Flight instructor: Panic to blame in most crashes | Amarillo Globe-News

Nothing new in this article really.
Just a reminder to leave yourself a way out.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...222084931.html

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...,7748180.story

http://www.adn.com/2013/08/31/305269...all-plane.html

 

Interesting.

 

Sad news, first flight jitters?? Panic? Distraction? Must have been horrific for the CFI to watch.

UPDATE: Man Killed in Plane Crash Was a Student Pilot & Surgeon - WSET.com - ABC13

 

NTSB prelim report out:

Air Safety Investigators Release Report on Fatal Danville Plane - WSET.com - ABC13

I heard about this through flying colleagues who knew the guy who was just getting started in aviation. Description definitely sounds most consistent with a stall.

 

Not typical lose control stall then.
Both the initial and the update mentions hitting a tower:
From the first segment's video it looks like he clipped the glideslope antenna. Tried to GA and lost directional control and veered off the runway striking the top of the antenna?

Edit - OK...read the second article with the NTSB prelim report.
Sounds like the doctor had some trouble in the final seconds before landing a few times with his control. Must have been very hard for the instructor to watch. Hats off to those CFIs! You've got a tough job no doubt.

 

Yep, I was referring to first pass though:

Who knows what he was thinking after that, probably rattled, and clearly was not ready to solo. I think if I saw a student nearly stall on the first lap I would not let them take off again; I would definitely ground myself if I had directional control or near stall on short final.

No idea what the instructor/student dynamic was though; people that know the doc say he was a very well-liked guy, but clearly some people, and doctors often, are overconfident in their abilities. Obviously something went wrong.

 

PANIC:

Excerpt from "Beyond Stick-and-Rudder":

The methods people choose to seek stress relief are generally called defense mechanisms. A defense mechanism is a behavior pattern believed to be a means to lower anxiety-induced stress. While they may provide short-term relief and may even be healthy responses to extremes of stress (e.g. impending loss of life), their sole benefit is their ability to reduce stress temporarily to manageable levels. Stress reduction frees up mental resources, which then can be applied to deal effectively with the causes of the stress. Unfortunately, because they tend to alleviate discomfort, defense mechanisms are addictive. If they are indiscriminately invoked to enjoy the relative comfort of personal security by believing that all is well, they become knee-jerk responses to every encounter with uncertainty.

All defense mechanisms are rooted in the desire to escape the harshness of reality and to find refuge in some form of fantasy. Although there are many documented defense mechanisms, only a few relevant examples are explored here. The choice of a particular defense mechanism over another is based on personal experience, and mirrors individual coping techniques that, presumably, have served the individual well in the past.(35)

...

"Panic" is reversion to a repertoire of inconsistent random behavior. In direct contrast to "paralysis," those who choose this defense mechanism seek to do something, anything. It does not much matter what they do, as long as they convince themselves that they are taking action to correct a situation. They try to hammer anxiety into submission in the subconscious belief that they will accidentally hit on the magic pattern that will relieve stress. Although usually—and incorrectly—associated with behavior where the subject is totally out of control, this is seldom the case. These subjects may limit their actions to suddenly abandoning the task at hand followed by engaging in a seemingly important but irrelevant activity (e.g. rearming the speed brakes at 150' on a Category III [CAT III] approach). Alternatively, they may execute a drill or follow an SOP that has nothing to do with the task at hand (e.g. turning the anti-ice ON during a missed approach in clear air) or worse, one that is contraindicated (e.g. reducing thrust to flight idle in turbulence close to the ground). These people usually display great relief if they hit upon a drill or checklist that bears at least some semblance to their task. When they do, they blindly follow that checklist all the way into the ground, if needed, because it is their only hope of salvation: they will hang on to it at all cost. They are stuck so deep in the paradigm, they continue the checklist and verify and reconfirm actions even after the original uncertainty is resolved, as though such activity would somehow buy them insurance against further anxiety. (It is to be remembered, their fixation is on anxiety, not on uncertainty.)

(35) It should be pointed out that the terms and definitions used here are not necessarily those adopted by the medical community. Rather, they are labels used to convey meaning within the context of this discussion. Scientific treatment of this subject is available in medical literature such as the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).