Look Out! Avoiding Terrain and Obstructions

Made possible by the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association and the Donner Canada Foundation.
Description: For many pilots, accidents involving terrain and obstructions fall into the “can’t happen to me” category. But getting caught in a tight situation is easier than you think, and escape can be difficult or impossible. This video aims to raise awareness of the risks and help pilots recognize potentially dangerous situations before it's too late.

[rrknl]

Another serious issue is downdrafts near mountains. Even with sea level performance, downdrafts can exceed the airplanes climb rate.

[stcrwilson]

Not mentioned is that VASI/PAPI only provides obstacle clearance within 4nm and +/- 10 degrees of the centerline. At night, you can pick up VASI much further out and should not be relied on !

[woofna]

As part of my job, I read a steady stream of recreational boating and outdoor recreation accident reports, and I also analyze close calls and fatalities to extract the lessons learned. You do an excellent job with your reports and they're a huge asset for improving safety, particularly in general aviation. Over the past ten years, I've toyed with the idea of getting a pilot's license. You're reports inject a very health dose of reality into that process. Before I encountered your channel, I had a very different concept of how much time, study, effort, meticulous planning and attention to detail safely flying a plane requires. It's very sobering stuff, particularly the fatality reports that involve pilots with instrument ratings and lots of time in the saddle. Thank you for your contribution to safety. Moulton Avery, Founder and Director, National Center for Cold Water Safety.

[Dwightstjohn-foki]

the "awareness" lessons here apply to driving just about anything on the road, especially if the driver doesn't have a lot of road experience. I'm forwarding this all over the place, and not just for piloting aircraft.

[harveygreenberg]

Excellent video. Re the "black hole" night approach to an airport, I would use an instrument approach as Plan A, but absent that no substitute for overflying the airport at or above pattern altitude and flying the pattern.

[richardweil]

Many years ago I was a student pilot happily practicing in a Cessna 150. Got fairly close to some large radio towers and but knew was quite safely above the ground. I swear that I saw something go by the wing. Later an instructor mentioned to stay away from that area, the guy wires extended quite far out.

[jonathanhankins]

GA Pilots - "I fly myself so that I have time freedom and flexibility."
GA Pilots in ironic cautionary YouTube videos - "I have to get there tonight, in the dark, through a thunderstorm, on an expired ferry permit."

[Timberwars]

Not mentioned in the video is that the publishers of aviation apps for flight planning (think Garmin, Foreflight, FlyQ, Etc., etc.) state in their user manual essentially the same warnings, just with slightly different words ... "NOT FOR NAVIGATION, FOR ADVISORY ONLY. Usually they are right on the money with the current and updated panel mounts. But not always. Yeah, I use an iPad in my cocpit too. I love it! But I've watched iPads spontaneously shut down from over heating in mid flight. I've also found several TFR depiction errors that could've suckered someone into a violation. The video is pretty good, as far as it goes. But...

[theflyingfool]

Thanks guys & gals! Another excellent heads-up video!

[billbrisson]

I was told a story by an instructor, on a ferry flight into an unfamiliar airport, at night, he got 3 reds and almost 4 reds on the PAPI, but landed with out incident (he was very used to doing this with his home field). He spent the night and flew out the next morning, when he noticed there was a large hill and trees on the approach end he landed on the night before. He believes he missed the trees by only a foot or two!   PAPI's are there for a reason, and at an unfamiliar airport, at night, RED YOUR DEAD might be true!

[Nguy]

I was gonna get a pilot license at one time. So glad I didn't, after watching these videos. Too much to remember.

[cdtaylor]

In Canadian County; Oklahoma, USA, we had a crop duster collide with the guide wires of a new, large tower. He didn’t survive and it was a big wake up call to us in Oklahoma with towers and wing farms popping up.

[shopdog]

Amazing how technology changes a situation

[billbrisson]

I made a night landing at my home field one night the day they finished re-paving the runway, with only the runway lights to identify the runway. The painting of the runway marks and numbers was not completed yet, and the last 20-30 feet of the decent I had absolutely no visibility to the runway...just a black hole under me!  fortunately the winds were calm, and there was 8000' of runway, and I remembered my glassy water training from my float flying!  managed a good landing, but very nearly throttled up to go to my alternate airport!

[almerindaromeira]

And get a radioaltimeter if possible :)

[DaniCalifornia]

A bunch of friends from Hungary started a holiday trip to the Croatian coast with 8 LSAs in August, 2005. The majority of them were not IFR rated, so the plan was to take the VFR flight despite several prior days with bad weather. They stopped for refueling in Zagreb and continued their flight but shortly they encountered IMC in the form of dense fog near Rakovica, a Pipistrel Sinus collided with an antenna, or maybe its guy wires on a mountain top and according to witnesses, exploded after impact causing the tragic death of two middle aged great men from Kaposvár, may their souls rest in peace! Another aircraft from the fleet also CFITed into a mountain forest, a Zlin Z-142, carrying a man and a woman. That plane also burst into flames after impact. Fact is Hungary lies in a basin therefore our GA pilots does not have the required terrain awareness to handle IMC between mountains. Sorry for the tragic story but it serves as a clear example of how even somewhat experienced pilots can get into trouble easily.

[ThePrimeMinisterOfTheBlock]

Pardon my ignorance, I am but a humble public servant. But why would one not simply fly over the obstacle?

[antoy]

Why don’t civilians have the equivalent of the SR-71 helmet? As in, display all terrain heights around, in Augmented Reality, along with applets like tasklists and virtual gauges?

[MeaHeaR]

So where do get the Free Soft-Waré ¿¿¿

[MillionFoul]

JAC, AFO, what's next, DIJ? You've got all the airports I fly around at!