Sir James

I've lost now three Part 121 airline pilot friends, all men, (who have 10 children) through general aviation accidents (Part 91 and air shows).

Yes, there are now countless fathers who are missing from their children's lives by desiring to fly in general aviation (including air shows) despite having a lucrative $100,000+ flying job.

This latest crash in Reno is yet again an example of how the pilot ego-- flying low and fast, awing people all around-- is needlessly killing countless friends in our aviation community.

Jut a few weeks ago, the very man that gave me my widebody Part 121 checkout was involved in a midair collision whereby he was fortunately spared his life.

I'm tired of losing friends, friends of friends, and acquaintances due to these Part 91 crashes brought upon by insatiable "love" for GA flying.

If you're an airline pilot, for crying out out spare your children and grandchildren the news of your premature death. All of my buddies who have died (except one) prematurely, have died in the airframes of Cessna 201's through P-51's.

I believe it is the invincible spirit of the 'all-knowing pilot' that's at the root of most of these deaths. How many ******* people are going to be killed before pilots finally say, "You know what? My family is worth more than the ego rush of entertaining 10,000 people at the Ft. Worth Alliance Airshow."

You're putting your family on the line to feed the entertainment of strangers? How much sense does that make? That's right-- it's purely an EGO feed.

I'm just one airline pilot, but I know a total of 5 airline pilots who have crashed not Part 121 airplanes, but Part 91 airplanes-- all of which were caused by PILOT ERROR (NTSB findings).

Pilots needs to ditch their second, Part 91 stints, and stay true to their professions by flying Part 121 only. Just as doctors have airplanes they fly known as "doctor killers," airline pilots are equally prone to making mistakes-- mistakes than sadly leave behind hundreds of grieving loved ones.

The airline pilot ego is killing off families, and it's high time it is stopped.

HercDriver130

I wonder how many airline pilots have been killed in motorcycle accidents in the last year or two... statistically at least a few... are we gonna tell professional pilots they cant ride motorcycles if they are married and have kids.... ?????

FastDEW

This is one of the strangest posts I've ever read. Not intending any disrespect to those who've died doing what they love. But life is full of risk. You could be in an auto accident or an international pilot could get the bird flu....... I mean, should we all stop living and doing what we love?

DYNASTY HVY

^^^+1
I had to reread the op twice and yes life is full of risk that's why one schould live each day to it's fullest because you just never know what the next day will bring.



Ally

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PW305

What would you say about pilots who skydive on the side, climb mountains, race cars etc...

Where would we be without the people exploring the limits of human capability?

DirectTo

Exaclty. No disrespect whatsoever to the OP, but we can't seclude ourselves away in a life of hiding and just go to and from work to make a buck.

I own a plane on the side. Does it make me more likely to get hurt or killed in an accident? Probably. I could also get killed going down the stairs to the employee cafeteria today, but that's not going to keep me from eating lunch.

Do what you enjoy. Work is work. We have to have some fun on the side. If you truly love flying, maybe your fun place is cruising low and slow with your wife/husband/kids in an old Cub. Is there a level of risk in doing that? Yes. Is there a level of risk in taking a 767 across the pond? Yes.

rickair7777

As a GA pilot, I've kind of wondered about this too. Seems like a lot of GA crashes involve airline and military pilots. No statistical backup at all on this, but my gut check says these guys should have better survival instincts...maybe they just think they do, and that's the root of the problem.

Despite thousands of hours as an CFI/MEI and airline pilot, my GA skills are probably not much better than the average private pilot right now due to lack of use. I treat each flight accordingly, leave myself large margins and pay careful attention to what I'm doing. Back in the day I could shoot a non-dme, single VOR-receiver ILS or VOR approach into a little field in my sleep. Not so much any more, I keep it VFR and if I think there's a risk of IMC I splurge and rent the bird with 2x dme, 2xVOR/ILS receivers, RMI, and GPS.

Warbirds, airshows, racing, parachuting, rock-climbing...that's an entirely different realm of risk above what GA should be. Your personal freedom of choice applies.

But for GA maybe the question should not be why are we doing it, but why are we not doing it very well?



BTW, motorcycles and GA are statistically identical as far as risk. And there's a lot of variability in that range...

A Sunday-morning ride up the coast highway on a cruiser is comparable to a 172 breakfast fly-in...pretty safe, or at least it should.

A booze-fueled crotch-rocket ride up the local winding mountain road on a bike with 75 more horsepower than you know how to handle has it's GA equivalent too...

CaptainCarl

Life ain't worth living if you aren't going to do what you love. And everything in life carries some amount of risk. How much you are willing to take is up to you...

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Grumble

I'm going to wrap myself in bubble wrap now. You all scared me too much to do anything ever again.

bat21

I personally think most pilots overrate their ability to fly airplanes. Everyone thinks they are the ace of the base just because they have such and such rating, qualification, license, etc. When the reality is that the bottom 50% of all pilots just aren't as good as the top 50%. That doesn't mean that the bottom 50% isn't safe or capable of successfully completing any particular flight, it's just they aren't as good of aviators as the top 50%. Ask any pilot if they are below average and most if not all will tell you they are above average. Just like anything else in life not everyone is the best at what they do.