PA 28 - in IMC, radio issues and low fuel - thank you ATC

I just came here to post this. I'm thinking this guy wasn't ifr rated, fortunately he landed without incident. We need to stop doing stuff like this.


 
Got a feeling this guy doesn’t really have an instrument rating. He definitely does **** poor flight planning.
 
Glad it worked out, but this was a NTSB report and ASI safety video in the making
 
Looks like this is the flight in question:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N32019/history/20210123/1653Z/3FD4/KORL

If that and the 17:01UTC timestamp in the Youtube clip are both correct, looks like he made the call that he was in the clouds around 8 minutes after departure and the low fuel call about 33 minutes into the flight.

Closest METARS around that time near 3FD4 (the point of departure) were:
KLEE 231753Z 03004KT 9SM -RA OVC006 18/18 A3010 RMK AO2 RAB32 SLP191 P0000 60006 T01780178 10183 20172 58005
KLEE 231653Z 02007KT 10SM OVC005 18/17 A3012 RMK AO2 SLP198 T01780172
KLEE 231651Z 03007KT 10SM OVC005 18/17 A3012 RMK AO2

KORL 231753Z 02007KT 5SM BR OVC004 19/18 A3009 RMK AO2 SLP194 60005 T01890178 10200 20189 50002
KORL 231751Z 01006KT 5SM BR OVC004 19/18 A3009 RMK AO2
KORL 231653Z 34006KT 10SM OVC006 19/18 A3011 RMK AO2 RAB1556E19 SLP198 P0000 T01940178
KORL 231553Z 15004KT 8SM OVC005 19/18 A3009 RMK AO2 RAB02E44 SLP191 P0004 T01940178

KISM 231756Z 36006KT 10SM BKN007 OVC018 19/19 A3010 RMK AO2 RAB15E37 SLP192 6//// T01940189 10200 20150 57006 PNO $
KISM 231711Z 34007KT 10SM BKN007 OVC018 19/19 A3011 RMK AO2 PNO $
KISM 231656Z 32005KT 10SM BKN005 BKN012 BKN021 19/19 A3011 RMK AO2 SLP196 T01940194 PNO $
KISM 231556Z 00000KT 10SM BKN005 BKN015 BKN022 18/18 A3010 RMK AO2 RAE47 SLP194 T01830183 PNO $

KINF 231755Z AUTO 05003KT 4SM BR OVC005 17/17 A3010 RMK AO2 P0001
KINF 231735Z AUTO 05003KT 4SM -RA BKN005 OVC012 17/17 A3011 RMK AO2 P0001
KINF 231715Z AUTO 04004KT 7SM -RA BKN005 OVC012 17/17 A3012 RMK AO2 P0001
KINF 231655Z AUTO 04004KT 3SM BR OVC005 17/17 A3013 RMK AO2
KINF 231635Z AUTO 02005KT 4SM BR OVC003 17/17 A3013 RMK AO2
 
It was forecast IFR all day. Looks like he started out low altitude VFR. The end, where he simply just descended below MVA then found RWY 13 (via I-4 then next exit?) could have ended much differently.
 
TommyG said:
Got a feeling this guy doesn’t really have an instrument rating. He definitely does **** poor flight planning.
Click to expand...

The pilot had no clue about frequencies and approach fixes for OEA or the boundaries of the MCO Bravo. His inability to capture the OEA localizer, the turn to the south over the airport and then a 180° to the north were pretty good indications your assessment is correct.

That he managed to find a runway was the luck of a fool. He is fortunate his name didn't make the papers.
 
This is what gives GA a bad name. I hope he gets to chat with the FSDO after this. He certainly didn't learn his lesson since after this sketchy landing he fueled up and launched right back into the air. Then yesterday on his next leg back home, you can see right where he entered the clouds on the flight aware track as his heading went randomly all over the place after he picked up another pop up in the air.

I wonder if its the "jr" owner flying daddy's plane. The kid isn't instrument rated.

So he launched the first time with about an hour of fuel. Hardly day VFR minimums. Then he claimed IFR cert and capable, but didn't have a plan or the required information (approach plates). What instrument rated pilot wouldn't at least have them on their phone or tablet??

Then once he clumsily got the pop up, he couldn't dial in the frequencies, fly a localizer or intercept a glide slope. After the 2nd botched approach he decided just to skud run below MVA and hope he saw something. In the clouds he couldn't hold a heading or an altitude either. No basic attitude instrument flying skills.

Didn't even talk to tower or ground after he landed, just taxied off to fuel up and give it another go.

I hope he realizes how stupid he is and how close he came to dying.
 
SethV said:
Didn't even talk to tower or ground after he landed
Click to expand...
WOW. i hope they send him to FSDO for that. guessing he doesnt have much experience with towered fields
 
SethV said:
This is what gives GA a bad name. I hope he gets to chat with the FSDO after this. He certainly didn't learn his lesson since after this sketchy landing he fueled up and launched right back into the air. Then yesterday on his next leg back home, you can see right where he entered the clouds on the flight aware track as his heading went randomly all over the place after he picked up another pop up in the air.

I wonder if its the "jr" owner flying daddy's plane. The kid isn't instrument rated.

So he launched the first time with about an hour of fuel. Hardly day VFR minimums. Then he claimed IFR cert and capable, but didn't have a plan or the required information (approach plates). What instrument rated pilot wouldn't at least have them on their phone or tablet??

Then once he clumsily got the pop up, he couldn't dial in the frequencies, fly a localizer or intercept a glide slope. After the 2nd botched approach he decided just to skud run below MVA and hope he saw something. In the clouds he couldn't hold a heading or an altitude either. No basic attitude instrument flying skills.

Didn't even talk to tower or ground after he landed, just taxied off to fuel up and give it another go.

I hope he realizes how stupid he is and how close he came to dying.
Click to expand...
If this is true, he isn't going to last long. Pulling his cert MIGHT save his life, but i have my doubts it would stop him.
 
Yowie. ATC has the patience of Job dealing with this stupidity. Kudos to them for being professional. Too bad the pilot could not reciprocate that level of professionalism. If the pilot was not lying about being IFR rated and capable, he is the most incompetent instrument pilot ever. This stunt made him a danger to himself and others on the ground. It would not be a bad thing if the FAA got involved in reviewing this pilot's actions. This wasn't a little pickle or slip-up. It was a whole bucket of avoidable errors, poor execution, and bad judgment.
 
IFR qualified o_Oo_O
IFR capable :eek::eek:

That guy better kiss his autopilot because it just saved his rearend. No way this ends well
With out a good autopilot IMO. He was task saturated and over his head. 100 guys with similar experience in that situation would be a lot of smoking holes. He was lucky-definitely an overwhelming minority would have survived
 
A while back I was down IFR in the vicinity of RIC's class C. I heard someone presumed to be an instructor call up and say they were in the clouds, and the controller pointed out they shouldn't be, as they weren't on a clearance. After clearing them and giving them instructions, they still screwed up. I heard some chilling works "Do you know how close you came to hitting another aircraft?" from the controller. I've had a couple of other times where non-IFR bogies showed up in the soup. Fortunately, ATC was able to steer me clear of them.

I do like the controller trying to climb them back on top early on in the sequence. Seems like he had his doubts from the outset.
 
flyingron said:
I've had a couple of other times where non-IFR bogies showed up in the soup. Fortunately, ATC was able to steer me clear of them.
Click to expand...

This happens more than I would like to think possible. There have been numerous times I've been in solid and widespread IMC with only a occasional breaks between cloud banks when a VFR target near my position and altitude is pointed out as conflicting traffic. There is no way these aircraft are in VFR conditions, and I wonder why and what they are doing there. :dunno:
 
In one case I know how it happened. A pair of flight instructors were up, one acting as safety pilot for the other. The safety pilot allowed the hooded pilot to drift up into the clouds (without clearance). The hooded CFI was as irate as I was when he found out what happened.
 
That had my stomach in a knot.
 
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