Originally Posted by
JammedStab
40+ words for the pilot and 6 for the spectator. If it was your wife or daughter that had their face chopped up because of what happened that day, trust me, you would be saying things differently.
Indeed I would. I am not though and am looking at it as someone who hopes I never cause an accident like that to happen.
Personally I think simply saying 'pilot error' does nothing to improve the situation or make the horrible outcomes of similar events any better.
In my opinion, trying to understand why pilot error occurs and working at ways to prevent future episodes is a far more honourable way to treat people impacted by past tragedy so to reduce the likelihood of things repeating.
One of the things I think aviation (at least in past times) can teach us is how it tends to look less at blame and punishment for individuals making mistakes and more at acknowledging those mistakes and learning from them.
If someone I know is hurt I can understand a desire for vengeance and punishment for the person whose error caused it (and would probably be at the front of the crowd asking for punishment) but if I am looking dispassionately at an event I am more interested in knowing how I can avoid it ever happening again because of my human frailty.
Originally Posted by
JammedStab
I have flown two types of Moths and used a checklist every time. And on top of that, like in all aircraft, I check the killer items that might get you after the checklist is complete and prior to takeoff. Why? Because I am smart enough to know that I am stupid enough to miss items. On a Moth, trim, mags, fuel selector and controls still free should pretty much cover it, along with a final peek down the runway prior to adding power.
I will defer to your Tiger Moth experience - I have only a little time in Tigers but I recall I found like many older taildraggers there was not much to see directly in front of them from the rear seat before getting the tail up and none of them had a written checklist in the cockpit. It was all mental check list.
A piece of paper or laminated plastic though can be a trap as well though. I have watched many pilots run through checklists more as a magic incantation to ward off evil than to really think about what they are doing and why.
Like most pilots though I do something similar to you in the way of mental checks prior to take-off however I know from my experience that is not foolproof when there are unexpected distractions to my normal rituals. If you are immune from that I am envious of your ability.
Originally Posted by
JammedStab
Seeing as I am hurting feelings today, I might as well continue. This has to be one of the stupidest statements in aviation when it comes to accidents caused by pilot error. Maybe understandable for a midair, or a mechanical failure that could not have been anticipated, etc, but not for an obvious screw-up.
Feel free to hurt my feelings, you are entitled to your opinion and I am sure there are many who would agree with you. I don't. In my opinion (based on my experience) one of the stupidest statements in aviation is saying I will not make that sort of a mistake.
There is another statement I would put up there with it (although I would not say stupid, just often unhelpful) is "the accident was due to pilot error" as if that is all we need to know and resolves the situation.
Of course it was pilot error! most accidents are!
Humans (well at least humans like me) make mistakes. Systems sometimes do not catch those mistakes. People get hurt.
A far more helpful explanation is how similar mistakes can be avoided and consequences mitigated in the future.
Simply saying 'pilot error' is more an observation than an explanation and doesn't help me.