Foolish Pilot

[cale42]

Why must people be idiots??

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Southwest/07/10/pilot.dui/index.html

 

[labbats]

If insurance pays a dime on that, it's a crime.

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

I can't watch the video, what is the aircraft?

And it is so easily preventable. Even beginning student pilots know not to do this sort of stuff. I hope the FAA throws the book at him.

 

[Crizz]

How would the situation have been different if he was sober? Apparently he made it down okay in an emergency engine out situation.

Granted, dont drink and drive - let alone drink and fly.

 

[mattpilot]

lets get some clarifications please ...

what was stupid ? the drinking and flying, or the highway landing?

The drinking part was indeed very foolish, but the highway landing ... ?


Personally, i'll take a highway anyday over some field. Also, just recently at our school, an instructor landed on the highway connecting OKC and TUL due to fuel contamination. Safely i might add - plane took off 3 hours later from highway and went back home (no, the incident was not pilot error).

Anyhow, when attempting a highway landing, you ought to come in very fast to a low level, yet fly high enough to avoid powerlines, but low enough for drivers to see you. Then let the speed dissipate to your approach speed, and come down for a landing. Most drivers that you passed will have seen you, and are thus aware of you. They will then cause a mass slow down and you got your bit of highway to land on.

Of course, this only applies to aircraft with a slow approach speed ( < 65mph). Because when you dissipate your speed low above the highway, you would want to make sure your going slower than the traffic below, so that those you haven't passed yet (and thus haven't seen you yet), don't get caught below you.

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

Landing on a highway requires alot of skill and luck. I will give him his due for pulling it off. I hope never to have to try to pull it off.

It's the drunken flying that I am critizing him about. It's a very straightforward and easy rule to follow. The 8 hour rule prevents most of the issues that cause most drunken driving arrests and any pilot has the ability to monitor the 8 hour rule (unlike the 0.04 rule which is a SOB to figure out if you are complying with).

 

[TrafficInSight]

I can't view the video either but the photo appears to be an Ercoupe.

 

[mattpilot]

cnn had a video .. no sound though.... "free" i might add - though i assume that was a glitch in their system - they never got anything for free


yes, it was a ercoupe

 

[Tired Soul]

What a dumb@ss....

I was just about to post a link to this.
Saw in on the news this morning, plane all wrapped up and the guy in cuffs.
Makes you wonder how many years he's been able to get away with it...

 

[siucavflight]

lets get some clarifications please ...

what was stupid ? the drinking and flying, or the highway landing?

The drinking part was indeed very foolish, but the highway landing ... ?


Personally, i'll take a highway anyday over some field. Also, just recently at our school, an instructor landed on the highway connecting OKC and TUL due to fuel contamination. Safely i might add - plane took off 3 hours later from highway and went back home (no, the incident was not pilot error).

Anyhow, when attempting a highway landing, you ought to come in very fast to a low level, yet fly high enough to avoid powerlines, but low enough for drivers to see you. Then let the speed dissipate to your approach speed, and come down for a landing. Most drivers that you passed will have seen you, and are thus aware of you. They will then cause a mass slow down and you got your bit of highway to land on.

Of course, this only applies to aircraft with a slow approach speed ( < 65mph). Because when you dissipate your speed low above the highway, you would want to make sure your going slower than the traffic below, so that those you haven't passed yet (and thus haven't seen you yet), don't get caught below you.

Are you serious? A highway over a nice field?????

The instructor at your school, does he still have a job? Just wondering because my guess is he should have sumped his tanks.

 

[mattpilot]

how can you tell if a field is nice or not? Most every field looks flat from high above, but when you get closer you find little bumps & hills - unevenness etc... you will most likely sustain lots of structural damage and injure yourself & pax. Of course, a big Sod farm wouldn't be to bad

The instructor at your school, does he still have a job? Just wondering because my guess is he should have sumped his tanks.

Of course he does. I did say it was not pilot error. How so? Well it was a cold night, frost started to build in the inside of the tank, but at the top (high humidity the day before) of the wing. So when the student sumped the tanks in the morning, no water was present, but during the flight the frost deposit melted and started to get into the system.

As you can see, not everything is always pilot error - one should always investigate first

 

[siucavflight]

how can you tell if a field is nice or not?

How can you tell you will not get hit by a semi on the highway.



What do the rest of you guys think. Field or highway.

I guess your friend found out the importance of topping off the tanks the night before?

 

[mattpilot]

nope he didn't

its a big flightschool - 50 planes plus 30 more coming .. +500 flight students. We got skinny & fat instructors/students. You can't top off every aircraft or some may not be able to fly it. In the years i've been at this school, something like that never happened. What were the odds? Why didn't it happen to the other +50 planes on the same morning?


Back to highways .... personally, i wouldn't try to land on a busy highway in LA or somewhere i know a lot of traffic is (or traffic that i can see from above). Its a judgement call... in some situations i would do it, in some i might not .... But at night, its your only option (unless your feeling lucky that night). And vehicles will have an even harder time spotting you then when you come in to land.

 

[siucavflight]

I cant argue with you anymore mattpilot. your avitar is way to distracting.

 

[CatYaaak]

Why must people be idiots??

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Southwest/07/10/pilot.dui/index.html

More evidence that owning a van is....well, it just shouldnt be done!

 

[350DRIVER]

How can you tell you will not get hit by a semi on the highway.

I would tend to believe that just a "few" would get out of the way if they saw an aircraft in distress coming towards them. You are obviously taking a gamble either way but the given in the equation is that the plane will be coming down one way or another whether you like it or not so make the best out of it, put the odds in your favor, and minimize as much risk and vulnerability as you can.

Different circumstances and situations will require different choices, decision, and judgment calls to be made by the pilot.

3 5 0

AAflyer writes, I have noticed somehting over the past couple years of your posts, from PFT to airline mergers you have strong opinion about everything. You seem arrogant, and many times down right rude.

 

[sky37d]

I can't watch the video, what is the aircraft?

And it is so easily preventable. Even beginning student pilots know not to do this sort of stuff. I hope the FAA throws the book at him.

Ercoupe.
Enough said.