I think the main contributing factor to the accident was the approach and how it should not have been conducted at night. The article listed the pressure of clients in charter operations but both the pilots had exposure to this prior to the incident and most likely knew how to handle it. They picked a alternate in Rifle, CO which had clear weather and skies. I also feel the fact that they shot the approach at night in full IMC on a non precision approach contributed to the accident. The error chain occurred when they decided to shoot the approach that close to night, the pilots mistakenly had spotted the runway to the right when it was on the left, using full spoilers even though it is not recommended in the POH, and not reacting to the Ground Proximity Warning System.
What would I do differently if I was in the situation? In their position I do not think I would have continued the approach after hearing the second challenger go missed approach. I am not saying that you can just rely on what others are doing for decisions but the fact of that with it being night and I have never shot the approach into there at night would lead me to follow suit on going missed.
What would I do differently if I was in the situation? In their position I do not think I would have continued the approach after hearing the second challenger go missed approach. I am not saying that you can just rely on what others are doing for decisions but the fact of that with it being night and I have never shot the approach into there at night would lead me to follow suit on going missed.
The question is asked how I would deal with a passenger if my job was on the line. Is the job worth dying for? To be honest I am not sure I can think of single job worth that. If you are PIC then you are PIC and the passenger has to listen. But you will be alive in the end. A passenger is not PIC and when you let them make PIC decisions it is risky road. There is a reason they hire the pilot to fly the plane.
Although they have probably dealt with unruly passengers before that doesn't mean that they are going to deal with them correctly. Don't you think the main reason they shot the approach was to meet the demands and pressures of the passenger?
ReplyDeleteI understand where your opinion is coming from and I do agree with you, but I don't think it makes a difference how much experience you have with dealing with persistent clients cause each situation is different and I feel that their isn't any person/pilot immune to outside pressures.
ReplyDeleteI would love to put you all in a situation like this to see what ya all did. Its so easy to sit here and say you would go or you wouldnt do it. Truly think about it and you will realize how many approaches are done like this daily. Its part of the industry and you will one day make plenty of decisions to go. The real issue was they probably should have tried to go missed a lot sooner as the runway was not 100 percent verified.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason pilots fly most airplanes is too meet the demands of the passenger. But in the same regard the passenger is not an expert which is why they come to us and ultimately hire us to take their lives in our hands and sometimes we have to make decisions that goes against their wants but ultimately is better for them in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can become immune to passenger pressure but if you as a pilot had to tell passengers no before wouldn't get easier after that? I know if I was a brand new captain having to tell a client we can't make it, it would be a lot harder than if I had done it before.
The reason we talk about these accidents is to get our thought processes towards thinking what we would each do in that situation, would I have conducted myself appropriately? True approaches are shot everyday some in better conditions than others, but not every approach is the same. If you are not very familiar with an airport are you comfortable putting your crew and passengers at risk cause you have an assumption of the way things should be?