SR22 crash in VA

[Tiger815]

This one happened last weekend at the field where I usually stop to fill up with cheap fuel before making the 20 minute flight to home base.

The airport is located between 2 mountain ridges running more or less north and south and has one east/west runway. Departing to the west requires a 90 degree turn soon after the threshold and IFR departures are not authorized on that runway. A local professional pilot that I know very well posted that the entire event was captured on the airport security systems cameras. He told me it was appoximately 6 minutes from the time the guy got out of the cab to the time the plane hit the mountain. The NTSB report says the flight was 2 minutes from take off to impact.

The resulting discussion on our local pilots e-mail list turned into a debate over what technology pilots should have. I guess I'm officially an aviation curmedgeon now because I just want to ram my head into a wall when a guy flys one of the most technologically advanced GA airplanes available into a mountain and all a group of pilots wants to talk about is GPS's, checklists and terrain alerting software.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...19X00332&key=1

[SpiraMirabilis]

Since this was VFR then the technology required is still the Mk 1 eyeball right?

RIP btw.

[youngflyer]

Originally Posted by Tiger815

This one happened last weekend at the field where I usually stop to fill up with cheap fuel before making the 20 minute flight to home base.

The airport is located between 2 mountain ridges running more or less north and south and has one east/west runway. Departing to the west requires a 90 degree turn soon after the threshold and IFR departures are not authorized on that runway. A local professional pilot that I know very well posted that the entire event was captured on the airport security systems cameras. He told me it was appoximately 6 minutes from the time the guy got out of the cab to the time the plane hit the mountain. The NTSB report says the flight was 2 minutes from take off to impact.

The resulting discussion on our local pilots e-mail list turned into a debate over what technology pilots should have. I guess I'm officially an aviation curmedgeon now because I just want to ram my head into a wall when a guy flys one of the most technologically advanced GA airplanes available into a mountain and all a group of pilots wants to talk about is GPS's, checklists and terrain alerting software.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...19X00332&key=1

That is true. RIP, BTW that plane is awesome.

[Tiger815]

Originally Posted by SpiraMirabilis

Since this was VFR then the technology required is still the Mk 1 eyeball right?

RIP btw.

Yeah it was legal VFR but the outcome illustrates the vast difference between legal and smart.

3 miles vis and a midnight departure in mountainous terrain without a glance at the Obstacle Clearance Departure Procedure which would have been an acceptable option based on the OKV metar of winds at 4 knots out of the north. No reason not to use runway 9 and fly away from the mountain.

6 minutes from stepping out of the car to flying into a mountain. No walk around, no runup and clearly no departure plan.

[SeanD]

Is it possible this was suicide? Is sure sounds like it may have been intentional.

[SoCalAprch]

Originally Posted by SeanD

Is it possible this was suicide? Is sure sounds like it may have been intentional.

Thats a ridiculous statement, RIP to the two on board. Sounds like someone trusted the technology too much and was in a hurry. Slow down and remember minimums are minimums. 3sm with rain and I would be briefing an instrument departure.

[Tiger815]

Originally Posted by SoCalAprch

Thats a ridiculous statement, RIP to the two on board. Sounds like someone trusted the technology too much and was in a hurry. Slow down and remember minimums are minimums. 3sm with rain and I would be briefing an instrument departure.

I don't think its an absurd consideration as such things have happened in the past, but in this case I agree with you, that is was far more likely a situation where the pilot was far behind the airplane he was flying.

Most likely he was distracted with the technology, perhaps entering a waypoint or trying to get the autopilot to do what he wanted and he forgot rule #1, Fly the Airplane.