Originally Posted by
Bill Pike
If say the Willy RAAF base had long ago been shifted ... Therefore the accident would most likely not have happened.
Seriously????? You really think that way about Aeronautical Decision Making????
Wow, ok. let's play that game a bit, just top see how stupid that philosophy really is.
"Well, if that mountain hadn't been there Joe would never have hit it in the dark, therefore it's the mountain's fault he crashed"
"If that nasty crosswind hadn't been there, Bob would never have lost control on landing and crash into the hangar, therefore it was the crosswind's fault he crashed (and also the hangar's fault for being in his way after he lost control) "
"If that level 5 thunderstorm hadn't been right there where Jeffery was flying, he wouldn't have had the wings ripped off his plane, therefore it's the Thunderstorm's fault he fell out of the sky in pieces"
Not a single one of those is any more inane that saying the existence of the Air Base caused the MDX crash.
I guess I walk out to an airplane with a radically different mindset than some folks here. In my philosophy, things like mountains, and thunderstorms, and restricted airspace, and ATC procedures, and short runways and all those other things are just facts, that's the environment in which I'm going to fly, and *my* job is to make good decisions on how I am going to conduct my flight
given those factors. Up to and including the decision not to fly tonight, if too many of those factors are against me.
If the "it's not my fault" attitudes displayed here are representative of the prevailing view toward piloting responsibilities in Oz*, I would recommend that you stop using the term "Pilot in Command" and replace it with VOB, for "Victim on Board" Because that's what's being espoused, that the poor old MDX pilot was just a victim of circumstances beyond his control.
* just to be clear, I'm indulging in a little hyperbole here, obviously there are a number of Oz pilots here who have a little more rational view of what a pilot's responsibilities are.