PPL posers get to arrive at the destination with 5 hrs of extra gas, commercial operators in this kind of scenario (ie commuter T-prop with this sector distance and pax load) never do. I think it is time you stopped commenting on things you know nothing about.
I don't know anything about gliding which is why I don't post on gliding bulletin boards. Perhaps you should show the same courtesy to professional pilots ......
And you know nothing about the aircraft I was flying, or the route, or the operation, or me, so your ill informed, incorrect and offensive comments are so wrong and also regrettably typical of the arrogance and misplaced elitism that fortunately is at last dying out among supposed professional pilots.
I arrived at my FINAL destination with 2 Hrs fuel, (the alternate then was just under 1 Hr away) and the divert decision was taken less than 1 Hour into what was originally a planned 3 Hour sector that was rapidly becoming a 4 hour flight due to unforecast 50 Kt Headwinds.
The tanks were full because it was an international flight with a stop over, on duty free fuel which was considerably cheaper than fuel en route and at the destination, so carrying extra wasn't a "PPL" choice, it was a beancounter choice, With full tanks and single crewed, it was a 12 Hour endurance aircraft, which would have allowed a non stop Dublin to Rome flight.
It was a very different story if full of both passengers and bags, it could not take full fuel for both C of G and weight reasons, and had a range of about 400 Miles with appropriate IFR reserves, so I did have to deal with making sure that all the right decisions were made in respect of where to go, and when, and with the right alternatives, especially in the early days when I was still getting used to the capabilities of the aircraft.
Significant areas of peripheral Europe are not like most of the States, where there are good airfields every 20 miles,
IFR alternates may be significant distances away, and over significant water distances, so 30 minutes alternate fuel was often not enough. I have flown long distances in both Europe and the States, so I do know what I'm on about here too.
Strangely enough, I thought personal attacks were not permitted.
I am neither a PPL or a Sim FLYER, as stated in my profile, at one time I was building Professional training sims. There is a VERY big difference. I have flown sims, lots of them, of all sizes and capabilites, and it was a very educational process.
I am very glad I didn't have to share the flight deck with some of the attitudes and prejudices I've seen here, instead, I was fortunate to work with a very much more understanding and enlightened group of highly professional people that recognised the skills and capabilities of the team they worked with, and encouraged them to develop.
Two
professional pilots and 4 passengers lost their lives as a result of the Cork crash. The report will make it clear what happened.
As someone here commented a while ago, for those that have the background knowledge to read it, the clues are all here. Not all of them, some of them will come out of the pieces of the jigsaw that are not yet in the public domain, but to paraphrase the AAIB representative "They will serve to confirm what we are reasonably clear happened to the flight in it's final moments".
The commercial operators in general, and the low cost commuter operators that are flying on behalf of ticketing agencies will have to learn from this crash in order to ensure that another crash of this nature does not happen for a VERY long time. If the industry does not learn from it, it will be forced upon them by the regulators.
I would be the first to accept that some of the RUMOURS I have suggested would be outrageous if completely true. I also have noticed that most of the responses I have had have not been to disprove some of those rumours, but to attack me, or my experience, or similar. I have been close to or involved with aviation in one way or another for close on 45 years, and have seen more than my fair share of incidents, and had my own as well.
How do you tell 2 young children who are very excited that they can't go flying on their first flight with their dad (and yes, I was a very new PPL then, as were all Commercial pilots at some stage) on a perfect evening? Very hard, but what they didn't know until many years later was that another member of the flying club had torn off the wings of a Rallye that morning in marginal weather and killed himself and 3 other people. We still went, and I was the only one that didn't enjoy the flight very much. That day was a very early reminder that I have tried never to forget that there are limits and rules for very good reasons.
Some of the comments and rumours I have posted have not come from Professional Pilots, they have also come from despatchers, and engineers, and other professionals of all levels and qualifications, most of whom have been in the industry for a very long time, and have seen most of the mistakes that can and have been made. That is why they have made the suggestions they have. We talk among ourselves, regularly, and have been very much affected by a major incident in what is a relatively small aviation industry in this country. There are more aircraft on the ramp at Centennial, Denver, than on the entire Irish Register, so an incident like Cork has an effect that is felt country wide.
It is in all of our interests to ensure that the necesary lessons are learnt quickly, so that when we are asked by people outside of the industry, we can answer truthfully that it's not likely to ever happen again, as changes (whatever they may be) have been made as a result of the lessons learnt.
If achieving that result that means we have to discuss rumours as well as facts to ensure that the lessons are learnt as widely as possible, that seems to me like a very good idea. If that ruffles the feathers of some of the more precious pilots in the industry, that is the very reasonable price for ensuring that the maximum number of people possible keep using their skills and services as often as possible, which will continue to pay the bills and keep us all in employment.