Lessons to learn from the ditching of an LSA over water

[NinjaNate]

This is an interesting video by a Canadian pilot who was forced to ditch his aircraft into the ocean due to fuel starvation. He and his passenger survived completely unscathed. It's valuable for every pilot to watch IMHO with a humble attitude and learn from it.

 

Easy to find floors in his choices/actions and say "I'd never do that", but the graveyards bear the evidence of many who said the same thing. Nevertheless, it's also important for the flying community to critique and learn from each others experience..lessons such as the importance of fuel management and situational awareness of weather changes (..albeit with a good dose of humility.. at least IMHO anyways)

 

Nate

 

 

 

[mkennard]

That was definitely worth watching.

 

 

[dsam]

I suppose better planning and preparation are the main takeaway lessons here. Many other things come to mind, but I’ll be charitable for now... It’s interesting to note that a flip-over upon ditching isn’t always a likelihood.

 

I’m also wondering how their “ForeFlight” iPad software compares to our OzRunways & AvPlan? Both of the latter offer excellent situational awareness, (frequencies, options for alternates, notams, traffic, weather etc. etc.). It sounds like ForeFlight isn’t very comprehensive, or he wasn’t fluent in its use.

 

 

[daza]

Never have I seen a more appropriate T-shirt ...

 

It takes him 30 min to list all the things he did wrong,

 

Then he concludes that there is nothing to be learned from it, nothing to do differently...

 

 

[rrogerramjet]

As soon as he began with his loose terminology and lack of accuracy in detail describing the flight, I smelled trouble.

 

Salient lessons herein.

 

"The big mistake was........these little things that creep up on you" @ 33:15