Thread: Pinnacle #3701 and Colgan #3407
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Old 09-15-2009 | 01:32 PM
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From: One man wolfpack
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
IMO you are completely off base here...

The pinnacle pilots were screwing around. They KNEW they were pushing the envelope and they did not want to get in trouble with ATC by descending to break an imminent stall. Instead they tried to power out of it, but being on the back of the curve they eventually experienced a full high-altitude stall. They took a risk to stay out of trouble and it cost them everything. They delayed notifying ATC every step of the way...until it was too late.

Personally, I think bombardier was remiss in not insisting that all operators were made aware of the core lock issue...I think they simply didn't want the publicity. Now we all know to put the nose WAAAAY down and start a 300+ knot re-entry.

The colgan pilots got surprised, and appear to have just done the wrong thing due to lack of training and/or ability. They were at least trying to do operate professionally. Sort of.
You know, I considered the fact that they might have been more concerned with holding altitude, but I am not so sure I would buy that. Unfortunately we will never know what the intent was. But I do believe that any pilot with reasonable experience would not fight a pusher/shaker in a swept-wing aircraft, especially at 40,000 feet. Weather they where purposely fighting the pusher, or they had the wrong reactions to the stall is not really the concern. I think the point is, this isn’t the first time the NTSB has been exposed to an accident where a pilot overpowered a stick pusher, whether it was on purpose or not, I am just wondering if the NTSB and FAA missed an opportunity to examine the system and culture of stall training in general.
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