Advanced search  
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Down

Author Topic: Teen pilot and father killed on circumnavigation flight  (Read 22955 times)

pilotart

  • T3
  • ***
  • Posts: 139
Re: Teen pilot and father killed on circumnavigation flight
« Reply #15 on: July 25, 2014, 11:57:22 AM »

...  In two cases they put gas in a turboprop.   Makes me wonder about water or trash in the fuel.  AC engines don't like that very much.

It's Turbine Fuel contamination in a Gas Powered Aircraft that Guarantees an engine failure shortly after takeoff.  It's happened to the best!  Airlines have done it and even the Great Bob Hoover was signing autographs after his Air Show while the Jet Fuel Truck behind him was filling his Gasoline Powered Aero Commander.  (Lot's of different Turbine and Gasoline Aircraft models look alike, Cessna even used to put a "Turbo-System" logo on their Turbo-Charged Gasoline Powered models.)

Bob Hoover's extraordinary skills allowed a successful (no injury to his passengers) off-airport emergency 'landing' and he then put his fame to great use in leading a campaign to prevent occurrence of these events and the FAA started requiring special Aircraft fueling ports and Jet Fuel filling nozzles to stop the practice.

Pratt & Whitney allowed use of Gasoline (80-87, 100 octane or 100LL) in my Turbine PT-6A's for up to 4% of the hours on straight gasoline and up to 12% of the time for "one-part gasoline, three parts Jet-A, JP-1 or JP-5"; JP-4 Jet Fuel already contained 10% gasoline and was allowed for 100% of the time.  The downside was mainly increased possibility of Vapor Lock, the increase in consumption and a buildup of Lead deposits.

Pilots are responsible for confirming quality and quantity of their fuel prior to flight, but they 'get-in-a-hurry' ::) too often and the outcome can be so tragic.
_____________________________________________________

Rick's summation seems to tell the main cause of this unfortunate teenager and his dad's loss.

There is a little connection here with Amelia's Tragedy in that it occurred on the correlating leg to Honolulu, but the Suleman's just decided to try and bypass their 'Howland' fuel stop.

Jeff Scott's Link really supplies a lot of insight for this operation, especially all those arrogant posts or 'tweets' from the participants as well as the 60 comments below from the public.

That Law passed after the child's tragic 1996 crash:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Dubroff

should provide protection for some innocent children, but Babar and Haris Suleman's stunt was legal because the child Haris had his license/medical.  We certainly don't need more laws to protect Adults from their own foolishness that does not endanger others.

The Suleman's were even past their time-line to establish their 'record' before their fatal decision of an overloaded take-off in the dark.

I can't imagine trying to claim a 'Record' for a flight that contains another 'qualified' person aboard that is there to provide support for the mission.



Art Johnson
 
Logged

Monty Fowler

  • T5
  • *****
  • Posts: 1078
  • "The real answer is always the right answer."
Re: Teen pilot and father killed on circumnavigation flight
« Reply #16 on: July 25, 2014, 12:07:07 PM »

Pilots are responsible for confirming quality and quantity of their fuel prior to flight, but they 'get-in-a-hurry' ::) too often and the outcome can be so tragic.

I wonder, too, if get-home-itis was at play in this case. It certainly was with Amelia and Fred - George Putnam was pushing for a big, splashy Fourth of July homecoming. It's human nature, when the end of any long, difficult endeavor is in sight, to just "get it over with, already." Which can lead to bad judgments. Which can lead to doing dumb things.

LTM, who knows all about bad judgment and experience,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP
Ex-TIGHAR member No. 2189 E C R SP, 1998-2016
 
Logged

Ric Gillespie

  • Executive Director
  • Administrator
  • *
  • Posts: 6098
  • "Do not try. Do or do not. There is no try" Yoda
Re: Teen pilot and father killed on circumnavigation flight
« Reply #17 on: July 25, 2014, 02:26:59 PM »

George Putnam was pushing for a big, splashy Fourth of July homecoming.

I'm afraid that's another Amelia Myth.  There was no media bash planned for AE's arrival.  Public interest in the world flight had cooled and Putnam was having trouble drumming up media interest.   The best he could come up with was an interview on a popular radio program that aired Monday night, July 5th.  He did send a telegram asking AE if she was going to get home on Saturday (the 3rd), Sunday (the 4th) or Monday (the 5th).  He didn't know where she was so she sent the telegram to Itasca.  She never saw it.
Logged
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Up
 

Copyright 2024 by TIGHAR, a non-profit foundation. No portion of the TIGHAR Website may be reproduced by xerographic, photographic, digital or any other means for any purpose. No portion of the TIGHAR Website may be stored in a retrieval system, copied, transmitted or transferred in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, digital, photographic, magnetic or otherwise, for any purpose without the express, written permission of TIGHAR. All rights reserved.

Contact us at: info@tighar.org • Phone: 610-467-1937 • Membership formwebmaster@tighar.org

Powered by MySQL SMF 2.0.18 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines Powered by PHP