C 172 Forced Landing Haulover Bridge Miami Florida 14 May 2022 

UPDATE NTSB PRELIMINARY REPORT: Fuel valve in wrong postion-www.avweb.com/aviation-news/fuel-valve-out-of-position-in-miami-bridge-crash/

Juan Your explanations are the best So detailed and easily understood Great work as usual!!

A water landing could have been a much safer alternative especially when you look at statistics for water landings and survival rates. The risk of fire and collisions with traffic on a busy roadway would make my decision to ditch in the water quite easy given such few options here. Condolences to the family…

Very sad turn of events. It's always nice when an ATC also flies. Can help pilots to have some flying knowledge in emergencies. RIP and a speedy recovery for the survivors and (emotionally) to the witnesses and involved.

Thanks Mr. Browne for your excellent presentation.

Unfortunate. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Torres family. Stay safe aviators!

Thanks for your field work here. Those of us who aren’t around aircraft often find the additional information very helpful.

The choice of landing location is just plain weird. I can't think of a worse forced landing location than a busy highway.

As pilots, we have to understand the reason for flaps. This was probably survivable at full flaps. A 172 drops stall speed about 11 knots from clean to full flaps, and momentum is a squared function, so that 33 knot stall has just over half as much force to dissipate as a 44 knot stall. We can guess all day whether he saw people on the beach/in the water or why he chose this location, but any emergency landing needs minimum forward speed. (Vs1 and Vs0 taken from Purdue Aviation's website.)

Thank you for all you do Juan! I first found you when my parents lived in Concow during your coverage of the Camp Fire and Oroville Dam. I am also a pilot (though not current) and have continued to learn from your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your commitment to journalistic excellence!

I am noticing a phenomena I'm coining as "pavement fixation" among pilots forced into an out-landing. I think there is an idea formed in many pilot's minds, perhaps having seen a successful road landing or two featured on the news or youtube, that is the reaction they have when faced with the high-stress engine out scenario. It smacks of a lack of training, or a lack of good training. Maybe their instructor only pulled the engine on them when there was a runway to try for. Not sure, but it seems to be the thing, especially if you read the comments about incidents like this. Many folks think a road landing is the default choice, and it shouldn't be. There may be good reasons (airspace restrictions, clouds) for operating at a relatively low altitude under power, but that should trigger a more vigilant scan for possible landing out sites at any given time. It should be 2nd nature as part of the pilots scan to think about where to turn in an engine out scenario. The lower you are, the more often this should be considered (like once a minute) as part of the cruise routine. This incident seems to indicate, the pilot was not considering this, and reverted to "pavement fixation" when things got quiet. Not only was ditching an option, the beach was an obvious one. Especially since a few years ago, another cessna landed on the beach adjacent to 57th street. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_ZEPzbhu0wA.html. Obviously, the tide was in their favor though. There were also 2 golf courses in the immediate area, one offering 2 long straight fairways in an E-W line, right into the wind. Flat as a pancake too. Earlier in the year in Florida, there was a Cessna 195 driver that lost power near Flagler Beach, north of Daytona - almost right over I-95, which is where he stayed. The attempted landing resulted in a collision with a semi-truck, and a totalled airplane. Luckily, no major injuries. But it's a real shame since just on the other side of the trees along the interstate were open pastures with clear runs over 1000'. Pavement fixation. A year or two ago, a pilot over my home town of Palatine, IL lost power. At the time, he was over an open flat prairie, - a natural grass field. As often the case he didn't see what was right under him, but might have if he'd maintained awareness of his options. He also flew past a golf course with open, flat Illinois fairways, in a direction towards higher density population, where he put the plane down on a high traffic road between 2 stoplights that were only 1/4 mile apart. Pavement fixation. He ran the plane off the road to avoid the cars, as he should have, but it destroyed one wing against a tree. I believe these all started from less than 1500' AGL, and they all had better options.

Yeah been through both dunkers in the Navy and you are spot on with that. Its unpleasant training but... saves lives. As far as that landing spot choice with all that traffic, ummm no! looks like on the map golf course or a park down there (green area). If tha aircraft fails you best to sacrifice it than you.

#RIPATC (my bud's been working the Air Space for the last 18 years) poor guy had the landing stuck except for one problem. while he had full AWARNESS/EXPECTATION of the cars, the cars did NOT have AWARENESS/EXPECTATION of him. for sure GA pilots pull off survivable road landings all the time, but on a Saturday afternoon in crowded Miami...? his odds of success unfortunately were no better than 50/50. geez modern drivers barely have "cognition" of the other CARS that are sharing the road with them as it is, so understandably most aren't expecting a plane. like that first SUV driver (and given the steep arc of those causeway bridges) one either has the good fortune to spot the aircraft in their line of sight or they don't.

You called it loss of engine power not engine failure.... GOOD JOB.... As you point out it could be fuel issue..... Your analysis is always darn spot on.... The idea of landing on beach or water may have had better outcome or may be not. Fate is The Hunter.... There is no telling. That straight strip of concrete was no doubt tempting, but if the car was not there he may have had a good outcome. I am amazed people who are on freeways see a plane doing a forced landing, don't pull over or speed up or slow down to give way....

Juan, thank you for your compassionate and kind remembrance of the pilot.

I live in south central Florida, and trained at Flight Safety in Vero Beach. Here,there are plenty of places to set down in an emergency. There are farms all over the place, and areas of flatland, as well as the beach. My instructors were constantly drilling in me to always pick a spot to land, in case you lose the engine. If I am not mistaken, I believe there is audio of the Cessna pilot, declaring a mayday. He could be heard screaming, and unfortunately I think he panicked, which probably clouded his decision to pick a safer landing spot. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I would have headed for the beach, and ditched. Thanks for the video Juan. Very informative as usual. God bless him, and may he rest in peace.🙏

My condolences to the Torres family. I use to work for a local FBO in south Mississippi during the early seventies. Myself and another employee were flown to Wichita to fly two new 172's back to the FBO as it was the local Cessna dealer at the time. I don't remember the airport currently but we stopped in Arkansas for a fuel stop and on climb out we were both in the same general area. The plane I was in experienced carb ice while the other one did not. It was during a time when ice would not be expected. So it seems just a short distance can make a big difference in aircraft problems, carb ice in this case.

* Having a VW bug in the early '70s I witnessed intake manifold icing on the outside of the intake manifold. Never having seen this before, I was puzzled by this occurrence, but never had an icing related engine problem. This being the early 70s, I had to hit the library to search for info on icing and finally stumbled upon the Bernoulli effect.

That airspace is where I learned to fly. The beach there is usually packed with people so you would need to get off shore a ways to be safe. The South Florida drivers are no picnic but I feel he just got unlucky to hit that SUV.

Juan, so sorry for your loss. Your tone in this video is a display of your humanity, thank you for being the person you are, and for reporting on incidence that already have, and will continue to, preserve life and improve aviation. You truly are a humanitarian who not only loves life, but hopes that others will do the same until their "proper" time has come. Fly high, Captain Torres. Make your presence known to all, you are loved, and always will.

When I was taking flying lessons back in the 1970s I was taught to never emergency land on a road. NEVER, espacially if there is traffic. Power lines, light standards, trees - not to mention people in cars or walking or on a bike. Guy could have put it in the water without endangering innocent bystanders. Why do so many people use a road as first resort instead of last?

Flew in Florida based out of Melbourne. There were a lot of places to put it down if required but not A1A or US1. Panic may have set in he chose a spot and committed . Sad to see this happened. Thanks for the debrief Juan, always great reporting. ✈️

My condolences to the Torres family. Excellent video as usual. I enjoy and learn from them very much. Thanks!

During my last lesson prior to being signed off for my PPL check-ride, my instructor pulled the throttle to idle over a sandy beach (that is popular with tourists). I elected to shoot for the breakers just off shore as he said he would opt for the beach. We debated all the way down (perhaps on purpose on his part) as I committed to the water. During a controlled and predictable situation, my gut always has me going for the water. Blue Skies to Mr. Torres., and utmost condolences to his family.

Great detail going over the 172 fuel system and resulting possible causes of engine failure. I love the technical element of your reviews. There’s just so many failure modes that need attention on a regular basis and nothing can be taken for granted. So sad for the pilot and his family. Everything looked good that he may survive unscathed until the very last moment. May he Rest In Peace.

😭 My condolences to his loved ones. I watched the AvWeb video, there's some VERY important information in it. I highly recommend watching it! Thanks Juan!

You always do a great job at explaining in detail that's the way I always look for you first when something happens

Thank you for your in-depth explanation - especially about carburetor icing - for this accident.

As heartbreaking as this story is, what goes most under my skin, that is the audible, deep sadness in your voice, Juan.

Super job as per usual. I am a retired Naval Aviator - loved your mention of the Dilbert Dunker - I had many rides in him over the years :-)

Great analysis Juan. What would have been wrong with one of the two maybe three golf courses in the diagram you showed. I'm not second guessing or armchair quarterbacking because an instructor pulled an engine on me and after I pick a perfectly good hayfield he ask me what is wrong with that airport below us.

Not sure if they normally keep you low on takeoff there or if he asked for some kind of a beach tour. I'm really not a fan of low-level flying for exactly these reasons. Not much time to figure things out if the fan stops.

Juan, this just in, the China Air 737 determined to be brought down by pilot, or passenger. No mechanical malfunction discovered.

I definitely would have headed for the body of water perpendicular to the bridge. It wasn’t that wide and there were boats in the area. I’d never ever opt for a bridge. So sad. Thanks Juan 👍

I'm very familiar with the area, having enjoyed the sandbar right next to the bridge many times, by boat. A great option would have anywhere on the Intracoastal - even with the flipping scenario, the water is for the most part pretty shallow and you've got tons of boaters aiding in rescue (well, maybe 20% rescue vs 80% on their cellphones getting video). It could get a bit gnarly for the back seater to evacuate as they'd need to climb over the seats to exit, so there's that.

I fly on the west coast of FL an would never make a road landing over a water landing, and carry lifejackets for all.

In the case of the fuel tank air inlet on the left wing being clogged, the fuel caps have holes that will open due to the vacuum created inside the tank. For fuel starvation due to that left wing inlet being clogged to occur there should also be s clog in the fuel cap inlets.

I live in Miami and keep my Arrow at HWO....I fly this route all the time...happened on Saturday which I believe made a pilot not to decide to go for a beach as they are really busy. For the same reason, sandbad which would be great for this emergency landing was definitely not an option at all, very busy on weekends. Few golf courses around that would probably be better option but I would definitely go for a beach landing, 100 ft off shore. Within seconds there would be boats to help out. That bridge, damn, it's really narrow, steep and short. Unfortunate choice. May he Rest in Peace.

There was a crash under unknown May 8th in Idaho Southern, nobody's talking about it. Date: 08-MAY-22 Time: 20:10:00Z Regis#: N801DT

Thanks Juan...pretty scary situation to be in at 1200'...I'm not a pilot but have extreme interest as to what caused the engine problem and thinking required to be a pilot. Sorry for this loss.

Great report, thank you Juan - Old Naples Fl.airport

I’ve driven over that bridge a million times. Behind where he landed, there really aren’t good choices due to the median and traffic lights. I’m sorry he lost his life. Glad no others were tragically lost. This is the very reason why I’m taking my flight lessons in a remote area. If I have to put it down, I don’t want to have to look around too long to find something halfway decent.

Tragic yet insightful. Thank you for sharing as always.

The drone pilot for Boat Zone was on location within seconds of this very unfortunate event to provide the horrifying coverage you don't normally get to see. That being said, I'm not sure the continuous live coverage of the crash on RU-vid was ideal. However, that is what they do, and they do it very well. It is unfortunate that in the moments following the event, misinformation came in from all directions ... which is inevitable on RU-vid. The 4K images Boat Zone is so well known for, of the daily events at Haulover (usually non-aviation) has helped Police, Coast Guard and countless water related incident victims to survive in extreme circumstances.

That one is “close to home”, as I owned a 1966 Cessna 172G for 13 years. The engine never hiccuped.

So sad. That’s such a tough situation. Excellent review Juan. Thank you for being so thorough.

Flying around the Tampa Bay area I personally prioritize these in order: empty beaches or big sandbars (not too common), the water just off the beach, open bay, lakes, golf courses, then interstate. Of course I wasn't in this man's shoes though. Prayers to the survivors and families.

Thank you for your information and analysis of this sad event. I just happened to be watching another boat channel that was doing a live feed from Haulover Inlet at the time of this accident. That operator was standing next to his friend who also happened to be the drone operator of the drone video you mentioned. I was hoping you would be able to offer some insights.

The thing is, trying to get people out of the back seat of a 172, upside down - or even right side up - and under water has got to be pretty much impossible. Lots of people here second guessing this guys decision to land on a road rather than the water 🤔. 1200’ AGL is almost 0 time from engine out to decision time. Just sayin.

This is one of those times where a windmilling fixed prop works against you. So unfortunate. Perhaps Mr. Torres did think about the beaches, but there are many people at the beach. RIP

"Driver and two small children in the SUV" And that's why you put it down in the water. I know this area very well. There's never a time when that bridge isn't busy.

Had no idea the pilot-owner was an air traffic controller! Thank you for the information.

Thanks for your report. Sympathy and condolences. A tough turn of events. It looked like he was trying his best. Peace and healing - RIP. 💐

I'm a former military ATC and hold a commercial pilot lic. Juan...Great explanation, and I am with you, the choice of the bridge vs. Water or even a golf course just to the left of the final path would have been more desirable. I have witnessed first hand a forced landing at a golf course (just played the hole). It was text book, and they ended up in a water hazzard, however, they all survived. My condolences and prayers. God bless.

This is sad to hear. I saw the video right after it happened that was streaming from one of the inlet RU-vid channels (Boat Zone) that happened to be flying their drone and started livestreaming the crash. It appeared that everyone got out of the Airplane initially, but I didn't know there were three of them. Sad news indeed. Juan, thank you for always sharing your insights.

Juan wow a great report Great visuals content and easy to understand presentation Best wishes always Las Vegas Craig Five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’d go for the water over a busy roadway. I fly southern AZ sometimes flying cross countries at night with students. In that case I might go for the interstate or highway or frontage road, but if my glide ratio indicated I’d make an airport, of course I’d go for that. My greatest fear would be hitting a vehicle that didn’t realize I was there or failed to get out of the way. Hitting a power line on the way down would be a concern also especially at night.

He may have been motivated to not, for sure, lose his airplane by ditching it, where it would obviously be a total loss. Also, his understandable fixation on his flight path and landing spot may have caused him to forget about the flaps? This is such a tragic loss to his family and friends. Hopefully he was baptised and a penitent truster in Christ Jesus, whose presence he would now be enjoying as he awaits his bodily ressurrection on the Last Day. Praying for peace and comfort for all who knew him. R. I. P., sir.

He really does the NTSBs analysis within hours of an incident

It's very important to think about engine failure every time during the fly. It can save your life.

Thanks for the info perhaps more emphasis on how to select emergency landing fields and risk management or in order.

Sad news indeed & watched this on Patreon early this morning & have been thinking about it during my day, I wonder why he didn't aim for either of the two very close golf courses as another option, they were right there when he turned around. We had a glider land on a golf course here just last weekend & they have a much bigger wing span than a cessna 172, no injuries, no damage. Condolances to family & friends of his. Thanks for the report JB

Some 172's have a fuel drain on the bottom of the fuel selector valve. It's an annual inspection item that is neglected. I've seen 172 fuel selection valves rotted out due to water and pencil whipping annual inspections. As for this accident. I would not be flying that low in that area. There is safety in speed and altitude. Bee safe everyone.

Decisions made in a split second, can result in a toss up of you surviving. That's why it has been stressed to me during my flight training, to always say out loud your intentions in the event of something going wrong on every flight. Even the mundane routine ones. Would that have resulted in him ditching instead of trying for a hard surface? No one can ever be sure of an answer to that. One can only speculate that maybe he would have elected for a non-congested beach to land on. I feel so sad for those loved ones who now morn for his loss, and my deepest sympathies go out to them.

A total engine failure at 1,200’ and still managed to keep it in the air for two whole minutes? I think that’s pretty impressive considering the circumstances. He was able to maintain a rate of decent of 600’ per minute with no engine power. I’d say he kept it in the air for about as long as he could. We should be thankful there were no other lives lost. May he rest in peace.

I was looking at the Carb Ice Chart in the presentation. according to the instructions, 30C, and dewpoint 20C, you should use the left side of the chart, and subtract 20 from 30 to get a "dewpoint depression" of 10 which places the probability at an unknown but lower percentage (no key for colors in the chart) than it would incorrectly going to 20% humidity on the right which is out of the range. I think the author did it right and said it wrong, referring to humidity % when he meant dewpoint temp.

Sad to see a fellow pilot lose his life like this . It will make a lot of fellow pilots much more aware of engine out scenarios. Condolences to all involved.

I'm no pilot, but it seems the golf courses would be a better idea for an emergency landing. Large open area, long and level fairways with few obstacles, the likelihood of few people.. etc..

Hey also I overhauled a 150 awhile back that had fuel smell above the door. I pulled up the headliner to find the headliner band former wire digging and vibrating a hole in the fuel line as it goes along the top of the door from the fuel tank.

Thank you for the great coverage in general, but on this story in particular, as I know a lot of GA guys in that region. I wish that road had been more clear (but know it never is. . . ). It looked like he had things handled except for the cars, but regretfully, no matter what there were going to be cars and nobody is expecting a plane to land. . .maybe the water landing would have turned out better, but its too late to know in this case, but will hopefully help other GA pilots consider options in the future - that's all the good there is left to gain from the accident. Very sad.

Heartbreaking to say the least. Condolences to the Torres family. I know it's hard for you to continue this work, Juan, When it seems like there's no end in sight for these tragedies. But your coverage is needful, in that, that the flying community needs to keep the awareness of the dangers that are prevalent especially in highly congested areas. Forethought and planning each flight is so critical 🛐

looks like everyone could of survived if he didn't collide into the vehicle. Really hard to even avoid power lines etc. Probably even harder to avoid vehicles moving at speed.

The choice of landing area was the major takeaway from this crash for me. He lost over 600 feet in making that left 180 degree turn, altitude that would have given him more TIME to FLY the plane, maintain control, make a mayday call, contact ATC, and then make a good beach or golf course landing and/or troubleshoot the fuel line system, if that was the issue. My gut tells me the engine was SPUTTERING for awhile as the fuel decreased, so he THOUGHT he could just turn around and land back at the airport. Meaning, he thought he had the power and the time to get back to the airport. I would like to hear the ATC radio traffic on this one. Then after the turn, the engine completely died due to a lack of fuel and he became fixated on landing on the highway versus veering over to the beach and water. Seems completely irresponsible to try and land on a busy road knowing that this emergency landing may kill allot of people in the process. I couldn't do it, no way. I feel a lack of training and situational awareness caused this accident and the death of the pilot. Every time you fly you MUST have a proper ditch scenario in your head at all times. This is not over thinking, its called being prepared.

When I was taking my flight training for my private pilot license, the Trans Canada Highway was an emergency landing strip option BUT if there was so much as a miniscule chance of a collision with any traffic it was positively NOT an option under any circumstances during my training...

Thanks!

Tragic - too bad he couldn’t have made it to the beach 🙁

ref Dilbert Dunker: Mid-1960s, I was a Navy dependent who went swimming with a youth group at NAS Quonset Point, RI. They had a Dilbert Dunker there with tracks leading into the pool. Its use was described to us but we never saw it in action. My dad had taken a ride in it, I think. He was stationed at Quonset with a patrol squadron, so he probably did. We kids wanted to ride the thing....but never were allowed to. Gee, I wonder why?

I don't know the airspace, but a couple thousand feet higher than 1,100 ' gives you another 4 miles worth of options to put it down (C-172 glide ratio 10:1).

Prayers to the Family.

I think that the beach may have been a better choice, (no cars) but perhaps people. I So. Dak thats not usually a choice with all the hay fields.

Thanks, Juan, a sad event for sure.

Well looks there was a nice green park straight ahead also. At the fuel tank outlet there’s a large mesh screen and at the inlet to the carb also a small mesh screen. Both can be removed to inspect. Glad to see the fuel line fire sleeved on this example Had a club Lyc powered 172 get a vapor lock once during a climb out at 8000ft 95F on both. The placard on that 68 model reads “above 5000ft switch to single tank ops” The fuel cap on pre 70 models had a recess around them

Aircraft attitude looked good on the Video, the encounter with the SUV sealed his fate.

Excellent eval.

So sad that this attempt didn't succeed. RIP.

I'm flying a similar Cessna with the O-300 since about 40 years VFR and IFR and I never had problems with carburator icing. The carburator is connected to the oil pan and is for that reason always heated.

Hi Juan, I also question the choice of landing location. With all the traffic I feel the beach or water would have been a better choice, maybe saving all lives. I’m sorry he lost his life.

Juan, Nobody takes as much care as you do to put every possible detail in your videos. Your knowledge is awesome. Thank you.

Man I will never understand why he went for the highway

5/17/22. Thx Juan for this indepth report on Cessna 172H crash. Always educational to see & hear your comments.👍👍👍✈😊

When I was learning to fly in a 172, back in 1970, there was a valve at the low point of each fuel tank. We were taught to always drain about an inch of fuel from each tank and make sure there was no water condensation. That was in Jacksonville, FL. I didn't see one on the plane Juan was showing. Perhaps they've changed things in the 50+ years since.

Sad. I believe I'd have gone for beach or shallow water with all the traffic and light poles.

Ditching - pop the doors! And don't forget full flap. We had a terrible accident here in Australia at Redcliffe, Queensland just before Christmas 2021. The airfield is next to the water. A single engine, low wing, retractable undercarriage Rockwell Commander took off and had an engine failure at about 700' on crosswind - the pilot attempted to turn back, and lowered his landing gear (???) - he ended up ditching (seemingly under control - did not spin) in very shallow water (4 or 5 feet deep) but flipped on ditching. First responders, who were fishing in small boats nearby, were on the scene within minutes. The first responders were not able to work out how to unlatch the doors, and the pilot, as well as an adult male passenger, and his two young children were killed, presumably drowned. I operated out of Redcliffe airfield earlier in 2021 while doing an instructor rating upgrade. The prevailing winds are almost always onshore, so the upwind, crosswind and downwind legs for the duty runway are almost always over water. I agonised for days over the correct plan of action for an engine failure on upwind over water. I scoured Google Maps for the possible places to put it down on hard ground on the right hand side of upwind. I finally discussed it with my instructor, who was a 17+ years senior CFI (or Grade 1 instructor as we call them here in Oz) and QANTAS Check Captain (yes, it was COVID times, so check captains still needed to work). He was adamant. Fly straight ahead, land in the water, as close to the land as possible, full flaps, pop the doors before landing (BTW this was in a 172). Fly straight ahead (stable approach), land in the water (nothing to hit but water), as close to the land as possible (the water is shallower, and you don't have to swim far, if at all), full flaps (lowest ditching speed and control at lowest possible airspeed), pop the doors (you or other people don't have to work out where the door latch is). Let's all fly safer and smarter.

I understand the frustration of Juan's viewers - many of whom will also be highly experienced pilots - saying, "I'd have gone for the water every time", but that's rational analysis in the cold light of hindsight. It's not the same as being there when stuff hits the fan. The sad fact is that part of having 'the right stuff' to get out there and fly or drive or ride or race - is hearing that insistent little voice in your head when things go wrong, saying, "Hold on. You can save this. Don't quit. You can definitely save this." You see it a lot in motor racing. A guy on a drag-strip gets into trouble and, instead of easing off and getting the car under control - and LOSING - he'll stay on the accelerator, work away at the steering wheel... and end up in the crash barriers. You KNOW he was telling himself, "I can do this... I can save it..." I don't know if the split-second risk analysis, decision making, and choosing to fight is necessarily a particularly male trait, but one thing's certain: for cultural reasons, no man ever wants to admit that any situation is beyond him. I'm just a girl, so I know my limits. I'm an ex (very minor) private pilot and an ex amateur rally driver too [Group-B - woo-hoo!], but I never had any problem acknowledging when I'd run out of talent. In my experience, it's different for boys. Admitting defeat - in anything - is taboo. Guys will typically not stop to ask for directions when they're lost; it's a sign of weakness. Going right back to school-days, admitting that you didn't know something was going to get you teased and bullied. And there's definitely a testosterone element to the cliché of men never reading an instruction manual: "I'm a man - I can cope. It's intuitive. I don't need anyone holding my hand. I can work things out for myself." Being raised on a diet of always taking the hard option means those split-second decisions at critical moments are rarely truly rational. Training can help a lot, which is why airline pilots generally get things right, but I bet that nagging 'You can DO this!' is hard to ignore even when you've got 500+ people sitting behind you, depending on your ability to ignore the little voice and make the TOGA decision. Quick question: How many pilots reading this have made poor landings after deliberately electing not to go around and try again? Did you hear the little voice? "Get it on the ground! Going around is for wimps! What kind of pilot can't handle a crosswind and some rough weather? Get it on the ground NOW!" It takes an awful lot of training to change human nature. So the plane came down on a busy road instead of an empty stretch of water as a good man tried to do what he perhaps knew wasn't the best option and lost his life to the nagging little voice that he couldn't ignore. I think I hate that voice.

Quick profiling probabilities: Large SUV hogging the left lane - probably a female driver who will freeze like a deer in the headlights. Pickup truck in either lane - probably a male driver who will move to the right as far as possible.

WHY a busy roadway rather than all that beach.???? I've flown a 182 and ultralights for years. put em' down in strange places but never a highway.. been lucky I guess...

Great report and commentary as always! One question -- why not just land on the beach adjacent to the surf? It would likely be hard packed with only some people in the path who could more easily avoid being hit than automobile drivers

Thanks again for the excellent video...and A&P stuff. Thoughts are with the family and friends...and wishing he had time to think about the ICW or ocean.

Great video

Why is it that this is the first I’m hearing about this incident. I saw nothing on the national news about this