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

Lindberg said:
Just a guess: The wife said, "Hey buddy, can you take a look at this for me?" And Bernath had him removed for trespassing when he said he was going to report the plane as unworthy.
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For anyone else that wouldn't be believable, but it seems consistent with other things Bernath did.
 
Lindberg said:
After reading the factual report, I can't conclude that he was legal to fly. At a minimum, he was taking multiple sedating drugs.
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I agree he should have self-grounded, but the legality seems a bit squishy.. Under FAR 61.23, a SP must...

(iv) Not know or have reason to know of any medical condition that would make that person unable to operate a light-sport aircraft in a safe manner.​

For SPs, there isn't a list of prohibitions. If there were, MANY of the PPs flying under SP regs would be grounded. The FAA knows this and seems content to leave it up to the pilot's discretion. (Basic Med operates in a similar fashion, thought it does get a state licensed physician involved.)

Certainly Bernath had medical conditions that might make him unable to fly safely. Whether the conditions did so in fact is up to the pilot's judgement. His particular conditions and meds may have even impaired that judgement. It seems to me he would be equally impaired as a driver, but AFAIK he still had a driver's license. Had he surrendered his driver's license it would clearly be illegal for him to fly.
 
Half Fast said:
Wow. Hard to know where to start.

First the plane.



Next consider Bernath's medical diagnoses.



And consider the meds he was taking as a result.




Look at the effects of that soup of meds.



There's no discussion of how those meds might interact; it's probably not even known. But I doubt it's good.

So we couple a damaged and likely un-airworthy craft with a pilot who has severe depression and PTSD plus the meds he was taking. What a combination!

Why did the cops show up and stop the mechanic? (Surprised the investigators didn't pursue this.) Did the crack propagate in flight, causing loss of control? Did Bernath know about the crack? There apparently wasn't a logbook entry, but one would think even a preflight inspection would have caught it. If he did know about it, did the cocktail of anti-depressants he was taking wreck his cognitive functions and judgement so badly that he chose to fly anyway? Or did he not even bother with a preflight at all?

WOW.

This will make an interesting case study. It's a one-off incident (I hope) and an extreme case, but it certainly shows just how far south things can go without losing the legal ability to fly as a Sport Pilot.
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Wow is right. Sounds like a train wreck leading to a plane crash.
 
The prior Lawsuit Madness thread has some very interesting posts. People really did try and help Mr. Bernath but he was not going to learn anything.

I imagine LE was called by him when he discovered his wife, likely out of concern for his safety, was having the plane inspected.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
I imagine LE was called by him when he discovered his wife, likely out of concern for his safety, was having the plane inspected.
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Maybe. Possibly, given his mental illness issues, he thought she was having it sabotaged. Pure speculation.
 
Half Fast said:
I agree he should have self-grounded, but the legality seems a bit squishy.. Under FAR 61.23, a SP must...

(iv) Not know or have reason to know of any medical condition that would make that person unable to operate a light-sport aircraft in a safe manner.​

For SPs, there isn't a list of prohibitions. If there were, MANY of the PPs flying under SP regs would be grounded. The FAA knows this and seems content to leave it up to the pilot's discretion. (Basic Med operates in a similar fashion, thought it does get a state licensed physician involved.)

Certainly Bernath had medical conditions that might make him unable to fly safely. Whether the conditions did so in fact is up to the pilot's judgement. His particular conditions and meds may have even impaired that judgement. It seems to me he would be equally impaired as a driver, but AFAIK he still had a driver's license. Had he surrendered his driver's license it would clearly be illegal for him to fly.
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There are gray areas. I disagree that he was in one.
 
Half Fast said:
Agreed that the aircraft wasn't legal to be flown.
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We really don't know that either. There was mention of a crack in the elevator, but nothing to indicate the severity of the crack or what sort of repair it needed. We don't know whether it was ever stop drilled or repaired.
 
DaleB said:
We really don't know that either. There was mention of a crack in the elevator, but nothing to indicate the severity of the crack or what sort of repair it needed. We don't know whether it was ever stop drilled or repaired.
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If so, it wasn't logged, since the crack itself wasn't logged. Since the mechanic "was on the phone discussing the crack with Van's Aircraft personnel when local law enforcement officers arrived and demanded that he leave the premises," I wonder whether he took or sent Van's any photos.
 
Half Fast said:
If so, it wasn't logged, since the crack itself wasn't logged. Since the mechanic "was on the phone discussing the crack with Van's Aircraft personnel when local law enforcement officers arrived and demanded that he leave the premises," I wonder whether he took or sent Van's any photos.
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It wouldn't be required to be logged. The only actual requirement for an E-LSA is the annual condition inspection. It's good practice, and generally accepted practice, to log maintenance and repairs, but it's not a requirement for aircraft with an Experimental airworthiness certificate. Some guys don't.

Now... given the posts I have seen from the owner of that aircraft here and on other forums, it would not surprise me terribly to learn that maintenance was not entirely up to snuff. Just pointing out that we really don't know for sure how bad the crack was, or if or how it was addressed.
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
We have the date of the last condition inspection 7/24/16 which is well over 12 months before the accident date of 1/22/18.
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I stand corrected -- if that was indeed the last condition inspection, then it wasn't legal, you're right. Don't think that's what caused the crash, though.
 
Well, this has certainly been an interesting read :eek2:
 
His confusion about the departure heading during readback and his missed radio calls, along with his history of misunderstanding the physics of flight and risk taking (using GPS speed for airspeed, running out of fuel and then suing the airplane manufacturer for his negligence, flying an airplane he knew was not airworthy) are all indicative of a pretty cavalier attitude; the toxic mix of anti-depressant drugs discovered during the autopsy is further evidence of this. Loss of life is always sad and regrettable, but Bernath didn't seem capable taking advice from anyone.

This was a very predictable outcome.
 
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Thankfully aviation is sufficiently free of "characters" that we tend to stand out.
 
DaleB said:
Don't think that's what caused the crash, though.
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I would agree.
My money is on the probable cause being running out of gas (again) and being too impaired to maintain control of the aircraft when it happened.

And, contrary to what may have been suggested by some, flying while buzzed is not any more "legal" under the sport pilot rules than it is under private pilot rules. One could even argue that it is less legal. With a medical you only have think you would still be able to make it through a 7 minute medical exam. Under the sport pilot rules, one has to actually be clear that they can safely act as PIC.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
With a medical you only have think you would still be able to make it through a 7 minute medical exam. Under the sport pilot rules, one has to actually be clear that they can safely act as PIC.
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We'll have to disagree on that point, but... yeah.
 
Lindberg said:
Just a guess: The wife said, "Hey buddy, can you take a look at this for me?" And Bernath had him removed for trespassing when he said he was going to report the plane as unworthy.
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Perhaps his wife was desperate to keep him from flying, and hoped the mechanic would judge the aircraft unairworthy. When Bernath became aware of what was happening, did he call the cops? Probably.
 
His eventual demise doesn't fit the definition of an accident. An accident involves some element of it happening unexpectedly.

It was however a tragedy. But that is in the sense of a classic greek tragedy. The only part missing were the choral interludes, but those could be substituted with readings of the various legal decisions against him.

Three notable items:
- no dog was found in the wreckage
- he did have fuel
- no iPad to replace the installed instruments was noted
 
weilke said:
- he did have fuel
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???
"The fuel pump/strainer was opened for examination. There was no fuel in the bowl;"
"The other carburetor's fuel bowl was intact and secure; when removed, it contained no fuel and was clean and dry."
"The pumping mechanism operated when the pump actuator was pushed in manually. No fuel pumped from the unit when actuated. "
No mention of fuel (or the smell of fuel) on the ground.
Weren't no fuel found nowhere according to the report.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
???
"The fuel pump/strainer was opened for examination. There was no fuel in the bowl;"
"The other carburetor's fuel bowl was intact and secure; when removed, it contained no fuel and was clean and dry."
"The pumping mechanism operated when the pump actuator was pushed in manually. No fuel pumped from the unit when actuated. "
No mention of fuel (or the smell of fuel) on the ground.
Weren't no fuel found nowhere according to the report.
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He probably left instructions for his widow to sue Van’s because the plane wouldn’t fly with no fuel.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
No mention of fuel (or the smell of fuel) on the ground. Weren't no fuel found nowhere according to the report.
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Fine, but why would he roll inverted and lawn-dart into a forest if he ran out of gas? The weather was clear. Let's say he was high as a kite and stalled. Even so, RV-12 responds to ailerons.
 
zaitcev said:
Fine, but why would he roll inverted and lawn-dart into a forest if he ran out of gas? The weather was clear. Let's say he was high as a kite and stalled. Even so, RV-12 responds to ailerons.
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Maybe because he was a freaking terrible pilot?
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Maybe because he was a freaking terrible pilot?
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He was a freaking terrible pilot with enough drugs in him to stock a CVS, flying a damaged aircraft that was out of annual, and facing the start of a jail sentence.

Obviously he was murdered.

This could make a great NCIS episode.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
???
"The fuel pump/strainer was opened for examination. There was no fuel in the bowl;"
"The other carburetor's fuel bowl was intact and secure; when removed, it contained no fuel and was clean and dry."
"The pumping mechanism operated when the pump actuator was pushed in manually. No fuel pumped from the unit when actuated. "
No mention of fuel (or the smell of fuel) on the ground.
Weren't no fuel found nowhere according to the report.
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I guess I over-estimated him.
 
.....to minimize our shortcomings by pointing out the greater failure of another can provide temporary relieve.



whatever demons he was fighting, it doesn't matter anymore, his trials and tribulations are over.
 
Half Fast said:
Wow. Hard to know where to start.

First the plane.



Next consider Bernath's medical diagnoses.



And consider the meds he was taking as a result.




Look at the effects of that soup of meds.



There's no discussion of how those meds might interact; it's probably not even known. But I doubt it's good.

So we couple a damaged and likely un-airworthy craft with a pilot who has severe depression and PTSD plus the meds he was taking. What a combination!

Why did the cops show up and stop the mechanic? (Surprised the investigators didn't pursue this.) Did the crack propagate in flight, causing loss of control? Did Bernath know about the crack? There apparently wasn't a logbook entry, but one would think even a preflight inspection would have caught it. If he did know about it, did the cocktail of anti-depressants he was taking wreck his cognitive functions and judgement so badly that he chose to fly anyway? Or did he not even bother with a preflight at all?

WOW.

This will make an interesting case study. It's a one-off incident (I hope) and an extreme case, but it certainly shows just how far south things can go without losing the legal ability to fly as a Sport Pilot.
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The guy was a loathsome character but none of the above proves anything.
We don’t know anything about the aileron crack, lots of planes fly just fine with all sorts of cosmetic cracks. As far as his medical condition - nothing particularly uncommon for a guy pushing 70 ..meds, again, lots of stuff that can cause this or that but most meds can potentially cause “this or that” and lots of people live and work with these meds without any negative effects - again, unwise but doesn’t prove anything.

To me it sounds like some kind of structural failure so perhaps there was something to that crack but ... this is all so strange with his mechanic noticing a potentially serious issue without notifying anyone ... couldn’t he call the guy afterwards ? ...or maybe he did but he ignored him ... very odd.
 
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Warmi said:
...this is all so strange with his mechanic noticing a potentially serious issue without notifying anyone ... couldn’t he call the guy afterwards ?...
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Of course I don’t know any details. But Bernath had a history of suing anybody at the drop of a hat, or in one case even punching a judge. I can easily see that after being escorted from the hangar by police, he might easily have just wanted to wash his hands of the whole mess. Even when you’re clearly innocent of any wrongdoing, being a defendant in a legal case can be an expensive, time consuming ordeal.

Should he have “dropped a dime” to the FAA or NASA? Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. That’s a topic that deserves its own thread, one about which I may soon start its own thread.
 
zaitcev said:
Fine, but why would he roll inverted and lawn-dart into a forest if he ran out of gas? The weather was clear. Let's say he was high as a kite and stalled. Even so, RV-12 responds to ailerons.
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Mill quit, he didn't have the wherewithal to push hard on the stick to keep the airplane flying, entered a stall/spin and went inverted. You can find videos of it happening on Youtube, unfortunately.
 
steingar said:
Mill quit, he didn't have the wherewithal to push hard on the stick to keep the airplane flying, entered a stall/spin and went inverted. You can find videos of it happening on Youtube, unfortunately.
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We'll never really know for sure. It's not like you need to "push hard" on the stick, or even push at all. The opposite, in fact, to establish a decent glide speed -- pull, just not too hard. All you'd really have to do is pick the least sucky place to land, and aim for it. If you get yourself deep into trouble with an RV-12, you must be really trying.
 
DaleB said:
We'll never really know for sure. It's not like you need to "push hard" on the stick, or even push at all. The opposite, in fact, to establish a decent glide speed -- pull, just not too hard. All you'd really have to do is pick the least sucky place to land, and aim for it. If you get yourself deep into trouble with an RV-12, you must be really trying.
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This is why I am suspecting there was some kind of technical failure present - it looked like he basically went down in some kind of out of control fashion exactly at the time he radioed mayday ... as you said , even if you somehow end up pushing yourself in a dive , it is not a big deal to recover - we are talking 120-130 knots speeds so it is not like you are dealing here with huge forces etc ..
 
Given everything I've read it was a mental failure on the part of the pilot. As far as I know Van's uses push rods for controls, so it wasn't a snapped cable. If the elevator or aileron flew off they'd have found out at the crash site. It could very easily be as simple as he ran out of gas, the engine konked out, he didn't do the right things to keep it flying and he went into a wall/spin. Wouldn't be the first. Possibly the most colorful, but not the first.
 
steingar said:
Given everything I've read it was a mental failure on the part of the pilot. As far as I know Van's uses push rods for controls, so it wasn't a snapped cable. If the elevator or aileron flew off they'd have found out at the crash site. It could very easily be as simple as he ran out of gas, the engine konked out, he didn't do the right things to keep it flying and he went into a wall/spin. Wouldn't be the first. Possibly the most colorful, but not the first.
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The RV-12 uses pushrods for the flaperons, with cables for the rudder and stabilator. Pretty robust. The factual report says, "Flight control continuity was confirmed from all flight control surfaces to the cockpit controls." While it doesn't specifically state as much, it reads to me like there was a structural overload just before impact. I base that on the fact that the left wing was found about 670 feet from the main wreckage, and "The main wing spar was fractured at the wing root. The spar was bent in an upward direction at the area of fracture. All fracture surfaces of the left wing spar exhibited characteristics of overload. No areas of corrosion were found on or near the fracture surfaces."
 
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