Private Jet Fatality Caused By Trim Issue, Not Turbulence

Is it customary to engage the AP less than 2 min after takeoff? Can’t pilots these days fly the plane for at least 10-15 min before handing the controls over to a computer? As a passenger, what exactly am I paying for???

@ Bill -- It's definitely customary. Whether or not it should be is more open to debate...

Depends on how nice of a day it is and where in the world you are. In some parts of the world, the pilots engage the AP from basically right after takeoff to just before landing.

US pilots usually like to fly a bit, but it doesn't always happen.

Pilots did a pretty solid job as far as I'm concerned. Went through the checklist efficiently and fixed the destabilization quickly.

I agree with you Ben, the fact no one else had any injuries implies the deceased passenger did not have their seatbelt on properly. I can't think of why else she'd have been the only one impacted unless an object came flying in and hit her. I think the report would have mentioned that though.

The amount of pilot errors from forgetting the pitot tube covers, not going through the QRH for the “rudder limiter fault” (which is a NO GO item) and then they actually ran the wrong checklist too. They stated they had the amber CAS “AP Stab Trim Fail” but they ran the “PRI Stab Trim Fail” checklist. The two are completely different.

So you could say that the pilots, who were both low time (under 100 hours in the aircraft) acted in a careless and reckless manner and made numerous errors in every phase of the flight that eventually led to the death of one of their passengers.
Definitely going to be interesting on the final findings of this and if the pilots are violated by the FAA for their actions.

The pilots did a horrible job. They ran the wrong checklist. They stated they had the amber CAS “AP Stab Trim Fail” but they ran the “PRI Stab Trim Fail” checklist. The two are completely different.

You are paying to get from one place to another.

The pilots should be charged with murder. Horrific and inexcusable sucession of errors. Negligence and incompetence at the highest levels.

The pilots should be charged with murder.

You mean manslaughter, right? Murder implies intention vs. incompetence.

I agree wholeheartedly with the second half of your comments. But You mean manslaughter, right? Murder implies intention vs. incompetence.

I'm sure there's a website for you to pay someone in a pilot uniform for your fetish.

But generally, you're paying for transportation.

Busted!!!!
Another score for human error.

Any shnook with a couple days of training can get the aircraft from A to B without incident most of the time, if nothing goes wrong. You're paying for the differences between 'most of the time' and 'everytime' and 'if nothing' and 'even if something'.

The airline I fly a bit with uses a lot of the A320 family on shorthaul, and the Autopilot disconnect sound ("Cavalry Charge") is a series of short chirps that you can hear from row six and forward, if you're listening for it. So I know their SOP is to get established on the glideslope and then hand-fly it down, unless visibility is below minima, in which case there's an announcement to turn off cellphones, and the cavalry charge doesn't sound until the rollout.

Not practicing with the American or aviation jurisdiction, I ask, do private air conveyance contracts have waiver provisions for pilots?

Your first paragraphs is spot on.
And not just about piloting an aircraft.
But this is so poorly understood.

Based on the description of the multiple error messages that the pilots received and that they didn’t pursue further investigation, the pilots were at fault. I was dismayed at the repeated statements that the passenger probably wasn’t wearing her seatbelt when they couldn’t substantiate it. Moreover, the multiple times “make sure you wear your seatbelt “ was made started to sound like blaming the victim. From the details it appears that had the pilots attended to the error messages, this woman wouldn’t have died.