Scud running fatal in Maine

This accident was up our way and I followed the progress of the search. On
the basis of the weather on the day the plane disappeared, I expected to
find that it was a new pilot in over her head. Just goes to show that lots
of experience and type ratings don't make scud running a good idea. 14,500
hour big iron driver with 20 years in float planes who could have filed and
executed an IFR flight plan in her sleep hits a hill in 700 foot ceilings.

Another high time Mainer who could have been IFR up above the hills did the
same thing a few years back and set a great example for the Air Explorers
Troop he founded. They are naming a new Boy Scout center near PWM after
him.

http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?...18X01248&key=1

--

Roger Long

Roger Long wrote:

[A] 14,500
hour big iron driver with 20 years in float planes who could have filed and
executed an IFR flight plan in her sleep hits a hill in 700 foot ceilings.

I didn't know they have instrument approaches to lakes.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 02:30:00 GMT, "G.R. Patterson III"
wrote:

I didn't know they have instrument approaches to lakes.


If I recall correctly the Seattle area has some (a couple). Not sure
if its on the US or Canadian side though.

z

What drives a pilot with her skills to be so...assaholic?


"Roger Long" wrote in message
.. .
This accident was up our way and I followed the progress of the search.
On
the basis of the weather on the day the plane disappeared, I expected to
find that it was a new pilot in over her head. Just goes to show that
lots
of experience and type ratings don't make scud running a good idea.
14,500
hour big iron driver with 20 years in float planes who could have filed
and
executed an IFR flight plan in her sleep hits a hill in 700 foot ceilings.

Another high time Mainer who could have been IFR up above the hills did
the
same thing a few years back and set a great example for the Air Explorers
Troop he founded. They are naming a new Boy Scout center near PWM after
him.

http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?...18X01248&key=1

--

Roger Long

"zatatime" wrote in message
...
I didn't know they have instrument approaches to lakes.


If I recall correctly the Seattle area has some (a couple). Not sure
if its on the US or Canadian side though.

Sort of. There are no instrument approaches to waterways per se, but we
have several seaplane bases close enough to airports with instrument
approaches that for all intents and purposes, they might as well have
instrument approaches.

Non-precision, of course, but that's almost always good enough.

One is at Renton, WA where seaplanes can taxi right up to the airport and
get a dolly out of the water. Another is at Lake Union...an instrument
approach into Boeing Field will get you down low enough to "circle to land"
on Lake Union (which is adjacent to the north end of the Seattle downtown
area).

Heck, a really determined pilot could fly the approach to Renton, and then
taxi the entire length of the lake all the way up to Kenmore. I forget what
the width of the under-bridge passage is, so maybe they'd have to fly 100'
off the water, but that'd be no big deal in a seaplane.

Similar things apply in the Victoria and Vancouver area, as well as many
other major seaplane destinations in the PNW.

Same thing probably applies at at least one airport near a landable waterway
in the general vicinity of the reported accident in Maine.

Coincidentally, we just had a scud-running accident here in the Northwest,
not too far from Vancouver, WA (across the river from Portland). Amazingly
enough, three out of four survived.

Pete

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
Heck, a really determined pilot could fly the approach to Renton, and then
taxi the entire length of the lake all the way up to Kenmore. I forget
what
the width of the under-bridge passage is, so maybe they'd have to fly 100'
off the water, but that'd be no big deal in a seaplane.

100' over a bridge? Any idea how the FAA/UK CAA define "while taking
off or landing"? If you're in the process of landing, just making a very
shallow
approach, could you still be prosecuted for low flying?!

Paul

They don't in Maine. I was just pointing out that all that IFR skill
doesn't change the low level VFR in IMC equation.

Her option would have been to wait for better weather or climb and file pop
up for diversion to an airport with an approach if things were lower than
she thought. Of course, that could have meant revealing that she set off on
a less than legal VFR flight which might have had repercussions for her
employment. Perhaps she was subject to pressures a non-professional pilot
wouldn't have been.

The other Maine scud runner was on a flight from an approach to an approach.
He hit a treeless, snow covered hill that probably looked just like the mist
he was flying under.

--

Roger Long



"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


Roger Long wrote:

[A] 14,500
hour big iron driver with 20 years in float planes who could have filed
and
executed an IFR flight plan in her sleep hits a hill in 700 foot
ceilings.

I didn't know they have instrument approaches to lakes.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
Of course, that could have meant revealing that she set off on
a less than legal VFR flight

The flight may have been unwise, but wasn't the weather (as reported at MLT)
legal for daytime VFR in Class G as long as she stayed below the 700'
ceiling?

--Gary

This is the kind of accident that scares me the most. As someone
posted earlier, you'd expect a rookie pilot to get sucked into this
kind of accident, but not someone with the experience this pilot had.
Leaves me wondering if there are weather conditions out there that can
be misleading to experienced pilots, which means someone with less
experience (like me) wouldn't stand a chance of recognizing the risk
in a timely fashion.

Some details on the accident that I've picked up through various
media. The pilot and her husband owned KT Aviation, a seaplane
instruction and charter business in Maine. Both were pilots for
airlines when they started the business, but the husband's airline
went out of business allowing him to devote more time to KT Aviation.
Reports I've read said the fatal flight was enroute to pick up
charterers. A magazine article from more than a year ago said the
business was trying to expand the charter side of the operation since
that revenue source tended to be more reliable than seaplane
instruction.

This is the kind of accident that scares me the most. As someone
posted earlier, you'd expect a rookie pilot to get sucked into this
kind of accident, but not someone with the experience this pilot had.
Leaves me wondering if there are weather conditions out there that can
be misleading to experienced pilots

Well said. I've often wondered how pilots get themselves into this sort of
thing.

Is the problem a gradual lowering of the ceiling as they drone along,
oblivious to the growing danger? Is there a weather phenomenon that I've
never experienced that can slam the sunroof shut quickly -- faster than a
pilot can get on the ground? (I've seen fog envelop an airport in minutes,
going from CAVU to 1/10th mile visibility almost instantly -- but that fog
was rolling in off a lake, and could have been easily out-run.)

Is it just old-fashioned "get-there-itis," an internal pressure that they
"must" get there for some reason? Or is it that they've "seen this a
thousand times" and always made it through before, so why should today be
any different?

I know as my flying hours have built, I've grown more comfortable with a
wider range of weather conditions. Is this "experience"? Or
"familiarity"? Or an insidious, gradual and foolish lowering of my
instinctive defenses?

Accidents like hers make you sit up and take notice.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"