No swooping today

[mayagrafix]

This should be a real interesting entry in this budding pilot's log book.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tay ... 349623.stm

What a way to begin a career!

[SkippyBing]

Going by his age and rank he's probably an instructor!

[Garry Russell]

He was a new instructor but a long term VC 10 pilot

Garry

[mayagrafix]

Since he was in a Grob Tutor aircraft I assumed that he was still a cadet. Now I really want to read his entry in his log book!

[Garry Russell]

I think it has a bit more here

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770


Garry

[mayagrafix]

In my meager experience, its the pilots responsibility to be aware of all NOTAMS and PIREPS (or whatever you call em' over there) plus all airspace restrictions in the course of a flight (especially on a NAV training joust). On the other hand, flying should be fun and enjoyable and a little swooping within reason should not be made into a federal case. Theres been many a time when a pilot has to swoop down and check out the landmarks to figure his position. IMO Flight Lieutenant Rodriguez was over penalized (1500 big ones, WOW!). On the other hand, he is lucky to not have his license suspended. The safety board should refer to this swooping for reference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvDDDKnNhuE

[SkippyBing]

As far as I can tell, and I'm not relying on the Daily Mail to get it right, his defence was he didn't read the NOTAMS before he got airborne, which makes you wonder what else he missed, and that he didn't know the standard avoid for an outdoor gathering. Now admittedly he's a VC10 pilot so he's probably used to the navigator checking the NOTAMS, and he's probably forgotten the low flying system exists, but that does smack of an astonishingly poor level of preparation and planning on his part.
Of course I'm more surprised the Daily Mail didn't use it as an opportunity to crow bar in the phrase 'Grob Tutor the same as the one Prince William earned his wings on'.

[mayagrafix]

Thats the one thing everyone kept telling me during flight training: NEVER TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. Check, check again, and then after you've checked, check one more time for safety's sake. You think at first its way over the top, that these guys must kidding you cause you are the newbie, but then you hear all the stories ...

Kudos to Captain William for getting his wings. I wonder if he likes FSX?