Very relevant but it does not matter how you wear a life jacket in case of loss of control !
RobertL18C wrote:
The training system does provide the tools for a crew to exit from an inadvertent encounter with IMC, so it is a tragedy when this sort of accident happens.
I think ASI ran an experiment a while ago where non-IFR pilots were to enter IMC and continue flying, done in a sim. The result were not very encouraging.
Horrible.
Our previous discussion turns out to have been accurate.
We didn’t know it was an in flight breakup, at about 3000ft perhaps.
The report rants on about F215 which nobody uses. It was crap when I did my PPL in 2000… The CAA will never admit to the crap PPL syllabus.
Incredibly low LHS currency but probably not unusual in aero clubs everywhere. But had they used the autopilot they would have probably got away with it. If it worked… Many don’t, and many pilots don’t know how to use them especially in the club environment.
The final piece which the CAA will never admit is the crappy airspace system which makes it impossible to get an IFR popup clearance, legal or not.
@arj1 the point is that all pilots at some point were trained and examined to carry out a course reversal on instruments. So either the currency program at the flying club was deficient, or PPL examiners are not carrying out this element of the test correctly, the latter I would regard as unlikely.
Peter’s points are on the nose, as usual. They got to 7000 when the tops were according to one account were only 8000. Without the stupid class A they would have got clear.
The lack of published VFR route or corridor from SFC-FL75 into the Danger Areas (prohbited untill 1500ft or 3kft depending on NOTAMS) along the shortest crossing is also an issue for an aircraft who has “to maintain VMC”…
Let’s hope people would plan for good weather or long crossing to avoid DA with raft & jackets instead of an technical fix that involve switching ALT OFF?
“Both occupants were wearing lifejackets with their shoulder harnesses worn under their lifejackets.”
I once put on a lifejacket in the air, having forgotten to put it on before a sea crossing to North Uist. In calm air, it was distracting.
On landing I found one strap under it, which would have required me to remove lifejacket to get out.
Putting on the lifejackets in the air might make going into cloud more likely.
My opinion is based on 2 solid points (just opinion though)
1. It was solid VFR in the whole of the south east and solid VFR in northern France. (Easier to miss the intense localised Wx in the channel.)
2. All their ‘mates’ ahead of them had made it so perhaps they would be ok.
If this was an individual pair in a PA28, would they have done more met? Would they have turned around if flying as a single ship, and gone elsewhere or home rather than pressing on?
Hopefully a learning pojnt for some of us, or hopefully, definitely not a learning point, as we should all know better.
One thing I don’t quite get here. The Danger area ends pretty close to the south of their track. If you wanted to go lower, why not just fly south for a few minutes and then back on course?
Also this: The aircraft flying IFR, G-BJNZ, was involved in a separate accident on the same day and is the subject of
a separate AAIB investigation
Not a good day….
All their ‘mates’ ahead of them had made it so perhaps they would be ok.
1 twin flew IFR above
2 flew VFR through the same patch, like nothing existed
1 went south on long water crossing
1 flew very low (inside danger area)
1 turn back to Shoreham
Also this: The aircraft flying IFR, G-BJNZ, was involved in a separate accident on the same day and is the subject of
That was a double engine failure in an Aztec on the return flight, likely frozen fuel? the pilot should know few things about this topic (but surprisingly, it was a very cold day at FL100 (ISA-20), so unlikely IPA was add to the fuel), the pilot did a great job putting 2T on a field safely, him and his pax walked away on their own, I am sure he did a pretty good job
