One deficiency in all basic training is the lack of instruments taught. Standard rate turns or how to keep upright in level flight at the most, but climbs, descent on instruments alone less so. For certain a letdown on an ILS is not part of any PPL training. All of these very simple skills could have saved numerous lives. I don’t want to burden the VFR PPL training with any more mandatory hours, but just 5hrs in addition of this would probably be enough to keep the right side up in IMC and allow for a letdown to visual conditions.
So sad to hear about these VFR into IMC accidents year after year. They’re almost entirely preventable.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
Its these accidents which make me wonder if VFR on long trips and particularly in mountainous terrain is really a good idea or whether IFR should be mandated.
No, Mooney, you cannot (and should not!) legislate for stupidity.
I know the area quite well and these are not serious mountains, as I wrote earlier, it’s a hilly region with very little flat terrain. You wouldn’t want to have an engine failure there, no matter the wx. What I don’t get is that the guy had the perfect escape route – the ocean. All you need to do in such a situation is go out over the sea and set up a steady descent. A Mooney most likely will have an autopilot, so even easier. Then scud run. Not ideal, but gives you a fighting chance.
In any case, the pilot must have known that the wx at Reus was IFR. So why press on?? He could have gone into Valencia and waited it out. As an aside – about 10 years or so ago I had to do exactly that in that same area, but going the other way.
The 252 is such a capable aircraft, it’s just a waste to not fly it IFR. It is build for the high teens, low twenties (and even then). But then again, the wx was not favourable for VFR nor (non-fiki) IFR :-(
That wx was not suitable for flying in any GA plane. That is a huge TS.
Peter wrote:
That wx was not suitable for flying in any GA plane. That is a huge TS.
Yep. Which makes you wonder – why did they press on?
No practice ILS and/or IFR-only rules can prevent bad decision making. If there’s anything that should be changed in the PPL syllabus, then I venture to say it is the decision-making process that could and perhaps should be expanded.
Maybe the PIC had an IR just expired, or a small default in the plane making it VFR only so he decided to go VFR-as-fas-as-ATC-is-concerned, and he tried to make a DIY IAP with what he had on board.
He could have seen the ground, manoeuvered to go VMC through a hole, and hit a hill doing so.
A pure shame nonetheless.
I doubt they teach “the internet” in the PPL. Also the vast majority of the GA community did their PPL many year ago.
It is tragic – like N2195B which shared my hangar. All the wx info was available before their final, “VFR”, flight.
172driver wrote:
Yep. Which makes you wonder – why did they press on?
No practice ILS and/or IFR-only rules can prevent bad decision making. If there’s anything that should be changed in the PPL syllabus, then I venture to say it is the decision-making process that could and perhaps should be expanded
Nothing will stop these guys if they are determined to fly.
I feel sorry for them and even more for their innocent passengers.
Like this one here recently:
17FEB2018 N155PR
La Grange En Cey, Saint-Laurent-la Roche, Jura -
Peter wrote:
I doubt they teach “the internet” in the PPL.
No they don’t. I’ve shown a lot of weather stuff to few instructors and they were amazed how many things are available on Internet for free.
Based on Peter’s profile the flight looks very stable, and almost certainly flown on auto pilot. The trace would not seem to suggest weather was a significant factor for most of the flight. Could the circling be the pilots taking some time to decide whether to go north (presumably to their planned destination) or south to Valencia (or somewhere down the coast) and avoid the weather. It will be interesting to see what the comms reveals.
I know these are almost always weather related incidents but how knows, it is easy to jump to conclusions, but they are conclusions based on limited information.