Accelerated Flight Crew Crash in AZ

[azpilot]

I was working on my tailwheel checkout and did some touch and goes at Stellar recently. We landed, did a taxi back and were on the CTAF the whole time. We were in position rolling when a 182 starts crossing the runway. Never heard a word from him on the radio. Had to stop on the runway, get on him for being an idiot, then did a short field take off. Goes to show that there could very well be a few pilots there (not all of course) that just don't have all their marbles.

Well let's see... I have had one of the mechanics from AFCT drive his little red car across the runway twice when I was taking off. One time I aborted take-off and the other time I flew over him by about 50ft or less. I had some guy flying around at night with no radio calls come inside of me on the downwind at the same altitude and less than 1/4 mile away from me. I yelled at him and he wandered around in the sky for a while, made unintelligible comments on the radio and then finally made a bad landing and taxied to his house. I had another near miss years ago from another resident who didn't use his radio.

This is the joy of flying at an uncontrolled field. You need to pay attention to what others are doing and assume the worst. Of course you should do this at controlled fields as well. Was the 182 Blue and White by any chance? That is a club plane that is sometimes flown by folks who don't fly very often.

- AZPilot

 

[FlyinBrian]

Ranger/Pilot,

Do not confuse our irritation with AFCT with disrespect for the lives of some fellow pilots. Several of us have posted opinions on the unsafe and unprofessional practices of AFCT long before this crash. This crash did arouse some suspicions which launced us into an old debate. I think you will find that in general, those of us who criticise AFCT kept the debate relatively substantive. RJpilot resorted to diversions, flames, and claimed to have knowlege about the crash but refused to share it.

I always hate to see fellow pilots lose thier lives. I think these pilots made some bad decisions, and it is very likely that those decisions ultimately cost them their lives. I will wait for the NTSB report, but it won't change my opinion of AFCT either way.

 

[Goffer]

I had some guy flying around at night with no radio calls come inside of me on the downwind at the same altitude and less than 1/4 mile away from me. I yelled at him and he wandered around in the sky for a while, made unintelligible comments on the radio and then finally made a bad landing and taxied to his house.
- AZPilot

The freaks come out at night. I've heard someof the strangest calls late at night. I guess these guys feel safer at the late hours of the night, as if there are less people to hit or tick off. I also have noticed that there are a lot more people with accents so thick that make them almost not understandable late at night.

 

[azpilot]

By the way the Apaches are again flying over my house on base to 17. If it don't sound right DON'T FLY IT!

- AZPilot

 

[RJPilot]

Ranger/Pilot,

I think you will find that in general, those of us who criticise AFCT kept the debate relatively substantive. RJpilot resorted to diversions, flames, and claimed to have knowlege about the crash but refused to share it.

Diversions-You posted false information a few months back with out facts and you were wrong. Flames-If the truth is a flame then yes I flamed you. Knowledge-any knowledge provided to you would be twisted in some form other than the truth.

FlyinBrian

I've noticed the folks who typically defend Stew's Acclerated pilot-whore training bordello are noticably absent from this conversation. I guess it's hard to defend the shady operation when it kills three people. I don't mean to use three deaths to stir up an old pot, but it makes me angry. I hope that some folks understand things a little better now.

Now thats a post from a pro pilot and again without facts. Understand what Brian? Like your original posts about AFCT that again was clearly false information.

BTW- Here is a person not absent from this coversation

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6202

 

[FlyinBrian]

RJpilot, You crack me up.

My tone was harsh because I was upset about the situation. Please tell me where I made a false statement. I may have said some things that weren't very nice, and perhaps even a bit unprofessional. But anyone can take a look at the rest of this thread and understand who the professionals are and aren't.

When I refer to flames, I don't mean the truth, I mean statements like:

and I know you. Any questions? YES I KNOW YOU! Good luck with Eagle!

This is an obvious attempt to "rub-in" The fact that I'm a furloughed airline pilot, and contributed absolutely nothing to this ongoing debate. My few off-color comments were not directed personally at anyone on this board, and were meant to give emphasis to my displeasure. Compare that to the above comment
which anyone can recognize as taking pleasure in a fellow pilot's furlough and tell me who the professional is.

I have been nothing but honest on this board. I may have been harshly critical, but I never said anything that I knew to be untrue, nor did I ever demonsrate a reckless disregard for the truth. If you can show me a single outright falsehood that I have posted to this board, I would be surprised.

So here it is again RJ... If you have something to defend the concerns that we've raised and asked you to address several times, please do. I won't "twist" what you say. I don't need to damage your credibility any worse than you already have. I know that the facts of this case will eventually come out. I hope that when we get the NTSB report that my analysis is way off base, and this turns out to be a freak accident. But if AFCT is still throwing instructors in the back seat, it would make me sick to my stomach.

 

[bigD]

I was looking at AFCT's web site and noticed that part of the 19K package was being an instructor for 8 months or so after you get your MEI. Is this a paid position? Someone alluded to "5 bucks per hour" many posts back, but I wasn't sure if he was being serious or not...

 

[FlyinBrian]

The poster who said $5/hr. was being totally serious. Last I knew, that was their wage. It was a $5/hr increase from the previous wage.

 

[bigD]

Wow - 5 bucks huh? That's pretty hard core. Do they sign a contract to instruct or something? I'd think that many would jump ship and instruct somewhere else for triple or quadruple the money.

 

[AZaviator]

$5/hr

I don't believe a contract is required to instruct at AFCT. The low pay for the CFIs is how they can rent out Apaches at $110/hr including the CFI. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't another flight school that pays its instructors this low, nor should there be. Myself, along with most other CFIs on this message board probably earn more flying 1.5 hours with a student, than a CFI at AFCT earns in one day. I'm not trying to brag or anything like that, just merely pointing out some facts.

Go ahead and flame away if you need to. I could care less.
The flames on this post are actually quite entertaining.