goobscoob

My objective for posting this is to solicit more experienced opinions in regards.... essentially to the opinions I am already receiving. I want to know if I am putting to much weight in one, or not giving enough credit to another.

Status; 28 Years Old 42 Hour Student Pilot, Soloed', Solo XC'd

Should I seek a new instructor, or am I giving too much weight to another friendly pilot's opinion?


What happened;
During my dual night XC (destination non towered airport) after landing we struck a deer. At the time we were still rolling somewhere between 45-55 knots. It flew out of the darkness with a death wish, no time to react whatsoever. I think the profanity that left my mouth was probably muffled by the boom of the collision. We taxi'd off the runway, all well. I went for a mile jog back down the runway with my flashlight to drag the deer off incase somebody else wanted to land while my instructor called 911 and the airport mgr. I found the deer, it looked virtually untouched except everything forward of the ears was sliced clean off. It was a morbid sight, and I opted not to take a picture because I didn't want anybody else to have to see that sight. I dragged it off the runway and into the grass. I jogged the 1 mile back, we hung out in the pilot's lounge while the police and airport mgr arrived.

Police did a second sweep of the runway and brought back our transponder antenna. Instructor inspected the plane, and I inspected it haphazardly- really just looked at the dent on the bottom of the cowling, and the prop which had some hair and blood on it but appeared otherwise undamaged. After the runway was cleared the instructor conversed with the airport mgr and police for a short while and let them know there was a chance we would be needing their courtesy car but unlikely. Airport mgr told us where the nearest hotels were, and said they'd hang out in their warm truck till we were safely departed. At this point I realized we would potentially be flying the plane home. My instructor is an aircraft mechanic, and a well respected individual with many years in the area and an immaculate reputation. I was thinking well if he says it's good to go it's good to go. I really didn't think too much about it.


We made a max power run up, with my instructor outside the plane watching the prop spin and listening to it for a bit, then he got in the plane. We did some erratic taxiing and some hard braking to give the gear some work, everything checked out. Taxi'd out to the hold short line and did another full run up, everything good. We departed the airport with a soft field takeoff, did a climbing 180 and continued to climb parallel to the runway until we were (I don't really remember but probably something like 1500-2000 agl) then we headed home. It was about 80 nm, and we arrived without incident. Kept close watch on the performance instruments the whole way, and contemplated emergency landing scenarios as we passed airports. Came in high to the home field to keep that altitude until the last. Landed, soft field landing technique once again. No issues. Tied the airplane down and called it a late night.

At this point my takeaway from the incident was- "ok if something like this happens and it's minor I need to thoroughly examine the plane take all these precautions, etc..., if it's major an aircraft mechanic needs to look at it, lucky me my instructor is a certified mechanic. Check that box, good learning experience, goodnight."

The next day I share the story with a pilot mentor, CFI and friend who lives a bit far away, and after his initial reaction he posed the question; "how did you get home last night?"

Immediately my reaction was.... Oh... maybe that wasn't the best idea. I felt it important to explain all the precautions we took, so I did. My friend's reaction was.... he didn't buy it. He believed that the method my instructor used to determine if the engine was good was inadequate and that my instructor was unprofessional and reckless making the decision to fly home. He concluded that my instructor was in a compromised state of mind, and that had he been thinking clearly there's no way in hell we would have flown home that night.

Over the course of the last few days I have spoken with my friend as well as my instructor multiple times and frankly it has really stressed me out.

My instructor admitted there probably was a little pressure to get the plane home that night, and stands by the decision to fly the plane home, based on the idea that there was no question as to whether or not it was airworthy. A full teardown of the engine, was not necessary. I don't think he has contemplated this event as much as I have, and I have only because my friend had such a fiercely critical opinion.

My friend, and at this point myself, believe that indeed, my instructor WAS in a compromised state of mind. I have a hard time imagining that he would have elected to make that flight with a clear head after a good night's sleep, or if his wife was the passenger instead of me.

My friend's main point (and this took me a good 2 days of long texts and one very lengthy phone call to understand) is that the defining characteristic of a SAFE pilot is to recognize when the sequence of events leading up to an accident starts. A pilot needs to act OBJECTIVELY, distanced from the pressures and emotions. Our stance is that my instructor failed to do that, and has also failed to purvey that lesson to me.

I was rationalizing my instructors decision factoring in the late night fatigue, the desire to be home with our wives, and the desire to save our friend the airplane owner some money from an unnecessary hotel bill and who knows what other expenses this event has/would have incurred. I imagine there was also a desire to set a good example for me by remaining calm, and perhaps even downplaying the enormity of what had just happened. When I stop trying to do that, and put it down on paper (or typing it up right here) frankly it sounds pretty dam bad. If I ask myself the question, would I have taken that plane home if my wife was a passenger the answer is an easy one, hell no.

So here we are (friend and I), mutually acknowledging that my instructor did the best he could, but he screwed up, and risked both our lives.

So what is the appropriate course of action? My friend thinks I need a new instructor.

Personally, I want to say no my instructor is awesome and maybe he made this mistake but there's hundreds of others he HAS NOT made, or made them in the past and learned from them. Moreover, no instructor is perfect, and it highly likely that if I went with a new instructor I would get a worse one... His credentials and reputation are matched by nobody I have heard of or encountered, and I do not say that lightly or as a matter of bravado. But after our conversation, my instructor still stands by the decision to fly home... I feel if I pressed him hard enough he would arrive at the same conclusion; there were additional risks operating that plane with no engine teardown. It should not have been flown home at night, with a destroyed transponder. There should not have been anybody other than the mechanic/pilot in the aircraft when that risk was taken...

But hell, I am just a student pilot and that is a damn difficult conversation to have, accusing someone like him of a lapse of judgement 1.) because he is so much more experienced than me and 2.) because he's become a friend

I guess this post is becoming a little incoherent at this point...

I just dunno what to do. I'm tired, been stressing about this the past 3 days. Terrified that the insurance companies are somehow going to pin this on me, (was told I didn't need insurance because I was covered by my instructors- I believe this was sincere, and an effort to save students a little money) and now faced with the conclusion that my instructor took a needless risk with my life. Find a new instructor? Try and talk to my instructor and get him to be a little more introspective and hope that nothing like this happens again? Does this screw up warrant an end to his instruction or is my friend blowing up one mistake this man made out of a long and successful career?

Or am I missing something in my instructor/mechanic's assessment that the plane was 100% good to go? I find this unlikely...

Thoughts?