Five months in jail (and PTSD) - pilot found criminally negligent fornot following a preflight checklist

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/hang-gl...-b-c-1.1681084

Frankly I agree with the ruling.

On Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:49:06 AM UTC-8, son_of_flubber wrote:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/hang-gl...-b-c-1.1681084

Got off light. Negligent homicide.

Happened right down the valley from where I fly. We share the airfield with an unrelated hang glider winch launch operation so we talked a lot about the incident. Something similar happened with a hot air balloon ride operator a few years back. The balloon operator got a heavier sentence because he seemed to be systematically reckless. The hang glider pilot screwed up and made one big mistake. The sentence seems about right, maybe a bit lighter than I would have expected. I actually thought he might get a bit more time because it's said he swallowed a memory card after the accident which could be considered an attempt to conceal/destroy evidence.

On Thursday, February 13, 2014 12:49:06 PM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/hang-gl...-b-c-1.1681084

As fun and rewarding as hang gliding is it is missing one important thing that sailplane pilots use.
There is not a culture of using a written, rigid check list. Yet, like us, they assemble their craft before every flight.

As fun and rewarding as hang gliding is it is missing one important thing that sailplane pilots use.

There is not a culture of using a written, rigid check list. Yet, like us, they assemble their craft before every flight.


Many sailplane pilots have never used a written checklist either, I for
one have NEVER used a WRITTEN checklist.

Most people I have seen struggle to assemble their gliders do use checklists, hmmm.....

I used to be a hangglider pilot also so I guess that's where I picked it up.

Hazardous Thoughts - Attitudes & /Antidotes:

1. Anti-authority:
The rules are for others, not for me.
/Follow the rules. They are usually right.

2. Impulsivity:
Do something - anything, right now!
/Not so fast. Think first.

3. Invulnerability:
It won't happen to me.
/It could happen to me.

4. Macho:
Taking foolish chances shows you have the right stuff.
/Taking foolish chances is foolish.

5. Resignation:
I'm helpless; I can't do anything.
/I'm not helpless. I can make a difference.

-Tom Knauff, world recognized glider flight instructor
and FAA safety consultant

3 out 5 (Nos. 1, 3, and 4) Joe.

Please post where you fly. Some of us might not share your clearly Hazardous Thoughts & Attitudes.

I have to agree with Roy on this one. What kind of culture laughs safety
conscious pilots applying worlds best practice off the airfield? The
worlds airlines don't use checklists just to keep their printers in
business.

I always have and always will use a checklist. Not a "do list" but a
checklist post assembly and another pre-launch, once pre-launch items have
been actioned by pneumonic, to confirm required actions have been
completed.

CJ

"Roy Clark, \"B6\"" wrote:
Hazardous Thoughts - Attitudes & /Antidotes:

1. Anti-authority:
The rules are for others, not for me.
/Follow the rules. They are usually right.

2. Impulsivity:
Do something - anything, right now!
/Not so fast. Think first.

3. Invulnerability:
It won't happen to me.
/It could happen to me.

4. Macho:
Taking foolish chances shows you have the right stuff.
/Taking foolish chances is foolish.

5. Resignation:
I'm helpless; I can't do anything.
/I'm not helpless. I can make a difference.

-Tom Knauff, world recognized glider flight instructor
and FAA safety consultant

3 out 5 (Nos. 1, 3, and 4) Joe.

Please post where you fly. Some of us might not share your clearly
Hazardous Thoughts & Attitudes.

Just to be clear I do have checklists and procedures
that are always followed in a very thorough manner.

They are not "written" is what I am implying, I think this
is very common whether pilots admit it or not.

I have helped a lot of very experienced pilots assemble their gliders
over the last 15 years, the ones that had a "written" checklist in
their hands during assembly are less than 10%.

On Friday, February 14, 2014 1:03:15 PM UTC-5, Soartech wrote:

There is not a culture (in hang gliding) of using a written, rigid check list. Yet, like us, they assemble their craft before every flight.

I see that the title that I chose for this topic reflects my hasty interpretation.

To put this in a more correct context, the pilot plead "guilty". He was not found guilty of not using a checklist. But I think that it would have boiled down to that if the case had been tried.

excerpt from article:
Had Orders (the pilot) performed those safety checks, Godinez-Avila's family would have been spared the heartbreak they now endure, said B.C. Supreme Court Judge Brian Joyce.

"I do not accept the suggestion made ... that what occurred here was merely a momentary loss of attention," Joyce told the court.

"There is a clearly established procedure that is to be followed in conducting a tandem hang-gliding flight. ... Mr. Orders failed to do all of these things."

So unlike the judge, I find it easy to accept that due to a "momentary loss of attention" the pilot simply forgot to check the passenger's attachment to the hang glider. Like every other human, my memory is faulty and I'm prone to distraction. The judge expected the pilot to follow the "clearly established procedure". So the judge expected the pilot to flawlessly remember and execute all of those steps. That is an unreasonable expectation and if the case had been tried, the point would have been clarified.

I speculate that it would have come out in trial, that knowing the unreliability of his memory, the pilot was negligent every time he flew without a written pre-flight checklist.

My take away is that some future prosecutor will argue that it is criminally negligent to NOT use a written preflight checklist. In the meantime, that judge in Canada expects pilots to have perfect memories, so we might as well use written checklists.