Ya know when I was doing my first solo XC for my PPL, I flew out of
Carlsbad and over the Julian VOR and off to the rest of my XC trip.
This was the same place where this plane crashed. Anyway, I was level
at 7500 outbound toward the Vulcan Mtn, and the controller told a
plane with Very similarr callsign as mine (I think they actually did
call my plane) to descend to (whatever it was) an altitude which was
lower than then peak of Vulcan Mtn. The other plane did not respond,
and in turn I thought it was my call sign. Of course, I immediatly
thought "No way am I going to descend into that mountain." and called
the tower and asked if the descent was intended for my callsign. They
promptly said "No, maintian 7500" and re-issued the descend for a way
different tail number. Hmmmm..


What if the lead aircraft (if there was one...) had mentioned to the
controller that they were a "flight of five" from the Pan Am Academy?
Might
that have made a lightbulb go off in the controllers head that "these five
probably have similar call signs." ??

The only reason I ask is that we have a lot of Embry Riddle planes in AZ
and
they all end in ER which I could see causing a similar set of
circumstances...

Not that the contorollers didn't contribute to the accident, but wouldn't
the PILOT be thinking 'hmmm, was that call for me?' If I were flying in
mountainous terrain and was asked to descend below safe altitude, I sure as
hell would stay right where I was until I found out what the controller had
in mind.

There is a magic word you can use when a controller asks you to do something
you feel is unsafe. 'Unable'.



Mike Alexander
PP-ASEL
Temecula, CA
See my online aerial photo album at
http://flying.4alexanders.com