Very frustrating. This does not help GA.

[marks]

daver, "Nobody" has the same attitude I do.  You say, "Could the guy have done better? Sure."  Therefore I have no argument with you.  Lastly, it is possible that if he had done better that just maybe someone in that plane might have made it out alive. 

[marks]

This accident in Plainville, MA feels very close to me.  For nine-and-a-half years I commuted almost every business day from Martha's Vineyard to Norwood, MA (OWD) which was the pilot's destination.  I have just over 300 instrument approaches into OWD and every one of them was the LOC RWY 35 approach.  Given the fact that the wind was reported as 010 I feel sure that was what the pilot intended.  The address of the accident was 25 Bridle Path Plainville, so I tried to determine what road ATC was vectoring the pilot to.  I think Rt. 1 might have been to the pilot's right and that road has buildings and businesses on both sides of the road and would not be the best place to head for. 

 

In my opinion, ATC often directs the pilot to an airport far too distant or to a road that on average would be too far away or just a bad choice. When the pilot says, "I need help" and ATC doesn't have any knowledge of how far the plane can glide into the wind, or what the pilot can expect when reaching the destination he is being vectored to, the natural instinct to begin maneuvering where ATC has advised is very strong.  Sometimes, in stormy conditions ATC will tell the pilot something like, "turn right 090" and when the pilot looks to his right there's a black cloud with lightening coming out of it.  Yet sometimes the pilot feeling deep stress will simply respond "right 090" instead of responding "unable".  Having never been in such a stressful situation before with the pilot's family on board, I can't find any personal fault with the pilot or his decisions, but I think that pilots need to remember that ATC advice will only help when the advice is disseminated by the pilot as helpful or not. 

 

Plainville is not a very densely populated town.  It's not near Boston or Providence.  It's more like half-way between.  The address of the accident was just about 1,500 ft. away from the Walnut Hill Horse Farm.  There are corn fields and shallow ponds and lakes in Plainville and of course a golf course too.  I think it's a shame that ATC first tried to advise the pilot to turn toward a busy road with buildings all along side it that was too far away anyway.

 

I don't mean to disrespect the pilot or anyone else associated with this accident, including you.  But I think that if pilots think ahead about the unthinkable, they can increase their chances for survival.  I think this type of discussion and the possibility that it might save someone's life is what Monneyspace is all about.

[MyNameIsNobody]

Aviation, Navigate...

Communicate.

Bad advice is far worse than NO advise...

[Shadrach]

How difficult would it be for controllers to have areas of low density around the approach corridor marked on the screen?

Likely a liability issue. "You vectored an airplane right into my clients house"...