Pilot's TERRIBLE Mistakes End in Chaos & Death

Be sure to check out this other video: https://youtu.be/guxOVHNZqAI There was a lot more that I could have talked about in this video, but it would have made it forty minutes long. Instead, what you can look forward to is I'm going to start including more details and commentary on these mishaps on my website at www.pilotdebrief.com/. That's coming soon in the near future! Check out the site and be the first to find out!

Like many of your other viewers, I am not a pilot. But your explanations are so clear and easy to understand that even non-pilots can appreciate the lessons learned. Love your videos!

That’s brutal. Those passengers without a doubt, heard that long debacle up front, the aural warnings going off, and the “experienced” pilot cussing as the airplane flew out of control. What a horrifying way to go out. May they RIP.

As a surgeon, even the most minor surgical procedures can become a disaster if not planned well. It is sobering to see that even 'small details' like non planning can lead to massive disaster. I teach my students all the time to always "check the films and recheck sidedness and review the slides yourself". Complacency is a dangerous trait. Excellent presentation Hoover and thank you for your service.

I am 71 year old Australian pilot. I have been flying for over 40 years, these days I just fly my own LSA which I maintain myself so it is very cheap flying. In the 80's I worked as a charter pilot and flying instructor flying all the major singles and multiple twins including the Cessna 300 and 400 series I held multiengine Command Instrument ratings. It has seemed to me, for decades, that American pilots have an over reliance on the autopilot, to the detriment of instrument hand flying skill. On all of my training flights the autopilot was not used. VFR, NVMC, IFR, Approaches, the lot, ALL hand flown. Back in those old days the autopilots were pretty ordinary and it was usually much more comfortable and efficient to hand fly the plane. I used to read the American flying magazines with articles like " I suddenly found myself in the clouds so I immediately turned on the autopilot"! So many of these recent crashes involve mis-using an auto pilot, concentrating on un-important things, rather than the basics of flying the aircraft. Even when flying charter flights it was rare to use the autopilot unless the air craft was very sophisticated with a very reliable auto pilot. Hand flying was simply smoother! I remember One private flight in a piper single, into the cloud at 700ft, 3 hours hand flying in the clouds and VFR again at 700ft on approach at the destination. All quite normal! If you are flying IFR, you should be able to hand fly for hours without any stress or concern, it should be automatic. I once had a slowly failing and toppling attitude indicator while in cloud. A little confusing at first but the scan soon revealed the failing instrument. No problem just fly partial panel and carry on as normal! If you can't hand fly on instruments you have NO business flying IFR!

He got on to the flight like he was going for a Sunday drive. Instrument flying is about meticulous planning and accounting for every minute of the flight as well as contingency plans and being 10 steps ahead. Ignore at your own peril. Great debrief and advice for pilots about the consequences. Keep up the good work.

EVERY pilot should be watching this channel.

As a former military pilot I'm VERY thankful for the professionals that trained us and the other great pilots I've flown with. We never missed a step in planning and preflight briefings were complete and post flight briefings were times of laughing at ourselves and learning. I'm so sorry for the loss of these eight souls.

As a family doctor of several commercial pilots I always inform them about the side effects of their medication and give them enough time to recover. Most of them try to use this time on the ground for simulator training.

Those poor passengers who were "just along for the ride" had plenty of time to fear for their lives. Realizing the pilot is confused, struggling and cussing they must have known they were in serious trouble. RIP to all.

I am a retired Law Enforcement Helicopter Pilot. Your briefings and conclusions are spot-on. I really enjoy them. You are doing a fabulous job. As LE Pilots we spent a tremendous amount of time studying others crashes, critiquing our own missions, and basically working hard to be the best professional Aviators we could be. You do a good job pointing out the mistakes in a respectful manner. We can all learn from this. Complacency kills. We must never forget that.

When I was a flying instructer I ran across a few students who were wealthy business men with deep pockets and big egos, a dangerous combination.

The pilot blurting out "I hate it when this happens" about being that behind the aircraft with zero planning is a pretty ominous statement. It makes you wonder if this pilot had a tendency for unplanned / lackadaisical flying and just happened to have gotten lucky in the past. "Normalization of deviance" isn't just something that happens in big organizations, it's a phenomenon we can fall prey to in our minds too. We should all debrief our own flights the way you debrief these accidents. Where did we "get away with one" and how can we avoid those dangerous corners in the future? Thank you for another excellent analysis.

The panic that must have been prevalent on that Flight Deck made me feel sick! I've flown 50+ years and now retired as my physical and mental capabilities are of a 77 year old and I recognise my limitations. It's a tough decision but I'm right.

I'm Estonian and my English is not good, but I really like how you explain things, everything is easy to understand

I wish my dad was still around to share your channel with. He was a GA IR pilot from 1949 until I was a late teen in the 1980's. I hear so many of his tales of caution in your debriefs. He was a superb instrument IP and would thoroughly agree with your assessment here. 💯

I love that feeling, that last minute on the run-up pad, when my iPad is set up perfectly how I like it, the navigator has the matching flight plan in it, my bugs are set, bluetooth to my panel and my headset are live, my freqs are all right where I want em... understanding the systems and managing them in a really structured way, is one of my favorite parts of flying. So I enjoy--truly enjoy--the very parts that he skipped over. Knowing you're way ahead of the airplane is just the best. But... that's just me, and I am surprised by how many pilots I fly with don't like all the buttonology and just want to get going. If you want to be an instrument pilot, learn to truly enjoy the setup, and create your own personal flows.

I couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be, to be a passenger and watch all of this unfolding right there in front of you.

This guy was literally flying by the seat of his pants, with virtually no preparation on ANY level. I didn't think this level of incompetence was even possible. It's a miracle he made it to 3,000 hours to begin with.

This is why my instructor drilled into me... "aviate, navigate, communicate, in that order, no exceptions". Thanks Hoover, these debriefs will no doubt save lives in the future.