Comments on: Old & Bold http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=903 A place to discuss safety-of-flight issues, procedures, techniques, and judgment. Sat, 18 May 2013 13:52:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Kurt http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=903&cpage=1#comment-29350 Kurt Tue, 11 May 2010 19:40:47 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=903#comment-29350 Arrogance. Period.

]]> By: Lothar K http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=903&cpage=1#comment-29342 Lothar K Sun, 09 May 2010 01:37:54 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=903#comment-29342 Bruce,
Here are my questions:
1) Why did the FAA not step in after all the traffic accidents and AP incidednts?
2) Why did the medical examiner not realized/recognize the “down sloping”
or his mental [+physical?] health” of this pilot?
3) Were were the safeguards?

Small town communities have a unique interrelations ships. Maybe the FAA and the medical examiners need to step in here.

Smooooooooooooooooth landings,
Lothar

]]> By: Mike Baker http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=903&cpage=1#comment-29337 Mike Baker Sat, 08 May 2010 03:47:10 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=903#comment-29337 One other thought comes to mind….. At the age of 86 it is certainly possible for the onset of dementia of one sort or another to be a factor. It is often a gradual process but it would affect the individuals ability to recognize his trouble himself. Have dealt with a similar problem in our own family. Your right, we all need to realize the day may come for us to “hang it up”……

]]> By: Bruce Landsberg http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=903&cpage=1#comment-29335 Bruce Landsberg Fri, 07 May 2010 20:07:46 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=903#comment-29335 John….

You bring up some good points as to when intervention is appropriate. Most people are careful not to overstep their bounds relative to other pilot’s flying. But when a pilot is having more than a bad day the community has some obligation to say something.

Blaming the passengers is extremely damaging to the image of GA. We cannot and should not defend the indefensible. Appreciate your thoughts.

]]> By: John Townsley http://blog.aopa.org/leadingedge/?p=903&cpage=1#comment-29332 John Townsley Fri, 07 May 2010 15:54:48 +0000 http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=903#comment-29332 Not mentioned in your article, nor in the NTSB accident report is that this pilot was the quinessimal “alpha male”. A former State legislator, fighter pilot, and a major partiarch of his community, his hubris was stroked by everyone he met. Just read the local media accounts of the accident. Even after the NTSB report was available and it was clear he had no business in the cockpit many who commented on the news reports and post crash litigation criticised the victims families rather than the pilot. There were numerous failures that led up to this accident: First – the pilot demonstrated a serious anti-authority attitde, next he lacked basic judgement and demonstrated an inability to fly safely (read descriptions of his unique ‘button hook approaches”, as well as his failure to use a radio and to exercise basic ‘see and avoid’ skills on the day of the accident… Next – according to the accident report there were several near mid air incidents caused by this pilot … yet no one spoke up to the pilot. Several local pilots knew of his idiosyncracies and failure to exercise judgement – yet they didn’t speak up. The pilot dominated planning and advertising for the Lions Club event, yet none of the club members spoke up to protest his actions either before or during the fly-in. If anyone could have helped prevent the accident, it was the pilot’s family, which included at least one certificated pilot. No one in the family stood up to “Dad” and suggested he take a break, and hang up his wings. There are plenty of links to this accident chain, only a few of them are directly associated with the pilot himself.

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