Baron 58 down in Italy 16th June - was this reported?

[Contacttower]

I may have missed a thread but I don't think this was reported (http://news.sky.com/story/1104640/british-pilot-dies-in-italian-mountain-crash) (on here at least) at the time. :sad:

[stevfire2]

was reported the evening it happened on "the other" forum. pilot was a really nice guy, very experienced. based at booker. had a bad feeling when he didnt turn up as filed on flight plan..... very sad.:(

[mm_flynn]

'Many', may be a slight overstatement, but we have had
1 - This Baron (UK)
2 - earlier this year a TBM on what appeared to be a DIY approach (German )
3 - last year a twin Comanche near Nice (UK)
4 - a Jet Prop about 3 years ago on a DIY approach in Austria (UK)
5 - about a year earlier a Seneca enroute in France (UK)

The IMCr and IR are very safe within the UK (with holders showing up rairly in the accident statistics), however, there are a surprising number of UK IR rated pilots that have CFIT accidents outside the UK (all of the UK ones above were in mountainous terrain).

Even more worryingly from my perspective, I believe both the Baron and the Comanche were flown by current rated IR pilots, had TAWS GPS in the cockpit, where reputed to be good and sensible pilots, and almost surely didn't think they were taking a risk. It highlights the critical importance of being crystal clear if you are IFR on a published segment or if you are transitioning VFR/IFR and you are responsible for terrain clearance (despite being in contact with ATC on what might sound like an IFR clearance ).

[Contacttower]

I mean I wonder if the fact that there are few airports near high terrain in the UK means that the risks of it are not as prevalent in the minds of UK pilots...I don't know.

Wouldn't want to judge about this particular accident though, for all we know there could be some technical failure that caused the aircraft to lose height.