It’s a key part of the culture of flight safety that we learn from the mistakes of others, and make changes to how we fly as a result of those learnings.
On December 19, 2015, a Piper Lance carrying five people departed an airport in California to a neighbouring state. Despite a poor weather forecast, the pilot decided to fly his family to their old hometown for a friend’s surprise party that evening.
Sadly, conditions worsened along the route, but the non-instrument rated pilot decided to press on, and eventually accepted an IFR clearance to fly into IMC – a decision that clinched the fate of the five on board.
Watch this accident recreation from the AOPA Air Safety Institute, where we seek to understand the circumstances that led to this tragic flight.
