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Old 12-18-2015, 02:08 PM
  #46  
USMCFLYR
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: FAA 'Flight Check'
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Originally Posted by Kepi View Post
My lawyer is going to file an appeal to the NTSB to look at the new evidence and change their conclusion that my son got spatial disorientation. They supposedly used a chip out of a hand held Garmin that my son had on board to re-enact the flight in a flight simulator. They concluded that the forces he would have felt in the seat would have made him believe he was ascending when in fact he was descending with a pitch of -2 degrees. The do say the Garmin showed he immediately banked after takeoff to the right which would have been west when he was supposed to be flying south. I believe he was banking to try to get back to the airport. The NTSB thought it was spatial disorientation. My son said he taught his students to ALWAYS trust your instruments first. He loved flying at night. I never could understand how they believed he got spatial disorientation if his instruments were working. We just know our son and how he took flying very seriously. He promised his mother before this job that he would be very careful.
Kepi -

The bolded above IS spatial disorientation.

Good pilots get disoriented all of the time - even with working instruments. It is one of the foremost dangers in aviation. One of the absolute worst things you can do immediately after takeoff in a single engine airplane with an engine failure is try to turn back to the airport - especially at night when you don't even have as many visual cues as the day time.

I'm very sorry about your son and the impact on your family of this accident.
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