Like MJ and coming into flying when it was a luxury being able to artificially put a VOR on your track it bothers me slightly when we rely too much on the big screen displays and pilot aids here there and everywhere.
It is great when backed up by solid pilot skills and where th pilot can quite happily hand fly in IMC and have a great sense of spatial awareness allowing a lot of mental capacity to handle whatever goes wrong then the autopilot becomes a luxury not a nessessity.
it bothers me when I see chute pulls for failed IAS or failure in IMC to hand fly a simple missed approach!
The standard fit chute pull will always attract attention as it flies in the face of conventional training.
To me it is a great extra safety addition and I would like to see all manufacturers offering the chute as standard.
for me it is a bit like the second engine in a twin! it is an extra safety device at your fingertips which when used with the right skills and judgement can add a lot to flight safety.
when the chute or other pilot aids are used to cover up pilot inability then we need to worry.
This guy was a ferry pilot and I take my hat off to those who ferry single engine aircraft long distance they have more guts than I have. I have ferried high level in jets across the North Atlantic and take my hat off to those poor guys creeping along over vast stretches of water in the worst weather way below.
I think its jumping the gun somewhat to point the finger at this pilot till we know the facts. We all make mistakes some are more costly than others but I don't think we can classify him as a poorly experienced PPL flying out of his capability and relying on systems and chutes.
He probably made the right call pulling the chute ( I am not so sure it would have been the right call had he been at 1300 feet ASL) why he got into a situation requiring that pull is another matter and at this stage only he knows in his heart whether it was his own cock up which caused that situation and even if it was we all cock up now and again but some we get away with to be put away as a lesson or experience and known by no one but us ! Others sadly are far more costly
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 1st Feb 2015 at 14:37.