True. It was incumbent upon them to brush up on FAA regs at 3 in the morning and ask this guy questions that he surely would have given honest answers to. Makes sense.
A) we don't even know he was drunk; and b) we don't know that they knew. Are you suggesting that someone SHOULD have asked for his BAC? That's absurd. He was the (unlicensed) operator of the aircraft. He's the one who showed reckless disregard for his passenger's safety.
Nobody has said the pilot's family has any responsibility. His estate has liability. That's a much different story.
I never said it was "smart" on the passengers' part. But to suggest that they should have had a clear and in-depth understanding of the dangers they faced is preposterous. The "PIC" (which I put in quotes in this case for a number of reasons) is responsible for the safety of his passengers. They could have made every bad decision imaginable that night; but the wheels of that airplane weren't leaving the ground unless and until Cletus decided to take his friends flying. He is the one responsible.
Oh really? Where did I do that?
Apparently it's not obvious to you that Cletus was the only one who could even get the engine turning, much less get the wheels off the ground.
Objection! Relevance?
Exactly, I'm well aware of what I said. And I ask you again, where did I "bring up him telling his life story to them"?
Getting in didn't kill them. It was the whole flying and crashing thing which was the biggest factor.
Objection! Relevance?
I was kiddin'. No, I'm actually not.Its relevant in the respect that I don't take a knife to a gun fight. You get paid to argue. I don't, and I am not really good at it anyway.
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A few years ago I would have had no doubt... BUT..
After the recent fatal crash here in Jackson that I witnessed ,that given has been reduced to a maybe....
Long story short.... RV-7 crashed and killed two, 5 hours later two National Park Investigators called and asked for a statement, I met them at the FBO and they filled out pages of forms. I then suggested they visit the tower to ask more questions, I called the tower, got permission, escorted them over, met with the tower controller, who happened to be on duty and watched the crash too...
The investigators point blank asked to hear the tapes.. Tower guy said " pound sand... Get a subpoena" and lead out out of the tower... Knowing what his final words were would have helps us prevent digging through that bio hazard wreckage looking for clues...
Spend three days assisting the NTSB investigator. One the 4th day she asked to visit the tower and speak with them... Once again I called and got permission to visit the tower... I escorted her over, went up to the cab and after a few minutes of her quizzing them of weather, traffic, pattern and other stuff she needed for her report, she then flat out asked to hear the tapes......
Once again they told her to "pound sand, get a subpoena" .. I honestly thought she was gonna beat the guys ass right then and there.... We were asked to leave and she finally gave in and I drove her back to her car that was parked in my hangar...
She HAD to get the courts involved days later to hear the tapes...
The NTSB apparently doesn't have the pull I thought they did...
Disingenuous. "Accidents happen" hardly applies to a someone flying without a certificate, at night, likely overloaded and out of balance, and drunk. I mean seriously...
I freely admit I'm speculating as to him being drunk, but I will eat my shoes if he was sober. And I sincerely believe the risk of crashing while flying without a certificate, at night, in poor weather, etc. etc. AND drunk is 100%. Those people were dead the second the wheels left the runway.
I'd guess CYA, and that is BS.
I say "untrained" to the extent he didn't have a certificate. That we know. My guess is he had someone teach him to land and he "figured the rest out himself". Probably a lot of autopilot. And I'd also be willing to bet the person who taught him whatever he was taught was not a CFI. Hell, they may have been an "unlicensed operator" too. Whatever it was, this whole operation was not on the up and up.
Actually, it was getting in that got them killed. If they had not gotten in, would they be alive today? I'd say probably so. These are adults we are talking about who chose to get in.
I'm guessing this isn't the first time he did whatever he did, and he didn't end up dead the first time.
Actually I would be willing to bet that they survived the getting in part. I'm fairly certain it was the non-certificated, intoxicated guy flying the plane into the ground which caused the fatal injuries.
I doubt it. I think flying drunk at night without a pilot certificate is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That's my opinion.
