No one died

[tds]

Which is extremely lucky.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/nyre ... tream.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATlDcZLetZE

Guy is apparently a COM pilot 737 type rated.

Aeronautical decision-making, instrument flight planning, proficient vs legal... ...discuss.

[3WE]

***COM pilot 737 type rated.***

***Aeronautical decision-making, instrument flight planning, proficient vs legal... ...discuss.***

I have never mastered METAR language (nor Espanol)- but 1/4 mile visibility? and indefinite ceiling? (at best) and I think 172's are generally only CAT I certified...not legal.

Can't help but parlour pontificate that I bet lots and lots of his airliner landings were flown largely by the autopilot...and that in this weather, it might be CAT II or III ish where you sit back and watch how awesome Otto is at nailing the ILS.

In my extremely limited instrument experience with non-autopilot 172's I pretty much sucked at tracking the ILS. A little inattention and there goes the needles. Plus, (arguable) a light plane is much less stable than a big aeroplanie.

Part of me wants to say, "he was doing everything right" by not pushing the approach below minimums...conversely, if you are out of gas, maybe that's time to bust minimums. I have read a few of these adventures in Aviation Typists Monthly where guys were able to pretend they were Otto and fly it into the ground.

Did his cute little aeroplanie have an autopilot (which, although not Cat > I certified, still might beautifully fly the Cessna into the ground with the primary risk being that the nosewheel would be wobbly from then on (if it wasn't already from a student landing).

The youtube lacks a discussion of weather. What was the guy told in his weather briefing? Was the forecast not too awful bad and turned out to be very wrong? Was the weather forecast legal, but something that Aviation Typist Pontificators would say was too marginal and that the guy should NOT have made the flight?

Unfortunately, I do feel a little cockieness as he wanders all over the sky (like I did during my instrument training).

/3BS minimal IQ contribution to the forum.

[tds]

Part of me wants to say, "he was doing everything right" by not pushing the approach below minimums...conversely, if you are out of gas, maybe that's time to bust minimums.

Yeah, I think if your options are follow the ILS below mins to a large piece of unobstructed concrete with emergency services on hand, or accept a very high probability of running out of gas in low IMC over a populated area, there's no maybe about about it.

That said, by the first approach at JFK (the video only shows the two attempts at JFK, not the four preceding ones at FRG) he didn't really even have that option, because he seemed incapable of following the localizer.

[Not_Karl]

*did

[3WE]

Further Discussion:

The dude seems a tad "unprofessional" and a "tad rough" to be an airline pilot...

Conversely, nervous and a bit overwhelmed is nervous and a bit overwhelmed.

Do we concur?

Oh, and ironingly- the very next YouTube that popped up is discussing another case when the weather turned worse than it was forecast.

[Dummy Pilot]

I was in and out of JFK on that night. The wind was relatively strong out of the southeast off the water and it was bringing in continuous banks of maritime fog. You'd get occasional periods of better than 5000RVR and then 5 minutes later it was 1000RVR. We briefed a CAT II Autoland but the problem was the crosswind was right at our 15kt limit (and the wind was stronger at 2000ft). Fortunately we hit it right as the vis was coming up and we caught approach lights a little above CAT I mins and I landed manually.

Because of the winds and lack of suitable approaches to the 13s, JFK was down to just two runways which is always an inefficient disaster. Add in the lack of pavement due to the construction on RWY13L/31R and Taxi times were ridiculous. On our outbound, we spent about 2.5 hours before we eventually got airborne and I must have missed this clown show by about a half hour. Part of me is glad he survived, but another is worried that he's now free to terrorize the skies some more.

[J]

Speaking of not dying there was the April 10 AA A321 that experienced an uncontrolled bank to the left at takeoff - the wing tip stuck some airport lighting equipment.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-a ... -reported/

[monchavo]

welcome back @tds

[tds]

Cheers @monchavo!

[ocelot]

Unfortunately, I do feel a little cockieness as he wanders all over the sky (like I did during my instrument training).

I question whether that video is really synced to the audio correctly (or alternatively, whether the position data it reflects is accurate) -- there are several points where it doesn't make sense, not just him tootling off in the wrong direction but ATC saying things that are materially inconsistent with the plotting.

(also, right before the end the track apparently just stops in midair for a while twice, which seems unlikely)

If it is accurate I suspect we'll find his nav radios were messed up -- there's a systematic feel to some of the wrong directions that seems suspicious.