CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 7, Issue 4 - 30

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
"THE PILOT'S OVERREACTION TO A PERCEIVED CONFLICT...RESULTED IN A LOSS OF CONTROL..."

later said he'd made the standard departure
announcement, but the other witnesses either
didn't hear it or didn't notice.
As both aircraft converged on the runway
intersection, the Cessna was still on the ground
after the glider had lifted off. Recognizing the
conﬂict, the tow pilot called, "CAP glider, abort!
Abort! Abort!" The instructor on the glider
released the tow rope and landed short of the
intersection. The tow pilot also reported stopping
before the intersection, though one witness
recalled seeing him back-taxi across it afterwards.
At the same time, the witnesses on the ground
heard the Baron's engines go to full power "more
quickly than for a normal approach...or goaround." Its tires were no more than 18 inches
off the ground. The onlookers, including two
multiengine commercial pilots with a combined
6,000 hours of ﬂight time, agreed that, "If he had
just kept going straight ahead, he would have been

ﬁne." Instead the Baron pitched up hard-one
estimate was 60 degrees-climbed perhaps 100 to
150 feet, then banked left and rolled inverted. The
angle of impact was almost vertical. No one on
board survived.
The tow pilot told investigators that trees and
buildings block the view between the arrival ends
of the two runways. For that reason, supplemental
airport regulations published in 2003 require
glider operations to be coordinated by a spotter
able to see the entire length of both runways-a
fact of which both the CAP's safety officer and
the acting airport manager appeared to be
unaware. The same rule required ﬁling a local
notam advising of the schedule and maximum
anticipated altitude of the day's planned glider
operations; no such notam had been ﬁled.
Having already landed there, the CFI was
certainly aware of the glider traffic and had every
reason to be mindful of the possibility of conﬂict.

But the need to monitor traffic had to compete
with the obligation to supervise the client's
approach, and once the client resumed visual
references, the long, fast landing and question
of whether to call for a go-around would have
occupied the instructor's attention. Assuming
the National Transportation Safety Board was
correct in ﬁnding that "The pilot's overreaction to
a perceived conﬂict...resulted in a loss of control,"
it's unfortunate that he saw the tow plane before
his instructor did, and even more tragic that the
instructor wasn't poised to take the controls, or
otherwise make sure their nose stayed down and
their airspeed up.
David Jack Kenny is the Air Safety Institute's
statistician. He is a ﬁxed-wing ATP with
commercial pilot privileges for helicopters and the
owner of a Piper Arrow.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 7, Issue 4

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol14issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol14issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol14issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol14issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol13issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol13issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol13issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol13issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol12issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol12issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol12issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol12issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol11issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol11issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol11issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol11issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol10issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol10issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol10issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol10issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/flashcards_2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol9issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol9issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol9issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol9issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol8issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol8issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol8issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol8issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol7issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol7issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol7issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol7issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol6issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol6issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol6issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol6issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol5issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol5issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol5issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol5issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol4issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol4issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/flashcards_201310
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol4issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol4issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol3issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol3issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol3issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol2issue4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol2issue3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol2issue2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_vol2issue1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_201011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aopa/cfi_201009
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com