CASA finds pilot responsible for Essendon crash

[old man emu]

I accept that the thought can be shown to be incorrect

 

Next theory!

 

 

[Birdseye]

RH seat was unoccupied:

Glad that at least one other read the report before commenting :-)

 

 

[pmccarthy]

It never occurred to me that one of the pax touched it but it was scewed right over. Someone did it. Why would the pilot do it? It would be of interest who the pax were after landing on the previous flight, or ground crew or maintenance crew.

 

 

[Birdseye]

It never occurred to me that one of the pax touched it but it was scewed right over. Someone did it. Why would the pilot do it? It would be of interest who the pax were after landing on the previous flight, or ground crew or maintenance crew.

Perhaps the more valid question is, "why did the pilot not undo it?" I'd expect that checking trims (elevator/aileron/rudder) would be in all pre-start procedures. In a different scenario, would you be asking why the previous pilot did not put sufficient fuel in for a later flight that ran out of fuel?

 

 

[Mike Borgelt]

Pre start or during warm up AND immediately before takeoff as a last chance check. Flaps setting, trim, fuel ON, sufficient, correct tank , mixture, last full and free controls check, transponder on, runway clear and wind check, co-pilot happy (wife) is what I do before opening throttle for takeoff. I'm open to additional suggestions.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Who hasnt tried to start with the mixture pulled? And that is after saying the checklist out loud and even touching each control as you did it. The engine starts on primer, then stops. You sit there dumbfounded. I still don’t know what the human mind is doing when that happens.

My lovely Instructor Allan Baskett ( I keep blaming him don't I ? ) once said to me, after I was a little slow reacting to a situation " You've got to Do something Phil . .don't let your mind drop into 'Dialling Tone' "

 

It's a shame that this statement wouldn't make any sense to a youngster. . .since Smartphones don't have that feature. . . .

 

 

[turboplanner]

My lovely Instructor Allan Baskett ( I keep blaming him don't I ? ) once said to me, after I was a little slow reacting to a situation " You've got to Do something Phil . .don't let your mind drop into 'Dialling Tone' "

It's a shame that this statement wouldn't make any sense to a youngster. . .since Smartphones don't have that feature. . . .

I believe that was something people did in the last century, a bit like "I'll ring you up", which could get you into a lot of trouble today.

(BTW, a few hours with a Ferguson and grader blade would almost bring your old CASEY field back into operation for STOL; Monash University set up a campus there but misdiagnosed the demographics and it failed.)

 

 

[facthunter]

Lots of speculation is no more than that. You should have a preflight procedure that checks all controls operate and work freely in the correct sense. I don't rule out it being retrimmed in flight. I've seen people get "all over the place" with rudder trim, so I know it can happen. I've not done it myself and I'm not saying it's common but it doesn't have to be. You need a system to prevent these things. Nev

 

 

[red750]

While on the subject of preflight inspections, this came up on Pinterest-

 

 

 

[onetrack]

There is a mind/eye relationship factor that is called "inattentional blindness" or "perceptual blindness".

 

This happens when one is focussed intensely on other tasks, and one sights something important - but that important item sighted, doesn't register in the brain.

 

The "gorilla test" is the classic example of this problem.

 

This event tends to happen even more as you get older, because it seems our focus can become more intense or narrowed with age, and we sight, but do not register obvious things in our brains.

 

People driving through obvious red traffic lights is one example of perceptual blindness.

 

I have watched a driver drive down the centre lane of a major arterial road, between cars stopped at a red light in the other lanes each side, and he/she just kept on going steadily through the red light.

 

I've done it myself - and frightened the living daylights out of myself, when it finally registered, and I realised what I'd done.

 

I would hazard a guess that the pilot of the King Air sighted the rudder trim in extreme left position, whilst being intensely focussed on other important preflight checks - and despite seeing the wrong position set for takeoff, it didn't register in his mind due to perceptual blindness.

 

A disaster where perceptual blindness was the major factor, was the Kerang train disaster.

 

The Kenworth truck driver sighted the oncoming train on his left quarter, well within his field of vision, and yet the train sighting failed to register in his mind, and he drove straight into the side of the train.

 

I believe perceptual blindness is a factor in many serious crashes, in both air and land crashes, yet it doesn't get a mention in many crash reports.

 

 

[Bernie]

I seen the "gorilla" and was amazed others didn't .?

 

Bernie .

 

 

[facthunter]

Then you were not giving ALL your attention to the task you were given.. It's a proven you only see what you are looking for . or hear if your attention isn't fully occupied.. Nev