If you don't listen to the Aviation News Talk podcast, I encourage you to subscribe here for iPhones and here for Android phones or listening on a desktop computer. In the most recent episode, I talk about the tragic crash of an SR22 last month in Illinois.
I was initially struck by the large number of risk factors involved, reflecting poorly on the pilot’s judgment to take on so much risk. But at the end of the day, it was the pilot’s inability to correctly fly an instrument approach that cost him his life. And oddly, it appears he didn’t even know he wasn’t flying correctly until the very end, when he crashed a mile short of the runway.
While the final NTSB report won’t be out for a year, and it will probably cite an improperly flown approach and possibly a loss of control, I think the root cause of the accident will be a subtle error that I occasionally see instrument pilots make. And that error is trusting their lives to the magenta line on the moving map, rather than the course pointer on their HSI, or the needle of their CDI. And in this episode, I talk about the evidence that suggests he was relying on his moving map…. instead of his HSI…and why it cost him his life.
My first impression of this accident was that there were many risk factors involved. They included a pilot who had low total flying time, and had little experience in an aircraft he'd purchased a few weeks before. In addition, he chose to fly very late at night, after a long flight from Florida. And he chose to fly an approach that was just barely below minimums.
Among the additional risk factors, what stood out to me was the folly of flying past his home airport, in the middle of the night, to buy cheap gas and save $90. Because in less than an hour, the weather conditions at the pilot’s home airport went from 29004KT 6SM BR SCT003 OVC012 23/22 to 00000KT 1/2SM FG VV002 22/22. So that hour delay to buy cheap gas….probably cost him his life. Because if he had flown the instrument approach an hour earlier, and even flown it improperly…. in the same way he ultimately did…..he would have broken out of the clouds at 1200 feet, noticed he was flying off course, six tenths of a mile west of the instrument approach, corrected, and landed safely. So arguably, his desire to save $90, cost him his life.
There are so many lessons to be learned from this accident. If you're unfamiliar with how to listen to podcasts, the easiest way to do it is to download one of our dedicated apps for your phone. Just go to the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, and search for "Aviation News Talk." Or, click here for the dedicated app for iOS and dedicated app for Android. And podcasts are free, so they'll never cost you anything!
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