Wondering: did this pilot risk his family's life?

Sac Arrow said:
If you're already in the air, and your choice is either land in an inhospitable strip or a nice long one with services and medical access, it doesn't matter much whether you're one mile away or a hundred miles away. It's a no brainer to me.
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Agree with this, and Ed's reply/replies.

Also keep in mind we're talking 1983. Depending on how remote this field is, there may not have been a soul around and no way to contact one. Think Steve is gonna pop out his smart phone in 1983 and call for help?
 
not-a-pilot-at-all said:
Thank you so much Ed, and the others who have chimed in with useful info.

I can understand why you all would be nervous about trolls, but many of you were awful quick with that assumption. It was my first post because I'm not a pilot, and have never needed an aviation forum before. Then I heard this story -- which has been causing some scandal within my family -- and really wanted input from professionals.

I searched the web, and this really seemed like the best place. I'm sure most of the time, this space is experts-only, and I don't want to intrude on that. But sometimes, non-experts have questions.

Again, a real thanks for the serious answers. Very much appreciated.
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I have been on the fence about the whole troll business since your original post but for the most part I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt and not flame you. That happens way too often on here and I have contributed a small amount to it on a couple of other threads.

My question is if this happened in 1983 and if all turned out well, why is this a scandal in your family 32 years later? Why worry about it? If people in your family are still fixated on an event that happened that long ago in which I assume no one was even hurt, why is it a scandal now? Is Steve still around to ask for his explanation pf the events? Do you trust his opinion on the matter less than that of some strangers on the internet? Did one of his family members, now several years later, decide to resurrect what they perceive to be an example of Steve's "poor judgment" for some personal reasons?

I agree with those that have stated that based on the information provided they believe that Steve's actions were reasonable and probably even the best course of action. So you can add my opinion as a +1 in the "Steve did good" column but since you don't know me or what my knowledge base might be, my opinion should hold little to no value to you.

Still, let's hear why this is an issue today. :dunno:
 
Auburn2002 said:
Also keep in mind we're talking 1983. Depending on how remote this field is, there may not have been a soul around and no way to contact one. Think Steve is gonna pop out his smart phone in 1983 and call for help?
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There are fields like that in 2015 too, some of them within an hour's flight of major metropolitan areas.
 
I was hoping for a return of "Steve the Pilot" of Red Board fame, now in a twin…..

Did he ask the family to "lean forward" with their heads between their legs???:D
 
OP here again.

For those of you who are curious, here is a little more background as to how this story came up.

The story was recently told by one family member -- an adult who was on the flight in question -- to another family member -- a small child who was on the flight. Steve's kid is now an adult, heard the story recently, and has wondered whether the story proves that Steve is a bad person.

Now, Steve may indeed be a bad person -- I'm not even going to get into that!! -- but maybe Steve's kid could calm down about this incident.

Steve is in poor health, so asking him directly isn't an option. And the story I heard had obviously gone through a few people. I tried to recount the story here as I had heard it.

I feel like the answers here have given some important context, which I'll try to pass on.
 
A lot depends on what alternatives were available to him. If you can find out specifically which airport he took off from, and which one he landed at, that might give us a better chance of assessing the reasonableness of his decision.
 
Palmpilot said:
A lot depends on what alternatives were available to him. If you can find out specifically which airport he took off from, and which one he landed at, that might give us a better chance of assessing the reasonableness of his decision.
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But the reasonableness of his decision does not have anything to do with whether he is a "bad person" or not. Surely his kid who would be 30+ can understand that.
 
C'mon.... 30 yrs later the flight in which no one was injured is the barometer of this guys value as a human?

When you leave fish out, it starts so smell fishier. Same is true for this thread.
 
Never underestimate the dysfunctionality of families.

My guess: Some family members who were on board got scared, and are still resenting it thirty years later!
 
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not-a-pilot-at-all said:
OP here again.

Steve's kid is now an adult, heard the story recently, and has wondered whether the story proves that Steve is a bad person.
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Steve sounds much better than my Dad, regarding making good decisions when family members are aboard.

My dad took off when the family aboard, including me, when the airport was blanketed by fog, and he had no instrument rating. Obviously we lived, but there's no question that he made a bad choice there. But I still love the old man.
 
Lost my electrical system on 3 mile final into Philadelphia Intl. last year right when I clicked the gear down lever. I climbed 2000 feet, got out the handheld radio and told the Philly controllers what was up and that I was diverting 30 miles north to sort out the issue somewhere out of their way. They insisted I could stay with them but the last thing I wanted was someone barking vectors at me while I tried to see if I could get power back and/or manually get the gear down. A secondary consideration...the second to last thing I wanted was a bill from the FBO mechanic in philly. The folks in Pottstown, Pa probably knew more at half the price and were able to send someone out on the runway to confirm my gear was down before I tried landing. And, when I walked into the FBO, they handed me a beer.

Just depends on the circumstances. I wouldn't second guess that decision at all. Now if he passed 4 suitable airports on way to the destination 100 miles away...that might be different.
 
not-a-pilot-at-all said:
I recently heard an old story, and I would love input from actual aviation professionals as to if the pilot's behavior was as terrible as it sounds to me, a total non-expert.

The year is 1983, give or take. Steve has his pilot's license and owns his own 6-seater plane, which he uses both for business and for family travel. This time, Steve has his wife and children with him.

Steve takes off from a rural airfield in a heavily forested area, one he's used before. One of the plane's two engines goes out. Steve tells everyone onboard to put their heads between their legs. Steve manages to save the takeoff, and the plane does not crash.

Rather than land at the rural airfield, Steve flies on to his destination, a major airport about 100 miles away. (Perhaps the closest major airport.) He flies on one engine, with his entire family in the plane.

Is this as crazy as it sounds to me? Did Steve recklessly risk the lives of his entire family? Or is there some reason why Steve made a reasonable choice?
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I know apples to oranges...but,

Everyday on the road I see a family in an SUV driving way over the speed limit, Doing makeup while driving, in and out of traffic while on the phone....etc. Luckily for them their bad habits hasn't caught up to them. More likely than not it will...sooner or later......same with airplanes.

I wouldn't dare fly a twin on one engine with my family in the back. The best option would be to land you may not get that option next time!
 
I should not conflate whether Steve made a good aviation choice with whether or not he is a good person.

I didn't mention this, but Steve was close to his cousin and got his cousin into flying. Cousin flew his own family across the country in conditions beyond his skills, crashed, and everyone onboard died.

So yeah, every family has its own dysfunction, and plane crashes are a pretty sensitive topic in my family. I think Steve's kid was feeling kind of "there but for the grace of God go I." Which I suppose is true, but only so far as we all face risks all the time.
 
Sounds like Steve handled his flight well and his cousin did not. That is 100% on cousin. The fact that Steve got him into flying is absolutely meaningless. He made his own choices.


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