Possibly the worst pilot ever...

[John Milmont]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDu0jYiz-v8]Plane crash video from inside cockpit - YouTube[/ame]

I don't know if this has been posted already, but I just saw this today and am shocked by the complete negligence of the pilot.

It looks like they are taking off from high altitude, and from the shadows, right in the middle of the day. I guessing he didn't check his density altitude at all.

The pilot had all the time in the world to abort the take off as well, but I guess he was determined to get the ship flying... for better or for worse...

 

[Mark]

That video made me feel ill and I am about to illustrate that I am not a Pilot, but shouldn't he have had his flaps down?

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Hard to tell if he had any flaps or not, but the ground rose faster than the aircraft was capable of. If it had a variable pitch prop it may have been set too coarse, or he may have simply been overloaded. He did seem to have a lot of time to work out he had a problem.
They were very lucky there was no fire.

 

[Jack]

If it was a real video.

 

[Jim Cowden]

Is he scared of heights.
Was the take of so long because of overloading? or was it just him.
I cant believe the co pilot or passengers never commented about the trees.
Assumed trust can be a fatal error.

In the slow motion at the very end the man on the left looks like he is holding some sort of PC tablet not looking I presume.
The man on the right does not have his hands on the controls at the point of the crash so I assume the pilot is the donkey on the left playing with PC.

Jim

 

[John Milmont]

I'm not a pilot, but both of my parents were and i picked up quite a bit from them over the years. My father is sure the problem was density altitude related. The plane looks like a 4 place piper super cub, a very low hp plane with a very small useful load. With 4 people in the plane and a full tank of gas, you are probably right at the maximum weight.

This would be OK except, judging by the mountains, they were most likely taking off from a high altitude which means lower air density. Also, it looks like they are taking off right around noon, a very hot time of the day. This also lowers the air density. This means the engine wont be making as much power and the plane will need to be going faster to achieve the same amount of lift (actual air speed). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

So, the plane was basically overloaded for conditions....

Piper Cubs are known for their short takeoff and landing distances. The pilot should have known something was wrong when they required so much runway.

 

[Randy V]

I belive the plane was a Stinson and yes he was at Gross Weight, hot day, high altitude to begin with and coupled with density altitude, he was already near the servce ceiling of that aircraft when it was sitting on the ground.. When he finally got up enough speed to climb out of ground effect, he had run out of room and had to turn. That turn lowered his speed and he was done for and he knew it... They were all darned lucky to have survived that screw-up....

 

[John Milmont]

Yes, that turn was the final nail...

 

[Jack]

i belive the plane was a stinson and yes he was at gross weight, hot day, high altitude to begin with and coupled with density altitude, he was already near the servce ceiling of that aircraft when it was sitting on the ground.. When he finally got up enough speed to climb out of ground effect, he had run out of room and had to turn. That turn lowered his speed and he was done for and he knew it... They were all darned lucky to have survived that screw-up....

it's true, you really can't fix stupid!