Fatal crash pilot 'had taken pot'
 

Silly boy, a heavily laden water bomber at low level with minimal water-drop experience, and marijuana thrown in for good measure.:ugh:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22182273-2,00.html

Slightly off on a tangent - love the "dob in a pilot" scheme advertised in the article...:mad::ugh::hmm:

BOX

As the pilot mentioned was a friend, i would like you to firstly establish the facts before you go mouthing off about experience levels.

secondly where else would you find a water bomber other than low level and heavily laden.

i get the impression you may be a plane spotter rather than a pilot

Box ,you are obviously either a very unexperienced pilot or not one at all I flew 8 fire seasons with this guy he was the most experienced bomber pilot in Australia and an exceptional pilot all round if you new anything about aviation you would know that to be a bomber pilot you have to have the highest degree of experience and skill to satisfy the government standards, not many people make the grade even with the minimum requirements needed....

Do the memory of this pilot a favour and withdraw your comments!

"BOX

As the pilot mentioned was a friend, i would like you to firstly establish the facts before you go mouthing off about experience levels.

secondly where else would you find a water bomber other than low level and heavily laden.

i get the impression you may be a plane spotter rather than a pilot"

I have said nothing that was not in the article, and for the record a water bomber is usually at low level for only a portion of the detail, it has to transit to the drop site and back. In this case the article states clearly that the pilot had minimal time on type, to compound this with narcotics is simply foolish. I'm sorry if you knew the individual concerned, but contrary to your unfounded and uninformed 'impression' I am indeed a pilot, and have been for over 30 years. In that time my tolerance for individuals who make an already hazardous occupation more so by poor personal decision making, has reduced with my exposure to the consequences. If emphasizing those consequences offends, I'm sorry, but if open discussion of blatant stupidity prevents just one life from being unnecessarily lost then so be it.

When it comes to aviation dont believe all that you read in the papers.

Wait for the official report from the CASA.

"When it comes to aviation dont believe all that you read in the papers.

Wait for the official report from the CASA."


Now that I accept totally, although I think you mean the ATSB. In this case though, they did claim to quoting the already published ATSB report, not heresay, the actual incident was back in 2005.

Box if you had the required info to comment on this you would know that this pilot had over 18000hrs in aerial agriculture and the only difference on aircraft type at the time of the crash to what he usually flew was the engine!

Do I take it then that you are defending the use of recreational narcotics by pilots? I don't care if he had been flying since pontius was a pilot. And as to "only the engine was different", so what? accidents have been caused by unfamiliarity with individual aircraft of exactly the same type. I'm sorry, but I would never under any circumstanced condone drug or alcohol use by pilots, and I can only surmise that those who do are doing so from a sense of misguided loyalty. Since this seems to be the required response I will abort my comments here.

While not taking sides in this debate your assertion that:
is either a typo or incorrect. The official ATSB report states the pilot had a total flying experience of 6,737 hrs of which only 1.0 was on type.

Report is available here
http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/...505236_001.pdf

BOX

good idea abort your comments, go and find some other thread to stir on

Get off ya high horse box (head).

The report proves absolutely nothing about what CAUSED the crash. There are some facts stated, yes, one of which was the pilot had drugs in his system.

There is absolutely no evidence that this crash was CAUSED or CONTRIBUTED TO from drugs in the pilots system.

IF the pilot was under the influence, AT THE TIME, then yes he deserves a bagging but you can't prove it so don't bag a dead bloke pal.

VB

well said VB

"There is absolutely no evidence that this crash was CAUSED or CONTRIBUTED TO from drugs in the pilots system."

By the same token, there is not a lot of any other reasons why a serviceable aircraft pranged carrying out such a simple exercise, the amount of experience that the driver had accrued, this exercise, all other things being equal, was a piece of cake. How can you say the finding of pot in the system is not relevant???

Prospector Quote...."How can you say the finding of pot in the system is not relevant???"

Pros mate.....very relevant for sure.....Box has made his point.....even to the dismay of others here....what I think what irks most is that we all know the consequences of drugs/alcohol and flying.....there have been previous threads posted here before on this very subject......the rapp that pilots take, for the very few individuals that do not refrain from these activities is immense

Bottom line,the percentages are small,and most of us know these activities dont mix....there will always be a "few" that indulge......

Personally Box...youve made your point,its an obvious one.....we get the point....

Just read the article...if Mark Schliebs thinks Ballidu is "remote Western Australia" what would he call Kiwirrkurra?:yuk:

The old smoking dope story.
Do people still smoke it.Seeing it shows up in your system for weeks ,most people have moved up the ladder to the hard stuff which gets out the system fast.
To say this was the main factor in the accident is utter bollocks,unless a saliva swab was taken to show he was "flying high" at the time ,like the law enforcements do these days.
How many of you drink--get smashed on your day off ,go flying next day when alcohol level is .00 ,but still feel like a bag of crap and wish you werent flying.
im not a drug user but have tried pot a few times back many years ago

Good for you, BOX.

Interesting to see the usual suspects trying to jump on your head.

As PB said, idiots that mix recreational drugs and flying thoroughly screw it up for the rest of us. Sad that this guy died, but it would appear to be entirely his own fault.

Whether the "recent ingestion" of drugs was a factor or not may be debatable, but the fact that they were present at all tells you a lot about the amount of professionalism on display.

Sadly, it isn't even slightly surprising.

As for "not bagging a dead guy" - if the dead guy was stupid, he deserves to be bagged. Hopefully others may learn something. Being dead doesn't make you a saint.

Bottom line - low-level flying in an unfamiliar type + drugs = stupid

Same goes for going on a bender and flying the next day whilst still suffering the effects. Really, really stupid.

Get off your high horse you blokes

have a read of the report, the accident was most likely caused by an aerodynamic stall

but you people are as bad as the media, citing it was the cannabis that was responsible for the accident

i like the way all you weekend warriors are suddenly experts in air crash investigations, and you prefer the newspaper version rather than the one published by the ATSB

Quote..."citing it was the cannabis that was responsible for the accident"

...most of us are not saying that at all....read between the lines sugar...

...and as for the weekend warrior:yuk:...Ill bite my tounge...ILL send you a CV... and then you can fwd your apology to my e-mail address

There have been many valids points here.....the bottom line...drugs(of all kinds)alcohol and flying do not mix......most normal thinking people whether they be pilots or not,dont find that hard to accept or understand...reading the article,and hopefully the report is correct...they found THC in his body.....

I get drug tested(blood,urine,breath) about 3-4 times a year,random,before and after a flight....never tested positive....Ive made cockups,but never attributed it to substance abuse......cant understand that even if pot smoking never caused thiis accident,profesional pilots are held to a much higher standard than most.... smoking dope and flying is a bad combination:confused: