In the wake of the National Transportation Safety Board’s release of a factual report on the April 19, 2006, accident that killed legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation is reminding pilots to be cautious when flying in the vicinity of convective weather.
“Mr. Crossfield taught us a valuable lesson, unfortunately with a tragic outcome,” said Bruce Landsberg, executive director of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation. “Weather does not respect any type of certificate or experience level.”
Crossfield’s Cessna 210 (N6579X) broke apart when he flew through a severe thunderstorm after leaving Alabama bound for Virginia.
The NTSB’s report shows that air traffic controllers in Atlanta failed to provide Crossfield with any warning about the weather. Fearing that he was flying into severe weather, the veteran 84-year-old pilot asked controllers “to deviate south for weather.” The controller replied: “six five seven niner x-ray, roger, we’ll show you deviating south for weather and your mode C indicates one one thousand five hundred.” But Crossfield did not respond and radar contact was lost with the airplane at 5,500 feet.
The report stated that “a review of Atlanta ARTCC communications with the accident airplane confirmed that the pilot was not provided any severe weather advisories nor was he advised of the radar-depicted weather displayed on the sector 38 radar controller’s scope.”
But when interviewed the un-named controller acknowledged that “adverse weather was present all over his sector with varying intensities.” He acknowledged that controllers are required to issue known adverse weather to pilots. And he stated that his scope depicted adverse weather in the Crossfield’s projected flight path.
“The controller said that, even though adverse weather was throughout the area, he did not issue the information to the pilot because he felt the weather conditions displayed on his radarscope were unreliable…He stated that pilots have a better idea of where adverse weather is and that he expects them to inform him on what actions they need to take to avoid it,” the Safety Board report stated, adding that “by not issuing weather reports to the pilot, the controller violated” FAA regulations.
In 2004, nearly 25 percent of fatal weather-related accidents involved thunderstorms, a much higher percentage than usual. Each of those pilots was in contact with ATC but still flew into severe conditions. These accidents highlight the importance of pilots and controllers sharing an understanding of what thunderstorm avoidance services are, or are not, being provided.
The foundation has produced a Weather Wise: Thunderstorms and ATC program now available on the AOPA web site.
The course is free to all pilots and includes valuable information such as what weather services are available from ATC; how to ask the right questions of controllers to get the information you need; and radar capabilities of ATC facilities.
“Most ATC centers and tracons have the ability to detect precipitation, and pilots flying in the area of thunderstorms would be wise to discuss what the controller sees and ask for suggestions for avoidance,” said Landsberg.
In March of this year, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation, in partnership with the FAA, mailed the program on CD to more than 184,000 instrument-rated pilots.