Man killed, daughter injured in plane crash...

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I don't know what to think about this one. Not sure how you fly into people walking on the beach.

Quote:
Man killed, daughter injured in plane crash on beach in Venice.


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As a pilot myself, I wonder the same thing. From the photo it looks like there was plenty of room to land without hitting anything or anyone....
 
I'm guessing he had lost power and had little control at that point; surf and wind produces a lot of sound and perhaps the
walkers had their back to the incoming plane.
All just guesswork of course.
 
Tragic. No horn on an airplane to sound an alert. Wonder if the outboard end of the port wing is what hit the man, there is apparent impact damage on the leading edge.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Plenty of water to have parked in...


X2 Pilot here myself , If I was in there shoes I would have put it anywhere but on there heads
frown.gif
 
Maybe the pilot had target fixation...we'll never know but it's surely a tragedy.
 
Originally Posted By: Kuato
As a pilot myself, I wonder the same thing. From the photo it looks like there was plenty of room to land without hitting anything or anyone....


It doesn't look like there was much room at all...the beach was what, a few dozen yards wide at that point?

What was the number of people walking on it?

Once the pilot raised the nose to flare, he would lose sight of what was under the nose...including people.

The real issue is the pilot's decision to land the plane where people were present, placing them at risk to minimize the risk to himself and/or his airplane.

The water, for example, would have been a viable, survivable, alternative at 60 MPH (just above stall)...but the airplane would have been a total loss...
 
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Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: Kuato
As a pilot myself, I wonder the same thing. From the photo it looks like there was plenty of room to land without hitting anything or anyone....

...

The real issue is the pilot's decision to land the plane where people were present, placing them at risk to minimize the risk to himself and/or his airplane....


That is exactly what I meant. If he had made a better decision he would have chosen a spot with plenty of room - which were available.
 
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Originally Posted By: hatt
Little girl died.


Now he has 2 counts against him.
 
Pilot didn't see man, daughter...

Quote:
On Tuesday, Kokomoor issued a prepared statement that was read by the family’s pastor as Kokomoor’s wife and daughter stood by his side. Neither said a word.
"I am deeply, deeply sorry," said Kokomoor through the prepared statement as read by Rev. Victor Willis.
He went on to describe Kokomoor’s need to act fast and rather than trying to land at a part of the beach that was heavily populated, he thought he had landed at the beach where there was no one.
"It was only after we landed and exited the plane did I realize that there were people on the beach,” he said. “I never saw them."

How did you not see people walking on the beach? I'm sure the plane was doing no more than 50-60mph. And had an elevated view. Should have been easy to see for a pretty good distance on open and flat ground.
 
Well, I'm not a Pilot, so I don't know the visibility he might or might not have had. I seriously doubt he would intentionally hit people walking on the beach.
 
Originally Posted By: hatt
Pilot didn't see man, daughter...

Quote:
On Tuesday, Kokomoor issued a prepared statement that was read by the family’s pastor as Kokomoor’s wife and daughter stood by his side. Neither said a word.
"I am deeply, deeply sorry," said Kokomoor through the prepared statement as read by Rev. Victor Willis.
He went on to describe Kokomoor’s need to act fast and rather than trying to land at a part of the beach that was heavily populated, he thought he had landed at the beach where there was no one.
"It was only after we landed and exited the plane did I realize that there were people on the beach,” he said. “I never saw them."

How did you not see people walking on the beach? I'm sure the plane was doing no more than 50-60mph. And had an elevated view. Should have been easy to see for a pretty good distance on open and flat ground.


A lot of surprising things happen to you when the adrenaline hits: tunnel vision, loss of hearing, loss of higher order thinking...panic is an overly simplistic explanation, but stress causes all sorts of cognitive degradation. Happens to pilots often.

I'll bet it happened to him. Not an excuse, an explanation...
 
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Losing power over land with numerous places to land in a single engine aircraft shouldn't cause panic/tunnel vision/etc. If it does you shouldn't have a license because at some point you're probably going to have engine trouble. Especially in 40 year old machine. Maybe we need to stop giving out licenses to anyone with a few thousand bucks.
 
I guess the old adage, that a good landing is any landing that you can walk away from, is not true in all cases.

In fairness to this guy, private pilots are not taught water landings ( is anyone taught that - there may have been a paragraph or two somewhere about making darn sure you keep the nose up ), and it's not exactly something you can go out and practice, like stalls and spins.

This may have looked like his best option at the time he committed to it.

He will undoubtedly be judged for this, but the fact that an accident occurs is not evidence of negligence. Sometimes it's just an accident.
 
There's no doubt it was negligence. He had control of the plane and flew into people walking on the beach. Whether or not he saw the people is irrelevant on that issue. He certainly should have saw them, the only question is whether he did or not and if he didn't, why.
 
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