Pre-sale test flight?
If a light airplane is based at a particular airport, odds are that if it’s going to crash, it’ll happen near that particular airport.
As was quoted up-thread, there aren’t very many good places to make a forced landing near that airport. That freeway is pretty much the only choice.
So what I’d say is that the odds on any given aircraft crashing twice is low. But once we do have a particular lightplane crashing twice when operating out of the same airport, landing not too far from the same spot as last time is actually pretty likely.
I don’t know anything about the cause of the two accidents, but if they both stem from the same defect in the aircraft, then it crashing twice becomes even more likely.
With apologies for linking to a tabloid site, I thought this was worth a look. I find plane-watching to be fascinating, but this is a bit close for my tastes.
I was like, :dubious: .
But then I saw this. Apparently aircraft do come pretty close to the road. But ISTM that the pilot in the Cessna might have been a little too close.
I once had an inflight rabbit strike in a C-150. I was in the flare and he was sitting on the runway. Then he jumped up at the wrong moment and was Cuisinarted.
That photog almost got Cuisinarted himself. Of he coulda face-planted into a tire / wheelpant. Either would have been instantly fatal.
I think the Cessna was doing a brush-off or a show-off of/for the photog and cut it too close. The YouTube vid shows a decent crossing height over the road is 15-30 feet. Such fun.
I’d seen that particular airport featured in a ridiculous TV show of the world’s scariest landings or some such, so I already knew the aircraft got close. But…damn.
I wonder what the photographer thinks seeing the video. And where are the pictures he took?!?
In my era the USAF lost a couple jets in rapid succession in different incidents because pilots were flying while taking pictures. The Accident Investigation Boards’ theories were that the pilots were flying visually while looking through the camera’s viewfinder. The amount of camera zoom was such that pilots misjudged the actual distance to what they eventually hit. IOW
Caution: Objects in viewfinder are closer than they appear. :smack:
After that having a personal camera onboard a tactical aircraft was instant career death.
Back to the present …
I suspect the photog taking pix of the Cessna was similarly misled about how critically the situation was developing until the last second or two.
Back in the pre-cellphone days and such, we used to drop/throw little sand envelopes with notes inside and a 3 foot red crepe paper streamer to get important info to the ground workers as soon as possible. If the person was on clear ground, no trees or buildings too close ( snerk which was a personal judgement call ) the best of the best and the most trusting of the crusty old pumpers would be to pass alongside of him at just enough altitude for the wing strut junction on a C-150 would clear his hard hat by 2 feet or so without the wheel being higher than his shoulder. We also had to hit him in the chest with the sand bag.
I had several leaky old gathering systems that were always springing leaks so I got to get up close & personal with a group of pumpers and maintenance folks a lot. I racked up some impressive “hit’em” numbers. Not that I was so very good at it but I had a lot of opportunity to make tries. Practice, practice, practice. Easiest was slightly up hill with a steady breeze of 4-8 MPH The older straight back square tail C-150’s were the best patrol aircraft of the C-150 series IMO.
The key to accuracy in bombing is always to get up close and personal with the work. 
I have the opportunity to go for a flight in Whiskey 7 in a few weeks. Part of me is like, “That’s awesome!” & part of me thinks it must be akin to flying Spirit Airlines - probably uncomfortable seats, no entertainment or drinks, etc. ;). We won’t get cockpit time so while I’ll be in a cool, historic aircraft I’m wondering how much better a flight is versus a ground tour & should I save my money to go in a same-eraed bomber where I’d have the opportunity to get an awesome & unique view in one of the gunner turrets.
What say you? Would you do it? Why or why not?
A C-47 is a DC-3.
Great old planes, but if I had a choice of it or a bomber, I’d go for the bomber every time.
(back in the 60’s my folks wanted to look at some “Prime” Florida “home sites”. We were flown in via DC-3.
Note: If they fly you in, it means there are no roads that they want you to see.)
I agree, if it’s a choice of one or the other, go for the bomber.
It’s not every day that a blimp makes an emergency landing…with video. (No injuries.)
Quelle horreur!
I’ve never seen a blimp that small before.
Back in the 90’s there was a one or two-person blimp at Hayward CA.
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a tiny blimp make touch-and-go’s.
Sadly, it broke loose, killing the owner (who grabbed the mooring line and could not climb it. He held on until it was about 150’ up before loosing his grip).
It floated into the Oakland control area and was forced down by chopper down draft.
How serious is it for a commercial pilot to have fighter jets called on you because you didn’t respond to ATC? I imagine an interview with neither tea nor biscuits would follow, but if the cause were not equipment failure would an offer of resignation be expected or would the pilot be dismissed or would it just be a black mark?
It would depend on why it happened.
It is not at all uncommon for ATC to lose contact with an aircraft for a period of time. In my experience it most often happens when ATC forget to transfer the aircraft to the next frequency and by the time they remember, the plane is out of range. It can also happen because of finger trouble from the pilots, sleeping pilots, distracted pilots, equipment failure etc. With the exception of sleeping pilots, most causes are due to trivial errors and should not be punished at all.
On the other hand, if they were asleep questions need to be raised as to why. Are the rosters adequate? Are the crews getting adequate opportunity to rest between duties? Are the hotel facilities adequate? Do they need to review their operating procedures to include a check of the flight crew from the cabin crew at periodic intervals? Maybe they do have those procedures but crews aren’t following them. If so then why not? Is it impractical for a cabin crew member to call the flight deck every 20 minutes on a busy flight? If crews are so tired they need to sleep in flight why are they reporting for work? Do they fear reprisals if they go sick due to fatigue?
In short, unless the crew were partying all night or otherwise not taking reasonable steps to get adequate rest, both of them being asleep at the wheel is an indication of a systemic problem.
I managed a 3-runway G.A. airport for over 10 years.