Student Pilot clings to life after plane crash

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Naveed
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Student Pilot clings to life after plane crash

Post by Naveed »

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/124569


A student pilot is in critical condition after his plane skidded off a runway at Fredericton's airport and slammed into an embankment Saturday.

The young man flying the small plane came to Canada from China. He was learning to fly aircraft at the Moncton Flight College site at the Fredericton International Airport.

He sustained facial lacerations and broken bones in his forehead during the crash, which happened around 11:30 a.m. He's being treated at the Saint John Regional Hospital.

Mike Doiron, the college's principal and CEO, said the pilot was doing one of his first solo flight exercises. He said the pilot had problems during landing procedures that caused his plane to leave the runway and crash nose-first into a ditch.

Doiron said he's hopeful the student will come through the incident in good health.

"He's being heavily monitored by specialists in Saint John," he said. "He's sedated now, and we'll see what happens in the next day or two. His family has been notified and they're deciding whether to make the trip now, or wait to see what happens."

Cpl. Claude Tremblay of District 2 RCMP said the emergency response team had some problems communicating with the student at the crash site.

"We had a little bit of a problem with language -- at least at the beginning until we got a translator there," he said. "But everything is fine."

Two employees connected to the airport speculated language barriers between the pilot and the control tower may have played some role in the crash.

Doiron said he didn't believe a language barrier played any role in the incident.

"No, it doesn't appear to be (an issue)," he said. "The reason they wanted the translator was to make sure absolutely nothing was missed."

Andrew Leeming, director of operations at the Fredericton International Airport, said the crash shut down one of the airport's two runways until the plane was removed in the early evening.

Extra staff members were called in to the airport Saturday afternoon to help ensure operations continued as planned and flights arrived and departed on schedule.

Leeming said the airport will conduct an investigation to assess their emergency response services.

"We always go over our protocols after any kind of incident happens at the airport," he said.

"We'll review our emergency procedures and their effectiveness after the situation is resolved."

A airport crash usually requires an independent investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. But since the crash involved a single, small-engine plane, Leeming said the board allowed the flight college to conduct its own internal investigation.

Doiron said the investigation will examine the mechanical functions of the plane as well as how prepared the student was before the crash.

"We're going to be looking at weather conditions, the aircraft's engine, the student's training profile."

In June, one of the college's planes was forced to make a belly landing at the Greater Moncton International Airport after a student and instructor had problems with the plane's landing gear.
The picture is pretty brutal, heres hoping hes ok.
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Post by Widow »

A airport crash usually requires an independent investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. But since the crash involved a single, small-engine plane, Leeming said the board allowed the flight college to conduct its own internal investigation.

Doiron said the investigation will examine the mechanical functions of the plane as well as how prepared the student was before the crash.

"We're going to be looking at weather conditions, the aircraft's engine, the student's training profile."
WTF?

Hope the student pulls through.
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Post by 200hr Wonder »

WTF is right, I think size should not matter get the TSB out there.

Saw a student go off the end of a short strip not to long ago, turned out he was not seated properly, did not apply the breaks fully and did not stop. Along with a long landing and admiring it into the fence, but amazing what little things can all add up to something like this. Hope he pulls through.

As for language barrier, I hope that it was not the case.
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matrix
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Post by matrix »

I really hope that quote is wrong. Allowing the flight school to do the only investigation????

Yeah, not conflict of interest there.
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xsbank
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Post by xsbank »

Its a news report - it has a 30-50% chance of being correct.
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invertedattitude
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Post by invertedattitude »

I fly out of MFC (rent their planes) on a regular basis, well every 2-3 months or so, most of my flying is done elsewhere, but what I can say as much of a nuthouse busy wise MFC is lately, their safety standards are the highest I've seen from any flight club in the Maritimes.

With as many planes they're putting in the air daily now (I was once #8 for approach) I personally think they're doing a fine job, but it's only a matter of time before something like this happens with as many hours as they are logging.

I've seen a few incidents there, watched a DA20 eat a snowbank, nobody hurt, departures from taxiways etc.

All that being said I think their safety is second to none when it comes to flightschools. An instructor can only teach so much, once the student is on their own, they are on their own.

However, allowing the school to do their own internal investigation is insane.

A near fatal plane crash, and TSB isn't there?

Furthermore, there's no control tower in YFC, it's Flight service.
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Post by PITA »

Welcome to the world of SMS
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Post by overshoot »

Since when has the TSB done a better job than anyone else at investigating small crashes. This isn't brain surgury. Besides, the insurance company for MFC is going to do their own investigation that will be more thorough than both TSB and MFC combined.
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Post by Doc »

When they say, they'll do their own investigation, it doesn't mean the TSB will not do one as well. Of course they will....you guys are reading WAY too much into a news report. The school SHOULD do their own investigation!
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Post by KAG »

reguardless of who does what, a student is clinging to life. I truely hope he pulls through.
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Post by Alex YCV »

Gee, you figure they can pry the investigators away from the Tim Hortons deal to come have a look at this one, considering the injury as well as the potential question of language in flight training...

Nahh.
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Post by Naveed »

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/125543
Injured pilot's condition has improved, college says



The condition of a student pilot injured in a plane crash at the Fredericton International Airport has been upgraded from critical to serious.

The student pilot, a man in his 20s from China, was the only occupant of the single-engine plane when it crashed on landing around 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

"He's responding very well to treatment, so we're very optimistic he's going to make a full recovery," said Mike Doiron, CEO of the Moncton Flight College.

The man is a student at the college's Fredericton campus. He's being treated at the Saint John Regional Hospital.

The student was the only person in the plane at the time of the crash.

He was injured while trying to land a Diamond DA20-C1 Eclipse. It left the runway and slammed nose-first into a ditch. The student sustained facial lacerations and head injuries.

Doiron said the investigation into the incident continues.

An interview with the pilot is key to determining what happened, Doiron said.

"We hope to do that in the next week or so," he said.

The school's operations are ongoing at campuses in Moncton and Fredericton.

"We're taking a hard look at the operation, obviously, to make sure nothing was missed."

Staff will go through a review process with students, Doiron said.

"After a situation like this, we tend to review everything with all the students to make sure nothing's been

missed."
Sounds like good news
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Post by Canoehead »

According to the CADORS it was his first solo. Runway 33 with 5 to 9 knots of wind from the 'northeast'. My first question would be why send a student on a first solo with a potential 9 knot crosswind? Was 09/27 closed? I instructed for 3 years and sent out probably about 30 first solos, but would never do it with a 9 knot x/w. 5 was our 'company' limit for first (and subsequent) solos, until we had the 'fun' 25 knot x/w (dual) lesson plan...
I'm sure the instructor will have a few questions to answer. Not necessarily the student's fault here... hope he's well.
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Post by Hedley »

why send a student on a first solo with a potential 9 knot crosswind?
Depends on the student. I've done it with some, wouldn't
think of doing it with others. Not all students have the same
stick & rudder skills - I've soloed guys in the Pitts, which
requires more stick & rudder skill than most licenced pilots
will ever develop (shrug).
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Post by CID »

Welcome to the world of SMS
Huh?
I really hope that quote is wrong. Allowing the flight school to do the only investigation????

Yeah, not conflict of interest there.
I'm sure the TSB doesn't take those decisions lightly. A student pilot injured in a single engine airplane in VFR conditions in aircraft operated by a reputable facility seems reasonable to me.

Do we really need a million dollar investigation to figure out what went wrong?
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Post by invertedattitude »

Glad to see there's some good news coming.

Must be hell on his family.
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Post by dashx »

Cpl. Claude Tremblay of District 2 RCMP said the emergency response team had some problems communicating with the student at the crash site.

"We had a little bit of a problem with language -- at least at the beginning until we got a translator there," he said. "But everything is fine."



Two employees connected to the airport speculated language barriers between the pilot and the control tower may have played some role in the crash.
Geez...don't let the "employees" speculate about anything.........cause ya know boyze boyze boyze will talk...oh wait...spekulate

And what the officer wanted the translator there to make sure nothing was missed. What they didn't want to pay attention to what the guy had to say?


Oh I'll bet they'll be talking about this one at the local Tim Horton's. Oh wait no they'll be talking about Ron Joyce. I wonder if they had translators there.......

But seriously folks. Every part of Canada has its own and unique accent. Oui? So here we have a visitor with a strong accent (and don't even start with the racism) and now he is injured and has to deal with paramedics and or police officers with strong accents.

Maybe ESL is needed here (and not for pilot either)

Sounds a lot like an Air Farce (you know the donut shop skit too much sugar in the cup.......ya ya ya) skit No? This hour has 22 minutes?
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invertedattitude
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Post by invertedattitude »

It's not really a visitor.


there's at least 120 Chinese students if not more at MFC.

Language problems are a constant problem with their students and atc, and for those of us first language english speakers than fly there as well.

although apparently its been getting better.
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Post by CYQMer »

Pilot bounced on landing & initiated a balked landing.
Applied full power in a nose down attitude and hit the ground hard nose first.
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Post by twotter »

xsbank wrote:Its a news report - it has a 30-50% chance of being correct.
Come on XS, you are giving them way too much credit here!! :lol:
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