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Old 24th May 2014, 19:00
  #400 (permalink)  
Adrian N
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
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The NTSB concluded that on the day of this accident the pilot relied too much on his autopilot and messed up the missed approach badly when trying to hand fly it. They didn't conclude that he was just an incompetent who shouldn't have been flying in IMC, and nor did they do any investigation into that. Their "probable cause" conclusions are notoriously summarised, and the reality is often a lot more nuanced than their black and white assertions imply. (Read Peter Garrison's "Aftermath" column in Flying magazine for a monthly example of that.)

Similarly the AAIB report didn't conclude that the pilot had been lured out of his depth by his avionics and the comfort blanket of his parachute. They didn't find a cause. They speculated it was probably VFR into IMC, that he probably disconnected the autopilot causing him to lose control, but that medical incapacitation couldn't be excluded. The fact that there's a safety recommendation (an ambigulous one - "enhancing publicity" to the GA community concerning operation of aircraft with BRS might mean reminding them to use it as soon as they lose control) doesn't imply they share your view that there is a general problem with incompetent pilots relying on technology and parachutes in their Cirruses.
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