They showed the aeroplane on the local news. It was out of Compton. It was a Tiger Moth in Royal Navy silver and yellow WW2 markings. One person interviewed on local TV said it dived into a field. It was aerobating apparently. The TV showed the plane… it was completely demolished from the nose to the trailing edge area – the cockpit area and wings were gone. The tail was ok. So it went in nose first at speed and a steep attitude. Apparently the crew were shouting as it came down. I had a crash in a Tiger once and the only thing I can think a pilot would shout to a passenger about would be to recycle the mag switches. On the tiger each cockpit has a set of mags. I wonder if the engine stalled (inverted?) and the pilot was trying to get the passenger to check the second cockpit mag switches were flipped up?

… report…
One of the two people who were pulled alive from the wreckage of a Tiger Moth biplane which crashed in Dorset has died.
The pilot and the passenger were airlifted to hospital following the accident near Wimborne.
One of the men died overnight from his injuries sustained in the accident, Dorset Police confirmed.
The aircraft, which had set off from Compton Abbas airfield, reportedly had been performing aerobatics shortly before it crashed into a field.
Eyewitness Geoff Hill, 49, said he watched as the plane spiralled down near his home.
“I could hear the crew shouting as it got closer to the ground and then it smashed in.
“I ran up to the crash site. Both crew members were in a bad way with huge cuts. They were in a lot of pain.
“I held one of the men’s head as he had a large gash and waited until the emergency crews arrived.”
After the crash the pilot – a local man – was taken to Salisbury District Hospital by the Dorset Police helicopter.
The passenger, a 26-year-old man from Poole, was flown by air ambulance to Dorset County Hospital.

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