Stupid pilot rant

Richard

Richard

Final Approach
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Ack...city life
This one has a different twist and portends to an ominous future.

How do you fly from 20 NW to 10 SW to left downwind Rwy 33 to 7 mile final to 5 east of the field to right downwind RWY 33 to 10 mile final all within 5 minutes?

If you're a Premier Jet with a way behind the plane pilot, you can.

The twist is this guy was in a fast mover, and it's ominous to think VLJs are at once financially obtainable yet too much plane for Joe Pilot.

It was all I could do to not say something like, I have a better plan. everyone hold where you are and let Mr **** for Brains get on the ground.
 
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I've seen that here at El Monte with much smaller planes and the tower patiently trying to help the guy figure out where he is.

One of my favorites was a few months back we were doing practice approaches at Chino, Riverside and Corona with a TBM on frequency. After several ugh corrections by ATC the lady controller on 135.4 says "Look buddy, your flying much too big and fast a plane to be making mistakes like those".

Joe
 
The only good thing I can say is that it looks like he was at least making radio calls! (Was he accurately reporting his position? :dunno:
 
gprellwitz said:
The only good thing I can say is that it looks like he was at least making radio calls! (Was he accurately reporting his position? :dunno:
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Well, some pilots should just stay off the radio I guess. What I mean is his calls were wildly inaccurate as well as grating to the ears because of the long Ahhhhs and pauses after he keyed the mic. Plus he was not very aware (or not at all concerned) that this was during a period of congestion with multiple arrivals and departures plus tour traffic.

EDIT: Our man in the Premier botched his arrival which happened to be at a time when several Part 121 aircraft were arriving. The first 121 to arrive ended up making a turn to the east of the final approach to RWY 33 and then turn inbound to rejoin the final. Even then the conflict was not resolved because the Premier for some reason decided to leave his final approach and turned to the east. TWO 121 aircraft almost went missed directly in response to the idiot Premier. You should have heard the exasperation in the voices of the 121 crews.
 
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Look at it from a different angle:

The Premier is single pilot certified and RSVM approved. The literature says it's equipped with Collins Pro Line 21. It's not your father's T-craft. Ostensibly the pilot would know his aircraft and know how to use the instrumentation.

KPGA RWY 33 is right traffic. The Premier pilot evidently did not have this information or just didn't care. In the former it is negligence, in the latter it is worse. And left downwind to 7 mile final is not in the pattern.

Oh yeah, as this was going on a Meridian called from 20 nm south to ask, What's the active runway? Are you kidding me???? All he had to do was monitor CTAF at this non-towered field to hear which runway everyone is using. If he was still undecided he could have simply stated he was making a straight-in to RWY 33, which would have been ideal for him.
 
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Richard said:
Look at it from a different angle:

...KPGA RWY 33 is right traffic. The Premier pilot evidently did not have this information or just didn't care. In the former it is negligence, in the latter it is worse. And left downwind to 7 mile final is not in the pattern.

Oh yeah, as this was going on a Meridian called from 20 nm south to ask, What's the active runway? Are you kidding me???? All he had to do was monitor CTAF at this ....
Click to expand...

Sounds like a real problem. We all know that we mere mortals in pistons are supposed to disappear when either a turbine, a private jet, or a regional jet shows up and deigns to advll ise us on CTAF....but what happens when they all show up at the same time?

Is there a pecking order that we're at the bottom of? :D There could be dogfights. I think I'd climb 2000 feet over the pattern if I couldn't land, just to watch.
 
A few weeks ago I'm doing pattern work with a student.

On the CTAF we hear, "Falcon, 4 mile base for runway 26."

OK, we'll look for him and we'll either cut in or extend our downwind, depending on how quick he's moving.

Looking, looking, looking...

"Falcon, say again position?"

"Falcon is 6 mile base for 26"

We both look at each other -- Hunh? Is he in magic-turbine reverse?

"Falcon 50, turning final 26"

"My airplane" -- I do a 180 and head out of the danger area, while the student looks for the Jet -- nothing.

"Falcon 50 on base..."

Ok, now I have NO idea where this guy is.. I look everywhere -- 15 seconds later I look down and see a Falcon rolling on 26.

Holy SA, Batman!
 
Scary story. You usually figure the guy in a Premier would know his stuff. I am definitely worried about the VLJ crowd, because we all know what kind of pilot they'll attract. No, not painting all with the same brush, but the bad apples that now give Cirrus a bad name, and before that Bonanza, will now be tooling around in VLJs. All the training in the world can't change a personality.
 
Aviation history is rife with people throwing a huge checkbook and bigger ego in front of paltry skills, so I don't see how the VLJ phenomenon will be all that different. The type rating process winnows out the non-proficient, but the bigger problem is what happens a few years down the road. When complacency sets in, the skills atrophy. Insurance companies require annual (or more) training in something like the Premier, but it's clear that there are lots of folks who do fine on checkrides and just don't engage their brain the rest of the time.
 
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