Pilot's TERRIBLE Mistakes End in Chaos & Death 

Be sure to check out this other video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-guxOVHNZqAI.html 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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pilot’s literal flight plan: “let’s just follow the dang coast” 🤦🏻‍♂️

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.

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've flown several times private charter. Having been a crash investigator in the USAF I am always amazed at how many pilots fly impaired. I was on a commercial flight and watched a pilot leave the sky lounge stumbling to the gate. Huge shock, MY Flight! I reported it at the gate and refused to board. The story I was given, don't worry. He's in transit to another airport and is not the pilot. I didn't see it on the news until 6 months later. Same guy did it again but this WAS the pilot. His Co-pilot reported him and refused to fly. He was subsequently fired during the investigation. 23 years down the tubes concerned me not. 100+ Souls on board all of his flights concerned me.

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.

He had no business flying anyone!!!!!! What a beautiful forensic debrief..prayers for the victims

This guy was completely clueless! “Just a few mistakes” is a huge understatement

EVERY pilot should be watching this channel.

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 used to fly a little and I had a great instructor. He drilled it in to me that if something happened like stalls or near stalls or unstable speed and pitch etc forget everything else and focus on just getting the airplane back to flying. These guys broke that rule by trying to do other things while the plane wasn't even in stable flight and they paid for it.

How capable (and credible) is a man that allows others to call him "Teen"?

As a young paramedic, our instructor told us that we’d likely not make any errors regarding treatment or drug therapy due to being new and very cognizant of this very fact. She said that an error will be made long after you’ve been a paramedic and become complacent. We had cross checks that had to be verbalized prior to any treatment that could cause a grievous error. Right patient, right drug, right dose, right route and right time. It seems that many of these crashes are caused by complacency and simple lack of good piloting procedures. This needs to stop.

All videos of this type have convinced me to never take a seat on anything but a commercial flight.

Thanks for the debrief. This one happened close to me and it's a small community so it hit really hard losing all of those kids.

I'm local to this incident. It was a very sad situation with so many young lives lost. For a long time i was assuming it would be a medical emergency leading to the crash. Then they published the CVR transcript and even to a non-pilot like me and it was painfully obvious the pilot was completely unaware of what was going on

It's so hard for me, a non-pilot, to comprehend how an experienced pilot could let a precision aircraft like the Pilatus get out of control. Such a sad and senseless loss. Thank you for the analysis.

My dad was a private pilot when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. He was an instructor. We used to fly out of Pitman airport in NJ, a grass field airport ( the airport is long gone now) and Bridgeport airport in NJ, a bigger hard runway airport ( also long gone). I loved flying with my dad, he was always very professional and serious about flying and would never let me fly with any of his buddies at the airport. I guess he knew some people treat flying like its not a serious business.

Life is short ladies and gentlemen. Don’t take the small things for granted and appreciate that you’re alive and breathing on this day, for we don’t know when our time will expire.

It would have been a crime had RU-vid left this channel demonetized... Welcome back, Hoover, and thank you for these amazing videos.

Recently I had not fully recovered from a nasty infection and when I was driving my reflexes were terrible and my mind was not sharp . I was cognizant enough to just get home and put it in the garage ! Being sick and weak is just like drunk driving !

A tragic avoidable crash, your analysis is very instructional. I’m a commercial pilot with 40 plus years. The only times where I have came close to being uncomfortable are where there’s been an omission at the planning stage. “Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.” Probably every pilot, or aspiring pilot, has read these words in some form. The statement was made by Captain Alfred G. Lamplaugh, Principle Surveyor for The British Aviation Insurance Co., Ltd.

What a tragedy?! Thank you for another excellent report. I agree with almost everything you say. The exception is when (after about @3:35) you say “when you have a bunch of other minor things that add up” … in my (very limited aviation) experience, they don’t “add up”, they MULTIPLY! And that is what magnifies the effect of each of those things.

A friend of mine had cancer, and he took oxycodone for the pain. It helped his pain somewhat, but also made him a DANGEROUSLY INCOMPETENT DRIVER. It was actually terrifying being the passenger while he was driving. He would run into other cars for no reason, blow red lights, try to take u-turns when there is not enough room to do so, fail to notice cars up ahead that were braking causing him to have to brake very hard not to crash, etc. I had to take over driving from him on numerous occasions because of this. People on opioids probably shouldn't drive while on them, for the same reason that people who are very drunk should not drive. Doubly so for flying planes.

I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone with this kind of reasonable amount of hrs (3000) could even think to take a sophisticated aircraft load it with ‘souls onboard’, not even knowing how to enter properly into the autopilot but fully expecting his son, with very little time even just flying to do it ‘in the air’! Just boggles the mind!

I live in the Piedmont region of North Carolina and have been to that area many times, mostly fishing. I thought it was especially tragic that these young guys were having the time of their lives and it ending this way. Not forgetting about the others as well.

Despite 3K flying hours this pilot was totally unprepared and mostly unqualified to fly, making error after error and on top of the error. Shocking.

Good to have you back, Hoover.

As retired AFRes/ANG FS trained in human factors and mishap investigation, your presentations are spot on. Makes me proud to have been a small part of the AF flight safety community. 3-4 of your debriefs should be required for new pilots and recertifications.

These debrief's must be helping so many pilots improve their skills and save lives - thanks for taking the time to create these!

With that many subscribers, you have probably saved more lives than the Air National Guard. Thanks Hoover!

I used to work with a former F15 pilot. I asked him if he still flew. He said he didn't because there were too many people in the air who didn't know what they were doing.

So glad the channel not only survived, but will thrive. You do great work.

How can one pilot be so bad? RIP to all. What a terrible waste of life.

I have to say that I love and appreciate that all of your videos show the utmost compassion and empathy for everyone that has died. Including the one that made the error. Its kind and also more professional. Thank you for having such a refreshing channel.

Hoover offers extensively researched, professionally informed commentary that takes into account dozens of factors. I can't do that, so here's my take: NEVER trust a 67 year old man whose nickname is "Teen". He started exhibiting poor decision making and used repeated expletives long before the plane was in any immediate danger. He was really living up to that nickname, and it got 8 people killed.

Another thing I believe needs to be mentioned is that this appears to be yet another pilot who treats the autopilot as a crutch rather than an aid. Autopilot should not be used to compensate for poor flying ability.

Sir! glad to see you are back! I hope you continue posting and have everything sorted out with the channel. your wellness is in our thoughts and prayers!

These videos always make me sick to my stomach, but they are a must-watch for pilots and students. I don't ever want to go into a cockpit taking anything for granted.

I appreciate your restraint shown in refraining from personal attacks against the pilot. Similarly, TNflygirl, despite having significantly less experience compared to the Pilatus pilot, shared a common experience. Both individuals lacked familiarity with operating the airplane navigation system, which may have contributed to the autopilot-induced stall.

Hearing this case gives a lot of reasons to be angry. What mind blowing level of ignorance, incompetence and irresponsibility. Not to imagine what would have happened if they had crashed into populated areas.

You do a really good job at describing the facts on these incidents and accidents. As a US AFIP of 20 years, I have to hand it to you, you have a very clear minded And very factual input to these accidents. I wish I had time to get on with the public as you do, but I am thankful that you have enough time to produce thought-provoking information to all those that listen to your channel

GREAT Work...Very In-Depth and Informative...Much THANKS!!!

The negligence here is palpable. Unreal how so many careless individuals are able to fly aircraft. Such a terrible loss on such a short flight. I frequent Beaufort throughout the Summer and that is such a short drive. Should've seen the weather and called the flight off.

Thank you for this. I’ll never understand how or why a pilot wouldn’t take every precaution, requirement and redundancy available, let alone with so many souls on board.

I think this is the best debrief you've done. Good discussion and details.

From a former Eagle Keeper, glad to have you back on here!!

I’m a student pilot with only about 20 hours with my CFI. Using checklists is being hammered home on every flight lesson. In addition, the IMSAFE checklist would possibly have been enough to not fly. Very sad to see the chain reaction leading to such a horrible ending. Thanks Hoover for the detailed explanation.

I live in Beaufort, NC a few miles from this crash. This was a very enlightening review of this tragedy. There was very little information available about this accident locally and you have answered many of my questions. This was such a preventable event. Thank you for your analysis. Hopefully, there will be lessons learned, but I am stunned by the multiple errors in judgment and reckless behavior of this pilot.

People are so quick to jump in a small plane with their family thinking it’s just as safe as commercial jet travel. It’s not!!!!!

This is on the pilot 100%. He should not have been flying while taking a opiates. He would have never passed a medical flight exam. Sometimes, having money makes you think you are invincible and get in the way of common sense and rational thinking. My prayers go out for all families involved in this tragic, unavoidable accident.

Imagine the Plane Owner realizing he had hired an incompetent Pilot in those moments of absolute chaos leading to the Death of all on board! Terrible

Thanks Hoover. Glad you are back on the RU-vid air. Found the right frequency!

I recently subscribed to your channel because you break everything down so thoroughly and there so much incredibly good information that you make available through each debrief. You are a gifted communicator - I am not a pilot but have always had a tremendous interest in flying. Great job, Hoover.

OMG - the fact there is a recording of the audio unveils the tragic errors of the pilot. There is no need to question what possibly could have happened.

During my flight training, I learned that I am not a pilot. I learned that details bore me. It was an invaluable lesson that prepared me to enjoy life.

Keep the good work, Hoover. Your debriefs are excellent in content and opinion, and a great contribution to the aviation community.

Thanks for this debrief. This goes to show that there is no such thing as a casual flight. You always need to be at the top of your game.

I follow another RU-vidr called Fly with Kay. After watching numerous videos, I began to fast forward through the first 5-10 minutes because she is sooo meticulous with her preflight checklist that it takes awhile. She never rushes or skips any steps. The second I heard you say that Teen took off 3 minutes after they boarded the plane I knew that wasn't the way it's supposed to go.

Great post as usual Hoover! Let me make sure I get this straight, he did not check the weather, did no preflight brief to his co-pilot, did not know R5306 was hot, did not set up his flight management system so he could navigate to his destination airport, and departed into IMC conditions without a clearance, got completely confused and disoriented and ended the lives of everyone on board. Absolutely unconscionable! The PC12 is a high performance demanding airplane that needs to be flown carefully. I hate to say it but this guy and his passengers were dead before engine start. Incredibly sad, but entirely avoidable.

Welcome back to producing these insightful videos for the community. Thanks!

Hoover, well organized and inciteful as always. Your efforts are valuable teaching moments beyond flying. Thanks, glad you are back!!

Wow, that was so grossly negligent it bordered on suicide. I really feel for innocent people who trust utterly incompetent people with their lives. So sad.

I sit here and go why, just how all these mistakes were made, so heartbreaking, thank you for another great debrief Hoover.

Hoover, man, Im lovin your channel! It just popped up in my suggestions, and Im totally hooked! Great content, explanation, and entertaining as well as educational. Thanks!!

I hold a A&P license but also am a 20yr. airchair pilot as well I got MSFS recently. Everything you mentioned in your videos is completely true. Even as a Flight Simmer you got to be prepared for emergency’s 🎉

It’s sad how the son stopped talking towards the end.. shows how terrified he was, 😢.

I'm not a pilot (by any definition); but I am sincerely pleased that "you're back". Very glad for you.

First time seeing your content man and I am really impressed. Concise, informative and interesting. Such a tragedy that didn't need to happen. Failure to prepare means prepare to fail, especially in an aircraft

This is such a valuable series! Thanks for doing what you do.

I'm a VFR pilot and past Avionics tech. I found it too common when I flew with avionics customers to get them up to speed on their new equipment, that many were unable to stay in front of the plane and seemed to have lost their basic stick and rudder skills for anything other than the most normal situations. Even just remembering pitch controls airspeed was beyond some of them. They would regularly demonstrate a lack of airplane control, situational awareness and over reliance on equipment like autopilots. I times had the thought that if they were to get into weather and have the autopilot fail it would be a scary situation. Its impossible to watch this video as a pilot and not see just how preventable this was. How people said Teen was a "good pilot" he probably was at some point but in this situation he obviously wasn't current on the equipment or his hand flying skills let alone his decision making being just wrong repeatedly. I've seen plenty of situations where experience brings complacency in flying and the risks associated and this seems like a great example.

I'm not a pilot, but I've been in situations in a car in blizzards (I live in Canada) with passengers where I've come "this close" to crashing and my passengers had no idea. So, you are there, blood pressure through the roof, and sweating and say to your family, "we're good, I've got this".

Really appreciate your thoughtful, dispassionate analysis.

I live in NC, this was such a sad story. Thabks for the debrief and explanation as to what went wrong.

Oh I remember this. So very sad. Ty for telling us what happened.

I’m not even a pilot, but I really appreciate these videos. A disaster is often a string of errors and I see that recurring theme in your videos. Thank you.

As a young pilot these debriefs are invaluable and I take something away each time ! Thank you! Sorry for the victims 😢

Why do I always find myself screaming in my head "Fly the F#$%ing plane!" in the majority of these videos....This channel is a true service to all pilots. No matter your hours, we can all get caught in complacency. These lessons are written in blood, unfortunately.

I flew a lot with dad as a kid. I flew as a young man in plenty of actual IMC. It’s been almost 20 years since I last sat in the cockpit, but these stories make my pulse quicken and my mouth taste metallic. So many poor choices in this sad tale. Bedtime stories to chill your bones, for sure. Keep them coming, please.

I suffer from chronic neck and lower back pain and when im having a pain flare-up say from jolting my spine i can't concentrate on anything else except the pain. If he was taking oxycodone which is one of the strongest pain relievers and it was a legitimate prescription then he probably shouldn't have been flying

Amazing work Hoover.. Flying is not a game. Deadly serious business. - 30 year A&P Mechanic and Air Force vet.

Another very good video that will hopefully help prevent such tragic events. Thank you for your very valuable work.

Excellent debrief, Sir. As many viewers I’m sure would agree, your videos contain many life lessons, even for non-pilots like me. One lesson I’m reminded of here is, it’s almost impossible to over-prepare, especially when other people have placed their life in your hands. Thank you and Godspeed.

As someone who was once a commercial pilot and CFI, I can hardly believe the mistakes he made and others that Hoover talks about on this channel. Thanks Hoover I hope pilots take notice and act accordingly.

Your videos make me appreciate how many hoops commercial pilots must go through to fly 100+ people across the country. I know there's a lot of amatuer and semi professional pilots who are good/great at what they do but you just never know what kind of practices people and companies employ. I know big airlines aren't perfect but I feel safer knowing that not just 'any pilot' can fly a Southwest 737. Thanks for the continued deep analysis that you do.

THANK YOU for not doing an annoying, repetitive, and self-serving intro on your vids!!