'Plane flaps error' caused crash

In it, he makes the very relevant point, that there is no such thing as “Pilot error”.

and

I´ve not read the accident report for this accident, and I can´t be bothered to read the journo version.

Well, despite being ‘a literary legend’, Ernest K Gann is wrong. If you’d bothered to read the ‘full’ version of the AAIB report before making any comments, you’d know that your version regarding the aircraft going off the side of the runway is incorrect… Well, as it whistled past my ear, it was certainly going off the end!

‘Pilot error’ is a catch all statement, and accounts for a good proportion of all aircraft incidents and until aircraft are flown by machines, that incident rate will continue. I agree there are always other factors involved that ultimately lead to an aircraft incident but remove any one of those factors and this would prevent that incident happening.

In my ever so humble opinion, omitting to select flap ‘down’ cannot be attirbuted to anybody other than the driver….:rolleyes: Why that omission was made, why the aircraft ‘almost’ got airborne, why the take off wasn’t aborted, yet travelled the whole length of the runway until it impacted a parked F-100, will never be known.

I´ve not read the accident report for this accident, and I can´t be bothered to read the journo version. If what you say about the flaps not being correctly set for take off is correctly quoted from the accident report, it is only one of the factors in the accident. What was the aircraft doing so far off the side of the runway, and why did it end up there, instead of going off the end? Why, why why, I can go on for ever with whys.

I cannot see any reference in the report to the aircraft being off the side of the runway. It ran off the end of a 312 metre runway having failed to get airborne due to the flaps being selected up. It continued on until colliding with the F100.

If you want to read the report, it is here, but I think we should always be mindful of what we post in comments and the the fact that close friends and/or relatives may see them. I’m not having a pop at anyone, but it’s happened before on the forum and it isn’t always pretty.

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/bulletins/december_2007/dhc_2_mk_iii_turbo_beaver__oy_jrr.cfm

So it was pilot error? :confused:

I´m playing the devil´s advocate here, but I would like to point you to one of the best books ever written. The book is Fate is the Hunter, by Earnst K. Gann. In it, he makes the very relevant point, that there is no such thing as “Pilot error”.

An accident, very rarely, just happens. Usually there is a chain of events leading to an accident. The chain of events can be totally outside the pilot´s control, and he will just be along for the ride. In a typical accident (if there is such a thing!), the chain is usually 5 to 8 factors (sometimes more), and if the chain goes unbroken, an accident will happen. All of us who fly, start a chain of events, on every flight, that might end in an accident. Thing is, in 99,99% of instances the chain gets broken before something happens.

I´ve not read the accident report for this accident, and I can´t be bothered to read the journo version. If what you say about the flaps not being correctly set for take off is correctly quoted from the accident report, it is only one of the factors in the accident. What was the aircraft doing so far off the side of the runway, and why did it end up there, instead of going off the end? Why, why why, I can go on for ever with whys. Do not forget that the accident might have started the day before, or the week before, when a chain was set in motion with something that was outside the pilot´s control. Indeed the whole chain might have been outside the pilot´s control right up to the point of not setting take off flaps. Even an accident report sometimes does not cover the whole history of something that happened the week before the accident.

My bottom line is, NEVER use the word pilot error unless having considered very hard ALL the evidence.