Plane Safety

[AndyMan 7]

When I got home last night I was going to post a short summary of a presentation that DiverDriver did at SDC Saturday night after sunset. Chris spoke for about an hour on about a series of accidents involving jump planes and jumpers, and spoke about what we should look for to spot unsafe airplanes.
Instead I logged on to learn that Park Blevins, Aerohio pilot extraordinaire, died when the Caravan he was flying crashed in Wisconsin in heavy icing conditions.
I was going to post about how airplane safety is the one thing we need to be vigilant about. I was going to talk about how airplane operations are the one thing that we need to have done properly. I was going to say that no matter how much we like to screw around, we must insist that the maintenance and operation of the planes we fly be done properly.
Instead I'm left here wondering how this could have happened. Aerohio has always been one of the good dropzones. I know they're current on maintenance. I know they hire top notch pilots. At Aerohio I knew that I could put trust in their planes.
Now this happens. I'm the first to say that I don't understand what happened to Mark. I don't know how he ended up in ice and not being able to deal with. I've flown right-seat with Mark many times, frequently in ice. I don't understand what went wrong this time. I know that plane was suposed to be able to handle ice.
Now I'm angry because I know there's a lot of plane operators in skydiving that DON'T do proper maintenance. I know there's pilots who think nothing of getting wasted in Canadian strip clubs the night before flying otters for a DZ in the US. I know there's plane owners who think nothing of ignoring scheduled maintenance. Somehow, these people still get by.
And guys like Mark go in. I don't get it.
_Am
ICQ: 5578907
MSN Messenger: andrewdmetcalfe at hotmail dot com
Yahoo IM: ametcalf_1999

[freeflir29 0]

"Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity, or neglect." -Source unknown
"I only have a C license, so I don't know shit..right?"-Clay

[ChromeBoy 0]

I never met Mark but I met Tim and Sherry Butcher in Florida. They take safety as the #1 priority at Aerohio.
Blue Skies Mark

[Iflyme 0]

Sorry to hear the awfu news about your friend, Andyman... sometimes, it seems, shit just happens... no matter how good we are, one brief moment of poor judgement is all it takes (like Viking's camera flyer friend who busted up his lelg hooking it in windy conditions)...
"Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees"
Five For Fighting

[diverdriver 7]

Easy Andy. There are icing conditions that are beyond the capability of the de-icing boots that are rare and some times very hard to predict. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. From everyone I've talked to (I never met Mark) he was first rate. Take some comfort in the fact that he was in the process of diverting to get out of those conditions. Basicly, he pulled all his handles. It just didn't work out.
Go easy Mark.
Chris

[skymedic 0]

Chris...should we go into bridgeing and things like that??
marc
BSBD

[diverdriver 7]

No Marc, that would be getting into too much speculation. Oh, and by the way, ice bridging is a myth. But severe ice that builds aft of a boot is real. The only thing you can do is avoid it. And some times that's impossible.
Chris

[diverdriver 7]

Here's the FAA report so far on the GK Porter crash. Not much we didn't know. But I thought the tail of the porter was what hit the cessna. This report says it was its' right wing. I'm sure we'll see more clarifications as things go. They always do.
Chris
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: A23253 Make/Model: PP3 Description: PILATUS PORTER
Date: 03/15/2002 Time: 1700
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: Y Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: MARANA State: AZ Country: US
DESCRIPTION
A23252, A U.S. ARMY PILATUS PORTER ACFT, WAS ENTERING THE PATTERN FROM THE
EAST WHEN IT STRUCK N8813T ( A CESSNA C-182 ACFT) WITH ITS RIGHT WING,
A23253 CRASHED AND WAS DESTROYED, AND ITS PILOT SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES,
N8813T RETURNED AND LANDED WITH SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE AND NO INJURIES
REPORTED, OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME, MARANA, AZ.
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
WEATHER: TUS 1655Z VARIABLE 5 10SM CLR 12-15 998 1306
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: Military Aircraft
Departed: UNKN Dep Date: Dep. Time:
Destination: UNKN Flt Plan: UNK Wx Briefing: U
Last Radio Cont: UNKN
Last Clearance: UNKN
FAA FSDO: SCOTTSDALE, AZ (WP07) Entry date: 03/18/2002