the Dr. Killer and his TWO fatal crashes...

N747JB said:
Great story, what a tough way to begin your adult life! I hope he does well! :yes:
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Im thinkin potential to be one of the greatest CFI instructors ever!!.... If he decided to go that route.... But highly unlikely he would ever want to leave the ground given the circumstances.
 
PPC1052 said:
I have not gone back and completely studied the NTSB report, so some of these details may be wrong, but he initially filed to SMD to N98, but diverted to BFA due to bad weather. There is no indication in the report what the weather was predicted at the time he filed, or departed. There is no indication what the weather was observed or predicted at BFA at the time he diverted. The weather at BFA wasn't good, so he diverted again. At that time, the weather was broken at 400, overcast at 700. I don't know what other options were. Without the knowing the weather forecasts available at the time for his destinations, we can't know what he should have known.

That being said, looking at the route of flight, that's just a 2.5 hour flight in my plane (177B ), so he should still have had plenty of fuel in his Bonanza, I would think. On further examination, there is no reason to think he didn't have (or at least could not be expected to have had) plenty of fuel available.
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I am quite surprised nobody has pointed this out yet --- both N98 and BFA have no tower and no weather. CVX has no tower but has weather. All 3 airports have special takeoff minimum or ODP. Since there is no weather available at BFA, it cannot be filed/used as an alternate airport --- he should have never diverted to BFA in the first place.

The doctor had his summer cottage closest to N98 since before the first crash. The first crash he was flying from his cottage and going back home. The second crash he was flying from his home to his cottage.

This is what I don't get. He probably had his cottage BEFORE he even got his pilot license (i.e. he got his license and plane to get to his cottage faster). After he crashed and killed 3 members of his family, nobody (i.e. his CFI) reviewed the approach plates with him? It's not like he was going to a strange airport for the first time.
 
Unregistered said:
Since there is no weather available at BFA, it cannot be filed/used as an alternate airport --- he should have never diverted to BFA in the first place.
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You make some excellent points in the entirety of your post. A question about the quoted statement above:

I understand you cannot file those as alternatives, given they are listed as Alternate N/A. Is there anything necessarily wrong about diverting to them to see what they look like if you have the fuel to get to an appropriate alternate?
 
PPC1052 said:
You make some excellent points in the entirety of your post. A question about the quoted statement above:

I understand you cannot file those as alternatives, given they are listed as Alternate N/A. Is there anything necessarily wrong about diverting to them to see what they look like if you have the fuel to get to an appropriate alternate?
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I think that CVX already upgraded to WAAS in 2011 and he had a 530W in his plane. He could have used CVX LPV runway 9 riding all the way down to 250 DA and landed the plane safely while the CVX weather was still 700 overcast 400 broken.

He didn't have weather on either N98 and BFA. He decided to divert from N98 to BFA because CVX weather was getting bad.

It's cottage country by the Great Lakes --- it's either lake effect fog or snow (it's going to happen often and it's going to linger). NTSB recovered his log book (the log book since 2003 crash), he diverted to CVX only twice in 7 years --- that tells me that he got away with diverting to BFA too many times to form a bad habit.

He already killed 3 members of his family in the first crash. He should had a hard rule --- if weather is getting bad, land at the largest of the 3 airports with the longest runway, weather station, better landing equipments (with lower minimums)... Better yet, pick CVX as your permanent destination airport --- all that it will cost you is the extra 20 minutes of driving to your cottage when compared to N98.
 
Regardless of fuel (which he had plenty), pilots gets tired in emergency or bad weather situations very quickly --- like pizza delivery, it's 30 minutes or less. By diverting to BFA (without knowing the weather), he basically used up all his concentration and energy.
 
Unregistered said:
Regardless of fuel (which he had plenty), pilots gets tired in emergency or bad weather situations very quickly --- like pizza delivery, it's 30 minutes or less. By diverting to BFA (without knowing the weather), he basically used up all his concentration and energy.
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Yep, that's where cigarettes come in.
 
Henning said:
Yep, that's where cigarettes come in.
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looks-like-i-picked-the-wrong-week-to-quit-smoking.jpg
 
Unregistered said:
I am quite surprised nobody has pointed this out yet --- both N98 and BFA have no tower and no weather. CVX has no tower but has weather. All 3 airports have special takeoff minimum or ODP. Since there is no weather available at BFA, it cannot be filed/used as an alternate airport...
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While I know that all approaches at airports without weather reporting are normally marked A-NA, and the regulations prohibit filing an airport with A-NA on the approach chart based on that approach, I'm not familiar with the FAA regulation which says it's not legal to divert to that airport and fly that approach just because there's no weather reporting. Can you point it out to me?
 
Ron Levy said:
While I know that all approaches at airports without weather reporting are normally marked A-NA, and the regulations prohibit filing an airport with A-NA on the approach chart based on that approach, I'm not familiar with the FAA regulation which says it's not legal to divert to that airport and fly that approach just because there's no weather reporting. Can you point it out to me?
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He's probably referring to 14 CFR Part 135.213 (which, of course applies to Part 135 operations)

135.213 Weather reports and forecasts.

(a) Whenever a person operating an aircraft under this part is required to use a weather report or forecast, that person shall use that of the U.S. National Weather Service, a source approved by the U.S. National Weather Service, or a source approved by the Administrator. However, for operations under VFR, the pilot in command may, if such a report is not available, use weather information based on that pilot's own observations or on those of other persons competent to supply appropriate observations.
(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of this section, weather observations made and furnished to pilots to conduct IFR operations at an airport must be taken at the airport where those IFR operations are conducted, unless the Administrator issues operations specifications allowing the use of weather observations taken at a location not at the airport where the IFR operations are conducted. The Administrator issues such operations specifications when, after investigation by the U.S. National Weather Service and the certificate-holding district office, it is found that the standards of safety for that operation would allow the deviation from this paragraph for a particular operation for which an air carrier operating certificate or operating certificate has been issued.
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Yea, I was thinking about 135, Part 91 can shoot approaches in zero zero all day long.

It seems that after the 2011 crash, N98 now has a newer landing equipment and has a lower minimums than BFA --- too late to save the doctor.

He was half an hour out when he decided to divert. Plenty of time to brief the CVX LPV runway 9 approach plate with a DA of 250, program his 530W and land the aircraft safely at CVX when the CVX weather was still 700/400.

Instead, he missed at BFA and had only 10 minutes to fly to CVX (and brief the CVX approach plate with a higher minimum).

This is an area with a lot of hills --- that's why all the special takeoff minimums and ODP's. This is also an area next to the Great Lakes, lake effect fog is going to happen often and the fog is going to linger because the airports are surrounded by hills. Yet he only landed at CVX only twice in 7 years. He was playing with fire for a long time --- AFTER he killed his first wife and 2 kids.
 
Unregistered said:
Yea, I was thinking about 135, Part 91 can shoot approaches in zero zero all day long.
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Not only that, Part 91 (under which the pilot under discussion was operating) has no requirement for weather reporting at a diversion airport even if airports without weather reporting have restrictions for filing as alternates. But that doesn't change the fact that, as you said, the pilot under discussion made a whole string of really bad decisions on each fatal flight.
 
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