What were they thinking?

Yikes, pretty crazy indeed. I always was told that the GPS altitudes were suggestions only and not to be trusted well, at least not on something like an iPad

This looks like a classic chain of events though, everything seems innocuous enough and you feel "so close" to the airport and that whole "it's just a thin layer" thing etc etc

Pilot is very lucky to be alive and hopefully learned a valuable lesson from it. Maybe he'll come on POA and tell us about it and he can get a proper ribbing
 
"He added that, while en route, he reset his airplane-installed barometric pressure altimeter to the GPS altitude indicated on his EFB, which resulted in a "300 ft. error.""

Oh god.
 
What? iPads don't have WAAS? <tongue firmly in cheek>
 
I'm guessing a 709 ride was part of the follow-up
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
What was the pilot, a CFI, thinking? deciding to descend through fog to an airport not on an instrument approach?

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/R...ID=20170404X81707&AKey=1&RType=Final&IType=CA

Miraculously not killed. I find it hard to imagine the thought process that would suggest this was a good or even survivable idea.
Click to expand...

According to the docket, no CFI only a Private rating with a little over 1000 hrs in Rt seat. Other crew member was 35 hr Student and aircraft owner in Lt set.
 
Guessing he had synthetic vision on the foreflight app.
 
12.19 hours (Last 90 days, all aircraft), 7 hours (Last 30 days, all aircraft), 7 hours (Last 24 hours, all aircraft)
 
Problem with fog is it gets worse as you get lower. What do you want to bet that the right seater let himself down through the clouds VFR repeatedly?
 
steingar said:
Problem with fog is it gets worse as you get lower. What do you want to bet that the right seater let himself down through the clouds VFR repeatedly?
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, the ol' feller probably has been getting away with that for a long time, but it finally bit him.
 
Those three used up their lifetime's supply of luck right there.
 
As previously mentioned, I cannot understand or begin to believe the thought process that this guy went through... The word IDIOT keeps popping into my mind... glad he survived, though Darwin has failed us again....
 
mtuomi said:
"He added that, while en route, he reset his airplane-installed barometric pressure altimeter to the GPS altitude indicated on his EFB, which resulted in a "300 ft. error.""

Oh god.
Click to expand...

AIM 1-1-17: Do not use the GPS derived altitude due to the large GPS vertical errors that will make the integrity monitoring function invalid.

Bob
 
Tantalum said:
Yikes, pretty crazy indeed. I always was told that the GPS altitudes were suggestions only and not to be trusted well, at least not on something like an iPad

This looks like a classic chain of events though, everything seems innocuous enough and you feel "so close" to the airport and that whole "it's just a thin layer" thing etc etc

Pilot is very lucky to be alive and hopefully learned a valuable lesson from it. Maybe he'll come on POA and tell us about it and he can get a proper ribbing
Click to expand...

A proper ribbing? Oh no. He put it on the ground and didn't kill anybody. He deserves our praise and support.

:D
 
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