VFR v's IFR
I have read all the posts on this sad event. Some, frankly, are blatant attempts to say "I told you so". The question of whether or not any of the pilot's aboard held an Instrument Rating has been posed. I am now retired and, sadly, grounded due medical reasons. During my working life as a Flight Engineer in both the RAAF and in civil aviation I have crewed with relatively inexperienced pilots and extremely experienced ones. What was invariably evident was that most of those pilots, regardless of experience, were "rusty" when returning from lengthy leave periods. This was particularly evident in refresher flights in the simulator before resuming line flying. My point is that it is one thing to hold an Instrument Rating, it is entirely another to remain current. If a 20000+ hour pilot can need a few instrument approaches in a simulator to fine tune his/her skills what chance will a PPL have to retain his/her IR skills and currency?
As some have written, discussion is good. Making assumptions is not. Hopefully, we will all learn from this tragic event.
PS: CENTAURUS, I too wondered about the flap setting shown in the picture. Maybe a formation approach to land somewhere near the coast??
Last edited by Old Fella; 31st Jan 2016 at 09:51.
Reason: delete word