Hi Ryan
I'm not trying to start a flame, but you are quite wrong to state that "Let's be clear, the outcome of this incident was above and beyond any pilot training.". Did you not do and demonstrate FLWOP skills? That he carried out what he was trained for competently is a testament to his training and skills, and he is a obviously a cool pilot under pressure (who was in the R-seat?) but sycophantic adulation is not wanted here, and I bet he would like/appreciate constructive comments on his choices post landing.
You seem to be taking the PC route of not wanting any form of criticism when the point of discussing/criticing incidents is to improve knowledge for the future. In the case of my post, I am not an "armchair pilot", I was correctly (IMHO) pointing out that when you land on a highway you should hold the centerline (just like on a runway). If you search youtube I think you can see a crash of a cessna where the pilot hits a utility pole being off centerline during FLWOP. The resulting electrical sparks and the almost inevitability of lots of avgas ll over the place after such a wing strike are a _massive_ risk/danger, possibly much worse than a normal FLWOP. In this case pilot choices have clearly increased risk. This is constructive criticism and warranted in this environment. By the way, we train endlessly for FLWOP and this was not a novice pilot. He handled the emergency well and for that he was congratulated, but he also could have turned it to custard by his drift to the edge of the road. BUT a the real question in my mind is, was there not a better choice available and if so, was his choice of a road driven by the common obsession with tarmac over grass? The second puzzle is why the _very_ late mayday when masters should have been off.
Cheers
Last edited by moreflaps; 2nd May 2011 at 23:05.