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ATC Shouldn't Sit in the Left Seat
FAR 91.3 defines the responsibility and authority of the pilot in command as: "The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft." That is quite clear to me. Yet, every year many planes break up after flying into thunderstorms, or run out of fuel a few miles from the runway because the pilot made several poor decisions in a row. In this article, I want to primarily focus on the pilot-controller…Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
A non controversy, the pilot is very aware of his plane’s situation, the ATC is aware of everything else, hence clear communication, mutual respect (duh) and teamwork.
Why is a 5-year-old story in the Squawks today? Especially since there isn't a link to the actual story, so we just get to read the first couple of sentences.
Way out west where I live there are mountains that eat little airplanes in bad weather like cocktail weenies. Several years ago a Mooney M20J crashed in the Gannet peak area killing the pilot and his 3 children. The weather was crappy. The plane loaded to near or above it's weight limit. The pilot filed an IFR plan request that took him from KJAC north and then east toward his ultimate destination in Minnesota at modestly high but doable altitudes.
The clearance he was issued took him south from KJAC to an intersection then east across the most dangerous Mooney eaters in Wyoming at an altitude so low that it was not even in controlled airspace...and... completely off of the airway system. Public documents do not make clear who exactly issued this new clearance, but it was either ZSLC or KJAC tower.
He was a relatively new IFR pilot. He accepted the clearance without questioning it. Read about this tragedy here if you like:
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20101102X13215&key=1
The private contract operator of the KJAC tower just recently settled the lawsuit that resulted from this accident. A settlement is pending with the FAA for their part, according to local news media.
Remember boys and girls.....the controllers are sitting in chairs on the ground, they are human and make mistakes, and they go home when their shift is over. Pilots only get to go home when the flight is completed safely.
The clearance he was issued took him south from KJAC to an intersection then east across the most dangerous Mooney eaters in Wyoming at an altitude so low that it was not even in controlled airspace...and... completely off of the airway system. Public documents do not make clear who exactly issued this new clearance, but it was either ZSLC or KJAC tower.
He was a relatively new IFR pilot. He accepted the clearance without questioning it. Read about this tragedy here if you like:
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20101102X13215&key=1
The private contract operator of the KJAC tower just recently settled the lawsuit that resulted from this accident. A settlement is pending with the FAA for their part, according to local news media.
Remember boys and girls.....the controllers are sitting in chairs on the ground, they are human and make mistakes, and they go home when their shift is over. Pilots only get to go home when the flight is completed safely.
AMEN TO TOM PERA !!
Seems to be quite a bit of low fuel related comments here, in particular regard to the congested airspace of the Northeast. While not a regular visitor to that part of the world, knowing you are going into that mess, shouldn't you try and halfway prepare for it and accept it for what it is, in particular, having extra fuel on board, just to mention one thing.
True, but a crew from the area in which I trained a regional jet accidentally landed at the air base rather than the international airport due to low visibility and an incorrect ILS frequency, being generally local pilots, they should have known that the two runways are within five miles of one another, yet it just happened. The same relates to this. People may know, but it will still happen.
Another good story is when a NWA 727 ws flying MSP-JMS way back in the day. The pilots were a bit lax and MSP ARTCC didn't have radar coverage up by FAR and JMS yet. The 72 was cleared visual descent for JMS. It turned out that instead of the 5,500 foot runway, they were on final for a 3,200 foot runway 45 miles short of JMS. The aircraft executed a touch and go and were placed on "administrative leave". After a very short investigation it was found that the aircraft would have been unable to takeoff, and that in order to get it off the ground they would have taken off all the pax seats, the lav, the FE and FO's seats, and loaded it with 210 lbs of petrol. A dangerous situation, moral of the story, pilots should be pilots, but were all humans and we don't think as critically as we should sometimes. I think that we can all admit to at least one stupid mistake, myself included.
Unfortunately, you are probably correct. I haven't been up there in a while, but there used to be an AIRMAN'S WARNING up at TUL. At about a 90degree off one of the runways was Tulsa International Dragway and when you were on base for that particular runway, you would be looking down the centerline of the dragstrip. I remember looking at the warning one time in the book and then being on a Braniff BAC 111 as a pax. In pre 911 days, most cockpit doors stayed open and I remember breaking out of light IMC, and whoop dere it wuz. Now pilot went on around to the runway but it was easy to see how it could be mistaken.