Mooney 201 lands on high power lines in MD

[Shadrach]

35 minutes ago, kortopates said:

It would be great to know what actions the FAA took with the the pilot as well. Probably remedial training at the minimum and perhaps a checkride before further instrument privileges?


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30 years earlier, he flew a Cherokee 6 into a box canyon with rising terrain. He flew the plane into the ground but he and his four passengers survived with minor injuries. His poor judgement has injured 5 people in his flying career.  He’s very lucky, it’d be best for everyone if he stepped away from airplanes whether voluntarily or otherwise. 

[1980Mooney]

1 hour ago, Shadrach said:

30 years earlier, he flew a Cherokee 6 into a box canyon with rising terrain. He flew the plane into the ground but he and his four passengers survived with minor injuries. His poor judgement has injured 5 people in his flying career.  He’s very lucky, it’d be best for everyone if he stepped away from airplanes whether voluntarily or otherwise. 

Oh he is not doing that.  He currently has a 1961 Cessna 172B, N8139X, registered in his name that he continues to fly here in July.  He definitely is getting his money's worth from insurance......

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N8139X

https://www.flightaware.com/resources/registration/N8139X

In the 1992 crash he narrowly avoided killing his entire family (wife and 2 young children) and their nanny.  He was flying a 1976 Piper PA-32R-300.  I think it was designated as a Lance Retractable that year.  The plane slide 60 yards down the canyon after crashing.  It burst into flames after they got out.

https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/132961

https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/42870/pdf

https://www.deseret.com/1992/8/5/18998028/investigators-comb-scene-of-plane-crash-below-peak-br/

https://www.deseret.com/1992/8/4/18997844/5-escape-with-minor-injuries-from-plane-wreck-in-canyon-br/

 

 

Edited July 29 by 1980Mooney

[kortopates]

30 years earlier, he flew a Cherokee 6 into a box canyon with rising terrain. He flew the plane into the ground but he and his four passengers survived with minor injuries. His poor judgement has injured 5 people in his flying career.  He’s very lucky, it’d be best for everyone if he stepped away from airplanes whether voluntarily or otherwise. 

indeed and i haven’t forgotten that and sure the FAA hasn’t either as it’s part of the reason i expect the FAA to take action.


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[Fly Boomer]

9 hours ago, kortopates said:

would be great to know what actions the FAA took with the the pilot

I would think just the pilot's apparent cavalier attitude would earn a 709 ride.

[LANCECASPER]

Probable cause: stupidity

In weather where airlines may very well divert to an alternate this guy is feeling his way through the scud with a VFR handheld GPS. I wonder why General Aviation gets a bad name?

Have plenty of fuel on board and go land at a VFR or MVFR airport and wait it out or rent a car or get an Uber.

[201er]

11 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

Have plenty of fuel on board and go land at a VFR or MVFR airport and wait it out or rent a car or get an Uber.

"It's extremely inconvenient to everybody on the ground" said the guy who knocked out power and required a major rescue from everyone on the ground...

 

From the report:

In an on-camera interview with local media, the pilot was asked what “ultimately led to the plane crash” and the pilot stated, “Quite obviously I was flying too low.” He was then asked why he didn’t divert to another airport, to which he replied, “The possibility of diverting the flight to another airport always exists… it’s extremely inconvenient to everybody on the ground.” When asked if he wished he had diverted to another airport the pilot said, “Of course. There were airplanes ahead of us who diverted.”

 

 

[Shadrach]

10 hours ago, kortopates said:

indeed and i haven’t forgotten that and sure the FAA hasn’t either as it’s part of the reason i expect the FAA to take action.


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Nevertheless, it appears he’s still flying.

[kortopates]

2 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

Probable cause: stupidity

In weather where airlines may very well divert to an alternate this guy is feeling his way through the scud with a VFR handheld GPS. I wonder why General Aviation gets a bad name?

Have plenty of fuel on board and go land at a VFR or MVFR airport and wait it out or rent a car or get an Uber.

Personally I think its much worse that that. The pilot displays at least 3 of the 5 hazardous attitudes (Anti-authority, Invulnerability and Macho) and demonstrated he also lacks the skill and knowledge to properly fly an instrument approach with his avionics even into his home airport! How could the FAA not find him a danger to people on the ground and in the airspace and respond accordingly?

[Shadrach]

12 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

Oh he is not doing that.  He currently has a 1961 Cessna 172B, N8139X, registered in his name that he continues to fly here in July.  He definitely is getting his money's worth from insurance......

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N8139X

https://www.flightaware.com/resources/registration/N8139X

In the 1992 crash he narrowly avoided killing his entire family (wife and 2 young children) and their nanny.  He was flying a 1976 Piper PA-32R-300.  I think it was designated as a Lance Retractable that year.  The plane slide 60 yards down the canyon after crashing.  It burst into flames after they got out.

https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/132961

https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/42870/pdf

https://www.deseret.com/1992/8/5/18998028/investigators-comb-scene-of-plane-crash-below-peak-br/

https://www.deseret.com/1992/8/4/18997844/5-escape-with-minor-injuries-from-plane-wreck-in-canyon-br/

 

 

I cannot fathom electing to fly up a box canyon...into rising terrain...towards a ridgeline in excess of 9000'msl...in August!  The DA at his departure airport (4200msl) was ~6300'.  He was loaded with 3 adults and two kids, plus bags and fuel.  I am sure they were on the heavy side.   He could have easily stayed West of the ridge and out of the canyon while attempting to gain sufficient altitude before turning East.  Moronic decision making...

[NickG]

14 hours ago, kortopates said:

It would be great to know what actions the FAA took with the the pilot as well. Probably remedial training at the minimum and perhaps a checkride before further instrument privileges?


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He should lose his privileges. Period. His actions here and in the previous incident show a total disregard for his life and the life of others. He is clearly an entitled a*hole whose attitude borders on sociopathic. I don't want to share the same National Airspace System as this jackass. Talk about "reckless endangerment". I'd like to see him held financially liable for all that damage to public property due to his reckless disregard of the rules. This was not an "accident" but an inevitability. 

[1980Mooney]

1 hour ago, NickG said:

He should lose his privileges. Period. His actions here and in the previous incident show a total disregard for his life and the life of others. He is clearly an entitled a*hole whose attitude borders on sociopathic. I don't want to share the same National Airspace System as this jackass. Talk about "reckless endangerment". I'd like to see him held financially liable for all that damage to public property due to his reckless disregard of the rules. This was not an "accident" but an inevitability. 

Well I don’t know if he is all those things but he is definitely an Attorney. Martin-Hubbell lists his areas of practice as in Civil Law, Property Rights, Civil Rights, Real Estate

Maybe he will sue the FAA for damages because the FAA ultimately made the decision to allow him to crash and injure people twice. 

 

[EricJ]

The fringes of the distribution are filled with stories that will always make our collective heads shake.    I recall the crash of the Aerostar a few years ago, where the guy had been posting vids for years of flying his family around in a 310.   Then he bought an arguably unairworthy Aerostar and hypoxied himself into a mountainside flying it home after purchase.    He had no pilot certificate, no medical, etc., etc.   The 310 hadn't had an annual in years.   These guys are less rare than you'd think, which is really remarkable.

So if this guy is actually current, has a medical, and his airplane records are up-to-date, he's not even that far out on the edge of the distribution of the problem children that the FAA is trying to spend their time on.   

Watch some of the episodes of the Air Disaster shows on cable and there are quite a number of cases where even in the airlines there are guys that fall through the cracks and do really dangerous (and sometimes fatal) things because of whatever.

[1980Mooney]

4 hours ago, EricJ said:

So if this guy is actually current, has a medical, and his airplane records are up-to-date, he's not even that far out on the edge of the distribution of the problem children that the FAA is trying to spend their time on.   
 

So you got me thinking.  Digging deeper his 1961 Cessna 172, N8139X, is co-owned with a Robert Franklin Thompson, age 73.  Merkle bought the Cessna in 2006.  But it appears that Thompson got his Private in 2010.  He is not Instrument rated. 

The Cessna is kept at College Park airport, KCGS.  It is 2,980 ft long.  The Mooney was kept at Gaithersburg, KGAI, 16 nm. away.  It is 4,200 ft. long.

Looking over a couple years there was only one single day when both planes flew at the same time.  The Mooney accident flight in Nov 2022 was from KGAI to White Plains, (KHPN) and back, 196 nm. each way.  Interestingly the Cessna 172 had previously also flown to White Plains (KHPN) and back in Sept 2022 (much slower of course...).

Fast forward to today.  Thompson's Medical is current using BasicMed.  Merkle kept his Medical current after the Nov 2022 crash by getting a Second (2nd) Class Medical on 4/2023.  Generally when over 40, a 2nd Class is good for one year for Commercial privileges and then reverts to a 3rd Class for another year.  But in this case his Airman says "NOT VALID FOR ANY CLASS AFTER 04/30/2024."

So technically Merkle does not have a current Medical.  Who is actually flying the 172...Thompson or Merkle?  Why did he get a 2nd Class Medical when he is not commercial or an instructor?  I wonder what his angle is....

Also watch the YouTube interview if you have not already.  At 2:37, when asked "Do you think that you will ever fly again", he says with a smirk and a wink "Well I still own a Cessna"

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30 by 1980Mooney

[dkkim73]

15 hours ago, EricJ said:

The fringes of the distribution are filled with stories that will always make our collective heads shake.    ....    He had no pilot certificate, no medical, etc., etc.   The 310 hadn't had an annual in years.   These guys are less rare than you'd think, which is really remarkable.

So if this guy is actually current, has a medical, and his airplane records are up-to-date, he's not even that far out on the edge of the distribution of the problem children that the FAA is trying to spend their time on.   
 

On another MS thread, people are earnestly discussing whether it is appropriate to change a circuit breaker. Just as in other areas of life, we sometimes forget there are people with really bad ideas, ethics, and low standards, and just because we don't associate with them doesn't mean they aren't real and can't hurt us.