Novice pilot lands plane safely on busy highway

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

15 years 9 months

Posts: 1,684

Novice pilot lands plane safely on busy highway

http://beta.uk.news.yahoo.com/novice-pilot-lands-plane-safely-on-busy-highway.html

Live on board video available - see URL above

Original post

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 390

A 180-hour pilot is hardly a 'novice pilot'.

A 'novice pilot' is someone who has a nice shiny new PPL, not someone with probably 140hours' P1 logbook time.

Good job! Check the mailbox for any traffic tickets to follow. :diablo:

Member for

15 years 9 months

Posts: 1,684

I did not write the headline/caption - some journalist did

A 180-hour pilot is hardly a 'novice pilot'.

A 'novice pilot' is someone who has a nice shiny new PPL, not someone with probably 140hours' P1 logbook time.

Technically I agree but the headline/caption was the 'work' of some journalist and all I did was pasted it avoiding misquoting.

Still lucky for the motorists on the busy highway that no one was hurt.:rolleyes:

Member for

15 years 9 months

Posts: 1,684

Pilot is very lucky that there weren't any pile ups or rear end shunts on the highway

Good job! Check the mailbox for any traffic tickets to follow. :diablo:

Pilot is very lucky that there weren't any pile ups or rear end shunts on the highway, otherwise never mind the parking tickets it would be hefty insurance bill on his policy.;)

Overall a happy ending so far.

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 390

Technically I agree but the headline/caption was the 'work' of some journalist and all I did was pasted it avoiding misquoting.

Still lucky for the motorists on the busy highway that no one was hurt.:rolleyes:


Yes I agree... Mr Some Journalist is out there a whole lot writing uninformed stuff about aviation. Made a good headline though! ;)

I don't know about you guys but when I see a news story misrepresented by the media in a subject that I know about (like aviation) I can't help but wonder about all the other subjects I know nothing about that are being misrepresented to me by Some Journalist or other. :eek:

Member for

15 years 9 months

Posts: 1,684

That's how politics survives and crooked business stays alive - naive journalists

That's how politics survives and crooked business stays alive - naive journalists

Hi VeeOne
There is so much mis-representation or distortion (deliberate or through sheer ignorance) by journalists that crooked politicians and crooked business stay alive.

Feed a naive (un professional non investigative) journalist with 'fodder' and they will 'munch' happily and regurgitate the 'rubbish' extrapolated hundred fold.

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 390

That's how politics survives and crooked business stays alive - naive journalists

Hi VeeOne
There is so much mis-representation or distortion (deliberate or through sheer ignorance) by journalists that crooked politicians and crooked business stay alive.

Feed a naive (un professional non investigative) journalist with 'fodder' and they will 'munch' happily and regurgitate the 'rubbish' extrapolated hundred fold.

nJayM

You are so right!

Sometimes our society seems to be more interested in how things seem than what the actual facts are. The media must make a great tool for those in big business or politics and religion to distribute their propoganda.

I imagine that if the pilot were a true novice Some Journalist would have wrote;

'Trainee pilot crash-lands on road'.

With a sub-headline;

'Miracle Escape - Car drivers nearly die... Should private planes be banned from flying over our towns and roads?'

LOL!

Member for

20 years 7 months

Posts: 2,623

A 180-hour pilot is hardly a 'novice pilot'.

A 'novice pilot' is someone who has a nice shiny new PPL, not someone with probably 140hours' P1 logbook time.

No, no. The headline is correct, he really is a novice pilot. 180hrs is nothing.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 949

No, no. The headline is correct, he really is a novice pilot. 180hrs is nothing.

Ask his Bank Manager :D

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 390

Ask his Bank Manager :D

Damned right! 180 hours is a whole lot of cash.Some of us had to pay a fortune to get 200 hours.

I couldn't disagree more, Deano! 180hrs is not novice level. It might not be as many hours as someone who flies an office in which the plane does most of the flying, but it is far too much flying to call that pilot a novice. Do I detect a small degree of logbook-licence snobbery, Deano?

Member for

20 years 7 months

Posts: 2,623

Do I detect a small degree of logbook-licence snobbery, Deano?

Don't judge me VeeOne http://www.qva-airways.org/Pics/wag.gif

180hrs is nothing, nadda. This is not logbook snobbery as you most kindly put it, but talking from experience. I still teach people to fly and I see allsorts of experience levels and skill levels come through the system to do revalidations etc and some of it isn't pretty. When I had 180hrs I had just completed my CPL, I knew nothing. This isn't License snobbery as you so kindly put it, this is reality. I am rational and level headed enough to know that 180hrs is nothing. You may have seen a book called "The Killing Zone". I suggest you have a read of it.

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

Damned right! 180 hours is a whole lot of cash.Some of us had to pay a fortune to get 200 hours.

I couldn't disagree more, Deano! 180hrs is not novice level. It might not be as many hours as someone who flies an office in which the plane does most of the flying, but it is far too much flying to call that pilot a novice. Do I detect a small degree of logbook-licence snobbery, Deano?

Hi VeeOne welcome to the mad house. Whilst I am not a pilot I understand the point Deano is trying to get across. Whilst 180 hoours sounds like alot it is hardly post ppl ithe grand scheme of things. What it is though is a point where there is plenty more to learn but a very real danger of overconfidence making you think you are better than you really areand sometimes with fatal consequences.

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 390

OK, I accept the spirit of that. :)

Actually in the last ten years I have been paragliding. I have flown maybe 1200 hours and when I see 100 hour pilots acting with over-confidence as though they've learned it all it worries me. They are just beginning from my point of view. They buy advanced cross-country paragliders that are much more unstable and problematic - I think it is a male ego thing - and I just know they are no-way experienced enough to be flying these high-aspect wings when things get ugly. And flying these advanced 'aircraft' adds to their sense of being pretty damned great pilots - until they meet bad air. That's when the air ambulance is called out.

I have gotten the same response as I gave you (apologies) when I have called 200 hour paraglider pilots 'low-hours pilots'. I only say it to try to get across to them they should go slower and not push too hard for experiences beyond their hours. Low-hours pilots of 100+ hours tend to carry an attitude of 'you can't tell me anything - I already learned it' and their situational awareness is pants. So is their self control when things go badly wrong. It is some sort of 'coming of age' male thing for many of them. It takes time to learn to remain in control mentally when you are spiralling to your possible death or recovering from a full stall close to the ground. And in these situations not doing the wrong thing through adrenaline and uncontrolled panic is as important as correct recovery.

I feel I will probably never really learn enough to consider myself a good pilot, but I see fliight safety as being in a pilot's head, if you think your are a great pilot your ability to stay safe goes down but you don't know it. That's why regular check rides are good practice. We need to learn how increase our abilities by evolution, not revolution. Anyone with a basic PPL can fly into cloud and stay on instruments for five minutes - it is after that when the accidents usually happen. I have found though, that flying is a grounding experience. Most low-hours pilots have a certain (hidden from view) apprehension about being above the ground. I feel this helps keep pilots grounded in reality as far as their true abilities are concerned, at least until they get talking in the bar!

I used to work in GA for flying clubs and so on. Most 'club' PPL holders don't seem to reach 180 hours without giving up. Those who fly more extensively rarely remain in the flying club system but go shares in an aircraft syndicate. So for a flying club pilot 180 hours makes a fairly experienced pilot, relatively speaking. Having said that, I doubt too many 'novice' club pilots could force land *safely* on a busy motorway. It takes good situational awareness to pull that off, I would have said. ;)

Sarah

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

You sound like a lady with her head screwed on right any chance of having a chat wiith my other half sometime and straighten her out?:D:D