So I decided to do a low pass over the internet...Ha Ha Ha. Yes I suppose the discussion had to go this way, but this was not really the intention of the post. To more accurately focus the point lets start with this one. Sir, I am not calling you specifically out, but pointing out the problems inherent with internet forums and their proximity fused bombs on all sides.
p51 wrote:
I disagree, having been vilified here (and accosted in person)
Ok, vilified HERE means the WIX, a place where both laypersons, aviation professionals and OWNERS post in FULL and NAKED view of the FAA, NTSB and other regulating bodies.
p51 wrote:
for posting photos of a crummy landing that people denied ever happened
While it is neat to post newsworthy items, I don't remember this post. As a guy who has been allowed to land a plane once or twice, I can say it can be the most exciting contact sport one can play. A bad landing happens from time to time, and "bad" is defined by the pilot based on his experience. Now as an instructor I was in a position many times to teach and work to improve other peoples landings with time honored methods and speech patterns, variable in tone and cadence to the situation presented. The best way to critique a landing is in private, preferably in the aircraft after engine shutdown. When the switches are thrown and the plane begins to wind down, that is the best time to share both sides of the story, pilot to check pilot, and talk about how it went, what can be improved, and what completion standards would be for a signoff.
It gets trickier if you are a check pilot watching it from the ground, as you know the single seat guy will be a bit charged up in the seat, so a brief walk and then a table debrief is perhaps best. Really good guys can be handled privately planeside. The key is private. Away from the any other ears so that the person who is listening is focused on the words of wisdom, and not anything else.
If you are a seasoned observer, enthusiast, fan, crash and rescue guy, or other vocation professional who believes he/she has seen something unsafe the guidelines would be very similar. Begin a private talk to understand and compare what one believe they have seen with the person who was there. If that fails, go to step two. Humble. Walk to another pilot there who may have seen it and ask them if they can help you. The list goes on. There is probably someone that is FAA on the field. They would be your final stop as a private non pilot citizen. Then there is no one else to ask. When you have dirty laundry to put on the line, the WIX board is perhaps the last place it should be.
p51 wrote:
(even though there was ample news stories later to support it had, which got conveniently ignored), as well as having the scars (both physical and psychological) from the effects of someone doing something stupid in an aircraft I was pax on many years ago in the military.
I am sorry you were hurt in an accident that was not your fault. Scars from those run very deep.
p51 wrote:
This mindset of "keep you mouth shut when someone does something odd with an airplane," is one of the reasons Bud Holland was able to crash a BUFF at Fairchild (and by most accounts, was going to try to roll the plane at an airshow the following weekend if he hadn't lawn-darted himself and crew) and almost kill some USAF photographers at Yakima Firing Center beforehand (almost smacked a ridge at reportedly less than ten feet AGL).
If, for example, I go to a gun range and do a William Tell re-enactment with someone with an apple on their head downrange, you'd want to call the range folks or maybe the cops, right?
And why? Because unsafe is unsafe. Frankly, if I did something that stupid, I'd want someone to get involved in some way!
In the Army, we had a saying on weapons ranges, that, "everyone is a range safety" as you can call a cease-fire for anything unsafe.
The minute you look the other way, you'll soon be looking at the smoke from the fire that followed the crash.
This is a neat point, but its not appropriate. This was a military crash, and was a causal case study for many regarding chain of command usage, fellow pilots complaints, inappropriate use of rank and personal hubris.
In no post crash paper or analysis was there a statement that read "If the pilot had been outed on an internet forum by the general public, then perhaps this crash would have been avoided..." [b]
p51 wrote:
I have
very little empathy for pilots who decide to do something questionable with an airplane around other and then gets butt-hurt when someone makes the world aware of it. Cemeteries are filled with people whose last words were (or who heard), "Don't worry,
I know what I'm doing.."
Check. No Empathy for pilots. Understood. However that does not change the fact that the internet, or forums in general are not part of the safety process, or part of the process that creates safer skies. By posting a series of pictures or video on the net and commenting on it does not make one a safety official, or part of the process. You are not making the cemetery fill rate less fast with an internet post. [b]When the NTSB says "This could have been averted by an internet forum discussion" I will rescind this part of the post.
My post said nothing about looking the other way, that low passes were cool or that safety was inappropriate. The opening line was
"Its all fun until someone loses an eye". That means I've
been there when that has happened. More than once. True, this was a risk of a Four Million US Dollar aircraft for virtually no financial upside, and the owner may have already told the pilot that his time of being "checked out" in the airplane is over. But that was not the reason the post went up. It was because this is not the venue for posting such things as unsafe piloting, nor beginning a dialogue with the public. I would prefer the next low pass video that is unsafe would be prefaced by the words..."OK talked with the pilot, all the other pilots on the field, the FAA and the NTSB and they all tell me this is nothing to worry about...can I get an impartial viewpoint on this video I shot on Aug 18, 2xxx" ect...
When a video goes up on the net for any reason, it immediately links an individual and several lives together who own, operate, maintain, insure and sponsor and aircraft. Pilots know its a real problem to be caught doing something "stupid". However, should the wix become the pilot shaming board? If you see something unsafe on the net, and are part of the safety culture send the pilot an email. Get a reply back. I am sure you can post both your letter and his or her reply on the matter.
Respectfully...
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
