Another Flight disappears

http://news.msn.com/world/contact-lost-with-air-algerie-plane-carrying-116-people-from-burkina-faso

Very sad and concerning.

What about this one?

Teen pilot killed at sea in quest to set world record
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/23/world/asia/american-teen-pilot-killed/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

He was a newly licensed pilot who was flying with his father, trying to set a new world record for being the youngest copilot to circumnavigate the globe in 30-days. The article says their aircraft crashed into the Pacific, about 25 miles short of their stop in American Samoa. The teenager is confirmed dead and the father is missing.

I have done my own analysis of this incident. The article says they were due back at their starting point in Indiana by Saturday. They still had to cover roughly 5,718 nautical miles to accomplish this. Their Beechcraft had a cruise speed of about 170 knots. To get back to Indiana by Saturday, they needed to fly over 1,430 NM per day, which means they had to fly about 8+ hours per day to do this. I think they got fixed on setting the record, and put this before their personal safety, and paid for it with their lives. What about crew rest, accounting for weather, and the dangers of crossing such a vast expanse of water in a small aircraft? What about maintenance on their plane, which was being driven very hard?

It appears to me that they were a bit behind on their schedule and were pushing their luck---and it ran out, plain and simple.

Yikes! I have a flight booked for September.

Here is another--This happened locally Yesterday:

Two killed in plane crash
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/07/23/esco-search-missing-plane/13062337/

They took off out of Ferguson Field and Crashed in Baldwin County....

ZVUGKTUBM wrote:Having a novice pilot in the "Left Seat," meaning the kid was the pilot in command. Dad, the experienced pilot, was acting as copilot. They probably had to do it this way in order to set the record--meaning Dad was letting the new pilot make all of the decisions. A recipe for disaster by itself. Then, both were out over the Pacific flying a rout neither was familiar with.

Flying is very taxing mentally and physically. You must have your stuff packed and be at the top of your game at all times to stay safe. There must be opportunities for adequate crew rest, nourishment, studying maps and charts, performing weather checks, and inspecting your aircraft. You can't fly for 8 hours straight days in a row and do all of that other stuff to an adequate degree. Those two put setting the record in front of their personal safety, and look at what happened.

I don't care how experienced the Dad was, the kid was not prepared for a round the world flight with a brand new pilot's license. The fault in an accident always rests with the real pilot in command, which in this case was Dad. He should have never began this trip in the first place.

This has happened before Z, with a kid trying to set some record and the parent going along with it. I can understand the kid not thinking of anything but setting a record, but it is so irresponsible of the parent. I just bet the family's comments will be, "He died doing what he loved . . . ."