Article - "Do you know who is flying your plane?"

[ehaecker]

Right. It should NEVER have gotten to that point (airmanship 101, etc...), but the FO sealed their fate when she did the absolute worst thing any "pilot" could possible do in a situation like that.

But you're right...it should never have progressed that far. Everybody has been guilty of letting speed build/bleed while fumbling for approach plates, etc, but letting THAT much speed bleed to the point of getting the shaker SHOULD have been noticed by at least 1 of the pilots.

 

[IBNAV8R]

At that point she was trying to do something, ANYTHING to fix the situation. Not saying she was right. But if you watch the NTSB animation, the airplane was still flyable with the flaps retracted (controlled with rudder). Then, when the aircraft rolled right the last time, Renslow stopped flying the airplane - neutral rudder and aileron (except for pulling back on the yoke against the pusher).

NTSB Colgan 3407 Animation

That airplane was flyable until the right before impact - regardless of flap position. There was NOTHING that would have averted this crash except the captain (who made more than $16k/yr) recovering from a stall - a pre-solo private pilot maneuver.

 

[CX880]

At that point she was trying to do something, ANYTHING to fix the situation. Not saying she was right. But if you watch the NTSB animation, the airplane was still flyable with the flaps retracted (controlled with rudder). Then, when the aircraft rolled right the last time, Renslow stopped flying the airplane - neutral rudder and aileron (except for pulling back on the yoke against the pusher).

NTSB Colgan 3407 Animation

That airplane was flyable until the right before impact - regardless of flap position. There was NOTHING that would have averted this crash except the captain (who made more than $16k/yr) recovering from a stall - a pre-solo private pilot maneuver.

Dang you're so smart. Do you like to share anything else with us Captain Obvious?

 

[IBNAV8R]

Actually, she sealed their fate when she brought the flaps up...

BANG! Nail on the HEAD!
"You can't fix stupid"

Obvious, obviously. Now maybe if Colgan didn't obviously pay their captains $16K, this wouldn't have obviously happened.

 

[say again]

Look, they both f-ed up big time. Poor airmanship on both sides of the cockpit. Very sad.

 

[Draginass]

Another question that should be asked is "How tired are the pilots flying your plane?" Low pay, low training, low experience, high stress flying, and fatiguing schedules does not add up to a safe operation. But then again, it's all about saving a few bucks and hiring little more than student pilots.

 

[sqwkvfr]

It's funny that the article failed to mentioned the crew that mistakenly landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base instead of their intended destination of Rapid City Regional just a few years back.

I forget which regional that was.....

 

[Jack Mehoff]

They also failed to mention the same airline few for 2 hours in no radio contact and 100 miles past their destination with 2 pilots snoozing, I mean intensely working on new scheduling software, no wait I mean engaged in a heated discussion about scheduling. No the 2nd one! yeah thats it!

 

[ATA For Now!]

Neither of those incidents killed anyone.