I read the article “Quality Time” in the October 2015 edition of Flight Training magazine. Much to my surprise, the Diamond DA20 accident with the 440-hour pilot with only 1.2 hours in the DA20 in the last 90 days was me.
Everything you said in the article was true. So I don’t want you to think I’m writing to correct anything you said. Here is the rest of the story, which you may find interesting.
I am a part-time (weekends) flight instructor. The owner of the flight school was my private pilot instructor, and even though I had continued on with instrument, commercial, and CFI/CFII training and certification, this accident pointed to serious gaps in my private pilot training.
Shortly after the accident, the flight school left Minute Man Air Field Airport (6B6) and moved to another airport, where it has subsequently gone out of business. The flight instructors from the flight school did not move to the new airport and are employed at a new flight school at Minute Man Air Field.
As a result of the accident, the chief flight instructor at the new flight school has incorporated a new currency requirement for instructing in airplanes that have not been flown in the past 30 days. So a very positive outcome came from the accident to try and prevent future accidents.
I was the CFI and the pilot in command. I take full responsibility for the accident, despite any gaps in training.
The point is everything you said was true. A 440-hour CFI had flown only 1.2 hours in that model DA20 in the past 90 days. That, plus some discovered training gaps, contributed to the accident. The result was a currency policy change at the flight school to try to prevent further accidents because of rustiness.
Christopher Trainor
Boxborough, Massachusetts
Missing forces
In the October 2015 issue, the article “Is the Force With You?” contains an explanation that is missing information and therefore confusing, particularly for those still learning basic weather knowledge. I had to read it several times to make sure I was reading it correctly.
In the paragraph headed up by “Why Winds Curve,” the explanation of why Northern Hemisphere winds circulate clockwise in high pressure systems is missing. As a matter of fact, the article describes the clockwise flows around Southern hemisphere lows twice.
In all other respects I found the article very informative in aspects that I have not ever considered.
Steve Bartlett
Poughkeepsie, New York
Winds circulate clockwise around areas of high pressure in the Northern Hemisphere because of the pressure gradient and Coriolis forces. The pressure gradient causes air to flow from high to low—outward from a high pressure system—and the Coriolis force deflects air to the right with respect to the Earth in the Northern Hemisphere, causing the clockwise flow. —Ed.
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