Dr. O
Pattern Altitude
Not wanting to hijack the thread on the 172 crash:
There is always a chain of events that ends in a crash. Yeah, I can babble on about the comments on his age and probable lack of flying hours and perhaps a culture of casualness at his airport (or not - as that comment was pure speculation)
What I want to discuss here is the role that 9/11 has/is playing in recent crashes. Local airports used to be where young men with a desire to fly would hang out.
Often for years before they were old enough to take lessons. And the pilots and students and wanna-be's would invariably be there on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons, drinking coffee or pop, and having general discussions (mostly airplanes, but a few items about female anatomy would pop up)
There was a lot of learning going on even though most of them thought of it as shooting the bull. There would be discussion (as we are here) of the latest crash and speculation on the cause of the crash would be dissected (as we are here). The young pilot (and some older ones) would hear from Frank or Norm how they had a crate get loose on a bumpy flight and shift to the rear putting the plane out of balance. And how they slammed the stick to the firewall and went full throttle and nursed the plane around in the most shallow turn known to man to avoid a pitch up stall and how they came screaming across the fence still at full throttle and did not put on any flaps to avoid losing control. Yeah, they ran off the end of the runway and ground looped but both he and the plane survived.
Information like that is absorbed, not formally learned. It becomes a subconscious reservoir of what to do when the unthinkable happens.
So what is different today?
The wanna be pilot does not get to the pilot's lounge because he is not yet a student and does not have a ID badge to get through the electronic door locks.
The student pilot grows weary of the hassle of locked doors and guards so he show up on tome for his lesson and leaves 5 minutes after he is done.
The older pilots disgusted with the security-kabooky-theater basically don't come to the airport anymore other than when they are going flying.
So the oral history and group learning does not happen.
The other thing I have noted is that students will pass their check ride and will have never flown a plane with more than two people on board. The local instructors I know make it a practice that before a student finishes up they are put in a fully loaded airplane and shown how it handles differently and responds differently. Volunteers to fill those seats were usually recruited from the pilot loungs. Today that lounge is ghost city.
9/11 and ultimate security at any price has changed all that - not for the better.
There is always a chain of events that ends in a crash. Yeah, I can babble on about the comments on his age and probable lack of flying hours and perhaps a culture of casualness at his airport (or not - as that comment was pure speculation)
What I want to discuss here is the role that 9/11 has/is playing in recent crashes. Local airports used to be where young men with a desire to fly would hang out.
Often for years before they were old enough to take lessons. And the pilots and students and wanna-be's would invariably be there on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons, drinking coffee or pop, and having general discussions (mostly airplanes, but a few items about female anatomy would pop up)
There was a lot of learning going on even though most of them thought of it as shooting the bull. There would be discussion (as we are here) of the latest crash and speculation on the cause of the crash would be dissected (as we are here). The young pilot (and some older ones) would hear from Frank or Norm how they had a crate get loose on a bumpy flight and shift to the rear putting the plane out of balance. And how they slammed the stick to the firewall and went full throttle and nursed the plane around in the most shallow turn known to man to avoid a pitch up stall and how they came screaming across the fence still at full throttle and did not put on any flaps to avoid losing control. Yeah, they ran off the end of the runway and ground looped but both he and the plane survived.
Information like that is absorbed, not formally learned. It becomes a subconscious reservoir of what to do when the unthinkable happens.
So what is different today?
The wanna be pilot does not get to the pilot's lounge because he is not yet a student and does not have a ID badge to get through the electronic door locks.
The student pilot grows weary of the hassle of locked doors and guards so he show up on tome for his lesson and leaves 5 minutes after he is done.
The older pilots disgusted with the security-kabooky-theater basically don't come to the airport anymore other than when they are going flying.
So the oral history and group learning does not happen.
The other thing I have noted is that students will pass their check ride and will have never flown a plane with more than two people on board. The local instructors I know make it a practice that before a student finishes up they are put in a fully loaded airplane and shown how it handles differently and responds differently. Volunteers to fill those seats were usually recruited from the pilot loungs. Today that lounge is ghost city.
9/11 and ultimate security at any price has changed all that - not for the better.
