Colgan-Buffalo crash...

[JA PILOT]

Then they should hire and upgrade only those individuals with spotless records in aviation ONLY! This would have prevented all accidents that will occur on any given day.
Pilot records are the only records to be inspected or observed carefully or critically.
This policy should be blanked across aviation from the CEO down.
Many regionals are run by individuals that have led companies to ruin. But they continue to be put in charge of managing companies and throwing hard working employees to the bottom of an unforgiving industry.
They are thousands of pilot in this industry with exact failures as Capt. Renslow that continue to operate aircraft. However on the day questioned its my opinion to believe that Fatigue is the issue that caused this accident. He safely operated all flights prior to the events that took place.
But then again he was nor ever claimed to be an " Airplane Wizard ". If he were one he probably would have pulled out of any catastrophic event possible.
No matter what airport crew room couch, floor or other recess dark hole any pilot crawls out of in order to perform day to day flight operations.
But that would never be printed on any NTSB or FAA investigation report.
Blame it on a Deadman.

 

[airplane wizard]

No matter what airport crew room couch, floor or other recess dark hole any pilot crawls out of in order to perform day to day flight operations.
.

No one is forced to be a pilot. If you don't like the pay/schedule then find a different job. Not saying the schedules/pay are right, but it's a free country. If enough pilots quit/refused to fly then things would change.

 

[Flyprdu]

No one is forced to be a pilot. If you don't like the pay/schedule then find a different job. Not saying the schedules/pay are right, but it's a free country. If enough pilots quit/refused to fly then things would change.

Free market nonsense. People have to earn a living regardless of environment. And if the environment only offers one forced bad choice, then it's up to regulation to make it right.

 

[kf4amu]

This policy should be blanked across aviation from the CEO down.
Many regionals are run by individuals that have led companies to ruin. But they continue to be put in charge of managing companies and throwing hard working employees to the bottom of an unforgiving industry.
They are thousands of pilot in this industry with exact failures as Capt. Renslow that continue to operate aircraft.

Really? He was pretty awful. If you think that failure record he has is indicative of thousands of pilots, then you either know a lot of bush league pilots or your record is similar. We have a handful of failures at my airline that get drug through training kicking and screaming but they are a small minority of the overall pilot group.

 

[JA PILOT]

Flyrdu , Bingo another pilot see's the light!!! He summed it up, with one stroke.
Hope the others small plot minority will being to realize the situation they are in by kicking and screaming into the light.
PS . I have realized how much pilots love to idolize their own greatness, but tend to hide their faults behind the polyester suit . Nothing is funnier /pitiful as overhearing a group of pilots put down one of their own.

I have never had a simulator partner, nor observed anyone whom never had a problem with one of the items listed on Renslow record.
Simulators are training tools. In the end he passed his training with the same standards as the rest of the pilot group.
In my opinion " fatigue" was his last failure, for him and the first officer.

 

[Salukipilot4590]

1.5.1.2 Federal Aviation Administration Certificate Disapprovals and Colgan Air Training Events

The captain’s record of FAA certificate disapprovals showed the following:

• On October 1, 1991, the captain was disapproved for his instrument airplane rating during his initial flight check. He flew a PA-28 during the flight test, and the tasks disapproved were ATC clearance and compliance with ATC clearance, instrument cockpit check, partial panel32very high frequency omnidirectional radio range (VOR) approach, nondirectional beacon (NDB) approach, and holding. He passed the flight test for the rating on October 25, 1991.

On his 2005 application for employment with Colgan,33 the captain stated that he had failed his FAA check ride for an instrument rating and provided the following explanation: “I missed the NDB approach, received additional instruction, then repeated the approach and passed.”

That's it?


• On May 14, 2002, the captain was disapproved for his commercial single-engine land airplane flight certificate during his initial flight check. He flew a Cessna C-177 during the flight test, and the tasks disapproved were takeoffs, landings, go-arounds, and performance maneuvers. (He did not report this disapproval on his application for employment with Colgan.) He passed the flight check for the certificate on June 25, 2002.

WTF?


• On April 9, 2004, the captain was disapproved for his commercial multiengine land airplane flight certificate during his initial flight check. He flew a PA-44 during the flight test and was notified that the entire flight portion of the practical exam would need to be repeated. (He did not report this disapproval on his application for employment with Colgan.) He passed the flight check for the certificate on April 29, 2004.

WTMF?

• On October 15, 2007, while a first officer for Colgan, the captain was disapproved for his airline transport pilot certificate during his initial flight check. He flew a Saab 340 during the flight test, and the disapproved task was approach and landing with a power plant failure in a multiengine airplane. He passed the flight check for the certificate on October 18, 2007.

Colgan’s training records indicated that the captain, while a first officer, needed
additional training in the following areas:

• On October 28, 2005, the captain was graded “train to proficiency” on his initial proficiency check in the Saab 340. This grade indicated that his overall performance was satisfactory but that a checkride item (in this case, normal and abnormal procedures) needed to be repeated during the check ride.

• On October 17, 2006, the captain received an unsatisfactory grade on his recurrent proficiency check in the Saab 340. The unsatisfactory tasks were rejected takeoffs, general judgment, landings from a circling approach, oral exam, and non precision approach. The captain attended recurrent training and completed his requalification proficiency training on November 1, 2006.

Wat?

• On October 3, 2007, the captain received an unsatisfactory grade on his upgrade proficiency check in the Saab 340. The disapproved task was approach and landing with a powerplant failure in a multiengine airplane (as stated previously in the FAA information about this failed flight check). He accomplished upgrade line-oriented flight training on October 14 and simulator training on October 14 and 15. He completed a satisfactory upgrade proficiency checkride on October 15, 2007. (These dates conflict with those in the FAA’s record, which indicated that the captain’s unsatisfactory checkride occurred on October 15 and his satisfactory check ride occurred on October

Erm, not passing judgement but how in the green hell was he hired?

I know I'm STILL a bit of a green-horn but don't companies even look at PRIA when they hire you?

 

[wmuflyguy]

Your first instinct during a stall pusher event would be to raise the flaps, just because you had just put them down? Or did I misunderstand, because I would think a first reaction would be to go to max power.

MY first reaction would be to lower the damn nose.

IF the nose had been lowered they would have recovered fine without power and with the flaps retracting.

 

[Abernathy]

I can't really blame her actions. If you do something and don't like the result, undo it immediately. That's what I would have done. It was just an unfortunate coincidence that the a/c stalled just after she selected those flaps so she just undid what she perceived as putting the a/c in peril. Their fate was sealed long before she retracted the flaps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You would have raised the flaps, too? Did I read that right?

 

[rickair7777]

Is it possible that she believed that they had a tail plane stall? If so, then raising the flaps would have been correct. Obviously, the stall was conventional, but if she believed otherwise, it could explain her actions.

No, it's not possible. I'm tired of hearing people trying to apologize for her actions by inferring that she instantly reached a Phd-level conclusion in aerodynamics and, without consulting the CA, took it upon herself to take corrective action. She's that smart but didn't notice the power setting was totally opposite what you'd expect for a TP stall? Really?

Dollars to donuts she did not even know what a tail-plane stall was. I'd need to hear it on the CVR to believe otherwise.

 

[Abernathy]

No, it's not possible. I'm tired of hearing people trying to apologize for her actions by inferring that she instantly reached a Phd-level conclusion in aerodynamics and, without consulting the CA, took it upon herself to take corrective action. She's that smart but didn't notice the power setting was totally opposite what you'd expect for a TP stall? Really?

Dollars to donuts she did not even know what a tail-plane stall was. I'd need to hear it on the CVR to believe otherwise.

Flew the ATR for a couple of years and tail-plane stalls were never part of our curriculum. So I'd agree that unless she studied advanced aerodynamics during her time commuting between the west and east coast at 2AM, she had no idea.


But again, when an airline hires pilots to fly complex aircraft in harsh weather conditions for $15-19K a year, this isn't just something that can happen, it's something that WILL happen. Furthermore, places like this will hire candidates with less-than-steller, or even (as in this case) downright shocking training/checkride records because they just can't be that picky with what they offer as compensation.