AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2011 - 75

stainless-steel wing leading-edge deice of his intentions.” As a result, a Boeing system, and holes in the radome.” 737 on short final had to go around. The It gets worse. The pilot said one rea- FAA again requested a reexamination. son he wanted to take the training was The pilot failed, but the FAA gave him a to learn more about turbine engines. temporary certificate anyway! The pilot He had previously exceeded the engine completed his reexam in April 1998. temperature limits during start, and had There is considerable documentato have the engine hot section replaced. tion in the pilot’s medical file regarding a FAA accident/incident records noted possible neuropsychological condition, a gear-up landing in August 1996 when and much of it argued for his not being the pilot executed a missed approach and issued a medical certificate. There may failed to put the gear down on the sec- have been an element of professional ond attempt. In September 1996, the FAA courtesy since the pilot was a radiologist requested a reexamination, to “consist and his medical was never revoked. In an of Private/Instrument procedures with Aeromedical Certification Division staff emphasis on rejected landings, missed comments sheet dated May 12, 1998— approach procedures, and emergency the date of the accident—the following operations.” The pilot failed the evalu- was written: “Psychology report recently ation three times. In April 1997 the FAA received...does not indicate pathology.” sent the pilot a letter stating he lacked the qualifications to be a private pilot. But in Analysis September 1997 he managed to complete The NTSB’s probable cause was, “The pilot’s spatial disorientation, his suba reexam. The success was short-lived. Less than a month later, after making sequent loss of control of the airplane, a night landing, the pilot taxied off the and his overload of the horizontal stabiactive runway onto the grass between lizer during a recovery attempt. Factors the runway and the taxiway. The pilot include the pilot’s continued flight into then “turned the aircraft 180 degrees, icing conditions, his lack of airspeed conand taxied back onto the active runway trol, and the lack of an airmet advisory AOPA_Buyers ad_ HP:AOPA Halfnotifying10/13/2010 from the weather briefer.” 9:22 AM Page 1 without a clearance or Page the tower

A potentially icy air mass at the flight’s cruise altitude could be expected with a northeast flow off the ocean in springtime. A change to a lower altitude would certainly have solved any icing problem at the expense of some fuel. Why would the aircraft not have been on autopilot? Perhaps the icing was such that the autopilot disconnected or the pilot was hand-flying. The NTSB’s probable cause dwells on the technical aspects and completely misses the root cause—a total meltdown of the enforcement process. Here was a pilot who clearly had difficulty in processing the demands of highperformance cross-country flying. FAA oversight was lacking—yet, in too many cases, the agency tends to overreact to minor infractions with pilots who otherwise have excellent records. Psychology is an imprecise science and to state, with certainty, that someone is psychologically unfit must be done with care. The observable operational evidence here is undeniable—this individual had no business flying. Sadly, three innocent lives were lost because of both an individual and systemic failure. Thankfully, this situation is rare.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2011