Nobody is immune.

[RyanB]

Well the NTSB released the probable cause. It appears he was attempting the same thing during the accident sequence as he did in this video he posted.

Just sad and so preventable...

https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20190107X55813

 

[Warmi]

At 2:40 .. some kind of wingover 500 feet over the river.

 

[RyanB]

At 2:40 .. some kind of wingover 500 feet over the river.

Correct.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Unknown accident causes are very unnerving. In a way, this and other finals, are encouraging for those who take proper care and precautions to reduce inherent risks of aviation. It can still happen to me, but I can control some of it.

 

[Fearless Tower]

At 2:40 .. some kind of wingover 500 feet over the river.

Anyone else notice or find it odd that he has both hands on the yoke when doing that maneuver?

 

[dmspilot]

Anyone else notice or find it odd that he has both hands on the yoke when doing that maneuver?

I found it odd he had both hands on the yoke during the takeoff, landing, and whole rest of the flight.

 

[woodchucker]

Anyone else notice or find it odd that he has both hands on the yoke when doing that maneuver?

He had both hands on the yoke the entire time up until that also.

 

[MajorTurbulence]

He had both hands on the yoke the entire time up until that also.

That looks like a tight 180. He might have been better off increasing power while turning to counteract the increased induced drag of that steep of a turn(looks like 90 degrees). Both hands may have been needed to keep a forceful pull that tight.

I love the feeling of G in a turn like that but I used to do that in an aerobatic airplane essentially making it tight enough to look like a good aerobatic maneuver, from the ground, if you didn’t stall it! He certainly could have stalled it on knife edge an into the water in a flash. Alternatively, he could have let the nose drop in knife edge and into the water. All and all, IMO, very risky down low.

 

[Fearless Tower]

The maneuver itself is not inherently dangerous.

What disturbs me is that he was doing it with passengers onboard. Notice in the video how his passenger loses the headset during the maneuver due to positive g’s?

All it takes is a passenger to overreact to something like that at the wrong moment and the sudden distraction could kill the most experienced pilot.

 

[RyanB]

All it takes is a passenger to overreact to something like that at the wrong moment and the sudden distraction could kill the most experienced pilot.

Which it did unfortunately... Just careless aviating imho. I remember having his Viking in the school’s hangar sometimes and I always thought ‘gee what a nice airplane’ shame to lose it in such an ignorant manner.

 

[MajorTurbulence]

The maneuver itself is not inherently dangerous.

It depends on the degree of bank, and how much back pressure is used to keep it tight, and whether he is trying to maintain altitude. If he reduces back pressure to unweigh the controls in response to buffet or not holding altitude, he is going down when near vertical unless he makes immediate leveling recovery which is problematic since he already is too low. Doing it at altitude reduces the inherent danger.

 

[Lndwarrior]

Lawsuit filed. Looks like the claimants have determined the cause:

"The Marinellos also point out that Davey did not file a fight plan."

 

[Ghery]

Lawsuit filed. Looks like the claimants have determined the cause:

"The Marinellos also point out that Davey did not file a fight plan."

Don't put me in that jury pool. That alone is enough to throw out the lawsuit. Talk about an ignorant lawyer.

 

[Groundpounder]

If the water was really glassy, he may also have lost depth perception when he was nose low, and misjudged the recovery.

 

[dmspilot]

If the water was really glassy, he may also have lost depth perception when he was nose low, and misjudged the recovery.

How does that cause a stall/spin?

 

[Salty]

How does that cause a stall/spin?

Once he noticed out how low he was, he pulled harder which in turn resulted in an accelerated stall?

 

[dmspilot]

Once he noticed out how low he was, he pulled harder which in turn resulted in an accelerated stall?

Not following the line of reasoning.

"The airplane pitched up, rolled to the left, and entered a left spin before descending"

"The airplane experienced an aerodynamic stall that led to the left spin near the top of the maneuver."

It doesn't seem like the water would even be in the pilot's field of view at that point let alone alter his depth perception to the point of affecting recovery.

 

[Groundpounder]

Not following the line of reasoning.

"The airplane pitched up, rolled to the left, and entered a left spin before descending"

"The airplane experienced an aerodynamic stall that led to the left spin near the top of the maneuver."

It doesn't seem like the water would even be in the pilot's field of view at that point let alone alter his depth perception to the point of affecting recovery.

Didn't read that part of the report, so my theory is no good.

 

[Salty]

How do they know that?

 

[RyanB]

How do they know that?

Wing mounted cameras.

 

[Salty]

Wing mounted cameras.

Wing mounted cameras might work, I wouldn’t put 2 cents on that info from any witness on the ground.

 

[RyanB]

Wing mounted cameras might work, I wouldn’t put 2 cents on that info from any witness on the ground.

He had a couple wing and fuselage mounted cameras and the footage from them matched the witness reports.

 

[Salty]

Sounds like what he did on the video, except not enough speed.

 

[Fearless Tower]

Sounds like what he did on the video, except not enough speed.

Or the passenger freaked out at the top when they went less than 1g and the distraction became fatal.

 

[Salty]

Or the passenger freaked out at the top when they went less than 1g and the distraction became fatal.

How would you pull less than 1g from “pulling up and banking left”? He certainly didn’t in the video.

 

[Fearless Tower]

How would you pull less than 1g from “pulling up and banking left”? He certainly didn’t in the video.

Pilot at top of climb starts to feel buffet. Unloads airplane, passenger feels light in seat and does something pilot isn’t expecting and the distraction happens at the worst possible time.

I’ve experienced less than 1g in the biplane and T6 doing the exact same maneuver....but I do t do those with passengers onboard.

 

[LoLPilot]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Sometimes it's those people that we only have passing interactions with that really make a place or experience. The recent spate of GA accidents has prompted me to start reading The Killing Zone, because I'm right in the middle of it with around 180 hours.

 

[Lndwarrior]

The maneuver itself is not inherently dangerous.

What disturbs me is that he was doing it with passengers onboard. Notice in the video how his passenger loses the headset during the maneuver due to positive g’s?

All it takes is a passenger to overreact to something like that at the wrong moment and the sudden distraction could kill the most experienced pilot.

YEP.

Just a few years ago wife and I at Las Vegas airport for a night sight-seeing flight in a helo.

As we're taking off, pilot tells a joke. Gets to the punch line at about 20 feet agl. My wife, sitting next to him, bursts out laughing, and without thinking reaches down and grabs his arm... the one holding the cyclic. Helo was out of control for a few heartbeats. We came scary close to balling it up on the tarmac.

Guarantee that pilot never tells another joke on take-off!

Anyway, something simple done by a non-flyer can easily disrupt an aircraft at a critical time.