belchfire
unpredictable member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2003
- Posts
- 27,767
Gimme a break-even most of the V-tail Bonanza inflight breakups were improper continuation of VFR operation in IFR Conditions.
Aircraft rudder pedal controls may have been faulty.
Anyone who has gone from a VFR pilot to an Instrument Rated pilot will understand. The public, the non-initiated and the arrogant fools who haven't passed an Instrument Checkride may disambiguate and offer all kinds of ignorant bovine excrement.
Crash Report - The Day the Music Died, February 3, 1959
Below is a detailed account of the Civil Aeronautics Board's Aircraft Accident Report regarding the plane crash that occurred on February 3, 1959, near Mason City, Iowa This tragic incident is often referred to as
fiftiesweb.com
This accident, like so many before it, was caused by the pilot’s decision to undertake a flight in which the likelihood of encountering instrument conditions existed, in the mistaken belief that he could cope with en route instrument weather conditions, without having the necessary familiarization with the instruments in the aircraft and without being properly certificated to fly solely by instruments.
I'm telling you right now that without the proper instrumentation and the skills to fly by that instrumentation as a pilot that earned a not just an Instrument Rating but a Type Rating with steam gauges somewhat more advanced but ultimately not that different from that which were in the old Bonanza you'd be absolutely fracked flying into a dark and cloudy sky with the likely bonus of icing conditions, on that night.
Dead Right There, it's not an abstract gamble, it is the predictable result. Jimmy Doolittle and Charles Lindbergh aren't around any more but even they would tell you the same thing!
Continuing VFR into IFR condition remains a leading cause of General Aviation accidents to this day...
Last edited: