Accident Case Study: In Too Deep

Description: This Accident Case Study is a re-creation of an accident that occurred in suburban Chicago on November 26, 2011. The 207-hour non-instrument-rated private pilot took off from Marion, Indiana, in a Cirrus SR20, and was flying to DuPage Airport, near Chicago. On board were his two daughters, and the boyfriend of the younger daughter. The purpose of the flight was to bring the older daughter back to college and then return home to Indiana. All four occupants were killed when the aircraft plunged to the ground after nearly two hours of flight time.

[Rama]

From my 1964 pilot training class yearbook: "It's always better to be on the ground wishing you were up in the air than up in the air wishing you were on the ground."

[zyglo]

I remember a CFI telling me: “If you suddenly find yourself in IFR conditions, execute the maneuver that has saved thousands of lives—a 180 degree turn.”

[patriot]

The pilot was in a state of gradually encompassing panic. It is not just pilots who are at risk when they misjudge the conditions versus their abilities. I drove over the road trucks for 40 years. More than once I thought the weather was getting uncontrollable and suggested to the driver I was running with that we stop and wait for things to clear up. Usually, the last thing I heard was "I have a schedule to keep, you can wuss out, see ya later." More than once, I drove past the remains of their rig. They did not keep their schedule, and likely never would again. It is better to be in the truck stop, on the phone rescheduling, than being pulled out of the remains of a truck. Overconfidence and panic are killers at any altitude or any road.

[zyrrhos]

"It's only at the end, when the horizon suddenly tilts, and the mind can't make sense of what the eyes are telling it, that we understand the true gravity of the situation." Great writing. Chilling.

[heathen]

Good grief. The pilot treated his situation like someone not sure which restaurant to choose.

[noonedude]

You know the moment that a pilot tries to avoid talking to approach, he's in deep and trying to cover it up.

[emelody]

“I don’t want to get stuck there all day”. That sentence right there paints the mind frame of this pilot. He didn’t even comprehend that what he was doing was extremely dangerous. Up until the final minutes, he thought of it is an inconvenience rather than a life or death situation. In the end, that’s what got him killed. Rip.

[nicholasbutler]

If you're a passenger, how late into the flight do you start to think "Am I going to get out of this alive?"

[davidreitter]

This is the video that, a year or two ago, did the most in convincing me to get an instrument rating, and having had it for a couple of months has already paid off.

[kewkabe]

11:38 is really heartbreaking, where ATC tells him goodbye, you're on your own. Sounds like the pilot even knew what it meant. As a controller myself, his erratic course after he announced he was going to PWK showed he was in distress, and today no question I would consider it an emergency. In my early years in ATC I would have done the same as the controller here, "You're in charge of your aircraft and say you want to leave my airspace VFR? Not my problem, squawk 1200 frequency change approved." Videos like this though have made me more aware of the psychological situations private pilots may be facing, and I believe thanks to these I have helped pilots with similar indecisive attitudes help make the correct decision. Thanks, Air Safety Institute.

[RedRoo]

One of my flight instructor's told me, "when encountering clouds, a VFR pilot's best friend is an immediate 180 degree turn, no exceptions"! When a pilot first encounters clouds, they are often thin and one can still see the ground and that leads inexperienced pilots to think they are in no danger of going into IFR conditions. The story told here plays out far too often.

[burke]

I used to love going up in my aunt's plane as a kid, and indeed she flew me to college my freshman year, so I feel a connection to these lost souls. Yes, I was often disappointed when we would get to the airport, she would see he current conditions or that the forecast had changed and scrub the flight. But her main concern was always being sure of her ability to get us back on the ground safely after the flight, for which stories like this make me eternally grateful.

[davez]

The "I dont want to get stuck all day" sounds like an excuse for someone who is embarrassed, confused and a bit afraid. He was out of his element from the first transmission. Sad, RIP.

[cindymcintyre]

40 years ago my instructor taught me well. I was instrument trained from day one. He said he wouldn't teach me if I wasn't willing to put the effort in. Put me under the hood my first time up. Wouldn't let me solo til I passed my instruments flight test. Flew me in milk many times. And as important, taught me to focus on flying when in the air. Thank you Clyde.

[itsmemckee]

I drive by the airport where this pilot took off from every day. My wife worked for his dad and it nearly killed this man to lose his son and grandkids. He has pretty much went downhill really bad.

[billb.]

ATC: Are you IFR qualified? Pilot: I’m in IFR training. Really all you need to know.

[mboyer]

He kept saying "I don't want to get stuck there all day" and sadly...he's stuck there for eternity. I feel terrible for the mother of his girls...damn.

[ericbraun]

The most important advice for a private pilot: "Never fly because you have to. Fly because you can."

[banjo]

I have actually watched and re-watched this case study more than once. It really affects me, maybe because I fit the profile of this pilot: a dad, around the same age, and a newer pilot who flies just because of a love of aviation (not for career).

A few new things struck me when watching it a second or third time, after my completing more hours of flight lessons and gaining a better grasp of ATC skills. For one, it's obvious to me, now, that he was inexperienced and uncomfortable with ATC communication work. Maybe he had gotten used to flying out of untowered airports. Or maybe it was just the stress of the situation. Either way, he was not providing simple read-backs to ATC, did not call out to ATC using standardized and recommended phraseology, incorrectly thought an altitude restriction was for him when it was not, got confused even by ATC's attempt to clarify the altitude remarks, and generally seemed afraid or paralyzed by anxiety of just reaching out to these controllers to seek their help.

It broke my heart when I realized this, because ATC was so, so close to literally saving his life. DuPage Tower actually gave him clearance to land even though it was IFR only, and even though the pilot did not request it. The other controllers were fully prepared to vector him in for landing. Although he had not declared an emergency (which he should have), all of the controllers were still responding to him with the urgency that gave him a real chance of surviving. They almost saved him. They tried.

The other point that stands out to me is that I am not sure the pilot was really being honest with himself when he said, a couple times, that he "didn't want to get stuck there all day." Although he offered this as his reason for not wanting to land at DuPage and later Chicago Executive, I think the more likely scenario is that he was too embarrassed to tell ATC--especially with the kids listening in--that the low visibility, marginal VFR conditions were just downright scary for him to try and land in. Rather than saying that, he said he didn't want to be sitting around in DuPage or Chicago all day waiting for the weather to clear up. If he was a more seasoned pilot with instrument ratings, that would maybe make sense. We can never know for sure but I think the real truth is that he was afraid of safely landing at all.

If I'm right about that, it underscores an important lesson to me and to all pilots: get ATC to help you, and remember that the embarrassment of doing so pales in comparison to what is really at stake. Had he told DuPage that he has trouble seeing the runway, he's scared, he's not sure what to do, and he's not instrument rated, DuPage could have still helped. Maybe vectoring him back carefully could have worked. Maybe, even though he's not IFR rated, he did know how to use ILS. There are all kinds of things that might have worked.

Long comment here, any responses from more experienced pilots or controllers welcome. I've spent the time doing this in part because I feel a kinship with this dad. My heart breaks for the family. May they at least carry on with the knowledge that the tragic loss of these beautiful souls will not go in vain, because the rest of us will use this experience to learn, study, contemplate, and probably save lives.

[joannescholl]

My heart breaks for the lives lost in this tragic accident. God bless them all.
The older I get the more aware and grateful I have become of what a great VFR private pilot my Dad was, not because he had exceptional flying skills but because he had great judgement. It was 1962 and our family was planning to fly from California to his hometown in Arkansas. We would arrive at San Carlos airport, bags packed (literally supermarket paper bags to keep the weight down) and then would have to turn around and go home because of the weather conditions between San Carlos, California and Elko, Nevada our first stop. We finally were able to take off on our third attempt to depart California and all went well, we had a wonderful trip. God bless you Dad and thank you for not having "Get-there-itis."