Plane Crash In Bonita Springs, FL (1/22/18) (Daniel Bernath / aka danielabernath)

mturnerb said:
Good point on the heading, and it goes back to his initial request for an altitude of 8000 feet: not only did he ask for IFR altitude, he asked for even when it should have been odd. How could you possibly get a certificate without this being "muscle memory" type knowledge? It should be as engrained as basic aerial maneuvers.
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It should at least be engrained that there see VFR altitudes and they depend on what direction you're going. Even if you can't remember the rule I'd expect him to know there was one.
 
wanttaja said:
I wouldn't, because I've never used flight following and have never had any experience with it.

My guess is the guy *had* previously used it...years ago. And figured he could just pick up on it again.

I've done the same thing in a different context, and still blush at the memory of how fouled up I was. I'd been trained in it, had previously done it regularly, but had "lost the bubble" after ~15 years of not doing it. Never have posted about it. Never will. I'm guessing they still tell the story in the Boeing Field tower.

I certainly don't argue that the guy messed up. My only point is that some of the posts referring to the recorded communications seemed to imply that the arrogance and I-Know-Everything attitude the guy showed here were apparent in his communications. I didn't get that impression from the actual recording. Sounded to me like the guy had trouble dredging up how the whole thing worked. That he was in over his head, and knew it.

In any case, the communications difficulties probably had nothing to do with the accident itself.

The personality factors...such as the insistence that his fuel-exhaustion accident was a fault of the aircraft design, his claims of a high degree of aviation skills, and the apparent "stolen honor" situation...undoubtedly contributed to what happened that day. You can lean against the bar and sing songs of combat heroics, thousands of flight hours, and Mensa awards...but airplanes are tone-deaf. They don't care what you think you are, what you think you can do, or the way you think things work. Aviation skills are not self-awarded. Aircraft are not swayed by a glib tongue, and the ground has a Pk of 1.0.

There was an extraordinary article in Kitplanes magazine about 30 years ago, called "Anatomy of an Accident." It talked of the fatal first flight of a highly-modified small homebuilt airplane. The builder was loud and opinionated (despite having no formal training for construction and design), told other people what THEY were doing wrong, and aggressively stamped out an objections raised to his own workmanship or the changes he was doing to a relatively simple aircraft. Around today, he'd probably have been kicked off a number of forums, by now.

The most memorable part was a description of the man as he got into the cockpit for the first flight. The observer was (I believe) a dentist...quite used to seeing people in the grip of fear. And he saw raw, stark, terror on the face of the pilot. It was so tangible, the dentist went back to his own hangar and grabbed a medical kit.

Because the man was stuck. For years, he'd bragged about his building ability and how good his modified airplane was going to be. But he couldn't back down, now. His mouth had built him a coffin, and his ego laid a ladder up to the cockpit coaming.

This investigation is going to be interesting.

Ron Wanttaja
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I think we are in nearly total agreement. We know what we can do and stay within those boundaries for the most part. When more is needed we expand the boundaries slowly, do our homework, and/or get some more instruction.

I agree that while the mishap pilot was a burden for the controllers he did not seem argumentative. He was just lost on the procedures and expected language. He wasn’t the only pilot on the tapes who missed calls or didn’t know exactly what was expected. He was the only pilot on the tapes who required a call to be repeated six times.

The whole part about not knowing VFR altitude was mind boggling. I’ve seen something similar from a guy who apparently didn’t know what the pattern altitude was at a towered field. Some guys are just really out there in terms of staying within their knowledge and training. Maybe the mishap pilot was overwhelmed by the situation...maybe something else was on his mind.
 
Having read Mr. Bernath's posts on VAF and a couple of other forums back when the discussions were going on, I agree that his attitudes were probably not conducive to long term success in aviation. While he certainly ruffled a lot of feathers, and I don't know that we'd have enjoyed being neighbors, he was still someone's husband, father and grandfather. I can't say I was terribly surprised to hear about this crash, but I was saddened by it. Popular or not, a fellow pilot has died. May he rest in peace.
 
wanttaja said:
In any case, the communications difficulties probably had nothing to do with the accident itself.

The personality factors...such as the insistence that his fuel-exhaustion accident was a fault of the aircraft design, his claims of a high degree of aviation skills, and the apparent "stolen honor" situation...undoubtedly contributed to what happened that day. You can lean against the bar and sing songs of combat heroics, thousands of flight hours, and Mensa awards...but airplanes are tone-deaf. They don't care what you think you are, what you think you can do, or the way you think things work. Aviation skills are not self-awarded. Aircraft are not swayed by a glib tongue, and the ground has a Pk of 1.0.



Ron Wanttaja
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I believe this, above all else, is very, very close to the truth. Obviously, no one can know exactly what happened until the final report comes back...and, with this guy's level of manipulation, it may not become clear even then. However, what is undeniable is that this was a man who had MULTIPLE judgments against him, who left jail just three days before this flight, and was about to face trial again. He's orchestrated at least two accidents in a plane and he's told at least three disturbing stories about near misses due to his own arrogance and poor planning and false bravado. He was disbarred and living on a pension that, undoubtedly, was being ran through with a fine toothed comb by the government because you shouldn't be able to draw a pension for a 90% disability, and claim you can't walk (and sue a local store for not holding your handicap parking spot), and then jump on a bike or a plane or get into a fist fight with a judge in an elevator without raising some suspicion. Sadly, this was where he ended up and now his children have to learn about all of this because he was incapable of silence. I don't think this was mechanical failure. I don't think he had enough fuel to actually make his intended landing because his rate of climb (Based on the released logs and communication with ATC) was way to fast for him to be full. I think his was a stunt that went very badly (he needed money) or an attempt to escape everything. But, either way, I wouldn't want to be one of his family members right now.
 
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=123812

In the above VAF thread, Bernath says he bought N262WS from the builder, a USAF Major named Wes Schierman (the WS in the tail number), so it wasn't an S-LSA. Apparently Schierman put 50 hours on the plane before dying of cancer.

mg4nejq
 
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Some quick reading on Maj Schierman. American Hero and seemed to have lived and breathed aviation through and through. It is interesting how even all the way back in 1953, our vocational paths are so similar as Reservists. His recount of repatriation hits home for me. Retired a Major no less, like a true Reservist! A guy with his pedigree/combat record today would be BTZ to O-6 without a question. I loved how he was like (paraphrasing): "yeah, this getting POW'd for 7 years was not as advertised in the brochure...sooo 'amma gonna go back to Northwest now...dueces". Can't say I blame him!

Nickle on the grass Sir...
 
DaleB said:
Having read Mr. Bernath's posts on VAF and a couple of other forums back when the discussions were going on, I agree that his attitudes were probably not conducive to long term success in aviation. While he certainly ruffled a lot of feathers, and I don't know that we'd have enjoyed being neighbors, he was still someone's husband, father and grandfather. I can't say I was terribly surprised to hear about this crash, but I was saddened by it. Popular or not, a fellow pilot has died. May he rest in peace.
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Could not agree more - the entire story is very sad and disturbing, especially as it relates to the impact to family and loved ones, but also to the aviation community itself. The reason I think most of us - and certainly myself - try to analyze accidents like this is to take away lessons that apply to our own flying, our own attitudes, our own skills and prompt us to make changes to our own attitudes, processes, approach to go/no go decisions, etc. It's even more sad when we are not surprised by the outcome: in the example of VAF members attempts to help (myself included on a handful of occasions) there is a very strong sense of community there and genuine frustration and disappointment when the power of community and the pooled knowledge still fail to help a fellow builder/owner/pilot: of course we don't yet know what the cause of this accident will ultimately be determined to have been, but the fact that we don't find the outcome surprising (which it should be - fatal accidents during the cruise phase of a VFR flight with VMC conditions are very rare) makes it all the more disturbing and sobering.
 
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mturnerb said:
Good point on the heading, and it goes back to his initial request for an altitude of 8000 feet: not only did he ask for IFR altitude, he asked for even when it should have been odd. How could you possibly get a certificate without this being "muscle memory" type knowledge? It should be as engrained as basic aerial maneuvers.
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It's weird for me that he asked for 8000, as opposed to 8500. I can understand mixing up, or forgetting, whether even is for west or east. But if he is only sportpilot, and has never been instrument rated, then you would think he would have always flown at _500. That would seem to just be ingrained as "muscle memory," as you say. I recall shortly after getting my instrument forgetting that I should be at _500 briefly when I filed for IFR, but on that particular day never picked up the clearance and was just on flight following. I had my IFR altitude in my head, and it took me a few beats to realize I wasn't IFR so my altitude needed to be _500. So, I know that can happen when you are capable of flying both IFR and VFR altitudes, and I am not arrogant enough to think that I can't make such a mistake. But it just seems strange that if you fly VFR every single time that you would mix that up.
 
Stan Cooper said:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=123812

In the above VAF thread, Bernath says he bought N262WS from the builder, a USAF Major named Wes Schierman (the WS in the tail number), so it wasn't an S-LSA. Apparently Schierman put 50 hours on the plane before dying of cancer.

mg4nejq
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Even though I do not know the facts of what caused this accident, I will say that I hope that his estate is not ultimately a target of a lawsuit related to this accident.
 
PPC1052 said:
Even though I do not know the facts of what caused this accident, I will say that I hope that his estate is not ultimately a target of a lawsuit related to this accident.
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Pretty sure the pathologic litigiousness died along with the pilot that day. Doesn't sound like his daughter knew half the **** her dad had gotten into.
 
DaleB said:
Having read Mr. Bernath's posts on VAF and a couple of other forums back when the discussions were going on, I agree that his attitudes were probably not conducive to long term success in aviation. While he certainly ruffled a lot of feathers, and I don't know that we'd have enjoyed being neighbors, he was still someone's husband, father and grandfather. I can't say I was terribly surprised to hear about this crash, but I was saddened by it. Popular or not, a fellow pilot has died. May he rest in peace.
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I don't see how being a grandfather absolves him of being a jerk.
 
Paulie said:
I don't see how being a grandfather absolves him of being a jerk.
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It does not, but being a jerk doesn't justify the glee with which some have greeted news of his death. No one is one-dimensional. The guy had a family and (presumably) friends. We can learn from his experiences and mistakes without acting like jerks ourselves.
 
DaleB said:
It does not, but being a jerk doesn't justify the glee with which some have greeted news of his death. No one is one-dimensional. The guy had a family and (presumably) friends. We can learn from his experiences and mistakes without acting like jerks ourselves.
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not sure I've seen anyone act like a jerk or say that he deserved it or anything to that matter. I think the general consensus is "not surprised". I'm sure no one on this forum wishes death on anyone.
 
eman1200 said:
not sure I've seen anyone act like a jerk or say that he deserved it or anything to that matter. I think the general consensus is "not surprised". I'm sure no one on this forum wishes death on anyone.
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It's not so much wishing death, but there is schadenfreude, that tendency to find joy in the misfortune of someone you don't particularly like.
 
I wonder what his emergency was. Cant possibly be that he flew himself out of fuel.
 
Ken Ibold said:
schadenfreude
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?

Don't believe that was the case... Things like this just make me bow and shake my head in
disbelief.... Also, when its pretty apparent that his untimely end was probably self-inflicted and avoidable, be glad that he didn't hurt anyone else in the process...
 
Major speculation, but from my reading of posts on the VAF, he seemed to have a limited understanding of things mechanical. I think he did take a basic ROTAX course at Lockwood. But the plane had issues related to the cabling for its stabilator, and trim tab issues as well. Either of those if not fixed properly could have led to a quick demise.

His screen name there was danielabernath - easy to do an advanced search and see all his posts there.
 
Clark1961 said:
Given your lack of experience would you call ground control and request flight following?
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Probably not, but it was a common experience in Charlie fields for Clearance to ask if I wanted a flight following. I wait for them to volunteer that question, but other crew often ended with "and we would like FF please". In a Delta, ground is usually the first place to call and I can see him getting wires crossed a bit.
 
PPC1052 said:
But if he is only sportpilot, and has never been instrument rated, then you would think he would have always flown at _500.
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Voluntarily, yes. But I'm often given IFR altitudes when under B veil for Houston or Phoenix. Maybe not having to deal with "halfsies" makes it easier for controllers in some circumstances? I've only had a very limited exposure to Florida, where Bernath was based, but perhaps it's what they always give you around Orlando too?
 
zaitcev said:
Voluntarily, yes. But I'm often given IFR altitudes when under B veil for Houston or Phoenix.
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Are you less than 3,500 AGL? Ain’t no IFR (or VFR) altitudes there.
 
unsafervguy said:
Too soon. Very little information released yet. there is some very interesting information derived from the crash site that has not been released yet. This, combined with the mayday call points to something else. I just talked to a first responder a few minutes ago and he described the crash site, it tells me which direction the ntsb will first look.

Bob
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Of course, since this was an RV, an experimental aircraft, he was able to do some of his own maintenance. Apparently, he was doing some of his own work on the plane. So even if this is airframe or engine related, the root cause of that failure may still be him.
 
zaitcev said:
Voluntarily, yes. But I'm often given IFR altitudes when under B veil for Houston or Phoenix. Maybe not having to deal with "halfsies" makes it easier for controllers in some circumstances? I've only had a very limited exposure to Florida, where Bernath was based, but perhaps it's what they always give you around Orlando too?
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This seems irrelevant to the issue of what he would typically ask for when requesting flight following.
 
eman1200 said:
not sure I've seen anyone act like a jerk or say that he deserved it or anything to that matter. I think the general consensus is "not surprised". I'm sure no one on this forum wishes death on anyone.
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Hmmm.

There are certain circles that would be happy to **** on his grave

Seems like karma finally caught up.

Wow, this guy was a real piece of work.

Yep, addition by subtraction - that guy had no redeemable qualities.

This creep ...

Instant Karma gonna get you
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I stopped after page 2.
 
zaitcev said:
Voluntarily, yes. But I'm often given IFR altitudes when under B veil for Houston or Phoenix. Maybe not having to deal with "halfsies" makes it easier for controllers in some circumstances? I've only had a very limited exposure to Florida, where Bernath was based, but perhaps it's what they always give you around Orlando too?
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I recently flew the length of Florida down to Naples, I just avoided the Bs and C's. Only FF I used was out of Columbus GA, they offered because of the nearby restricted military nearby. Once cleared I cancelled.
 
Not happy about his death, actually indifferent, but it seemed inevitable. I remember this guy from VAF. Unfortunately there are more people bumbling around the sky that are immune to advice. I have one next door to my hangar. People like him are bad for general aviation and bad for experimental aviation. Thank goodness he didn't kill anyone on the ground, it's pretty congested here on the coasts, the middle is all orange groves. I await the NTSB final, no reason to ponder the cause until then.
 
DaleB said:
No, the dreaded RV-12... killer of airline pilots and attorneys alike.
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Off topic of the thread, but I am wondering about the fuel tank behind the passenger seat. For me that would be a deal breaker building and flying the RV-12. I would like to hear your comments. Thanks, Bill B
 
AKBill said:
Off topic of the thread, but I am wondering about the fuel tank behind the passenger seat. For me that would be a deal breaker building and flying the RV-12. I would like to hear your comments. Thanks, Bill B
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That and the Rotax engine are the reasons I ultimately decided against buying an RV-12 in spite of having a lot of respect for Van and his designs generally.
 
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