[PEN-L:9272] JFK Jr and the Hubris of the Rich

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

I just did an experiment. I have a "Pro-Pilot" simulator in my office (the
same type used by the Air Force Academy and several airlines--not a game)
that I use to keep up my skills as a pilot and for relief from some of the
feudal fascist machinations of our illustrious administration.

It has all the airports in the US and has accurate topography and human-made
structures around the airports. I can fly any of five aircraft (Cessna 172,
Beech Bonanza, Beech Baron, Beech King-Air and Cessna Citation jet) with
exact and working cockpits, sounds and everything. I can set for day, night,
dawn and dusk, and I can set haze, varying degrees of cloud cover to shoot
instrument approaches down to minimums. It has flight planning capabilities,
weight and balance and fuel management.

So I set up a flight from Fairfield County NJ to Martha's Vinyard along the
track flown by JFK Jr. I set it for dusk departure with haze and flew the
route at 5500 ft. Unlike JFK Jr who started flying about a year and a half
ago, I soloed on March 31, 1962 in a Mooney Mark 20A from Boeing Field in
Seattle and have continued as a pilot since then with brief hiatuses from
flying.

Suffice to say that JFK Jr with a relatively new private license, flying a
new high performance Piper Saratoga in which he had few hours, not being
instrument rated, demonstrated the high costs of hubris. Indeed I have seen
many accidents caused by rich people who thought "If I can afford it, it
must mean I can fly it."

First of all, with his limited experience, he had no business flying that
route at dusk especially when the apparent haze was immediately evident
(even on a "clear night", haze is often not observable until one is in it
and then VFR pilots--even IFR pilots--often become disoriented. Secondly, he
had no business flying that track at less than 7500 ft minimum (he flew it
at a reported 5500 ft) and with over water part of the time, single-engine,
he was pushing it given his limited experience (no water survival equipment
was reported to be on board). Thirdly, he filed no flight plan (common but
stupid) and according to reports did not even request flight following from
ATC which could have advised him or vectored him to stay VFR and even
vectored him to Martha's vinyard. With the equipment on board that aircraft,
he could have easily been vectored to an airport at which he could have made
an approach consistent with his limited skills. Fourthly, according to
recent reports, he decended from 5500 down to 2500 some 12-13 miles out
which is way too low, way too soon (he was probably trying to "scud run" or
get down below the haze to stay visual and lost his orientation, went into a
steep dive possibly with wings not level, in which case the natural instinct
(which you do NOT follow--always follow the instruments) is to pull back on
the yoke which intensifies the descent and/or sets up a low-level stall/spin
situation.

All he had to do was climb, level his wings, get some altitude and radio ATC
and admit his limitations--not having an instrument rating and unable to
stay VFR at low altitudes--and ask for assistance to be vectored to stay VFR
and get down. This happens all the time. But it means admitting your
limitations.

As my father used to say: when you bring ego on board, you have an excessive
forward CG problem.
It is enough of a tragedy that all these resources and air time are being
wasted on some celebrity whose main contribution to society appears to be in
his last name; that rag of his "George" seems to me to be a lot about
nothing. but since they are going to use the air time, why not emphasize the
lessons to be learned so that maybe some lives might be saved in the future.
Of course that would mean admitting the limitations, ego and hubris of the
rich celebs that drive a vacuous star culture.

Jim Craven

James Craven
Clark College, 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd.
Vancouver, WA. 98663
(360) 992-2283; Fax: (360) 992-2863
blkfoot5@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blkfoot5/
*My Employer Has No Association With My Private/Protected Opinion*