Pilot Tries Dangerous & Illegal Approach!

The reason this was so dangerous is because it reinforced the pilot's belief that he can always just cancel IFR and duck under the weather and make things work. If you have an instrument rating, you need to maintain proficiency to fly IFR and that means understanding how to fly an approach. Let me know what you think in the comments below and then be sure to also watch the video about the Dad that was taking his family on vacation and crashed 👉 https://youtu.be/yMpLo1zFGWc

That pilot had absolutely no business being in that airplane

I only fly for fun on nice sunny days . So far I have flown 45 years without any problems. I know my limits

I commend the controller trying to help this pilot who was so confused, I really hope the pilot didn't fly again until he got some proper training. Thank you Hoover I really appreciate how you respect all involved in your debriefs.

1900 ft broken is about as easy an instrument approach as you can get. This guy managed to turn it into an emergency. The fact that he was using his iPad as a primary flight instrument for shooting the approach is shocking. Kudos to the controller for an excellent job

That controller deserves an award. I would have been so pissed. 😅

The fact that he didn’t accept vectors onto an ILS is “wow.” That’s as simple as it gets, all you need to do is tune a frequency. It’s like his brain had one path it needed to follow and he couldn’t even consider anything else.

I hope the company insuring this pilot’s plane heard about this incident and made appropriate adjustments to his premiums.

After all of that mess with a dead iPad and complete confusion about the operation of the onboard nav equipment, even a quasi-proficient IFR pilot would've accepted a tried and true precision ILS approach. Personally, I'd take an ILS over an RNAV approach any old day. Something is seriously amiss here and I hope the FAA figures it out before this guy starts recklessly divebombing holes in the deck again. That endangers more than just him! PS Kudos to the controller. If patience is a virtue, that controller should be canonized.

I was involved with early development of a class II EFB (handheld device showing moving maps, IFR plates, etc) and at the time, the FAA did not allow us to show our ownship on the moving map, because they believed pilots would become too dependent on a non-certified device for primary navigation. This incident is exactly what they were trying to avoid.

These debriefs are fantastic in keeping us safe, I have learnt so much from your breakdowns of what went wrong and how to avoid dangerous scenarios. Thank you Hoover for your content and service

You always comment so beautifully and respectfully. Thank you. Always my 1st ‘go to’ when it’s aviation related. Bless you Hoover x

I always find your content fascinating and educational, thank you!

This guy is lucky to be alive. I agree with you Hoover - it's a really good idea to have some printed info with you and not just rely on a single piece of electronics that can fail in a number of ways. That I-Pad is a great backup if the battery is charged just in case you had an electrical failure that takes out your panel mounted GPS, same as having a hand held along, just in case, but it's a last resort. Not a flight instrument.

Any landing you walk away from.... At least he had enough fuel to mess around until he could get on the ground. But doing that in the hills is risky stuff.

Its like that crazy driver on the road we all encounter, just flying through traffic with little to no understanding of the danger. Some people should not fly!

Confusion of any sort in the cockpit can be catastrophic. I am glad he was able to get down safely.

It’s a good day when we get a new pilot debrief episode!

Looks like another iPad dependent pilot. This is becoming is a very dangerous trend.

Hoover, you’re incredibly valuable to us who are trying to understand why these pilots get into trouble in what seems to be a typical flight. Arrogance, overconfidence appear to be contributing factors in so many. Thank you for your channel.