PC 12 Down off of NC Coast

benyflyguy said:
It’s hard to grasp how someone with that much experience could be so far behind and inept from the start of the engine??
His inability to perform basic tasks that he is done probably hundreds of times begs a question of some type of incapacitation.
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Kelvin said:
@Doering Jiminy circkets....he TALKED about taking oxycodone...
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Katamarino said:
The guy comes across as completely senile. Doesn't sound like he should have been driving a car, let alone flying a turborprop.
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I knew a guy who was a chronic user of painkillers. Had endured some kind of industrial accident in his past. After talking to him for 2 minutes you'd start to wonder WTF was wrong with him. It was always odd - didn't seem like he was drunk. Or on coke, meth, or any kind of stimulant. He could seemingly walk and move around just fine. Everything he said though just seemed....spacey. Like he was in a fog.

Wonder if that was the case here. They didn't recover the pilot's body, so no toxicology report is forthcoming.
 
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donjohnston said:
It is my understanding that the NTSB never releases the actual audio of the CVR's. Only the transcript.

Which in this case is more than enough.
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The NTSB never releases CVR audio, but occasionally the CVR recording can get pulled into a trial as evidence.

The very few instances where actual CVR audio has been released that I am aware of were through legal cases.
 
fasteddie said:
I knew a guy who was a chronic user of painkillers. Had endured some kind of industrial accident in his past. After talking to him for 2 minutes you'd start to wonder WTF was wrong with him. It was always odd - didn't seem like he was drunk. Or on coke, meth, or any kind of stimulant. He could seemingly walk and move around just fine. Everything he said though just seemed....spacey. Like he was in a fog.

Wonder if that was the case here. They didn't recover the pilot's body, so no toxicology report is forthcoming.
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We do know that he stated that only oxy would help the pain, and he alluded to the fact that he was suffering, so perhaps he'd not used anything potent. But, yeah ... the words come across as "not all there".
 
It kind of reminds me of the woman who flew with her dad and was playing around with the autopilot. Focused on things other than flying the airplane. So if he used to be able to fly, it seems like something wasn't working right at all for him that day. Maybe my imagination, but from the transcript bits it seemed to me like he'd been in that situation before and didn't like the repetition of it. As if he thought it was the avionics, and didn't realize it was him...or did and thought he could push through it. Just my armchair 2 cents.
 
Man, I hate these necros. I know someone with a pc-12 based in Beaufort and just spent 5 minutes in a part panic trying to find the story.

ok, at least I’m awake now.
 
You're right, just an old thread that came back with the final report and I didn't remember it from the first time.
 
bflynn said:
You're right, just an old thread that came back with the final report and I didn't remember it from the first time.
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I have not forgotten it. I did Audio Visual for the owners funeral...he was from my hometown and from a rock solid family.

The CVR is one of the worst things i have ever listened to...heartbreaking.
 
I didn't notice it was old, either, but I do appreciate the updates when the NTSB reports come out.
 
All too often, we discuss accidents shortly after they occur, and I miss the NTSB final.

Glad to see this back up, with all of the pertinent info.

This one was a tragic clean kill by a pilot who had no business flying that day, especially with teenaged passengers with their entire lives ahead of them.

Those poor parents.
 
SFDukie said:
Those poor parents.
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Indeed. I believe in the end the make-it-go-away settle-out price was $15 million across 5 plaintiffs more than a year ago already fwiw. Hardly conveys the loss of potential, but life is cheap in this planet, though certainly much much cheaper in parts of the global south than in the West, so $3 million a head it is.

For our part as aviators, we continue to eat the moral hazard that (often affluent) imprudence often engenders. At the age of 67, that cast was set and dry. He was gonna do what he was gonna do, and there was nothing we could do as a community to avoid the carnage. Perhaps three more years and the insurance, de facto effective regulator of this so called industry anymore, could have intervened and save us all the trouble. Those were some deep pockets, so maybe not.
 
GLMS_NC said:
In the docket is info about Teen’s medical history, one of the items states he contacted Covid weeks before the flight. ... I have to think the meds he was on had him not thinking clearly as he knew this aircraft.
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I caught COVID about 9 months into the pandemic, before the vax became available. My case was mild, with fever lasting 3 days.

About a week later, I felt well enough to go fly my Decathlon. I took off and climbed up to the pattern. In the downwind, I realized I was behind the plane. I was having to think through every application of controls. Nothing was reflexive. I was actually worried about getting back on the ground. I landed after one circuit and put the plane away.

That brain fog stuff was real. Combined with opioids ... wow.
 
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