Yes
7- and if your (single) engine fails? (No answer)
8- then I said NO! We do not scud run when it's not an emergency. And since it is not then we will divert before it becomes an emergency. So we diverted to Hollister.
And thence started our diversion portion of the training.
Yeah we needed to work ADM.
Always better to play it safe then do something stupid and get away with it because some day you won't.
or you could have been direct instead of asking a trick question
@@amandam1137 It's not enough to just know the correct answer. You need to know WHY it's the correct answer, and what can/will happen as a result of those decisions.
@@Username-2 Correct, it’s real-world Scenario-Based training, which is commendable. Very good instruction.
@@amandam1137 This was not not a trick question... he was picking his student's brain about the his thought process that needs to go into the ADM process... This is an excellent real world situation and I'm sure the student learned from that. Putting all of the individual rules and safety practices into play with a real world flight is the best kind of learning moment from new students.
Sometimes in these videos ATC is frustratingly useless. Not so here, about 15 people tried to save this guy's life over several hours.
a lot of advising, but not much controlling
land of the free stuff I suppose, who are they to tell the pilot not to kill himself?
@@yarpos At the end of the day, ATC aren't the ones flying the aircraft. They can't force him to do anything, just strongly advise against it.
It’s called “VFR flight following” and is a service available to all pilots just for the asking.
Thing is, after watching this slow-motion train-wreck-in-the-air unfold, I will be damned if I can figure out why he ever bothered to request it. All he did was needlessly waste precious ATC and pilot resources and traumatize all involved in trying to help him.
smh
@@leilanirocks hell even vfr flight following was useless due to his low altitude effecting the receiver. thats why he was unreachable at a certain point of the flight. even needing to daisy link the message to another flight that could reach him. they wouldnt be able to do vfr flight follow is the point
"Pretty sure I can still see my propeller so I'm gonna keep going ..."
Good one
😁 oh gosh
t's better to be on the GROUND wishing you were in the air than in the AIR wishing you were on the ground !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Know when not to go, you always have to to ready to cancel your trip, this is not like getting in a car people
I always say, look for reasons NOT to fly, instead of the other way around. It helps.
In a car you might also need to cancel your trip in bad weather. In the conditions mentioned in the article, I would probably not even drive.
Every single pilot who has ever said "I'm just gonna go in and take a peak" is dead. It's the aviation equivalent of "watch this!"
"Hold my beer! Watch this!"
@@Brian-kl1zu Your the pilot, why should someone have to hold your beer? Does your personal , private aircraft not come with cup holders?
@@jamesm3471 🙄
Actually the vast majority survive…they don’t make videos about them.
@@33moneyball Hyperbole my friend. Saying ''0.05% of pilots who say this die'' doesn't highlight the absurdity of this hazardous risk.
I remember watching this when I was 17 and starting my pilot training. The most dangerous thing in aviation isn’t terrain, weather, engine failures, etc; it’s *complacency.* RIP to the deceased aviator, and may his accident inspire others to not makes similar mistakes.
This was my uncle's Beechcraft. He owned it for about 24 years (roughly 1981-2005), then sold it to this deceased pilot.
I spent around 30-35 hours flying in it, most often MYF SFH, and one time MYF -> APA, a two-day trip, and another from APA to a Fort Collins, CO airport when he flew me up to college after a break. How freaking exciting is that? When my uncle owned it, it was hangared in MYF, about 1 mile from his house in San Diego.
He loved that plane. He named it "Little Buddy", and had his bars' logo (a guy playing a tuba, yes really) painted on the vertical stabilizer. This Debonaire was a standard tail, not the V tail.
He flew VFR exclusively, although his rating at times included IFR after the Beechcraft eventually got IFR equipment during his ownership. I was always tasked with something to help, usually scanning the sky for other planes. He never flew along highway corridors because that where other birds were, what everybody did.
I have a photo from around 1982 of my sister and I getting in the Beechcraft, complete with us wearing "OP" shirts and shorts and pulled-up tube socks. I think it's fair to say I loved that plane as much as my uncle.
My uncle was an excellent pilot, though I had little to judge him with back then, I can see it today clearly. He gave up flying when he sold the Beechcraft. He's an ex-Marine, Vietnam chopper pilot, and he flew missions in the evacuation of Saigon to offshore US carriers taking in the evacuees.
I had utter, complete trust in his abilities to fly, so much so that I won't/haven't up with any hobbyist. Sorry, hobbyists, US military or commercial pilots only for me. I know of too many small aircraft crashes, personally.
I'll just pick my way along to the grave.
"If there's any trouble I'll slide right out of it."
gary bulwinkle my thought was drugs or money but you may be right too. There is an illicit reason behind his madness.
@@knowsmebyname I wonder if they found anything illicit in the wreckage of that aircraft? Or was he going to Spanish Fork to pick up something illicit?
Dying to get to work, eh?
Yeah. Give him a shovel to go with that pick.
@@knowsmebyname The full NTSB report does not mention any "illicit reason" by any wording in its report, neither did The Billings Gazette, which reported on the accident and named the victim and his surviving wife and kids. It's a good theory but not borne out by the investigators. EDIT 25 Jan 20: @Lerxstification I quoted your words to an inmate in our local women's jail, as she sat there picking scabs resulting from her meth use. "I guess you'll just pick your way along to the grave."
"So, the sooner the better."
It wasn't an accident, it was a suicide. Because, holy heck, so many of these vids the pilot seems absolutely determined to die, but this guy? Was a man of focus, commitment, and... Sheer. Freaking. Will.
some guys wanna not be alone or something... it definitely was his choice the whole time
Over confidence in accordance with stubbornness is not a quality one wants as a pilot. RIP , thanks for the video , these save lives.
If this guy had landed on the highway, he would probably have taxied along it until he was past the weather. Sheesh.
What??? You're joking, right?
That would probably have safer than what he did. He could have taxied into a service station and had a hamburger
Thats what I would do, if I see no other way to survive this I would land this fking plane down the highway or ditch it somewhere along the highway, and take my chance rather than flying blind in the snowstorm.
zero00tolerance land on the highway, thus involving innocent third parties in your life decisions. Not exactly Libertarian is it?
@@UncleBoratagain I understand where you going with this, and yes safety of others on the ground is also a must, however this is a small aircraft flying in the snowstorm, all vehicles on the ground are going slow and distanced out, so im pretty sure it will give enough room for the pilot to land safely without hurting anyone. There are plenty of videos of aircraft landing on the highway even the busy ones.
th-cam.com/video/nOdrXJprYCw/w-d-xo.html
From his 1st flight plan conversation he was warned. Repeatedly, little "angels" kept tapping him on the shoulder saying over and over, "Live to die another day!" along the way. This was so metaphoric. How many willfully push through a "crappy plan" in life despite being told otherwise. Best to listen, sit, breathe and choose plan B. Man died alone, afraid, and in the cold needlessly.
You enter IMC, step 1, Climb... and keep climbing until your *at least* 1,000 above highest terrain. Step 2, contact tower, advise of a return, Step 3, execute a 180, Step 4, trust your controls, ignore your senses. Step 5, turn in your license upon landing for not listening to ATC's warnings.
Let's say you're not IFR trained. You lose visibility and climb into the clouds. Contact tower. They will vector you out of the IMC right? And even if you're not IFR rated, you should be able get above the terrain and hand fly to the heading given I'm assuming... just wonder why VFR pilots going into IMC don't ask for help...
Probably a pride thing. Im the man i can fly blindfoled with one arm tied behind my back i can handle Zero visibility white out conditons by zigzagging over drivers on a highway only 100 feet above their heads i got this im da man.
@@mikedavis7065 A non- instrument trained pilot won't be able to even keep the plane upright in an extended soup run trying to follow a vector. Most untrained pilots start entering a spiral dive within seconds in true zero vis. The limited instrument time for a private pilot license is really zero help.
I flew with a guy that was sort of like that--although he was an IFR-rated pilot, and (at one time) was a great stick. Then he busted minimums one too many times, and flew into high terrain. He was bold, but didn't grow old.
@@markyashchyshyn2647 Im curious about this, if you stick to your compass and your artificial horizon wouldn't you be able to keep the plane level? or is it that the confusion is too great to let you stick to the instruments only?
Hats off to all Atc members involved.They tried to tell him again and again.Sorry for the stubborn pilot.Rip.Terrific channel,I recommend it to all my airline colleagues.Always something to learn,no matter what equipment you fly!
“I’ll pick my way through there”…. Yeah, that was really a great plan of action.
"VFR is not recommended" could be supplemented with "btw , just to remind you: VFR-to-IMC killed people last year". Maybe it can finally trigger some conciousness on if it present.
how about being more assertive , like closed to VFR flight, licence cancellation if continued. Other people risk their necks going out to find these people and get scarred by dealing with the accident site carnage.
@@yarpos ATC is not the sky police. They can't decide anything for a GA pilot.
"Is there any clear path between the poo poo, caca and poopy? If not, can you give me a recommendation on reciprocal course to my origination or direct to origination? I have absolutely no inclination to becoming coexistent with the spacetime below the surface of the earth at the present time"
Because, picking one's way along, peak to peak, on VFR and the peaks are IMC is the surest way to become coexistent in spacetime with the earth, digging a very modest gouge on the surface. And while dad may have raised a dummy, he didn't raise no fool.
The other chap, not so much at all.
And there are just times when, even on foot, it's a wonderful idea to just turn around and run back like the devil's chasing you.
@G Galilei Maybe, if it means a pay raise as well.
@@yarpos ATC can do everything right and people will always ask "why didn't you say this/do this/be more assertive/be less assertive/you scared him so he crashed/you didn't scare her enough so she crashed."
There is only so much ATC can do. You chose to get in the plane and fly.
At least he didn't take any passengers or the family dog with him. Flying involves a certain amount of risk management and on this trip he didn't manage it very well.
Or anyone on the ground, for that matter, right?
I don't know the first thing about flying... but this was ridiculous... How could so many obvious and clear warnings be ignored?!. That weather report at the beginning was pretty clear, even to a total layman.
Seems to me these thing happen because previous times he had done the same thing and nothing happened. I wouldn't even drive a car in that weather on a highway in white out this idiot is what gives GA a bad rap this guy should get a Darwin award. He even could have just landed on the highway slide off the road.
I would not have flown that route IFR... sliding between mountains in anything less than solid vfr is not for me... Over the top or not at all.
Some people like to push their luck
most likely those people don't want to stuck in the middle of nowhere but It's settled the moment that they decided to continue the flight or failed to recognize the issue
Agreed. 99% of the time it worked for him probably.
Lehmann Peters I didn't think of that!
Wow, multiple warnings not to fly that path and the pilot continues to go for it. My sympathies to his family and loved ones. That's great how so many people were trying to help the pilot, especially the crew of the Delta flight.
I am surprised his malfunctioning radio was not a proximate cause.
I am also surprised to read that "one third of pilots caught in VFR into IMC accidents actually have instrument ratings"
I am not a pilot but if you are instrument rated why would you not use your instruments all the time?
All holders of commercial pilot licenses should be instrument rated.
Having the rating is not the same as being proficient at IMC flying. I believe the video quoted that 1/3 of pilots involved in VFR into IMC crashes are instrument rated. In fact, the flight in the video has some alarming similarities to the helicopter flight that killed Kobe Bryant (marginal weather conditions from the start, VFR into IMC, terrain impact). The pilot on Kobe's flight WAS instrument rated but had logged very few hours flying IFR in the year leading up to the crash.
@@wesleyhurd3574 Yeah instrument flying is a skill, and like any skill if you dont use it you lose it. This guy was probably staring out the windows until his head went through the instrument panel.
The outcome was bad, but I am heartened to see the professionalism of ATC and other pilots like the Delta who relayed information. Just going by the video, I don’t know what else anyone could do for this poor guy. And I don’t like the attitude you hear in the comments that goes, Oh, well, he deserved it. No, he didn’t deserve to die. He made a mistake and when he realized it, it was just too late. We all do that. Sometimes we are lucky. When we don’t heed the advice of others who want to help us, we are lucky if we can look back and realize, Yeah, they were right. This pilot can’t look back in retrospect. He must have known he made a terrible decision. Who can imagine what it was like for him in those last minutes? The whole point of these videos is that they are about _us._ The pilots who died in these videos were denied a second chance to make a better decision-but we are the ones who get _their_ second chance. A second chance to see our vulnerabilities, our biases, our priorities and most of all to be honest with ourselves when we know we are on a path that is taking us somewhere we do not want to go.
He slid right in there all right..Mission accomplished.
Not a pilot but I am learning about these situations since Kobe's crash. Knowing that this is so dangerous, it just doesn't make sense to take off when the weather is questionable. There is enough sadness and tragedy in this world without making more of it by obviously unwise decisions. Some tragedies are unavoidable but many, like this one, are entirely avoidable.
Great job on this and all the videos you make. Sadly, there never seems to be a lack of incidents from which to make videos like this...
I keep going back and watching this because it is quite bothersome someone would be willing to push the limits. I later found out this was a neurosurgeon, and was probably pressured to make it to Provo for a surgical case early the next day. OR time is difficult to get, pre ops and prior auths have expirations, and this likely all was part of his high stakes determination to push on.
I really wish an instrument rating was required for a CPL.
Because it sounds cool to say "I'm a commercial pilot". Did you think it was any more complex than that?
Britman I think it should be required too. I think PPL should include basic VFR, just how to fly an ILS and how to follow a vector from ATC without any visibility. For emergencies.
Avery Kucan. I'm an instrument rated pilot. I used to think the same thing but that's why VFR has rules to stay clear of clouds. So for an emergency to shoot an ILS would never become a reason. Sure knowledge is power to know how to fly IFR buy not be rated is nice but so is learning to SCUBA dive but live in a desert. You won't need to use SCUBA unless you jump in the water. Pilots choose to fly into the clouds makes it a choice not an emergency. If you want the option to choose to fly in the clouds then you must rate yourself to be instrument to give yourself that aforementioned choice. May I add another assimilation. All car drivers must learn how to drive Semi just incase we have to drive one. No, when the time to need to drive a Semi, you'd get the proper licensing to do so before getting on the highway in said semi. It's about choices.
No, not at all. An instrument rating will give you the knowledge and the confidence to trust and use your instruments regardless of what your "body" is telling you. This rating expands your skill set as a pilot.
I think there have been two IFR days all year where I live in AZ, and both cleared after a couple hours. Commercial without IFR is nice for us out here. The more important training, in this neck of the woods, is learning to fly the mountains and hot, turbulent, high DA days we have especially in summer.
Big EGO is a killer in airplanes. Thanks for posting this up.
Damn, wish ATC would have warned Ara Zobayan like they did this stubborn guy. :( Not saying Zobayan was stubborn...but holy hell, this guy got more chances to live than the folks on the chopper. They warned him several times about the weather and he still pressed on like he knew better than ATC. smh.
The lessons we learn are written on the tombstones of others.
Whitpusmc just like railway, rule book written in blood!
Been there. Done that. In my case, determined to complete a Navex that had been cancelled 7 times. 7 sets of calculations scrapped! So when small cloud, go thru it. Then a bigger one. The next - everything went sideways - altimeter spinning in a blur, hood rattling, engine screaming. Pulling back just made things worse....wanting to quit but death seconds away......."Power back to idle to reduce rate of descent, roll wings level using ADI, PULL HARD! Hope." Then soaring up at 300 kts, ALIVE! Best feeling in the World. I was 19.
That weather forecast.... better to not take off.
Or change plans. On a journey of that distance there is more than one route, especially if you're willing to take a little detour...
QemeH Agreed, or at least he could’ve gone a ways and diverted to an alternate.
I have fallen victim to "get home-itis" a couple of times flying OH-58C helicopters for the US Army in Germany in the 90's. Getting over the Spessart mountains to our airfield after being "in the field" for a month during European winters became almost common practice in sketchy weather. Many a time calling for special VFR to ATC. I got lucky all those times.
I am a private pilot. An old one. The pilot in this video is, correction was, very, very hard headed and macho. RIP.
Prime example of natural selection...."old or bold"
Wow, ATC was very blunt with the pilot, he had at least 4 warnings.
I'm a recently area soloed student pilot and I love watching these movies. Teaches me not to get over confident...
Cases like this are very valuable for learning exactly what NOT to do. This happens way too often, to way too many pilots. I see the pilot being slammed in the comments, and while I agree his actions were very unwise, he paid the price of his actions in full. One pilot is not the issue. The issue is complacency. The issue is hazardous attitudes. The issue is get-there-itis. The issue is confirmation bias. Those things can happen to ANY pilot if they aren't careful, and those things do not belong anywhere near an airplane.
Thank you for the video. Prayers for the family.
If you’re described as wanting to “attempt” the flight, you’ve don’ goofed.
Outstanding video, this is the 6th video in a row dealing with flying VFR into an IFR weather situation. He could have landed in Vernal and waited out the storm or Grantsville on the other side. The Wasatch Front gets nasty low pressures are sticks between the 360 degree mountains. Overconfidence coming on strong. The pilot's not listening to the experts, very sad. I'm "lots of stops" Bobby over cautious, so this makes me nervous. That Rigid inflexible thinking strikes again. Provo Canyon is very narrow Mnt Timpanogas is 11,000 feet high on the north side of the canyon. Damn Fool.
interesting comment. nice to get local commentary on the area.
The hills in that area are full of small planes, like fly paper.
What should be surprising is, the pilot did not land on that wide paved interstate 80 or 40. Sane humans favor unconventional options/behavior over death. But few humans are sane or willing to entertain the unconventional, much less practice such. They'd rather die. And often they do.
Pilot: “I’m going to ease on down a bit and take a look at my imminent demise”
This is like asking the waiter to recommend the best dish being told it's the steak.....then deciding to order fish instead...
Unnecessary tragedy...sad.. Thank you for the case study.
Poor guy, he just got in over his head and
couldn't turn back it so tragic RIP guy.
I flew this route in MSFS with same conditions and I can tell you there was plenty of opportunity to recognise sketchy conditions and turn back. I decided to fly until crash and did so at roughly similar spot. Getting to Provo VFR was impossible.
NINOOOOOOO
Anyone familiar with Provo and Heber Canyon into Salt Lake know that driving through either in a heavy snow storm is no joke. It can get really hairy. It drops quickly with lots of turns and the snow comes down heavy to where at times you can't see 2 feet in front of you. To fly through it. Nah.
I don't even have a pilot's license. I actually JUST started looking up videos yesterday to learn / get acquainted with basic terminology, controls, and instruments since I want to take classes (figure it's good to learn / be familiar in advance)... prior to yesterday I knew nothing about flying...
I just learned today after studying more what VFR, IFR, and scud running means. I came across this video and thought "I should learn about bad situations when flying IFR"... did NOT expect the cause of this to be due to just completely ignoring VFR not recommended warnings...
Terrible that this man had to lose his life like that... bad weather... low visibility.. mountainous terrain..... Nope.
smart thinking.
They left out stupidity as a contributing factor.
I never understood this. Even in good weather if visibility is limited at all (by heat haze maybe, or light smoke) mountains look scary as hell to fly over. Attempting it under these conditions is a complete suicide. I don't understand how anyone could look at what that must have looked like and think it's ok to try. Flying IFR on top of that in clear air is already scary enough, but attempting to go through hundreds of miles of essentially canyons in severely reduced visibility and low ceilings, with overcast underneath to top it all off - that's truly remarkable.
His last chance at staying alive would have been to land on the highway center line before he got completely lost in IMC.....
I wonder if he "picked" the tree he planted himself into? I've never heard of such craziness. I wonder of it was a suicide trip?
I wondered the same thing.
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away, you know the nearer your destination the more you slip sliding away. Paul Simon..
I can't wait to see this aviation videos made with FS2020 and DCS in the near future.
Commercial rating? But no Ifr rating?
"I got this". famous last thoughts? he had pulled this one before, low ceilings, empty desert, as soon as he tried to turn around he lost sight of the ground. When he lost sight of the ground, he was done.
unbelievable
I am simply staggered at how cavalier people can be with their own lives! Everything was screaming at this pilot to abort but he just wants to "take a peek" and wing it?? I just cant believe anybody would do such a thing!
But I'm rich and I have a licence. I am invincible. Damn the torpedoes,
Just plain nuts, just insane. No further explanation. At least he wasn’t carrying little kids and puppies, and the family goldfish.
This guy had the itis!
He continued flying well beyond the point where I would have decided I'd have better odds of living by landing on the dang road than being in the air any longer.
ATC: Sir you're about the smash into a terrain...
PILOT: Roger that, I'll just slide right in and slide right out if it looks it!
I just dont understand how you can have 1,000 hours and not be IFR rated and proficient. In my opinion I think that something as a pilot you should have because weather can change at any moment and having that would in theory help you be able to transition from visual to instruments just in case the weather creeps up on you. In this case though he shouldn't have flown at all or landed. Tower told him the weather was bad and he thought he could just slide in and if its bad just get right back out. Unfortunately that's not how it works. We all have know that once we made our minds up we are going to convince ourselves that it can be done knowing in the back of our mind that it is probably not a good idea.
Also I read the witness report on this accident. The site was found by a passerby who hiked up to it. The person stated that he was slumped over and had hit his head on the instrument panel. Im guessing he might have survived if he had shoulder harnesses that kept him from impacting the panel.
My hat goes off to ATC, I'm just curious on my he didn't do a constant altimeter check considering the weather was deteriorating and AGL constantly changing.
I’m learning this is what pilots call “Get-there-itis” At least three different ATC and an airliner tried their best to help the guy but he seemed determined.
So sad R.I.P.
BUT INCREDIBLE THAT FLIGHT SERVICE REMEBERING YOUR ROUTE WOW!
He had his chance to land on the road. When you see your chance, you take it . . .
but then he would have put innocent drivers and the public at risk because of his stupidity and stubbornness.
most drivers are off the road during a blizzard. The highway patrol probably closed that interstate by that point in time.
I agree, he could have declared an emergency, inform ATC that he intends to land on the road, circled around for a while for highway patrol to close the interstate for a brief moment and landed.
kparakpolicguy circling in a canyon under a 300’ ceiling in (almost certainly)
i see
There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. Against all warnings and weather reports he made conscious decision to “pick his way” along.
The pilot was bound and determined to crash that day no matter how many people tried to convince him otherwise...
After watching so many of these videos, how is an Instrument Rating not required for a Pilots License? After 1,000 hours of flight time, a pilot should know how to fly by instruments.
Controllers as Lifeguards. Great analogy.
Iv'e watched this video at least 20 times and it never gets easier. This guy should not have made this flight even with an instrument rating.
His guardian angel tapped him on the shoulder back in Montana when he first called in for the WX report. He didn't listen then and certainly wouldn't later.
An instrument rating can't off set hazardous weather conditions.
I've watched enough of these to know VFR to unplanned IMC especially untrained IMC should be instant 180 turn and land for safety.
If every other pilot in the area is not flying because of crappy weather, that probably is a good indication that you should do the same. Sometimes, all the training in the world cannot instill good sense.
Darrin Nunyah • How well I know .. I have worked alongside brilliant people (highly educated), but with not a lick of common sense. Give me the latter any day.
I've watched this video twice and he crashed both times. Kobayashi Maru?
Watch it once more. Third time lucky!
@@zogzog1063 Wow...I just did....dangit he still crashes.
Another great video. Another avoidable tragedy. One minor detail, there are no mountains in the Billings area (as shown in the animation). The Rocky Mountain front is well west of Billings.
Don't tell Big Pryor mountain that 😅🤣
The pilot has been dead for years, and you're still giving him hope.
Non-pilot question: near the very end, when he was quickly running out of options, was trying to land on the Highway out of the question?
That old man was hardheaded.
Wait, WTF! “Holds a commercial pilot license but isn’t instrument rated.” Don’t commercial pilots fly in the dark and rainy weather?
"Don’t commercial pilots fly in the dark and rainy weather?" Not without instrument ratings. A VFR commercial certificate is appropriate for things like being a glider tow pilot, towing banners, power line patrol, crop dusting, etc. , but not for long cross country flights with questionable weather conditions.
Also, remember that there's a "commercial certificate" (minimum 250 hours) which allows a pilot to earn money flying and an Airline Transport Certificate (minimum 1500 hours) for virtually any kind of air carrier (airline) work.
When the clouds are getting lower & the ground is getting nearer all the warning signs are there,what was he thinking ?
Does ATC have authority to deny clearance to a pilot in a condition like this or order them to land?
No
If theres onething I've learned from watching this series is that if you have November in your ident, change it.
Classic get-there-itis.
Weather report: it will be super shit, VFR not recommended
Pilot: So the sooner the better 😊
I'm not a pilot, but very interested in aviation. If this guy isn't IFR rated and he's knowingly flying into IFR conditions and the ATC knows he shouldn't be flying into IFR conditions, the ATC really can't restrict him can he? The pilot is essentially free to go where he chooses and face the consequences for his actions later?
No it can’t. He’s the pilot in command.
The narrator models his voice after PBS Frontline's
Will Lyman lending an air of gravitas
Seriously, why even bother to get a weather report if you’re going to disregard it anyway? Everyone knows guys like this. They’re very polite, good hearted souls but don’t try to tell them anything. They listen to nobody and eventually pay full price for their arrogance. Such a shame.
VFR is a dangerous leftover from the days of wood and cloth slow moving aircraft and should be limited to craft flying under 200 knots. All craft should be required to have TCAS and transponders regardless.
Why would you get a commercial certificate and not instrument-rated? What kind of safe commercial activity can you do? Did he maybe lose his rating?
I remind myself that these videos by Air Safety Institute are examples of pilots making very very bad decisions. There are thousands of pilots everyday that make good sensible, safe decisions.
He wasn't a victim but a volunteer.