Can TINY Piece Plastic PREVENT This??

A small three seat Piper went missing in Alaska, and the pilot and two small girls found the next morning on the wing of the partially submerged plane on the icy lake surface. Great news that everyone's okay. But the pilot did not have a certificate and was illegal to carry passengers. What's the bigger issue here?

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[pfsantos]

Being a good pilot is much more than just stick and rudder skills. You have to have good judgment. Plenty of accident reports to back that up.

[hmabboud]

I do not know why. But watching 'Taking off' makes me feel in the 90's and the world is still good and well.

[HomesickforAlaska]

The number of people flying without a PPL (or any formal training) in Alaska would Shock you.

[KevinSAviation]

Thank you for the News, Dan. I’m glad to hear they all survived. I agree with you whole heartedly. Those who fly without a license are putting lives at risk. Not to mention driving up the accident and insurance rates. Keep up the excellent work. Safe skies my friend 🇺🇸🛩️🚁

[grbockman]

With the prices of airplanes and the value of human lives and property, flying without a license is a huge liability risk that insurance companies will not cover.

[WellRoundedWoodsman]

Dan you're fostering an amazing safety culture on this channel. I was on my former military unit's aviation safety committee and you'd make one hell of a good guest speaker at our unit-wide safety days.

[MicahMesser]

A piece of plastic? No, it won't. But avoiding getting one to "stick it to the man" shows a lack of understanding of the training requirements. Heck, at 43 hours, when I got mine, I was nowhere near as safe as I am now, and I still have a lot to learn. As you say at the end of your videos, superior judgement trumps superior skills.

And I am, in general, good with reducing regulations and requirements government have placed on us Citizens.

[Raven-Creations]

In the UK, we can fly solo, but each flight has to be under the auspices of a trainer (they couldn't just sign you out, they had to be available in case you needed talking down). I'm not sure whether that was the law, or just the rule of the flight school, but I would never even have considered taking a passenger until after qualifying. As well as passing theory exams, to qualify you have to have completed at least 40 hours in the 12 months prior to taking your final test. In the UK, that's actually not that easy. If you're flying an hour a week, the odds of losing 12 weeks because of bad weather is quite high. At £150+ per hour, it takes some dedication to qualify, so every student I met was taking everything dead seriously.
I'm not saying there are no trainee pilots in the UK who break the rules, but they would have to own their own plane, and I never met anyone who bought a plane before qualifying.
I can't understand the mentality of someone who would take passengers up in the air without having qualified. We can't even do that as student drivers. Even after qualifying, I wanted to get some hours in before I felt confident to take any passengers. Passengers are distractions, and if you're still not totally confident with navigation (GPS was rare when I qualified), you need to be able to concentrate to both fly the plane safely and apply corrections to your track.

[liliaflyingmomMD]

Those who think they are above authority tend to think they are above aerodynamic laws as well.

[NN-sjfg]

There are old pilots
There are bold pilots
There are no old, bold pilots.

[volvo]

Wow, those people are SO lucky. First surviving the crash, and also not dying of exposure. 😮

[crawford]

Oh man! I'm West Texas bred, born and raised! Unfortunately I now reside in the land of the Runaway Scrape. Alas, my heart and soul resides in the Hill Country. Too bad a person can't afford to live there anymore. Carpetbaggers and rich retirees from the far West have invaded. We thought Snowbirds were bad but this new invasion well, It is tragic. So young, if you can eek out a living in the Garden, my hat is off to you. I left because there were more deer than dears and my search for a spouse lead me to Sing Sing on the Brazos. I'm purposely writing in Texas Code. You lucky son of a gun. By the way, you and Juan Browne ( Blancolirio) are my go to sources for clear and precise reporting on aircraft related subjects. Carry on.

[jojoc]

Thank you for taking the time to do this show Dolly's very informative and very interesting

[astircalix]

Breaking the rules is a proven method of breaking necks, whether they are yours or someone else's.

[mscir]

Great video, good moral... In this case it spounds like child endangerment to me.

[aproudamerican]

So a student pilot certificate is like a driver's permit?
Most of us get a permit at 15 1/2 or 16 years old in high school.
The Permit says we can drive but there are strict limitations.
✅NO Driving at night.
✅NO passengers while we drive.
If we violate that law we can't get our drivers license until we're 18.
Pilots should loose their pilots license if they refuse to follow the laws.

[donalddepew]

This guy managed to make a safe recovery, but was definitely in the wrong. Thank goodness everyone is safe. But there’s no excuse for this.

[Sembazuru]

I don't know what's more disturbing. People flying with passengers without a certificate/license, or a flight instructor without a certificate/license as you bring up at 6:03.

[standubaj]

Good synopsis of the story from start to finish, 👍

[SimonAmazingClarke]

If they can't be bothered getting a licence, they might not bother with checklists or annual inspections...