Originally Posted by
Adlerdriver
The only thing Tower could have done differently would have been to send her packing much sooner to one of the many smaller airports in the Houston metro area. He was wayyy too accommodating. Devoting a good portion of his attention to dealing with her for 20 minutes had the potential to create other hazards.
It's not Tower's job to hand hold a minimally experienced private pilot attempting to land in challenging conditions mixed in with jet airliner traffic.
If she needed a long base to a 3-4 mile final then she needed to ask for that. However, flying into a busy class-B airport and then expecting ATC to let you fly like you're back at your uncontrolled Unicom airport is a bit unrealistic. Can't hurt to ask - then ATC could have:
1 - Issued holding instructions so he could find a hole in arrivals if possible
2 - Denied the request
The thing is, he couldn't have known that she needed a long base and several mile final, and her voice is actually quite calm during the whole exchange. I think ATC was doing their job, and actually doing it exceptionally well trying to accommodate her in busy airspace. He might have thought he sequenced her a bit too fast. Nothing up until the crash really says impending disaster.
As many of you know I fly for business and regularly go into quite a few very busy large class B. Done well it has no impact to flow as even a 182 can keep 120 kts until final and get off the runway at the first turnoff; typically controllers request max speed when very busy or use LAHSO with an intersecting, etc.
I would have thanked the controller for the ability to duck in front of a jet on 5 mile final or make a short approach. The controllers know and learn what a light plane can do (we simply don't have to be as "stabilized" an approach as the heavy jets) and we are typically a lot more flexible and nimble. If you know where the wake vortices are rapid sequencing during landing is not a problem.
The controller expected her to be able to make a low pattern, circle around and land. For a multitude of reasons, she couldn't do it with fatal results. That is not the controller's fault. It is the pilot's issue.
I would hope there are not large changes in policy as a result of the crash, but simply more education for the Cirrus "drivers" in the air on how their airplane handles. Attitudes will take a long time to change (pun intended).
