Bartow crash
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Joined: Jan 2017
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From: New York, NY
Bartow crash
Cessna 340 crashed upon attempting takeoff in heavy fog from Bartow Municipal Airport KBOW in central Florida. Fire upon impact. 4 on board, no survivors. Christmas Eve morning, nonetheless. Sorry, can’t post link.
Joined: Dec 2001
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
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From: GA, USA
Joined: Sep 2013
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From: USA
How was this "so preventable"? By not attempting to take off in the first place? Sure, that's fair, but you could also same the exact same thing about 100% of the commercial aircraft crashes throughout history, too. That doesn't seem all that helpful.
I'm not sure why "private pilot" was tossed in there as if it was an explanation. Being a private pilot doesn't automatically make you a Sunday driver, any more than holding an ATP makes you a sky god. I know nothing about the hours of the guy involved, but maybe he's got more experience than most FOs out there in regionals for all I know. Perhaps he loves flying but chose to take another profession because he wanted to pay the bills instead of having to find a rich girlfriend to pay the rent.
Do private pilots sometimes do things outside of their experience level? Sure. It happens. But it happens with ATPs too. Certain pilots from a certain continent across the pond attempting to carry out the dreaded visual approach, for example.
I'm not sure why "private pilot" was tossed in there as if it was an explanation. Being a private pilot doesn't automatically make you a Sunday driver, any more than holding an ATP makes you a sky god. I know nothing about the hours of the guy involved, but maybe he's got more experience than most FOs out there in regionals for all I know. Perhaps he loves flying but chose to take another profession because he wanted to pay the bills instead of having to find a rich girlfriend to pay the rent.
Do private pilots sometimes do things outside of their experience level? Sure. It happens. But it happens with ATPs too. Certain pilots from a certain continent across the pond attempting to carry out the dreaded visual approach, for example.
SkyGod
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Palm Coast, Florida, USA
No margin for error taking off in fog. No centerline lighting at that airport.
SkyGod
Joined: Aug 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 1,624
Likes: 108
From: Palm Coast, Florida, USA
. How was this "so preventable"?
Wait for the weather to clear and you have more options if something goes wrong, like returning for landing in case of an engine failure. Or visual reference in case of an instrument failure.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2017
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From: New York, NY
Control tower was apparently closed. Seems there was a county sheriff helicopter pilot at the airport, biding his time because of the fog. A longer article on the family members can be found on the NY Times site if you search “Florida plane crash”. It’s a father, two daughters, a son-in-law, and a family friend. One daughter leaves a husband and two young children. Likely a dozen or more lives, ruined, Not casting blame, just shaken after the story of hope that I heard last night at Mass.
Joined: Jun 2001
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From: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
The fog was so thick that it took first responders about 30 minutes to locate the crash after arriving at the airport from radio scanner traffic archived online. There were the usual conflicting initial reports, e.g. a plane was on fire and the pilot was trying to put it out.
Shortly after taking off in dense fog near Tampa, the pilot, John H. Shannon, 70, and four others — including two of his daughters — were killed in a crash, the authorities said. The twin-engine plane burst into flames after going down at Bartow Municipal Airport in Polk County, Fla.
The Cessna aircraft took off despite thick fog that had settled over the airport shortly before sunrise and had limited visibility to less than one-fifth of a mile.
“No one should have attempted to take off in a small plane in that weather,” Grady Judd, the Polk County sheriff, said at a news conference on Sunday.
An airport employee who was filming the fog on a cellphone recorded the sounds of the plane taking off and crashing, Sheriff Judd said. The fog was so thick that the plane could not be seen in the video, he said.
The Cessna aircraft took off despite thick fog that had settled over the airport shortly before sunrise and had limited visibility to less than one-fifth of a mile.
“No one should have attempted to take off in a small plane in that weather,” Grady Judd, the Polk County sheriff, said at a news conference on Sunday.
An airport employee who was filming the fog on a cellphone recorded the sounds of the plane taking off and crashing, Sheriff Judd said. The fog was so thick that the plane could not be seen in the video, he said.
Joined: Mar 2015
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From: North by Northwest
Ever a commercial take-off delayed due to fog - say in the last 25 years or so? Plenty of diversions due to fog. NOT comparing PP with ATP as they can't be compared from training thru equipment.
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From: florida
Sometimes it ain't the takeoff vis but the fact you can't come back real quick if something goes wrong. So a legal alternate closeby is required. Been there a few times, and the alternate was on the nose a few miles ahead.
That does not appear to be the case here.
That does not appear to be the case here.
