My flight instructor has crashed

[Mcstealth]

One of my instructors has crashed and died with a student of his on Saturday. He was in the students two seat Grumman doing manuvers or t&g's. The details are sketchy and they were at a neighboring airport when it happened. Both pilots dead at the scene.

 

This was as close to home as it has ever been for me, and it is a weird feeling to say the least.

 

David

[co2bruce]

My thoughts go out to the families. You need to wait and get some facts. I have lost people in airline accidents and know the feeling. We participate in a activity that has risks, and good piloting involves managing those risks. My thoughts will be with you as well as you work through this tradgedy.

 

[rbridges]

I believe Jolie posted this on her mooney ambassadors facebook page.  Very unfortunate.  

[rbridges]

my mistake, someone else posted it.  here's the link for the facebook and the article.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/132057967005/10151032340292006/?notif_t=group_activity

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2012/08/25/two_dead_in_llano_plane_crash.html?cxntfid=blogs_the_blotter

[PilotDerek]

Very sad. My prayers go out to their families. It seems we have been having a rash of accidents lately. Please fly safe everyone.

[mooneygirl]

This is a very sad loss.  Of course, we were not in the airplane and so I believe out of respect we should not do armchair quarterbacking.  I believe he was a test pilot for Mooney and so was skilled. We were at Lake Tahoe this weekend with the Ambassadors.  We received a chilling call about 11:15 p.m. asking if any of our Mooneys had left about 10:00 p.m.  With four adults and one child on board a Cherokee crashed 1/4 mile off the runway. Very sad weekend

[fantom]

Sad, of course, "but there will be others".

Viper: How ya doin'?
Maverick: I'm all right.
Viper: Goose is dead.
Maverick: I know.
Viper: You fly long enough, something like this happens.
Maverick: He was my R.I.O., my responsibility.
Viper: My squadron, we lost 8 of 18 aircraft. 10 men. First one dies, you die too. But there will be others. You can count on that. You gotta let him go. You gotta let him go.

[aviatoreb]

Quote: Mcstealth

One of my instructors has crashed and died with a student of his on Saturday. He was in the students two seat Grumman doing manuvers or t&g's. The details are sketchy and they were at a neighboring airport when it happened. Both pilots dead at the scene.

 

This was as close to home as it has ever been for me, and it is a weird feeling to say the least.

 

David

[DaV8or]

To the OP- I'm really sorry for your loss. It's tough when it's close to home. Sinks in that if it happened to him, it can happen to anyone, right? The safety and security of "safer than the drive to the airport" fades away. The sobering reality of flying in the air rears it's ugly head. Fortunately, it's not often.

To the students- Just because you have a CFI sitting next to you doesn't mean it's all going to be OK. Think about what your doing and what your asked to do. If it's something you don't feel comfortable with, don't. There are some CFIs that like to simulate emergencies way too realistically and pay the price. There are others that will push a student past their actual skill level too soon also. I'm not saying that either of these is the case here. Who knows? I'm just bringing it up because a CFI was involved and too many feel a CFI is a super safety blanket. This is yet another example that this is not always so. They are largely regular pilots too.

To the CFIs- You're not indestructable. You won't always be able to save the day. Think about what you're doing and what your asking the student to do. Example- If the Mooney student totally botches the full stall and the plane does enter a full spin, will you always be able to fix it? It's tough I'm sure. Students are always trying to kill you, yet you need to get them close to the edge so they'll be able to handle the real thing someday. A fine balancing act to be sure and thankfully, you all do a fine job nearly 100% of the time.

My ramblings here have not much to do with this accident because I really have no idea why the crashed. Maybe it was mechanical failure that no one could have survived. Who knows at this point? Plane crashes make me think yet again about what it is I do and these are just some thoughts.

My thoughts go out to the families and the lost aviators.