Pilot's Selfies Could Have Caused Deadly Air Crash 113
alphadogg writes: A deadly air crash that killed a pilot and passenger in Colorado last year was likely due to a loss of spatial awareness brought on in part by taking of selfies while in flight, the National Transportation Safety Board has concluded. An examination of the aircraft revealed no apparent problems that would have caused the accident so, based on the previous patterns of behavior, the NTSB concluded that "it is likely that cell phone use during the accident flight distracted the pilot and contributed to the development of spatial disorientation and subsequent loss of control."
Natural Selection in action (Score:3, Funny)
The good of the many outweigh the vanity of the few....
Seriously, last thing our species need is more self-aborbed behavior.
Effing sad (Score:4, Insightful)
Flying is cool in part because of the apartness and eliteness of obtaining your cert and people seeing you in the left seat at the controls, master and commander of a magical craft. There is massive ego in humble bragging flight time amongst your selfies if you are into a photo based social media.
But holy shit, camera flashing your eyes during a night flight is terrifying, it is far worse than any idiot on the ground lasing you, WTF!
Real aviation is following the checklist and rules; flying, navigating, and communicating safely, not effing around to impress your pals except in maneuvers approved for your aircraft and certification.
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Of course you did. Happy for you both.
As for military aviation.. well... you fly the way the company tells you or you don't keep the job. I do not miss flying w/a helmet.
Aviation is serious (and so is driving). If you are really that intimidated to fly, then perhaps you shouldn't act as PIC.
I own two aircraft, one of which I built. I also commute to work in my aircraft (which requires transit across a MOA and Class B, rain or shine). No drama.
It is hard for me to believe that a camera flash was so disor
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if it was night time, he could have just taken the photos after landing and nobody would have known any different.
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Controlled flight into Fixed Terrain is NOT difficult. How do I know? I've almost done it a number of times, twice in one day actually. I was lucky, I didn't crash but it showed me that my hubris was going to kill me if I didn't start paying attention so I didn't get into dangerous situations and keep working on being the best pilot I could. The next week I started my instrument rating and started working on my commercial ticket, not that I was going to use either of them much, but that I needed to have t
Re:Effing sad (Score:4, Funny)
Picture (Score:5, Funny)
So, where is picture for Darwin awards ceremony?
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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Unfortunately, cell phones are not as durable as flight recorders.
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That's why the cloud sync should be instantaneous.
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Now we know.... (Score:1)
Snapchat.
The silent, but bright, killer.
Come on, a better headline (Score:1)
"Death by selfies", or "The Killer Selfies" or "Selfies will kill you" or something alike.
I truly miss the headliness as "Headless body in a topless bar", don't I?
Priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
As a pilot, I was always taught that my priorities were "aviate, navigate, communicate." As a CFI, I tried to always impart the same lesson.
Taking self-portraits somehow never made the list.
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the NTSB concluded that "it is likely that cell phone use during the accident flight distracted the pilot and contributed to the development of spatial disorientation and subsequent loss of control."
sounds like the NTSB was out of [relevant] options.
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there is no way taking a picture could by itself be the cause of spatial disorientation.
At night.
With a flash.
(FTFA)
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Shortly after takeoff, one of the plane’s pilots sent a frantic message: “Mayday, Mayday, engine flameout.” A flameout is engine failure — when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted or there is faulty combustion, Reuters reported.
Doesn't look like a selfie is the cause of the crash. (Washington Post [washingtonpost.com])
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Hmmm,
"http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/04/taiwanese-jetliner-cartwheels-into-river-frantic-rescue-saves-some"
I'm guessing here, but that article might be about the Taiwanese jetliner crash. You know, coz of the headline, which is also in the URL.
Just a guess.
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Re:Priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
I can see you don't fly much... Spatial disorientation can be caused by just turning your head to look out the side window and if you are not specifically trained to recognize it and fly the gauges instead of what your inner ears are telling you, spatial disorientation will kill you. It's called a "death spiral" for a reason and VFR pilots who wonder into IFR conditions often unknowingly kill themselves when they don't recognize the problem and fly the gauges.
I can tell you that it is REALLY HARD to tell yourself that what you feel may not be what's actually happening and when the gauges and the inner ear are in conflict it's pretty difficult to do what the gauges tell you unless you have practiced it. VFR pilots don't practice this that much because it takes "flying under the hood" which requires a safety pilot to be riding along and you have to do stuff to induce the disorientation feeling purposely. Most VFR only pilots don't take the time to do such training.
Now if you are blinded and cannot see the gauges.... You have serious problems and your best bet is to throttle up a bit and go hands off holding your head straight for about 30 seconds. Hopefully you have a well trimmed aircraft and won't crash before the fluid in your ears stops moving and you can fly again.
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I never thought how serious spatial disorientation was until performing some simulated instrument flights while pursuing my PPL. I had the hood on, and I was leaning over in my seat, body was telling me I was flying straight and level, and yet that artificial horizon was pegged at 30% bank. It took so much control to get the plane level, even though straightening out felt like I was banking in the opposite direction.
That really opened my eyes to how easy it is for people to ignore the instruments, fly by 'f
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You are so right about the ease with which spatial disorientation can come on. Given his low altitude, he had no room for recovery. Pretty bone headed.
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yeah, my thoughts exactly. "We don't have anything solid, so we'll pin it on the go-to hatred du jour'".
And, looking at the comments just about everyone takes the bait.
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Uploading a selfie is communication of a sorts.
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Only in the sense that flying an airworthy plane into the ground is aviation, of a sorts.
Innocent victims (Score:2)
Unfortunately the passenger died, besides the pilot. Also the families of both people are now grieving. It's horrible to lose a loved one. I send my best wishes to the families of these two people.
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"Would you like plummeting to Earth at 9.8 m/s/s with that?"
He should have known better! (Score:5, Insightful)
The reading of the GoPro video description is bluffing. how in the word did someone with such a behaviour and attitude made its way on a pilot seat, worse on an instructor seat.
Something is definitely wrong here. And with his experience he should have known better. From the report (emphasis is mine):
The pilot, age 29, held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for single engine land, multi-engine land and instrument airplane. The pilot also held a ground instructor certificate. The pilot was issued an unrestricted first class medical certificate on August 29, 2013.
A review of the pilot's logbooks revealed that he had accumulated about 726 total flight hours, 38 hours in the last 30 days and 4.5 hours in the 24 hours preceding the accident flight. He had 27.1 hours in night conditions and 0.5 hours in simulated IMC in the last 60 days. He accumulated a total of 99 hours in simulated IMC and 14.7 hours in actual IMC.
That is not a huge experience, but definitely enough to know better. Using a mobile phone in flight is one thing. But using it in a critical flight phase? To take selfies?
This guy was an accident waiting to happen. I feel sad for his passenger.
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Something is definitely wrong here. And with his experience he should have known better.
Well . . . this shows something very insightful about "certifications" in general. They can guarantee that someone should know better . . . but a certification cannot guarantee that someone will not do something stupid.
I see a lot of folks recently who put "Certified ScrumMaster" in their email footers. What that really guarantees . . . is debatable.
Re:He should have known better! (Score:5, Interesting)
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That is not a huge experience, but definitely enough to know better. Using a mobile phone in flight is one thing. But using it in a critical flight phase? To take selfies?
This guy was an accident waiting to happen. I feel sad for his passenger.
Mental illness, maybe? Having known some sufferers, I know they create this "how could they do that?" brain spinning in everyone around them. Because "doesn't make sense" is practically the definition of mental illness, but we try to make sense of it anyway.
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Never underestimate the stupidity of a pilot.
First rule of aircraft mechanics.
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The reports comes from the NTSB, which I believe is a more trustworthy source as Engadget. See for yourself:
http://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/n... [ntsb.gov]
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What article did you read? The one i read said:
"It added the pilot didn’t have sufficient certification for night flight with passengers or flying on instruments alone."
I guess its possible, but ive never heard of someone getting their commercial before their IFR.
The Commercial certificate does not require an Instrument rating.
However: The pilot, age 29, held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for single engine land, multi-engine land and instrument airplane.
But he did not meet the currency requirements, particularly FAR 61.57(b) [faa.gov].
According to all available documentation, the pilot undertook an illegal flight for which he was not qualified.
Flying at night can be very disorienting, hence the currency requirement. That alone could have caused the crash. This
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Evidence for the assertion ? (Score:5, Insightful)
He took selfies before.
He crashed.
Therefore: taking selfies caused the crash ?
Or is there more evidence ?
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"Could Have Caused". I see nothing poorly written in that.
And yes, taking a selfie while doing tasks that require your attention definitely can cause something.
Re:Evidence for the assertion ? (Score:4, Interesting)
What's worse is that's not the evidence.
The evidence seems to be that his PASSENGERS took selfies before. Then he crashed. Therefore he took a selfie.
More likely, the /. headline was garbled, and what was really asserted is that his passengers were taking selfies, and he was disoriented by the flashes from the selfies taken by someone else.
Re:Evidence for the assertion ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Pictures taken with a flash of the pilot just after the takeoff at low level at night just before he lost control of an otherwise mechanically sound plane isn't exactly a thin correlation. While I may not be an expert (it's been a whole month since I flew a Cessna 150), it doesn't take an expert to know that a flash in your eyes in the dark can ruin your night vision, and that low altitude in a critical phase of flight is probably a dangerous time to be flying blind. And even though it doesn't take an expert to realize this, they used many experts anyway, as the NTSB is fairly good at accident investigation, far more experienced than the random internet commenter claiming "correlation isn't causation!"
The video taken from the inside of the cockpit during the incident probably helped them come to this conclusion, too.
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Exactly. Note that when a plane crashes the NTSB goes nuts figuring out everything that they can about the crash and about the airplane right before the crash. They've been doing so for decades. This is why planes are so very safe and why they can pretty accurately determine the cause of the crash in almost all cases.
I doubt they took this lightly, especially since they're speaking ill of a dead man (at least it could be taken in that way).
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I don't have a lot of time in the air, but from the little time that I've flown at night and my general understanding the cockpit of a small aircraft is typically kept very dark, since most of the time you're relying on visual navigation and sighting of stuff that isn't well-lit. A bright flash of light would probably make it hard to even see your instruments until you fumbled for the brightness dial (which would be even harder to find in the dark).
My CFI tried to discourage chit-chat of any kind during cr
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Didn't realize it was an FAA rule below 10k, but it obviously makes sense.
For small aircraft the 10k bit wouldn't make sense (the whole flight is often below that), but certainly I'd say that there should be a sterile cockpit anytime you basically aren't in the cruise phase of flight.
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Personally I observe an 1000 foot AGL 3-5 Miles from the airport version of this when I'm flying with passengers. Basically when I'm in the pattern or talking to approach/departure, I'm pretty much going to ignore passengers. I warn them about this as part of the preflight and then on approach I'll tell them we can talk again once we are parked on the ground.
Sometimes when I'm in "teaching mode" and they are enjoying the experience, I'll enlist them to perform a specific tasks like looking for traffic,
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No, the evidence is:
1) Flying a plane takes a lot of attention. Sometimes things happen in a plane that require immediate attention.
2) There is no evidence of any mechanical failure with the plane.
3) There is evidence that the plane was operating correctly.
4) Therefore, based on (2) and (3), the crash was caused by pilot error.
5) The pilot's was taking selfies at critical points during the flight. This requires some attention.
Therefore, based on 1, 4 and 5 the act of taking selfies could have contribute
First sighting of the selfie gremlin? (Score:3)
I've begun to hear many TV talking heads dumping on "the selfie" lately. Anything that gets over-hyped will reach burnout. But come on guys, really? A selfie brought down the plane? Should be only a matter of hours before some politician jumps onto a soap box and calls for anti-selfie legislation. Maybe they can vilify selfies like they did vaccinations.
Remember Sarah Palin's sad story about the little girl who "came down" with autism after getting some vaccines? Well that's nothing. Take a selfie on a plane...and you'll die in an inferno of brimstone as new-fangled selfie-demons destroy your plane! This is nothing but the typical hype/anti-hype cycle but taken to a new level due to 24-hour news media. This may have influenced investigators.
Having spent time behind the wheel of a Cesna myself, I can't imagine this. This is a plane you can fly literally hands-off. It will fly straight and level. Even if you take your hands off in the middle of a turn the plane will continue that direction for a short time while starting a slow drift. A selfie couldn't cause the plane to go down unless he was fumbling with the phone to film the critical point of a risky maneuver in which case the maneuver would be the catalyst. Do we know that he was fumbling with the phone?
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A selfie brought down the plane?
Flash photography in the cockpit at night at low altitude during touch-and-go's.
This was not a smart pilot.
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No, I do remember Michelle Bachmann's story. But hey, it's easy to confuse which conservative woman from fly-over country said which stupid thing when the only place you get your news is from the Daily Show or the Colbert Report.
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This is a plane you can fly literally hands-off. It will fly straight and level. Even if you take your hands off in the middle of a turn the plane will continue that direction for a short time while starting a slow drift.
Clearly, it took a lot of talent to drive this plane into the ground. Good job, pilot!
bad title (Score:1)
That's something a lot of organizations do. It's politically expedient and it's relatively efficient to just find a scapegoat (human or technological) but it ends in not actually fixing the problem.
At a bank I used to work at there was a problem backing up data to an off-site tape storage unit. Th
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Re:bad title (Score:5, Informative)
How did the selfie result in an accident? What can be done to prevent that *kind of* judgement lapse from causing an accident in the future? Blaming the pilot will not answer these questions.
The issue is that we aren't reading the NTSB report, but a 3rd (or worse) hand report of a report. I've seen someone else say that the passengers taking selfies, not the pilot, could have given night blindness sufficient to cause spacial disorientation. The pilot could have done nothing wrong, other than to not disallow the passenger's flash.
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How did the selfie result in an accident?
Flash photography in the cockpit at night at low altitude during touch-and-go's. Part of a pattern of such behaviour by the pilot.
What can be done to prevent that *kind of* judgement lapse from causing an accident in the future? Blaming the pilot will not answer these questions.
Actually, blaming the pilot is the only thing that might help prevent a repeat. It really is just a "seriously guys, don't do that, it's retarded" situation.
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I've seen bicyclist, motocyclists texting (Score:2)
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Even that's not new. My CFI took his cell phone along on most of our trips and once in a while actually made a call. Once he called the Flight Service Station to file an IFR flight plan when we where VFR at night but the weather went south and the radios didn't seem to be working well enough to get it filed that way.
Oh and that was 30 years ago...
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On a cessna 150 "Black boxes" will be found only if black boxes were used for luggage....
It's a two seat aircraft (pilot + one other perso), used mostly for recreation.
What are popularly called "Black boxes" are mostly used on aircraft that are much larger .
Flash? (Score:2)
Many of the news reports mention a GoPro and flash photography. No.
And people want flying cars (Score:2)
Where this sort of thing will happen a lot more often when relatively untrained (driving compared to a pilot) people will be in control.
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JFK Jr. wasn't taking selfies... He was just a VFR pilot who wasn't properly prepared for the flight he attempted. VFR at night over Water is dangerous territory for those who's IFR skills are not up to par. Doing it in a high performance aircraft is even more risky.
Personally, if I had attempted this flight VFR, I would have conducted it *like* an IFR flight, including flight following and asking for a "practice IFR" approach from the controller. I'd do this to keep it in the front of my mind that I had