Mooney down in Norfolk

[Danb]

Reading the accident report reveals something we often hear, generally a mistake will not kill you you learn from mistakes. It's the accumulation of mistakes one after another until they culminate in the biggest event, total failure of the pilot and or the craft. You can clearly identify each error as they occur when reading the synopsis, I kept asking when he or me, if I were there will break the chain before it breaks on its own.All of us with differing skill levels can see when we would stop, turn around or just not leave. This would be a great learning tool for a classroom to analyze then come up with ---what would I do different in each separate event within the chain. I've printed out the report and deterring each event and what I would do, taking into consideration that I already messed up the prior link in the chain. It really is a great learning exercise.

[mooniac15u]

On 3/20/2017 at 11:57 PM, Shadrach said:

There are a whole host of prescription meds that present as amphetamines because they are amphetaminess. Most of the ADHD drugs are amphetamines.  The most well know are Adderall, Vyvanse and Ritalin but there are many others.

Ritalin is actually methylphenidate which is a different class of drug.  It is is an NRDI as opposed to amphetamines which are TAAR1 agonists.  The overall effects are similar.

[jkhirsch]

I found this essay on instrument approaches which oddly enough cites a Norfolk ATC "staff specialist" as a reference: (It's an interesting read)

http://www.safepilots.org/library/contributed/IFRProcedures&Instruction_TeachingNo-gyro&RadarApproaches_08-20-10.pdf

 

[Chris from PA]

This is perhaps the most interesting and heart wrenching thread I've read on this forum.  There have been lots of comments about whether or not it was smart/safe/well planned/etc to fly that night.  As a point of learning from this tragedy I also believe it's worth discussing what do you do if you find yourself in a similar situation.  I submit a simple, plain English statement to ATC can bring a lot of resources to your aid.  A radio call such as "I'm disoriented, I'm having trouble controlling heading and altitude and I'm low on fuel.  Please help me get this plane on the ground." will get you a great deal of priority.  Please don't take this as a criticism of the accident pilot but rather a suggestion for the next one of us who finds him or herself running out of options.