This is what happens......

[Colonel]

Another gate-keeper ...

To fly a moo-too on a Cdn licence, you need a high
performance type rating, because of it's Vne (not it's
Vso, oddly).

Who signed this guy off for his Cdn moo-too type
rating?  I suppose you could argue that it wasn't his
job to check instrument skills in the aircraft.

Sigh.

So much paper, so little skill and knowledge.

Depressingly, that's the way people want it.

And, death is the result.

But, that's ok because skill and knowledge is old
fashioned, and fashion is what is important.

[Colonel]

I really wish people would realize just how
useless that paper from TC is.

I see so many PPL's (and CPL's!!) that can't
land with a crosswind.  FTU's don't teach
that - they just impose x-wind limits.  WTF?!

It should be painfully obvious to everyone
that the objective of an instrument rating
from an FTU [b]isn't[/b] to fly in cloud.

And a high performance type rating doesn't
mean that you have any skill on or knowledge
about the type.

First, you have to get the nearly completely
useless paper.

Then, you have to acquire the supposedly
corresponding skill and knowledge, on your
own, afterwards.

If this doesn't strike anyone as complete
and total fucking lunacy, please do speak up.

RP:  You need to learn to accept the total
decoupling between the paper, and the actual
skill and knowledge.  They have almost nothing
to do with each other.

TC is all about the paper.  Like the Geico
TV ad, that's what they do.

Old guys like me and Chuck and LC are all
about the skill and knowledge - again, like
the Geico ad.

[CpnCrunch]

He did have the FAA required training according to news reports (he was flying an N-reg plane on his FAA license).


The right-seat instructor wasn't a legal requirement. He apparently had all the paperwork to do this flight on his own.

[Rookie Pilot]

He did have the FAA required training according to news reports (he was flying an N-reg plane on his FAA license).


The right-seat instructor wasn't a legal requirement. He apparently had all the paperwork to do this flight on his own.

Then why was he there? I'm assuming he was not needed, maybe a simple ride - along, but sure TC will be asking that too.

[CpnCrunch]

Then why was he there? I'm assuming he was not needed, maybe a simple ride - along, but sure TC will be asking that too.

One of the news stories said the instructor was there to help him out with the radios and navigation.

[David MacRay]

I presume the instructor was there at least partially because he saw an opportunity to be present for some real life actual IFR. Hoping to gain experience that his instructor before him may not have been able to get. So he would be a better IFR pilot and maybe even a better IFR instructor.

This whole thing smells but let's not get too flippant about the instructor. He probably also wanted to experience the plane too.

Sometimes we need to do difficult things to improve. This happened to be too much and they paid the ultimate price for it.

When I first got my PPL the instructors told me to stay away from YYC, the controllers are mean it's not worth it. At the time I was foolishly planning to go pro, I thought, "How do I expect to get paid to fly if I am afraid of busy airports?" So then I started flying to as many big airports as I could and I learned how to fly more precisely.

What seems odd here is if the guy was wealthy why did he not get more experience flying IFR before this? Mysterious that is.

[Rookie Pilot]

Then why was he there? I'm assuming he was not needed, maybe a simple ride - along, but sure TC will be asking that too.

One of the news stories said the instructor was there to help him out with the radios and navigation.

Really. Hmmm....


If one is fully capable of SP IFR in a high performance machine, is it likely help with radios and navigation are needed? 


I'm also curious if the mere prescence of a Flight Instructor would give confidence to the passengers. The passengers are the unknowledgable victims here. They would reasonably assume the instructor was a qualified instructor on that model aircraft. 


This story strikes me as a lot more to it than meets the eye.

[Colonel]

What seems odd here is if the guy was wealthy why did he not get more experience flying IFR before this? Mysterious that is.

Uuummmmmmm ... overwhelmingly, people that have
money spend nearly all their time earning it, and very
little time developing flying skills. 

They buy an expensive airplane, and they expect to use
it, whenever they want, regardless of the weather conditions. 

They have learned that if they push hard enough in
business, they can make something happen, and why
would aviation be any different?

Frequently they are too cheap to hire professional
help (like a competent pilot) which might be counter
intuitive, but rich people are the cheapest bastards
you will ever meet.

Rich people also have enormous egos.  They don't
like to have a professional pilot on board, because
they like to impress their friends that THEY are the
pilot.

I have spent many years, dealing with this thorny
situation, trying to keep rich suicidal people (and
their pax) alive.  As I said before, you will be frequently
fired in the air when you over-ride their really stupid
type A decisions which result in almost certain death.

Sound familiar?

It would appear that the flight instructor in the right
seat of this moo-too wasn't up to this task, and he's
dead now.  But that's ok, because TC liked him, and
that's the most important qualification a pilot can
have, according to the job ads I see.

Anyways, I have trouble believing there have never
been any wealthy people in Alberta.  Didn't you guys
make billions on oil, a while back?

[Chuck Ellsworth]

If one is fully capable of SP IFR in a high performance machine, is it likely help with radios and navigation are needed? 

Two pilots flying IFR using proper procedures are far safer than one.

When I was flying for a living about % of my flying was multi crew.

Then again maybe I was just not good enough to fly alone.

[David MacRay]

What seems odd here is if the guy was wealthy why did he not get more experience flying IFR before this? Mysterious that is.

Uuummmmmmm ... overwhelmingly, people that have
money spend nearly all their time earning it, and very
little time developing flying skills. 

They buy an expensive airplane, and they expect to use
it, whenever they want, regardless of the weather conditions. 

They have learned that if they push hard enough in
business, they can make something happen, and why
would aviation be any different?

Frequently they are too cheap to hire professional
help (like a competent pilot) which might be counter
intuitive, but rich people are the cheapest bastards
you will ever meet.

Rich people also have enormous egos.  They don't
like to have a professional pilot on board, because
they like to impress their friends that THEY are the
pilot.

I have spent many years, dealing with this thorny
situation, trying to keep rich suicidal people (and
their pax) alive.  As I said before, you will be frequently
fired in the air when you over-ride their really stupid
type A decisions which result in almost certain death.

Sound familiar?

It would appear that the flight instructor in the right
seat of this moo-too wasn't up to this task, and he's
dead now.  But that's ok, because TC liked him, and
that's the most important qualification a pilot can
have, according to the job ads I see.

Anyways, I have trouble believing there have never
been any wealthy people in Alberta.  Didn't you guys
make billions on oil, a while back?

sounds too familiar. I basically knew what you wrote. I was not about to type half of it.

Regarding making billions on oil. The best way to maximize profit here is by doing it quick and dirty. If it does not burst into flames and the breakers don't trip. Collect $200 and head past go to the next one.

I am a "Let's do a decent job on this so it will last a while." Or the, "So you have had twenty guys fart around with this and it never worked right? Let me read the directions and take a look. Oh, I see what's missing. I can put it in if you want. Oh, I'm not sure how long it will take I have never done one." Then surprise when you assemble the complete system it works right, guy.

There are a few of us around but typically we don't fit in.