FSS helps disoriented private pilot

[dmspilot00]

I meant scary from the standpoint that it's scary this guy is a pilot. How would you have liked your grandma to be in the back seat while this guy was flying, even in solid VFR?!

 

[jergar999]

I guess we both on Landings.com at the same time, I was about to post that also. But since you beat me to it, I will add that the aircraft was a 1986 model, and registered in Wisconsin.

 

[AV1ATRX]

I would have guessed he was from Wisconsin from his crazy accent! And people say we (from the south) talk funny

That was sobering, and something that students should hear, just to scare them out of ever flying into IMC without an instrument rating. I got goosebumps listening...

 

[surfnole]

ATC did me a huge favor one day by directing me through a series of building thunderstorms and informing me that I would be through them in 10 miles. In reality, I might not have been in a lot of danger, but I was seriously looking on the ground for a place to land in case it started closing in more.

At one point I asked to divert to airport X about 15 miles east. It looked clear to me, but he informed me they had just reported a tornado. Then I turned around to look behind me, and saw that the gap I shot was solid black.

Finally I had one tstorm in front of me to get around and he handed me over to the next controller. The new controler informed me Cessna 12345, thunderstorm ahead, one mile.

I was like yeah, its filling my windshield. I got around that and it was a perfectly sunny day again.

I checked out the Nexrad loop after I landed, and the whole area was red and orange 15 minutes after I passed through.

This might not seem like a big deal to many of you guys or my IFR instructor who routinely circumnavigated these things, but I won't ever forget that controller. I tried to send an email thanks to the center, but their email address didn't work.

 

[Lucky]

though its not near as intense as the guy above, here is a great link with a lost pilot... you can hear ATC's frustration.

http://www.cyberair.com/tower/trans/displt.html

having never been there ,,, is Dupage that rough of an airport to get into or was this guy just an idiot?

 

[maverick_fp00]

anybody know any sites where you can download ATC recordings for general aviation... not from airliner crashes, I've heard all of those.

 

[saabcaptain]

Lucky,

Intresting note about the cyberair.com file of the pilot going into DuPage KDPA airport...

The guy in the tape is a good friend of mine. The event occured one day after he got his private from a university flight school and obviously he messed up quite a bit. However he went on to become one of the best CFI's I have ever seen, and currently is a CRJ700 Captain for ASA. Just goes to show everyone has a bad day, some just get "lucky" and have it posted for life on a webpage for everyone else to enjoy but hopefully also learn from.

 

[FL000]

I used to have an ATC recording of a 210 (I think) in Colorado (I think) that iced up and spun. It was disturbing to listen to so I erased it. If I can find it again I'll post it for those interested in the more macabre.

 

[mattfish42]

I know him!

I didn't listen to the recording until I read the posts about his crazy accent and the plane being a 172 from a flying club in Wisconsin. No.... can't be.... But it's him!
The guy was a fairly low time private pilot at the time. He admitted that when he checked the weather that morning it looked very marginal, but he'd gotten away with flying in marginal VFR before, right? When the clouds lowered on him, he tried the 180 degree turn, no luck; descended a couple thousand feet, no luck, climbed some, no luck. Said not sure exactly what happened, but was thinking about calling for help when the stall warning horn went off, the plane tumbled, he saw his bags on the ceiling. Couldn't figure out which direction the plane was spinning, tried to recover in one direction, no luck, tried the other direction, leveled out just in time to see the top of a radio tower flash by under the left wing.
Scary.
He said he was going to sign up for some instrument training here, but so far hasn't made good on the promise.
By the way, that accent has baffled me for a long time. I think it's his own personal accent, not related to any particular area.

 

[KickSave]

Mattfish, your post sheds some light on some questions a lot of us have had about this tape. I was wondering why he didn't make a 180... apparently he made one but it didn't work?

My real issue is, what lack of ADM lead this guy to be A) blowing off weather he wasn't qualified in, B) getting a WX brief from FSS while he was stuck in clouds he wasn't able to handle(how about ATC or 121.5?) and C) losing control so badly that he was upside down.

I have to wonder what this guy's training was like. As a private pilot, I was taught to aviate first, communicate last. Don't drop the plane to fly the mic, etc etc. I was also required to write down my own personal minimums - whether I stuck to them was my business, but I had no one to blame but myself if I didn't - my instructors made sure I knew the risks involved. I hope this guy gives up flying, if he's unable to get his IR, he doesn't appear to have the ADM skills to be a safe VFR pilot either.