Comair Pilot Error

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
Matt Whiting wrote:


No, we should do useful things that might prevent a similar accident
from happening again. Anger doesn't do that.

Matt


I am puzzled why you find anger due to loss of life, which is a normal
human emotion, to be so objectionable.
We are not talking about taking rash decision like invading a country.

I find sadness more appropriate at this point. If it is determined that
the crew was drunk or such, then I think anger is appropriate. The
problem is that many people DO make rash decisions when angry and they
are seldom helpful decisions.

Matt

In article ,
"Morgans" wrote:

If your family was on that plane, would you be angry? Damn straight, you
would be.

An interesting question to ask someone who flies.
I would say the answer one would get would depend on what type of flier
your asked.
I put fliers in two catagories. There are pilots and there are aviators.
A pilot is a flier who just performs the mechanics of the flight.
An aviator is a flier who is a student of the theory and studiously
plans and contemplates the processes involved in flying.
As an example, consider a flight in a single engine piston airplane.
The pilot leans until roughness, then enriches a couple quarter turns.
The aviator calculates density altitude and uses the CHT/EGT to
accurately adjust the mixture.
Possibly the same result, but different processes to attain the goal.
What is the difference between the two?
What are the commonalities?
Both can make the same mistake, one may figure it out sooner than the
other.

In article .com,
"Tony" wrote:

If you
were the decision maker, would you be interested in hiring a man who
will most likely have a serious FAA citation on his record if there are
others with about the same qualifications who do not?

Only for three years, then it goes away.
This boy is most likely going to have some serious psychological issues
to deal with for at least a year.
This mornings paper reported that they are considering amputating part
of one leg. That will be a permanent reminder.

Peter Duniho wrote:
"Morgans" wrote in message
...
If your family was on that plane, would you be angry? Damn straight, you
would be.

I don't know. Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't. I've experienced what I
consider to be tragic loss in the past without feeling anger at anyone.

But that's not the question here. Andrew's family wasn't on the plane, and
his anger is misplaced, even if it could be understandable (albeit
irrational) on the part of people who had relationships with the people who
died.

No, my family was not on the airplane. But my wife and baby did fly
Comair CRJ only a few days prior to this accident, departed from CVG
which is not too far from LEX. Who knows, may be the same accident
pilot was at the controls. I don't know. That is perhaps why I feel
closer to this accident than many others. I can feel in a fleeting
moment the pain of the deceased family members. Unfortunately (or
fortunately), the average person does not know enough about aviation to
comprehend the different levels of pilot error and mechanial problems.
For them this is just an unfortunate accident that happens once in a
while. But as pilot we know better. We understand the different
elements in aviation, what's in our control and what's not in our
control. This was completely and 100% within the pilot's control. It
doesn't matter how much coffee he drank, what the ATC controller was
doing, what lights were on and what was off. This is like running a red
light in clear weather, killing a bunch of pedestrians and telling the
neighborhood to take it easy. No, my anger is not misplaced. It may be
unnecessary and useless, but it is not an unsual reaction for this type
of tragedy.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote:

Ron Lee wrote:
If he still flies let me know so I can avoid that airline. Or at
least any plane he is piloting.


You think he will repeat the mistake, assuming there was one? It must be nice
to be so perfect.

Thank you. We shall see what the FAA does with his license. I choose
not to fly with someone who makes such a deadly mistake. Whether he
repeats that one again or not is irrelevant.

Ron Lee

In article . com,
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:

No, my anger is not misplaced. It may be
unnecessary and useless, but it is not an unsual reaction for this type
of tragedy.

Andrew, if this is your first child, you are about to receive many years
of continuing education in distrations. Let us hope you and yours do not
suffer any harm as a result.

Here's a lovely fact I just found about the crash's lone survivor and, most
probably, the responsible party for 49 deaths:

In 1999, his wife, Ida, shot Polehinke in the stomach with a Smith & Wesson
9mm semiautomatic handgun.
...
Polehinke said the shooting was an accident. His wife told police she shot
Polehinke because she was in ''fear'' for her life after her husband
threatened to kill her during an argument, according to the police report.

Source:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...y/15384875.htm

This criminaly negligent travesty of a pilot is also a spousal abuser. Emily
et al, still going to defend this guy?

-- CD


"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am getting tired of comments like "controller should have warned the
pilots", or "taxiway was confusing", or "runway lights were off" etc..
One could not find a better example of a pure and simple pilot error.
The runway was clear, the weather was VFR, and the airplane was working
fine. It is highly likely that this was the only airplane maneuvering
at the airport. Even if the controller had cleared him to takeoff on
runway 26, the responsibility would have been on the pilot to decline
that clearance. Yet, a perfectly good airplane was run off the runway
and ploughed into the woods.

NTSB is investigating whether the pilots had coffee that morning, and
how much sleep they got. This is a futile exercise. Taxiing and
departing from a relatively quiet airport under VFR conditions is an
extremely low workload situation. We are not talking about shooting a
non-precision approach to minimums in a thunderstorm after a full day
of flying. A pilot should be able to do this even if he had partied all
night at the bar. What happened was gross negligence.

I shudder to think that my wife and baby flew the Comair CRJ only a few
days prior to this accident. Fortunately they are flying back with me
in our trusty GA airplane. I feel a lot better about it than trusting
my family to stupid mistakes that even my students pilots know how to
avoid. I sincerely feel for those who lost loved ones. They have the
right be very angry. I am angry, and I did not lose anything.

Ron Lee wrote:

If he still flies let me know so I can avoid that airline. Or at
least any plane he is piloting.

Ron Lee


How about we at least wait until we know he will survive his injuries
before we start trying to get him fired or take his license away?

Not too much to ask is it?

My educated guess tells me that he's prolly got massive burns. If he
survives the next 2 weeks then maybe he will be out of the woods.

Dave

Dave S wrote:
Ron Lee wrote:

If he still flies let me know so I can avoid that airline. Or at
least any plane he is piloting.

Ron Lee


How about we at least wait until we know he will survive his injuries
before we start trying to get him fired or take his license away?

Not too much to ask is it?

My educated guess tells me that he's prolly got massive burns. If he
survives the next 2 weeks then maybe he will be out of the woods.

Dave

Yep, too much to ask. Apparently some forget that those are human
beings in the front of the plane, and they deserve some respect.

They legally narrowed the runway using a paintbrush. They only have to
maintain and keep up/repave/resurface (if they do it at all) the actual
runway (which is listed at 75 feet wide, but is in the middle of the 150
ft wide paved area.

Dave

C. Massey wrote:



OK... But what I don't understand is why would they have two runways that
are the same surface width, but it is listed as a 75 ft runway they way it
is marked? It seems to me that if they are the same surface width, they
would mark both of them the same usable width.




---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 0635-1, 08/28/2006
Tested on: 8/29/2006 8:02:18 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2006 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com