Almost saw someone crash

"Viperdoc" wrote in message
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I'd be interested in hearing how the group would have reacted to this
situation.

I'm not sure how I would have reacted, since I wasn't there.

However, it's my opinion that the aviation community could use more Serpicos
and fewer "true blues". Loyalty at all costs has little place in most
communities, but especially in the aviation community where safety takes a
lot of work to come by, and where innocent people can be killed by
irresponsible pilots, pilots need to be willing to take action when they see
someone else behaving so irresponsibly.

You don't mention what the outcome of the wingtip damage was. At flying
speed, even a brief whack at the end of the wing could bend something
important. I'm left wondering whether a) the pilot did depart again with
the damage, and b) whether the NTSB had been notified of the in-flight
collision that presumably caused "substantial damage". Immediate
notification would not be required in this case, but the NTSB still requires
a report within 10 days. The local FSDO as well would probably be
interested in hearing about the pilot, due to the various FAR violations.

CJ is right that there's a possibility her post-accident attitude reflected
her fear, rather than an oblivious attitude. However, if that were true,
you'd probably have been able to notice other symptoms of her being shaken
up. Adrenalin suppresses some fear reactions, but it comes with its own
side-effects. If she truly seemed totally okay with the whole situation,
Newps guess is probably more likely to be correct.

In any case, whether she was shaken up or not, it's obvious she exercised
poor preflight planning and proceeded into weather that she had no business
flying in. I would be less concerned about her psychological reaction to
the event, and more concerned that the event happened in the first place.

Pete