"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...
Instead of responding to a request for vectors in an engine failure over
water situation, this controller played Q&A. No telling if the plane
would have made land if the controller had answered *the* question.

And no telling how the controller would have replied if the pilot had a)
actually declared an emergency, and b) had not confused matters by using the
phrase "lost an engine" (which to me, implies at least one engine is left
running), and c) had not further confused matters by first saying they had
"lost an engine" and then later saying that their engine was "running
rough".

I'm also a little unclear as to how it is that the pilot didn't already know
what direction to head to get to the beach. Yes, maybe things would have
been different if the controller had provided the vector to the beach at
once, but it seems to me that if you're over the water at St. Augustine, you
head west to reach land (which turns out to be basically the vector provided
eventually anyway). It's not rocket science.

Basically, after the initial request, the controller instructed "say again".
Instead of simply repeating his transmission, the pilot changed his tune and
failed to specify what kind of vector he wanted, and failed to indicate that
he had actually lost an engine. Assuming the controller really didn't
understand the initial transmission, I cannot see how he can be faulted for
failing to provide a vector (a vector to where?) or for not immediately
recognizing the severity of the situation (he's got a guy with a
rough-running engine, not a complete failure, as far as he knows).

I really cannot see how the controller's response or lack thereof could be
considered to have contributed a significant role to the accident. From
what you've posted, the airplane in question was at least 4000' altitude
before the engine problem. An immediate turn to the west (where any pilot
should have known land was) would have given him a good four mile glide or
more (assuming typical GA airplane glide ratio), and the airplane was only
three miles from the *airport* (admittedly, not far from the beach) by the
time the controller got around to giving him position information.

I see plenty of pilot error, and *maybe* a teeny tiny glitch in the
controller's response. To try to put the deaths of the pilot and his
daughter on the controller is just plain wrong.

Pilot in command. The final authority with respect to responsibility for
the safety of the flight. As pilots, we need to take that responsibility
seriously. Short of obvious gross negligence, point the finger somewhere
else is NOT taking that responsibility seriously.

Pete