Youtube Pilot and her dad perish in TN

[Flying Keys]

I’ve also observed that there is a personality trait that many (but not all) pilots possess that seems to restrict their ability to do a proper self critique of their true skill level/abilities. I wouldn’t be surprised if 100% of the YouTube pilots possess this trait, to some degree.

That’s Dunning-Kruger and we are all susceptible to it. I don’t know if the camera adds ten pounds in this case. I think it’s more that people who are younger and/or have more recently delved into aviation have themselves been surrounded or inspired by content creators, something they strive to emulate. Not all, mind you, but a good proportion.

But being young and new is a combination that puts you on the inexperience side of the curve. And when you don’t know what you don’t know, you’re going to get bit by things, camera or not. The difference is that the camera enables you to gleefully put your mistakes and ignorance all out there for everybody to see, and you’re simply not able to discern them yet.

Sure, there might be an additional distraction by the camera equipment in the cockpit in some cases (looking at the guy who constantly mugs and talks to his followers). But rather than the inability to self-critique (which is, again, fairly universal), I think it more comes down to the fact that the content creators are often rushing beyond their unknown unknowns, and putting themselves into situations in which they’re created self-imposed external pressure, get-done-itis, really, by trying to please their community, who blindly validate and encourage them to continue, despite the mistakes that more experienced pilots observe. And they don’t admit it, at least externally, but who knows what’s going on inside their minds and how any of it is internalized. Either way, a bunch of us old f*rts here briefly become a more proportional part of that community after a crash, almost in a “see, you should have listened to the experts,” kind of way. Morbid, really.

This is one of several reasons why I never put my videos out there. Actually, I can’t tell you how many times I forgot the camera was in the plane and had to go back out to the ramp to get it! I actually had to put it on my postflight checklist.

 

[rickgn]

188 knots is well above VNE. I'm guessing an attempted recovery at 4000' and possibly a structural failure? No piloting skills can save you after the wings or control surfaces fail.

If you do the math: 6000 fpm is about 100 knots vertical. That would be about 60 degrees nose down at that speed.

I will reserve opinions until after an official investigation report.

 

[MRC01]

Pitch, power, trim.
Somewhere along the line it appears one was an afterthought in training. Fly the plane and quit pushing buttons.

Indeed. When I got my complex endorsement, it was the first airplane I flew that had an autopilot. The CFI said "Let me show the most important thing to know about this autopilot. Here's how to turn it off. And here's the circuit breaker you can pull."

 

[mondtster]

That’s Dunning-Kruger and we are all susceptible to it. I don’t know if the camera adds ten pounds in this case. I think it’s more that people who are younger and/or have more recently delved into aviation have themselves been surrounded or inspired by content creators, something they strive to emulate. Not all, mind you, but a good proportion.

But being young and new is a combination that puts you on the inexperience side of the curve. And when you don’t know what you don’t know, you’re going to get bit by things, camera or not. The difference is that the camera enables you to gleefully put your mistakes and ignorance all out there for everybody to see, and you’re simply not able to discern them yet.

Sure, there might be an additional distraction by the camera equipment in the cockpit in some cases (looking at the guy who constantly mugs and talks to his followers). But rather than the inability to self-critique (which is, again, fairly universal), I think it more comes down to the fact that the content creators are often rushing beyond their unknown unknowns, and putting themselves into situations in which they’re created self-imposed external pressure, get-done-itis, really, by trying to please their community, who blindly validate and encourage them to continue, despite the mistakes that more experienced pilots observe. And they don’t admit it, at least externally, but who knows what’s going on inside their minds and how any of it is internalized. Either way, a bunch of us old f*rts here briefly become a more proportional part of that community after a crash, almost in a “see, you should have listened to the experts,” kind of way. Morbid, really.

This is one of several reasons why I never put my videos out there. Actually, I can’t tell you how many times I forgot the camera was in the plane and had to go back out to the ramp to get it! I actually had to put it on my postflight checklist.

Dunning-Kruger is certainly a factor in the training scenario presented but that is not what I am referring to with regards to the personality trait I mentioned.

 

[MauleSkinner]

View attachment 123217

188 knots is well above VNE. I'm guessing an attempted recovery at 4000' and possibly a structural failure? No piloting skills can save you after the wings or control surfaces fail.

If you do the math: 6000 fpm is about 100 knots vertical. That would be about 60 degrees nose down at that speed.

I will reserve opinions until after an official investigation report.

If you do the math correctly,
6000 ft/min x 60 min/hour = 360,000 ft/hour
360,000 ft/hour / 6076 ft/nm = 59.2 knots vertical

That’s less than 20 degrees nose down at 188 knots.

Still an extreme attitude for a Deb, though.

 

[Piperonca]

Piddling around with google I get 197 knots rough approximation to final airspeed, which may be enough to pull off some structure if controls are seized in a panic. But experts on the Bonanza can correct me.

 

[Piperonca]

Indeed. When I got my complex endorsement, it was the first airplane I flew that had an autopilot. The CFI said "Let me show the most important thing to know about this autopilot. Here's how to turn it off. And here's the circuit breaker you can pull."

You just summarized the best corrective action on this thread. For normal pilots, anyway. For an influencer, various 'malfunctions' could add ongoing drama to spice up the content. That seemed to be the plot on the little bit that I could stomach watching.

 

[ahmad]

Sad and tragic. I record a lot of my videos but just for myself. I turn on the gopro then forget about it till I shut down the engine. I watch them and figure out what I need to do better. Obviously, there were a lot of time spent editing these videos.

 

[rickgn]

If you do the math correctly,
6000 ft/min x 60 min/hour = 360,000 ft/hour
360,000 ft/hour / 6076 ft/nm = 59.2 knots vertical

That’s less than 20 degrees nose down at 188 knots.

Still an extreme attitude for a Deb, though.

Good thing I said "if you do the math". Clearly I was just guestimating in my head. But you are saying ~60 knots vertical and ~180 horizontal. Wouldn't that be 30 degrees?

Regardless, 20 or 30 degrees, that's a pretty terrifying ride in the last minute. The track log only shows the total amount of vertical drop in the time slice. It doesn't tell what was the maximum. Assuming they were trying to fix the issue, it's likely there was more angle at some point. It looks like the decent rate was nearly doubling every 15 seconds until impact. (last 4 track log entries).

I keep staring at the track log trying to figure out what was going on. The altitude wasn't stable for the entire flight, yet the heading was pretty straight.

At about 12:00 they descended from about ~6500-ish (should have been if flying west) down to it looks like 4500-ish. Then apparently, something caused them to abort the descent because they popped back up to 5500-ish. Then that's when things went bad.

In about 1 1/2 minutes they went from +600 fpm climb, then reversed down to ~900 descent. Then it went parabolic (down). The track doesn't give a clear picture of what happened between 12:01:55 and 12:02:15. That was the apex of the climb. Whatever happened in the cockpit after that, it was a short ride down.

 

[Punkinhead]

I'm wondering how many CFI's would allow a Youtuber to video their lessons. Mine were all seasoned pilots with decades of experience and I doubt they'd have allowed it. The lessons were to teach me how to fly, not to create "content". Of course, I was taking lessons before "influencer" was a job title. I'll have to ask one of them next time I see them. Maybe it's a generational thing and younger CFI's just shrug it off.

 

[rickgn]

I'm trying to understand the context of this:

This was 1 month ago. Am I understanding correctly that this pilot had already passed a checkride and was doing IFR training? And can't stay level in VFR when head is turned?

I'm very saddened by any human tragedy, regardless of the reasons why. My heart and prayers go out to the family. What p****** me off is: who let this continue? Someone should have put a stop to this.

So then... what happens in IFR when you drop your pen or your batteries in your headset dies? What about when you need to check weather on your iPad, take new route instructions from ATC, switch frequencies and deal with a passenger situation all at once (personally been there done that). Oh, and then your attitude gyro dies at the worst possible time. (been there done that, too).

I hate getting sucked into commenting on this type of thread, but I'm pretty shocked at what I'm seeing in these videos. Please someone tell me it was staged for likes. Because if it is real... wow.

Okay, I said what I was thinking. I'll stop now and wait for an official report.

 

[MRC01]

Blancolirio covers this well:

No question she lost control of this airplane. The big question is how/why? If it was the autopilot, why not turn it off or pull the fuse/breaker? Seems she had plenty of time to do that.

 

[Rein Hart]

I'm trying to understand the context of this:

This was 1 month ago. Am I understanding correctly that this pilot had already passed a checkride and was doing IFR training? And can't stay level in VFR when head is turned?

I'm very saddened by any human tragedy, regardless of the reasons why. My heart and prayers go out to the family. What p****** me off is: who let this continue? Someone should have put a stop to this.

So then... what happens in IFR when you drop your pen or your batteries in your headset dies? What about when you need to check weather on your iPad, take new route instructions from ATC, switch frequencies and deal with a passenger situation all at once (personally been there done that). Oh, and then your attitude gyro dies at the worst possible time. (been there done that, too).

I hate getting sucked into commenting on this type of thread, but I'm pretty shocked at what I'm seeing in these videos. Please someone tell me it was staged for likes. Because if it is real... wow.

Okay, I said what I was thinking. I'll stop now and wait for an official report.

I’m puzzled how she was checked off for solo and then ppl checkride. Seems her instructors let her down by not reinforcing the basics before advancing and the application of good ADM.

Mistakes happen, but the CFI unknowingly going 900ft below IFR route was particularly concerning. Imagine if that was real IMC and controller didn't alert low altitude.

Between her videos and the other crash where CFI berated his student on social media then flew into storm, it seems that some CFIs are primarily focused on building hours and neglecting to provide thorough training.

 

[Flyxaos]

Last month I watched a YouTube of a kid that bought a "small aluminum homebuilt" and flew it home on a long XC. It had few hours on it, VW derivative motor etc. It struck me when I was watching it how much he trusted in that untested machine. Almost like there was no consequence or concept of failure. He appeared to have a video game kind of approach. He did a great job of flying and editing.

His crank broke and the prop fell off a couple weeks ago. He did an admirable job of landing it on a road with no further damage.

As I have watched a couple videos, or parts, of of this lady, She seemed to have the same kind of 'no consequence to what you are doing' kind of approach to flying.

Flying is risky in the best of times, really.

 

[Lon Stratton]

If it's been mentioned, I missed it, but wondering if there were cameras rolling on the accident flight and if they were recoverable.

 

[eman1200]

If it's been mentioned, I missed it, but wondering if there were cameras rolling on the accident flight and if they were recoverable.

gopro videos are barely recoverable under standard conditions. can't imagine they'll be of any help after augering it in. but yeah, it would come in handy.

 

[MRC01]

This incident reminds me of the Ethiopian Air crash of the 737-max. The MCAS system failed and the pilots did not recognize the symptoms, fought it for several minutes as the airplane flew through big altitude excursions. When they finally disabled it, manual trim didn't work because they left the throttles at 100% for the entire flight and exceeded max airspeed. Instead of throttling back and slowing down, they re-enabled the system and it nosed them into the ground.

In the case discussed here it looks like they crashed because they lost control of the airplane while fighting failed automation systems that they didn't know how to turn off. Flight training must emphasize that we cannot become dependent on the automation tools that were created to reduce workload. Always know how to turn that stuff off, look out the window and fly the airplane. I know I'm just echoing Warren Vanderburgh. It was inevitable that over the years, techology & automation improved to the point where the risks of automation dependence that he warned against in heavy jets now applies to light GA.

 

[Palmpilot]

Blancolirio covers this well:

No question she lost control of this airplane. The big question is how/why? If it was the autopilot, why not turn it off or pull the fuse/breaker? Seems she had plenty of time to do that.

He does a really good job of explaining that autopilot and some of its pitfalls for a pilot who doesn't understand how to operate it. He also shows a portion of one video from about four weeks ago, in which she is using the autopilot's up button incorrectly and wondering why the plane is not climbing while she has a very low level of power set in.

 

[TrueCourse]

I’ve watched plenty of pilot-YouTubers, most of which are able to fly the plane fairly well and film too. This one is just different. I’m not convinced in the absence of the cameras that much of the piloting would be different.

I gave a pilotYouTuber some feedback in the comments section once, backing it up with facts, but they didn't like it and got defensive. Even so, I wish i had discovered her videos sooner and said something to help her realize what it could lead to.

Of all the things seen, the part that bothers me most, especially now, is the amount of time playing with that awful autopilot.

As a group we are easily enamored by all the advances in avionics and the presentation of information. But in the end, you must have the basic airmanship down pat.

 

[Piperonca]

So we know what the cause wasn't.

Yep, DG was wrong. Debonair dived into the earth like incoming artillery. Blancolirio quotes eyewitnesses. He does a creditable job describing scenarios where the airplane is very difficult to recover with autopilot engaged and trim in a certain state. Also says Jenny's dad was not a pilot.

 

[ArrowFlyer86]

I'm trying to understand the context of this:

This was 1 month ago. Am I understanding correctly that this pilot had already passed a checkride and was doing IFR training? And can't stay level in VFR when head is turned?

I'm very saddened by any human tragedy, regardless of the reasons why. My heart and prayers go out to the family. What p****** me off is: who let this continue? Someone should have put a stop to this.

So then... what happens in IFR when you drop your pen or your batteries in your headset dies? What about when you need to check weather on your iPad, take new route instructions from ATC, switch frequencies and deal with a passenger situation all at once (personally been there done that). Oh, and then your attitude gyro dies at the worst possible time. (been there done that, too).

I hate getting sucked into commenting on this type of thread, but I'm pretty shocked at what I'm seeing in these videos. Please someone tell me it was staged for likes. Because if it is real... wow.

Okay, I said what I was thinking. I'll stop now and wait for an official report.

Your understanding is correct. She had passed her PPL check ride some time ago, a bit over a year ago I believe. She has a video dated a year back titled "first flight w/my dad after passing my checkride!". Sad to watch in retrospect. She hit 400 TT around Sep 19th of this yr judging by her YT short.

Based on her more recent videos, she was simulating IFR checkrides with her CFII. A little shocking given the inability to hold an altitude or heading. I'm no instructor but that seems unreasonably premature to be doing IR check-ride prep at that level (plenty of footage documenting the skill gap at this phase).

Also maybe a bad sign that she's releasing videos showing the astonishing accomplishment of handflying IFR (IDK any other way to do it as a student, especially when you can't trust your A/P...).


As to "who let this continue"? Ultimately she was the one who let it happen. But my peanut-gallery two-cents is it looks like her CFII and dad were both enablers; both were awful instructors in these videos in communicating feedback. Maybe the post-flight debriefs were better, but I doubt it based on the lax behavior in the cockpit.

DG was wrong. Debonair dived into the earth like incoming artillery. Blancolirio quotes eyewitnesses. He does a creditable job describing scenarios where the airplane is very difficult to recover with autopilot engaged and trim in a certain state. Also says Jenny's dad was not a pilot.

That's pretty scary because he was definitely acting like PIC in a number of these videos. I just took it as a given that he was a pilot. In the smoke/haze video he's the one making PIC calls on the flight when she abdicates the responsibility to make a decision. And in the aircraft electrical malfunction video he's the one telling her how to troubleshoot (neither seems to have a checklist).

 

[Dave Theisen]

The human nature to try and fix what the autopilot is doing wrong is very strong. Even with professional pilots, more than once I’ve had to say, “just punch the thing off and fly the damn airplane!”

 

[MauleSkinner]

Good thing I said "if you do the math". Clearly I was just guestimating in my head. But you are saying ~60 knots vertical and ~180 horizontal. Wouldn't that be 30 degrees?

No. Your guesstimating needs work.

 

[FlightmechH3]

I saw enough. She had zero business being in a plane. Cameras and IPads, hitting buttons left and right? My gawd, her eyes were busy making sure the cameras were perfectly in place on her, instead of outside.

Speaking ill of the dead? Nope. I have zero sympathy.

 

[dmspilot]

Good thing I said "if you do the math". Clearly I was just guestimating in my head. But you are saying ~60 knots vertical and ~180 horizontal. Wouldn't that be 30 degrees?

sin(30°) is 1/2

That's pretty scary because he was definitely acting like PIC in a number of these videos.

She said he was a DPE. Perhaps retired.

Maybe the post-flight debriefs were better

In one video she said she still doesn't understand why she got scolded for altitude deviations, which points to a lack of adequate debriefing.

Seems her instructors let her down by not reinforcing the basics before advancing and the application of good ADM.

Someone upthread posted a flight track that looked like a lightning bolt. Clearly flying in a straight line was an absent skill, either because it wasn't taught or because it was forgotten after the checkride. And no, the proper way to fly straight is not to move the iPad closer to your field of vision.

Another incident occurs when she lands at a towered airport and comes to a complete stop prior to clearing the runway for ~30 seconds (could be longer as there is a cut during this time) while she complains about her ipad crashing.

More basics not taught or forgotten. Unfortunately it is more common than people realize.

 

[dmspilot]

There are some interesting comments on Juan Browne's video:

@chapdoc Thank you for this in-depth look at Jenny’s crash. Jenny was a friend of mine and we shared our training experiences together as we were going through instrument at the same time, but in different locations. She and I talked a great deal about her frustrations with her first instrument instructor and I’m glad she decided to fire him. He often commanded the radios, programmed in navigation and approaches, and even made adjustments on her aspen - reaching across her to get to the equipment. At one point he asked her to take some videos down because he was afraid it would make him look bad and negatively impact his move to the airlines. Her second instructor didn’t want her to film her training flights. Her third instrument instructor was a more experienced, older gentleman who was having her do some more fundamental maneuvers to help her get back on track with instrument training. She hated her autopilot and was getting that changed out with the Garmin suite avionics package: G3X, Garmin 500 autopilot, GTN650. I talked with her about an hour before she and her dad took off … never heard back from her. Found out about the crash morning of 8 Dec.​

​

And

@davidmangold1838 Hi Juan. Good analysis. Jenny and I were very close friends. She studied hard, for knowing her Debonair and the autopilot. I know she must not have understood and committed to memory, all that was in the a/p manual. Maybe the autopilot always acted up, but contributing factor was she wasn’t 100% conversant in its operation. She was taking the plane in for autopilot upgrade (maybe a new gps too?). She wasn’t fully competent with the interface, if the Aspen 1000. Why she couldn’t just fully disconnect the a/p, and hand fly!? I told her several times, she had to be able to do 100% of everything, when hand flying (also when using a/p and during her instrument training). Her young CFII was coddling her, by helping her too much. He left for a regional airline. She found 3 months ago, another more seasoned CFII (also corporate pilot). He didn’t permit go pro filming. They did lots of very good training! I offered to fly to Knoxville, and go with her on THIS flight. She decided to just take her dad. I regret that I wasn’t onboard, as with my 55years’ flying experience, we probably could have avoided this. I’m in shock and grieving​

​

Juan says he saw a post-firing video with her new instructor where she had trouble doing simple vertical-S maneuvers. Video must have been removed.

 

[Albany Tom]

Am I the only one who reads through this one, especially the post above, with an even mix of sadness and anger, just in general?

 

[Peter Anderson]

I’ve watched plenty of pilot-YouTubers, most of which are able to fly the plane fairly well and film too. This one is just different. I’m not convinced in the absence of the cameras that much of the piloting would be different.

I gave a pilotYouTuber some feedback in the comments section once, backing it up with facts, but they didn't like it and got defensive. Even so, I wish i had discovered her videos sooner and said something to help her realize what it could lead to.

Of all the things seen, the part that bothers me most, especially now, is the amount of time playing with that awful autopilot.

As a group we are easily enamored by all the advances in avionics and the presentation of information. But in the end, you must have the basic airmanship down pat.

As a pilot with a YouTube channel one of the reasons I post videos is to receive feedback. Without it, we do not improve. I have thanked people over and over for their feedback and criticism. It makes us all better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[islandboy]

I wonder whether we could use an addition to the list of hazardous attitudes.

NAME	DESCRIPTION	ANTIDOTE
Antiauthority	"Don't tell me..."	"Follow the rules; they're usually right."
Impulsivity	"Do something quickly!"	"Not so fast-Think first!"
Invulnerability	"It won't happen to me...."	"It could happen to me!"
Macho	"I can do it."	"Taking chances is foolish."
Resignation	"What's the use?"	"I'm not helpless."
Attention-seeking	"The flying's all about me."	"I'm all about the flying."

 

[Tarheelpilot]

Knoxville YouTube personality and business owner killed in small plane crash along with her father in Middle Tennessee

The crash killed Jenny Blalock and her father, James Blalock, according to the Giles County EMA director.

www.wbir.com

https://www.youtube.com/@tnflygirl

I think the popcorn smiles are a touch distasteful.

To frame this comment I’m a self proclaimed butthole with no filter.

In regards to this lady. She’s in the find out portion of the F around and find out chart now.

The videos posted indicate a possibility of instructor incompetence but she owns this in my opinion. Her decision making was bad with the wrong set of priorities.

 

[ahmad]

honestly it just looks like she was more aware of the gopro than the plane. just sad and tragic loss. as I said earlier I too record many of my flights to review, get feedback, and learn from them. but I don't fixate on it. on my last emergency it was off(go figure) . I wish it was on the whole time so I could have looked back on everything. it's nice to have it as long as it's not a distraction.

 

[SkyChaser]

Not to be nasty or anything, but if she had 400 hours of flight time, and her skills were accurately protrayed in the little bit of the video I watched, I'm not surprised she crashed at all. I'm just surprised she didn't crash sooner.

I am so glad I didn't end up with instructors like hers, despite having a new and inexperienced CFI. My CFI wouldn't have soloed her, much less signed her off for a checkride, with the incompetence that she seemed to be showing in executing some of the most basic airmanship skills. Watching that was so disturbing.

 

[eman1200]

honestly it just looks like she was more aware of the gopro than the plane.....

I recall the 1st time one of her vids popped up in my suggested list. before I even clicked on it I thought "here we go, another attention seeker, but lemme check it out". and I couldn't watch very much of it, it was exactly what I thought it was going to be, but even worse. horrible situational awareness, poor basic airmanship. didn't watch any more videos of hers.

.....just sad and tragic loss......

yes, absolutely, no doubt, regardless of skills, youtubing, poor CFI's, etc.....

....as I said earlier I too record many of my flights to review, get feedback, and learn from them......I wish it was on the whole time so I could have looked back on everything.....

this is what gets me the most. the videos are there for them to watch/review....I mean they spend HOURS editing them (more hours editing than becoming a good pilot)....at some point you'd think a person would catch on and say "hhmmmmm, you know, it would appear that every video I make of every flight, multiple times throughout the flight, I'm doing things wrong, performing basic tasks poorly over and over.....I wonder if I should work on that??" but these people are completely blinded of their incompetencies because they're more interested in likes/views/subs than actually learning from experiences and improving. at least 3 people come to mind where I see this repeated over and over. it's not like I haven't called them out in multiple threads before, but the names have been changed to protect the guilty....shocal flying shmonkey, Gherry Vagner, and this girl in question. shocal we can somewhat rule out since he's almost entirely doing it solely for the views. a lot of times there are flat out head scratchers in his videos, but the majority are just overblown, clickbaity over dramatizations of silly things meant to draw attention so people will click. but still plenty of learning opportunities that never seem to subside. that leaves the last two, and we can see where it got the girl.

I videoed the majority of my training and recall during flights doing something wrong, then going back and reviewing it on film. It bothered me to the point that I'd attempt not to do that thing wrong again (crazy, I know). but I'd also see other things in the vids that I didn't realize were happening during the flight. it was a very helpful tool in catching AND LEARNING from mistakes and helped me become the only-very-so-slightly above mediocre pilot that I am today.

 

[Bill]

I don’t really think she was incompetent skills wise, she just had very poor judgment. She put her attention on the wrong things, looking at and playing with toys and automation and ignoring basic instrument scan and flying the plane. Maybe the autopilot had trouble, maybe it was her understanding of function of the A/P, or maybe it was even manufactured drama to generate clicks. In any event, it’s evident in her videos that she didn’t pay enough attention to the basics of flying the plane.

Hell, there’s been times when our 40 year old A/P has done bizarre things in flight, just push the big fookin red button, hand fly, and trouble shoot the sucker when you’re back on the ground. But that produces boring vids….

 

[Bonchie]

Blancolirio covers this well:

No question she lost control of this airplane. The big question is how/why? If it was the autopilot, why not turn it off or pull the fuse/breaker? Seems she had plenty of time to do that.

My guess is that the autopilot did disconnect because it was so out of trim (her plane DID NOT have auto-trim or any electric trim). When that happens and the autopilot lets go, the plane will immediately and violently revert to the trim setting you've set and that the AP was previously fighting against. You can easily go flying into the ceiling and smack your head or worse. Maybe she was hurt at that point, or maybe she was just so disoriented by the sudden jolt that she didn't get the plane back in trim in time or didn't even think of that and instead just tried to overpower it, not realizing it's the trim and not the AP flying her into the ground (that's my guess).

That's what I think is being insinuated in that video breakdown. That she got the AP way out of trim, it disconnected, and she couldn't overpower the dive because she didn't retrim the plane.

Back when I was instructing, I was flying a 172RG with a TruTrak with the trim prompts and no autotrim. The prompts kept telling me to trim down, and like the monkey I was, I just did it. The AP disconnected and we slammed into the ceiling because it was so out of trim. I jumped on the trim wheel immediately and fixed the situation, but it was very violent. Never used that AP again.

99.9% chance that if she had just turned the stupid AP off, which she had been fighting in previous videos and during the last hour of her final flight, and left it off, she'd be alive and well.

 

[Bill]

But that produces boring vids….

Yeah, I’m quoting myself, deal!

One thing I’ve noticed over and over again is that good sound flying to PTS standards produces videos that are as exciting as watching paint dry. Boring!

People (non pilot type people) want to see Jerry Wagner-ish pilots falling out of clouds in unusual attitudes and using their “superior pilot sklz” to save day. Just sayin.

 

[Half Fast]

Yeah, I’m quoting myself, deal!

One thing I’ve noticed over and over again is that good sound flying to PTS standards produces videos that are as exciting as watching paint dry. Boring!

People (non pilot type people) want to see Jerry Wagner-ish pilots falling out of clouds in unusual attitudes and using their “superior pilot sklz” to save day. Just sayin.

It ain’t just YouTube.

The Discovery Channel has a show called “Air Disasters,” not “Uneventful Flights.”

 

[Lawson_Stone]

If I ever realize my dream of getting my PPL and owning a plane, I think I'll start a YouTube channel of routine flights where nothing much happens.

 

[Flying Keys]

Yeah, I’m quoting myself, deal!

One thing I’ve noticed over and over again is that good sound flying to PTS standards produces videos that are as exciting as watching paint dry. Boring!

People (non pilot type people) want to see Jerry Wagner-ish pilots falling out of clouds in unusual attitudes and using their “superior pilot sklz” to save day. Just sayin.

Some folks mentioned just like to show how casual everything is, nothing is a big deal. Meanwhile, they demonstrate perfect examples of several biases (expectation, outcome, continuation, confirmation), macho, some invulnerability, leading to a whole bag of complacency. In an ironic way, it’s actually really useful as a case study to demonstrate these in action.

 

[Lawson_Stone]

One thing I like about the "Aviation101" channel is that the guy typically has another pilot along who is camera capable, and he often waits until after the flight to record the actual script and narration. He seems to me to be a very capable, professional pilot who is also a very capable film maker. There are some good ones out there, and they deserve our support.