As you were describing Magpie I realized that I kinda knew the pilot. Lochie had reached out to me as a fan and offered to pick me up in his cool plane and take me to Hayward to show me Magpie. But I never had the time to follow up. We’d only ever chatted online but he seemed like an interesting, and very enthusiastic engineer.
Watching these accident reports by Juan Browne has just about convinced I do not want to pursue flying small aircraft as hobby. Too much to go wrong without much recourse. Terribly tragic for this young man with an entire life ahead of him, and for the three passengers who may have been friends of similar young age.
@@BurnsRubberaviation is fairly safe because we watch videos like this. Imagine if there were car crash debriefs like this. You may not want to drive a car again but if you did, you’d be much safer.
@@BurnsRubberhonestly, this channel should help convince you of the opposite. Preventable mistakes, anticipation, and knowledge will make flying a fantastic hobby!
I am a Cozy MKIV owner/pilot. Normally a Cozy has a fixed pitch two or three blade prop. N656TE had an MT constant speed prop. The main landing gear bow is a single composite part, and is extremely strong. I saw images of this aircraft that showed the nosewheel retracted normally in the fuselage, so it does not appear that it was extended. You are correct about the standard fuel system configuration (and this particular Cozy had a standard setup) but the fuel selector is actually between the front seats, at waist level - not behind your shoulder like a Long EZ. Some builders actually move it forward to the lower center instrument panel. Knowing the structural strength of various components of this aircraft, and seeing how this accident airplane was torn apart, it looks to me very much like high-speed impact, not a low-speed ditching. The fuselage tub is incredibly strong, but the entire nose was ripped off. The composite spar is the strongest part of the airplane, but it was literally ripped apart such that you can see delaminated layers of fiber. This airplane absorbed a tremendous amount of energy, very suddenly in order to do this level of damage. I see a lot of people who are asking if this is the "John Denver" airplane. No, it is not. I did an entire video on the John Denver crash on my channel, if you care to go watch it.
@@bradsanders407 Lights don't help much unless the water was rough enough to have white caps, because the surface doesn't reflect the light back towards you.
Very sad situation. Lochie was a great friend and pilot and I was fortunate to have the privilege of flying with him several times in his Cozy. He and the three others will be missed.
Respectfully, as a BA pilot with lots of HAF experience, I'd say that a great pilot would not have taken 3 unsuspecting friends from HAF 30 into the darkness. If you lose the IO360, you are screwed. And even if you don't, spatial disorientation is a very good possibility. Condolences to all 4 families and friends. They will all be profoundly missed.
Early in my flying career, I flew into Half Moon Bay for dinner, and later took off on a clear moonless night. When I turned left to fly downwind, I was startled when my view turned jet black and I lost a visual reference to the horizon while turning. I was not instrument rated, but I just concentrated on flying the instruments until I got established downwind. Fortunately, I had a good instructor, and did not end up on the news that night.
I grew up and learned to fly on the Central Coast. As a VFR pilot, you learn to plan your flights around the ever-present threat of fog. I was warned early on about what a trap Half Moon Bay can be.
Hey, I’m not a pilot. So this may sound like a dumb question. But how are people allowed to get a pilots license without an instrument rating? Sounds like you should know how to fly instruments only before you granted the right to take to the skies? What am I missing? Thanks
@@Wargasm54That is actually a very legit discussion that many people think should be mandatory to have at least some instrument training before getting your license. My school has a personal requirement to train us for about 3-5 hours total in instrument conditions, but it isn’t necessarily much of an FAA requirement to train under those many instrument hours. So no, not a dumb question at all that’s actually a very logical idea.
@@Wargasm54not a pilot either, but my understanding is that instrument flying is an easily lost skill. A big factor seems to be psychological -- forcing yourself to stop staring out the window desperately searching for reference, and instead look down and trust those gauges in front of you.
@@Wargasm54the FAA only required about 3 flight hours of instrument training for the Private Pilot Certification which is the first most aviators get. Most instrument flying is fairly complex utilizing different charts and procedures to depart and arrive at airports. The standard recreationally flying pilot is flying and earning most of their hours in visual conditions where they can see landmarks and other traffic.
My company was going to hire him to fly for us. He had started our hiring process and then backed out as they had planned to move back home to be closer to family out of state. He had just had something done with the propeller as it had been sitting at HWD without the prop for a few weeks. Not sure if that may have had something to do with the accident. Very sad, he was a nice guy.
Greatest chance for a failure is after invasive maintenance work was done according to Mike Busch and the very first flight should be treated as a test flight. I really hope he didn't load up 3 people and went for a flight at night on the very first flight after maintenance.
@@markor2476 he flew from Hayward to Half Moon Bay earlier that day, so the accident flight certainly wasn't the very first flight after that maintenance.
The wife and I have ridden our horses over the hill at the Devil's slide. We were part of the horse mounted search and rescue unit of the San Mateo Co. Sheriff's Office.
Every pilot has to choose the level of risk they are comfortable with. Single-engine..... Night.... Over water.... Over mountains...IMC..... The problem is Young and inexperienced Pilots do not know what they don't know. And they don't realize the ridiculous risks they're taking. And sadly for their passengers who have no clue, they just assume their pilot friend is competent and they are in good hands.
The ceiling was 300 AGL during the takeoff time. At night, probably runway 30, into a black hole. Are you sure this was engine-related? KHAF is a VFR trap.
@@tondog54 doesn't change much anyway I guess - you're just as equally boned with single engine failure after take off, at night and low ceiling. Even if he had wings level and back as slow as possible at impact, like Juan said, I don't like your chances ditching that kind of aircraft into rough seas.
I saw this plane depart from Hayward for the flight over to Half Moon Bay. I had just landed with some friends. So, this hits especially hard. One thing I'd like to observe: the engine sound on this airplane is a little bit unusual. Maybe related to the exhaust interacting with the prop? But the character of the sound has a sort of "putter" to it. There's a long history of eyewitnesses reporting "sputtering" engines that are later shown to have been operating normally. This certainly may have been an engine failure, but I would not be surprised to find out that it wasn't. Half Moon Bay is a dark area, it was well after sunset, and in the vicinity of the time of the accident, there were low clouds at 300' AGL according to archived METARs. This could easily turn out to be a loss-of-control accident. It's very unfortunate that we don't have any ADS-B data for the flight. Fingers crossed that there might be avionics recovered that would have some information stored. RIP to those lost and condolences to their friends and families.
I saw this plane in flight over my house on the day of the crash. I only really looked up because of how harsh the engine sound was, small planes fly over my house all the time. At the time I figured it was just a property of the unconventional design.
I am certain I saw this plane on Sunday from Corona Heights hill in San Francisco at about 5:05pm. I looked up because of the unusual sound of the engine -- don't look up for every plane -- and saw it was a pusher. Almost went directly overhead. Sound had an unusual high harmonic tone mike a major third. Sounded very different than other small GA planes.
Yeah that airport is pretty gnarly. I fly RC planes along the coast doing slope soaring and I have been all around that airport, on the ground however. Also pusher planes do make a much different sound as the propeller has to chop through the turbulence the wing makes
I was based at KCCR a short distance away from 1989 to 2007. I flew to Half Moon Bay countless times to eat lunch at Catch Jo Anns...never a night flight. They would route us over the Golden Gate and then turn south along the coast. I don't remember the altitude, but it was under SFO class B so I think you had to be 1400 MSL or less. Not much time if something went wrong. As Juan points out, the terrain is impossibly rugged with no place to land. The water is very turbulent, with year-round temps around 55 degrees. Even if you could have exited the airplane in the water, chances of survival with the very rough water, rocks, and cold water are slim. I always wore an auto inflatable Mustang lifejacket when I took that route. It's beautiful and fun to fly but is 100% non-forgiving. RIP folks....sounds like we lost some very fine young professionals.
@@industrieundtechnik1761 There are two types of auto inflate. One that inflates when under water 4 seconds. One that you have to pull the string to puncture the CO2. Thats what I use.... similar to airline but much better. See Mustang inflatables.
My friend saw this plane flying over his neighborhood after taking off from Hayward on Sunday, photographed it and sent the picture to our friend group Slack channel. I made a comment about John Denver and his Rutan-designed/inspired plane, then saw this come across my YT suggestions today... Thanks for breaking down the accident for us. My condolences to the family and friends of these victims.
Makes you wonder if it was a fuel valve problem between the two tanks kinda like the possible fuel issue that J.D. had.... I think they will find out cause through forensics.
@@robertjohnson5776if it was a fuel selector problem they didn't have much time to resolve it, if the flight was staying below the 300ft cloud ceiling.
John Denver obtaining long nose pliers from an engineer to operate that fuel selector that's behind on the bulkhead so he didn't have to remove his shoulder harness to reach back & get his hand on it... This guy was probably much more familiar (than John) with the contortions required to operate that valve. It's loking like night time & low cloud ceiling likely to have played more of a part in this though.
@@alanm8932 cozy MKIv plans fuel selector valve is in the console between two front seats. Some have kept the valve in the back with actuators only up front. the long ez plans fuel selector valve is between the pilots legs. the Denver had the valve in a weird place
I've been watching your uploads for many years now, Juan, and, as with this video, it always strikes me how each of those only contain relevant and factual information, and always in the most respectful manner towards everyone involved regardless their roles in the mishaps and investigations. No fluff, no distractive tangents, no personal piloting career stories. Thank you for doing your good work, on UA-cam and beyond.
Exactly why I became a paytreon member to support this mans work, Ive got grandkids that might want to be pilots someday - I used to dteam about flying, but now too old and know better, i'm not cut out for THAT kind of action, riding and swimming come natural, flying takes extreme caution and discipline and is way too unforgiving.
@@markbowles2382 I agree about it being too unforgiving, I think I would not fly much at night until I really had a 100 hours at the airport and the airplane.
Flying is about managing risk. No-risk equals never flying. When you start stacking things against you , Night, large seas, cold water, single engine/pilot, it does not take much to get to this outcome, Rip to the crew.
I feel like they had no chance in the water even if they had life vests as the water was exceptionally cold and we had number of rip currents their only hope would have been to crash in the cove by the harbor not too far from airport otherwise the waves there were no joke especially around that time
We are deeply saddened by this event, appreciate the blog..and appreciative that others are not jumping to conclusions. We knew Lochie quite well. XL Aviation Staff thoughts and heart felt condolences go out to the families of loved ones lost in this tragic incident. Lochie was a brilliant scientist and demonstrated excellent aviator. Hopefully the legacy of this event becomes useful for others. I'll note: The engine is a SUPERIOR IO-360 SER (Reciprocating), Horsepower: 180
The big AP news media did a story on this crash......I assumed that the story would be a hack-job on kit built planes.....but no, they did a good report on the incident. The builder, a dentist, took about 8 years to build the plane. He flew the plane for several years before retiring and moving to Florida. He sold the Cozy, probably due to his own advancing age, to the buyer for about $100,000, which he estimated to be his cost of building and maintaining the plane over the years.
@blancolirio, Juan you should teach a course on mission risk analysis like we used in the Air Force. Had they known how to do a proper risk analyses and studied the factors, this mission would be red and they would have not flown it.
I vaguely remember somebody taking off from Half Moon Bay several years ago in IFR. When he didn't arrive at his destination they started searching for him along the route. As I recall it was a day or two before the fog cleared, and they found the plane crashed into the hills, just west of the runway in HMB!
Four more beautiful people gone !I’ll say it again ! Single engine aircraft at night over the water is asking for trouble ! If you fly a single engine aircraft you must keep a safe landing area in sight at all times during your flight ! I don’t care how much you paid for your single engine aircraft you just can’t trust the engine to keep running ! Your life is to precious! Thanx Juan your work is appreciated!
My Dad flew Barons, Aztecs and Islanders, and every time he came into Cape Town, and having to do a northbound approach over the sea (depends on wind direction), he would semi jokingly say that the engines would go into "auto rough running" while over the water...
Did you watch the last two videos, the Beech Baron and the Cessna 310? It's still the safest way to travel and everyone can choose but there's more to it than the number of engines.
The accident pilot wrote a paper while he was at MIT about electric airports. He specifically stated how landings are the most dangerous part of flight and said 'It is quite easy to faceplate into the water' it's tragic. RIP Lochie Ferrier and condolences to his and the others families.
As a pilot from nearby CA35 who has flown into HAF dozens of times, and someone who has a great deal of appreciation for JB, I would question the following assumptions: 1) Engine trouble. Is this based on the earwitnesses at Moss Beach Distillery? I've eaten and imbibed here many many times--including just a few hours before this sad accident--and I don't trust drinking earwitnesses automatically, though they may be absolutely correct. 2) Ditching implies that the young man was intentionally trying to put the aircraft on the swells because he was out of options--like Sully--which may be correct. But do we know this?? Is it possible that the pilot took off of 30 into the darkness and realized it was effectively IMC since there are not lights after you pass the Moss Beach Distillery and the houses near there, and he tried to bring it back around to 30 but lost control?? Just a lot we do not know yet, Condolences to 4 families! Not a great idea to leave HAF 30 in the dark unless you are very comfortable with being on instruments immediately after TO. Especially if the IO360 bleeps the bed. Keep up the good work, JB!
Never been a fan of single engine ops at night. Just sketchy as hell. Managing an emergency is enough of a handful in the daylight. At night it’s 20x worse. RIP to all involved.
My instructor took me out for the night flying portion of my student pilot training. She suddenly announced, "The engine just died. Where are you going to land?" I picked a spot, explained my reasoning based on likelihoods but was quick to point out that there's no way to know what's really there and by the time the landing light is effective, at best, it might help avoid some of the obstacles, but the landing or crash is happening. She clearly wanted to impress upon me the added risk of flying at night. That should be obvious to any thinking person but history proves again and again that too often, people don't think. They do what they've done and assume things will happen as they always have, even when the conditions have significantly changed. I made a lot of landings at dusk, often well after civil twilight so technically night landings, but with plenty of light for me to see. I only flew my Long-EZ in the darkness twice, and that was near home where I knew plenty of emergency landing sites including a Toyota test track, and both times I circled the airport to gain altitude before departing for a nearby airport. The goal was to be within gliding distance of an airport. The excellent glide ratio of the Long-EZ made that much easier.
4 people and fuel, The plane would have been heavy. No flaps, High landing speeds. Min flight speed may have been as high as 75+ mph. That makes an off airport landing very difficult to come away uninjured. I built an O-235 Long EZ from scratch, flew it over 400 hours flight time. Great and safe machines but the heavier they get you have to have a suitable landing area in gliding range. Light I could land 55 mph. Loaded full with gear, tools, and topped off 50 gals of fuel, my landing speed was 70.
So say it was simply engine trouble, it seems fatal mistake #1 was trying to turn back as we've seen many times before. But is there really any better option? Seems an aircraft that simply couldn't be ditched in that part of the ocean no matter what. Could one say that it simply shouldn't ever overfly the ocean in that area as an emergency ditching if needed (like this) wouldn't be possible?
Emergency landings on land are difficult around there, too -- there are 2000ft mountains within three miles of the ocean. It appears they were trying to circle back to the airport to land and didn't make it. But, because of the terrain, I don't know if it would be possible to circle over land. (Not a pilot, so I don't know how whether the hills immediately east of the runway would be tall enough to prevent that.)
The wife and I flew up along the northern California coast a few months ago, I made sure to have life jackets on board and remained at an altitude that I could get Inland if anything happened. Beautiful but dangerous area, can't imagine trying to fly it at night.
Exactly why I wouldn’t put my family in a single engine aircraft. I’ve already lost one engine in a twin aircraft. Made it back to the airport with no more issue. Added engine is added insurance.
Single engine night flying. Done that many times. Beautiful flights over highly populated areas like Hayward, Oakland, LA, etc. But as the risk outweighs the reward--to me now--I don't do that anymore. Though more expensive, renting a light twin for the occassional night flight is my option.
Juan, can you do the aviation community a bit of a favour for me?... I've been watching "first solo" videos on UA-cam for some time and there is one single thing I see over and over... students "driving" airplanes. Yes, I know it's a first solo but I see them turn onto the active without ever looking for traffic. I see them turn crosswind, downwind, base and final without looking for traffic. Who trains these people? As you must know in military flight school they drill it into your head to constantly clear traffic. Could you do a video on this topic? Sloppy training leads to the kinds of deaths we are witnessing. If pilots haven't learned to look for traffic, especially in a traffic pattern... then what else are they missing? I am just stunned at the number of increasing fatalities in GA aircraft in the last few years. Actually, I've lost count of the crashes and deaths in just the first 19 days of 2024. Very sad to see so many people dying so unnecessarily. I'm 4800hr commercial rated but all in GA flying... and now I'm 78 so in "my day" I never witnessed this level of mishaps. What in the world is going on?
@mynosycat I think several factors play into your perception of increased accident rates in GA now compared to "back in your day". First, i'll say you're definitely onto something with the lack of traffic avoidance skills with student pilots. As a CFI myself I see over-reliance on ADS-B for traffic quite often. I'm sure this is a bad habit that many CFI's are passing onto their students. As far as what in the world is going on today with GA accidents and how you never witnessed this when you were younger, you probably learned to fly before there were youtube channels like @blancolirio reporting on every one of these accidents. Statistically, GA has been getting safer every year. Airplanes have been crashing since before the Wright Brothers, but until recently you wouldn't have heard about each one. This makes it seem like its getting worse, when statistically its the opposite. Thankfully, great channels like these let us analyze and learn from each one, making GA safer as a whole.
@@teddycourtney5692 I agree with your suppositions and as a CFI I've noticed these newly minted pilots have a habit of driving their airplanes right down to the runway, no visible flare at all. I was trained back in 1950 on a tail wheel aircraft (the mighty Aeronca Champ) and every landing was a full stall landing with the stick in your lap. (well, most of the way anyway)
I witnessed this plane right after takeoff from the Half Moon Bay Airport that evening. The engine was much louder than most of the planes that fly overhead and I looked out my window to see it banking left toward the ocean above my neighbor’s house. It was strange because planes typically follow a straight out departure due to noise abatement procedures to avoid the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, but this plane did not follow that typical pattern. I ran to look out my other window and saw it turning south over the ocean before even reaching the Marine Reserve. I watched it losing altitude and immediately thought it was going to crash. The patrons at the Moss Beach Distillery would have seen the plane just as it disappeared from my view. Then a few minutes later I heard the sirens. 😢
I can't help but think of Icarus. Brilliant young man, maybe overconfident, easily distracted by a full load of passengers, unusual aircraft design, and flying at night. Too many things to consider, (like fuel distribution, life jackets, water temp), before takiong off. Nice work Juan but a sad story.
Grew up surfing in So. Cal. This time of year you've probably got about 15 mins. in that water. Basically if you're not able to get to shore and get out in that amount of time you're probably not going to make it.
A real bummer. I have flow to this airport numeous times for dinner. The runway is nice a long. But since it is very close to ocean the weather can change quickly.
Juan, I'm not a pilot but grew up around airplanes and more familiar than many people. So my comment is more a series of questions. I'm also 76, and spent a lot of time in SF and the Halfmoon Bay beaches. If I were a pilot, I wouldn't have flown down the coast there without a bit more altitude, day time and never at night. From San Francisco city limits the coast line is mixed steep cliffs, narrow sand and rock beaches. From Pacifica south, the terrain at waters edge is 250 feet and more in elevation. From the airport north there really isn't any place to crash land. My question is this: despite the tailwind, should they have taken off to the south toward HalfMoon Bay with it's lights, cars on the highway and much flatter and lower terrain? Thank you.
I've flown into half moon bay many times, but only a few at night. It is a seriously difficult night location because it is ridiculously black hole compounded by overlying fog issues. Just not a recommended single engine situ even though I know many ppl do it. Too many risk factors for me. RIP and may God Bless you.
Crazy, I had just been flying there roughly 2 hours before this happened. Weather wasn't terrible in the light, but wasn't great either. There was a growing low-level cloud bank ~15 miles south of the field with some smaller clouds forming closer to the field when I left the area around 17:00. It was still VFR when I left, but KHAF can definitely cloud up pretty quickly if you're not careful. Also, interesting that they would be on a left-downwind for 30 since that runway is right-traffic. I'm guessing for exactly the reason of being able to get back to the field, or at least landing on the highway or on one of the flat farm fields, in the event of an engine out. Condolences to the family and friends.
I think historically right traffic for 30 was related to not overflying the radar installation on the hill just west of the airport. I may be wrong, but I remember hearing that explanation during flight training in the '70s.
I have been a C172 pilot and experience some exciting moments but have survived them under my career . Now stop flying and never ever fly small planes again. RIP to the victims.
Disorientation after takeoff has to be considered. At night, over water, into low cloud. This transition has been killing pilots for decades. Anyone remember JFK, jr?
@acboyd666 It gets real dark real fast off the end of HAF 30. Better be on the instruments real quick. Ask me how I know. Not a good choice to eat dinner in HAF instead of back safely in HWD before dark.
Thx Juan for your continued analysis of these unfortunate accidents. Flying into the "dark hole" after take off, mostly from seaside airports is almost always a fatal loss of control for non instrument rated pilots. RIP to those souls.
yea most people don't actually know without BEEING OUT THERE just how DARK like BLACK HOLE DARK the NIGHT OVER THE SEA With little to no moon/stars.... it is DARK DARK .... on the land, there is usually SOME or A light somplace to offer up some sitchawareness....a ''horizon referance? ...something.... but... out there in the SEA AT NIGHT.... USS OKINAWA LPH3 85-88 ........ been out there ''in the dark on the sea'' .....
Just some minor information for non-Australian viewers: the Aussie Magpie is a very different bird from the northern species. It's an iconic bird, know for being a "larrikin", a bit of a cheeky character with a characteristic doodling song. Naming your company after one would not be out of place if you consider yourself to be someone intending to go through life tongue in cheek with a can-do attitude. You 'ad a go, mate, cheers to you!
Oh gosh. I love aviation and have flown, but only as a "guest", I'm not a pilot. It's heartbreaking to see so many crashes. Fly safe people. Too many funerals.
I wonder if the violent nose-over might've injured the occupants to the extent they might not have been conscious to get out. There is an owner/operator of a Cozy on UA-cam (Canard Boulevard) and he does excellent video production thoroughly explaining the design and flying characteristics, including that it is the opposite of a STOL plane, it requires relatively long runways for takeoff and landing. Like the B-52, it does not rotate for takeoff, it lifts vertically with the wings parallel to the ground.
The Long EZ has been my favorite since first seeing it at the EAA Oshkosh event years ago. It's the same plane which John Denver died in. I didn't know there was a 4-seater now in the Cozy. RIP😞
Rutan makes a fast, safe, economical plane if you know your limitations and the planes limitations.........I saw a long easy landing in Sweden on YT where he got too slow and the plane started to porpoise. Having the canard stall when you're close to the ground can be catastrophic. If the canard loses lift and starts to porpoise in a sequence with the main gear hitting the water, it would amplify a nose down impact.(:
Tragic loss Juan....noticed the Blancoliro home airport KGOO was closed today (1/18) briefly for a departure from the runway incident....no injuries I think....Drove over later to see the plane on it's roof !
The body of a woman, presumed to be one of the victims, was found Monday morning by a commercial fishing boat close to the site of the crash, officials said. The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified her as 27-year-old Emma Willmer-Shiles of San Francisco.
I don't know the exact spot they went down, but it looks like they went down in the Mavericks surf spot. The forecast for today is about 1m waves, which is as low as it gets. In two days 4-5m waves. One of the most treacherous spots to be in the water. If the crash didn't destroy the plane the waves and rocks would have. Same for the passengers.
I fly in and out of KHAF a lot. That beach area where he went down is virtually unpopulated, and facing away from the town. Thus the pilot was facing pitch black. A sad accident for sure.
I did a lesson with my instructor with my girlfriend and another friend in the back of a 172. Didn't feel bad to me at all. Though, being endurance athletes, three of us were averaging about 150 pounds... (My instructor isn't that big either, just bigger than us)
Weight and balance are always important… The short flight didn’t require carrying much fuel either… The O and IO360 burn near 10gph in flight, and maximum fuel burn for take off and climb is about 20gph… Prayers for the lost airmen…
I fly a Cozy IV but have never flown it with four aboard, 3 many times but never 4. Near gross weight the takeoff and climb performance quite noticeably diminished. I wonder how heavy it was? I believe the pilot was with four young healthy women so that may not be a factor. I read the weather was marginal VFR with low ceilings. I did not hear you mention the weather. Canard pushers sound different from tractor airplanes so the witness that heard the engine sputtering may not be the case. Maybe the prop was the issue. It was a tragic incident and we all would like to know how it happed to avoid it happening to someone else.
I have to say this: As and Aviation, GA and Airline Pilot of 25,000+ hours and a large number of Maintenance and Test hours....I see so many on UA-cam that profess to be an Aviation Expert. To the point where many just make me grind my teeth. I have surmised enough of this Gentleman's experience in his videos of GA accidents to realize he knows what he is talking about. He just turns over rocks while never being emphatic. Which anyone that has been truly involved with Aviation Accidents know that there is never any ABSOLUTES. Never !!!! Only educated Theory and Supposition!!! That sometimes turn out to be false. My Compliments Sir !!!
I flew into Half Moon Bay last night for dinner. Departed around the same time as the accident plane on Runway 30. Experience was a little eerie. I’ve flown into Half Moon Bay many times (both day and night). While us pilots experience incredible highs in our flying adventures, this is an unfortunate reminder that in so doing we assume real risk. RIP fellow pilot and friends.
Not an aviation guy..you can't pay me to get on a plane of any kind...I can't imagine (either being the pilot or especially the passengers) accepting such an offer ie: to fly somewhere to "have dinner" then fly back in the dark in a little one engine plane. To take on all that risk ..for what reason? I don't get it. A $5 dollar part failure can be what takes you out never mind a piloting mistake.
@@barrybarnes96 Flying isn’t for everyone and you certainly can’t eliminate all of the risk. But, you can do several things to avoid a lot of it. Number one cause of engine failure in a GA plane is fuel mismanagement. My response, I always make sure I have plenty of gas in the tanks before taking off. Visual flight rules pilots flying into instrument flight conditions is another hazard. My response, I have a conservative go/no go flying decision process and avoid flying in bad weather. Another killer is “get-there-itis”, where the pilot puts himself/herself in a box of intense pressure to do the flight, weather be damned, etc. Again, this hazard can be avoided by simply adopting a mental mindset and flight go/ no go decision making process where you, as pilot in command, just do not put yourself into that situation. I’ve been flying for the past 20 years and have had many breathtaking flights. I’m cognizant of the risks every time I fly and manage them to the best of my abilities. I can’t imagine my life without flying.
It’s not just dinner, though in actuality it is. But what’s intoxicating is the fact that it’s a dinner no one in your area can have unless they can fly. And the huge boost to self esteem from that. Lol
@@igclapp I’ve read that the ceiling was 300 feet “broken”. That basically means it was overcast with only very few holes. This would apply to the immediate airport environment. I don’t know if it cleared up as one moved away from the airport. Regardless, that’s a pretty low ceiling, especially at night. Given that the wreckage was found so close to the airport, I doubt he ever flew out of the low ceiling weather reported at the field.
Sad. A friend of mine had an engine failure west of Banning Pass landing off airport in the desert. A fuel line had been rubbing and caused a fuel leak in the supply line through the firewall. Surf there is brutal and the water is very cold. Blessings to the surviving family and friends.
My pilot woiuld fly us in two engine aircraft to Paradise, Auburn, Tahoe etc. out of Hayward in the 1980`s- 1990`s. But he refused to fly into Half Moon because he said it was haunted.
Thank you for insightful analysis. My aircraft has a L,R,off fuel selector on the baggage compartment rear wall! Very difficult to turn without some gymnastics. Even some Mooneys have it on the floor in front of your seat making it a fumble! Never stop learning!
Very good video on a most unfortunate occurrence. These videos make the news stories much more meaningful and comprehensible to aircraft novices. Thanks for all the good work you do on this channel. It is very much appreciated. Thanks again.
That particular spot, and Cove you pointed out that they ditched is Mavericks. A world famous surfing spot with a humongous waves this time of year. Even if they would’ve had a safe ditch chances are they wouldn’t have made it due to 30-40 foot waves
Great reporting as usual, however Mr Browne has been working overtime of late trying to keep up with all these crashes. Aviators, let’s try and give him a break and not become the evening news on the channel!
john denver crashed his long ez into the ocean right after take off just south of half moon bay in monterey .i think it was a fuel selector mistake if i remember right.
He had bought the airplane and the fuel selector was in an awkward spot (directly after the left shoulder). He had already scheduled for some third party to reposition the selector, but he wanted to fly it anyway before that change was made. He was flying low over water when he tried switching the selector. It has been suggested that he might have inadvertently stepped on the rudder while trying to reach/change the selector. You really cannot stand on the rudder in these things, as both pedals work independently of the other. It is possible to press both at the same time to use the rudders as an extra speed brake (and to use the wheel brakes).
As tragic as this is just for perspective let's remember that about 100 people die each and every day in the US from automobile accidents. That being said, single engine out of Half Moon Bay at night with low ceiling is a bit of a crap shoot at best.
@@Sashazur Can you cite a source for this? I've been after this data for a long time and have not found a reputable source. Dan Gryder cites fatalities per month because it is very difficult to min down accurate GA total hours flown.
Tragic. Ditching in the waters off of the HMB coast would be difficult in normal conditions, even more challenging with the rough seas we've had lately (and at night!). So sad.
My question is, why were they over the ocean? HMB traffic is right-pattern for 30 to keep you over land while in the airport environment. Looking at the flightaware track of the inbound flight, they flew in on the incorrect pattern as well. It looks like the pilot did not properly brief his flight.
He was doing a straight out departure. Also there were low clouds in the area so he probably wanted to avoid getting too close to the terrain east of the airport. Edit: one witness apparently saw them doing a left downwind departure over the water.
How many of us who read this report conclude that "I wouldn't have done that"? Seems to me an after dinner Drambuie while waiting for the Uber driver would be the best way to honor an 300' AGL night in a plane that was probably fairly close to its gross to say nothing of providing you and your passengers a deserved margin of safety. Sad, foreseeable, AND totally avoidable.
@@buckhorncortez I believe he meant to say it would have been better to have a drink and call an Uber and drive home instead of try to fly in that scenario.
^^^^ this x 1000. It’s basically an hour car drive to get back home. Go back during the day and figure out what the issue with the plane. That airport is surrounded by a rocky coastline, hills and the fog is a total nightmare..
Why does everyone start talking about fuel selectors just because it's a Rutan-style canard? It's not like that's the only likely cause of any accident, never mind that Denver's Long-EZ was non-standard. There are a thousand other things that can bite you in the arse when flying, especially in difficult conditions like night and IMC.
I think partially what's happening is that the crashes that have always happened are gaining more attention, meaning that hopefully we won't see as many repeats, the more and more widespread these incidents are shared.
@R2Bl3nd exactly! This is why channels like this one are essential to make aviation safer. It's crazy to think we barely knew what flying was 100 years ago
I never ate before a night flight. High glucose levels ruin your night vision. The location here, means it was really night, not a fake night flight like over a large illuminated city. A lot of computerized cockpits are also kept way too bright, not like the old steam gauges.
I'm not a pilot, but lived in the Bay Area just over the "hill" from Half Moon Bay. Your mention of the Fuel Source Selector and it's location "behind the left seat" triggered a memory that something very similar was suspected in John Denver's crash that ended his life in October 1997off Monterey. Denver was also flying a Rutan inspired experimental aircraft.
On this plane, that wasn't the case however, as other owners of this design have already noted the fuel selector switch is between the seats, not behind the pilot.
There is a rule that prudent pilots follow that may not have been followed here: “Never trust your life to an engine.” There are some things a pilot can legally do that are nonetheless too dangerous to perform without a dose of hubris. For me, Half Moon Bay airport is a daytime-only departure airport in a single-engine airplane. But then, I’ve been flying for 50 years - long enough to have experienced a few in-flight engine failures. (And I’m still here because I always had a place to land.) One technique to mitigate the risk that is followed by experienced pilots in this situation is to immediately begin a shallow turn after rotation and to circle the airport until sufficient altitude is gained to continue on your route when you have a suitable emergency landing area within glide range ahead. Flying a single engine plane prudently is like playing hopscotch: you always have a survivable place to land either ahead or behind. And the ocean is not a survivable place to land. If the ditching doesn’t kill you, hypothermia at that location soon will.
As you were describing Magpie I realized that I kinda knew the pilot. Lochie had reached out to me as a fan and offered to pick me up in his cool plane and take me to Hayward to show me Magpie. But I never had the time to follow up.
We’d only ever chatted online but he seemed like an interesting, and very enthusiastic engineer.
Fly Safe my friend
Watching these accident reports by Juan Browne has just about convinced I do not want to pursue flying small aircraft as hobby. Too much to go wrong without much recourse. Terribly tragic for this young man with an entire life ahead of him, and for the three passengers who may have been friends of similar young age.
Hey Scott!
Thank you for sharing your kind words.
You are going to be a great aviator over time… 😃
@@BurnsRubberaviation is fairly safe because we watch videos like this. Imagine if there were car crash debriefs like this. You may not want to drive a car again but if you did, you’d be much safer.
@@BurnsRubberhonestly, this channel should help convince you of the opposite. Preventable mistakes, anticipation, and knowledge will make flying a fantastic hobby!
I am a Cozy MKIV owner/pilot. Normally a Cozy has a fixed pitch two or three blade prop. N656TE had an MT constant speed prop. The main landing gear bow is a single composite part, and is extremely strong. I saw images of this aircraft that showed the nosewheel retracted normally in the fuselage, so it does not appear that it was extended. You are correct about the standard fuel system configuration (and this particular Cozy had a standard setup) but the fuel selector is actually between the front seats, at waist level - not behind your shoulder like a Long EZ. Some builders actually move it forward to the lower center instrument panel.
Knowing the structural strength of various components of this aircraft, and seeing how this accident airplane was torn apart, it looks to me very much like high-speed impact, not a low-speed ditching. The fuselage tub is incredibly strong, but the entire nose was ripped off. The composite spar is the strongest part of the airplane, but it was literally ripped apart such that you can see delaminated layers of fiber. This airplane absorbed a tremendous amount of energy, very suddenly in order to do this level of damage.
I see a lot of people who are asking if this is the "John Denver" airplane. No, it is not. I did an entire video on the John Denver crash on my channel, if you care to go watch it.
Thanks for providing those details. And congrats on flying what looks like a really fun aircraft!
Yeah....tough conditions and heavy....how to even see the water? What could have been their minimum speed under best circumstances?
Does the thing have headlight?
@@bradsanders407 This particular aircraft had landing lights in the leading edge of each wing strake.
@@bradsanders407 Lights don't help much unless the water was rough enough to have white caps, because the surface doesn't reflect the light back towards you.
Very sad situation. Lochie was a great friend and pilot and I was fortunate to have the privilege of flying with him several times in his Cozy. He and the three others will be missed.
Respectfully, as a BA pilot with lots of HAF experience, I'd say that a great pilot would not have taken 3 unsuspecting friends from HAF 30 into the darkness. If you lose the IO360, you are screwed. And even if you don't, spatial disorientation is a very good possibility. Condolences to all 4 families and friends. They will all be profoundly missed.
Good thing you didn’t have the privilege that evening
very sad but I’d have to agree. Night VFR over the water is not a very forgiving place to be.
Early in my flying career, I flew into Half Moon Bay for dinner, and later took off on a clear moonless night. When I turned left to fly downwind, I was startled when my view turned jet black and I lost a visual reference to the horizon while turning. I was not instrument rated, but I just concentrated on flying the instruments until I got established downwind. Fortunately, I had a good instructor, and did not end up on the news that night.
I grew up and learned to fly on the Central Coast. As a VFR pilot, you learn to plan your flights around the ever-present threat of fog.
I was warned early on about what a trap Half Moon Bay can be.
Hey, I’m not a pilot. So this may sound like a dumb question. But how are people allowed to get a pilots license without an instrument rating? Sounds like you should know how to fly instruments only before you granted the right to take to the skies? What am I missing? Thanks
@@Wargasm54That is actually a very legit discussion that many people think should be mandatory to have at least some instrument training before getting your license. My school has a personal requirement to train us for about 3-5 hours total in instrument conditions, but it isn’t necessarily much of an FAA requirement to train under those many instrument hours. So no, not a dumb question at all that’s actually a very logical idea.
@@Wargasm54not a pilot either, but my understanding is that instrument flying is an easily lost skill. A big factor seems to be psychological -- forcing yourself to stop staring out the window desperately searching for reference, and instead look down and trust those gauges in front of you.
@@Wargasm54the FAA only required about 3 flight hours of instrument training for the Private Pilot Certification which is the first most aviators get. Most instrument flying is fairly complex utilizing different charts and procedures to depart and arrive at airports. The standard recreationally flying pilot is flying and earning most of their hours in visual conditions where they can see landmarks and other traffic.
My company was going to hire him to fly for us. He had started our hiring process and then backed out as they had planned to move back home to be closer to family out of state. He had just had something done with the propeller as it had been sitting at HWD without the prop for a few weeks. Not sure if that may have had something to do with the accident. Very sad, he was a nice guy.
It's always hard when you have a personal connection to the victims.
Yea, never get used to hearing news like this. I was unaware as Im in TX for training and I saw the thumbnail and my stomach dropped.
Greatest chance for a failure is after invasive maintenance work was done according to Mike Busch and the very first flight should be treated as a test flight. I really hope he didn't load up 3 people and went for a flight at night on the very first flight after maintenance.
@@markor2476 he flew from Hayward to Half Moon Bay earlier that day, so the accident flight certainly wasn't the very first flight after that maintenance.
@@skayt35 Right, I missed that.
The wife and I have ridden our horses over the hill at the Devil's slide. We were part of the horse mounted search and rescue unit of the San Mateo Co. Sheriff's Office.
Too bad the horses don't swim in the ocean well
That is why highway 1 was routed through a tunnel. The road in Juan's video is a walk way now.@Angela-G
Every pilot has to choose the level of risk they are comfortable with. Single-engine..... Night.... Over water.... Over mountains...IMC.....
The problem is Young and inexperienced Pilots do not know what they don't know. And they don't realize the ridiculous risks they're taking. And sadly for their passengers who have no clue, they just assume their pilot friend is competent and they are in good hands.
Yes...not knowing what we don't know...one of the biggest ideas out there.
The ceiling was 300 AGL during the takeoff time. At night, probably runway 30, into a black hole. Are you sure this was engine-related? KHAF is a VFR trap.
300 and 5SM. Sketchy even in daytime.
anyone know if they were operating under IFR?
@@MrRem7600 ha! I just asked the same thing in the main thread. I wonder how accurate the KHAF METAR was at that time.
Such a waste of young lives. So sad.
@@tondog54 doesn't change much anyway I guess - you're just as equally boned with single engine failure after take off, at night and low ceiling. Even if he had wings level and back as slow as possible at impact, like Juan said, I don't like your chances ditching that kind of aircraft into rough seas.
I saw this plane depart from Hayward for the flight over to Half Moon Bay. I had just landed with some friends. So, this hits especially hard. One thing I'd like to observe: the engine sound on this airplane is a little bit unusual. Maybe related to the exhaust interacting with the prop? But the character of the sound has a sort of "putter" to it. There's a long history of eyewitnesses reporting "sputtering" engines that are later shown to have been operating normally. This certainly may have been an engine failure, but I would not be surprised to find out that it wasn't. Half Moon Bay is a dark area, it was well after sunset, and in the vicinity of the time of the accident, there were low clouds at 300' AGL according to archived METARs. This could easily turn out to be a loss-of-control accident. It's very unfortunate that we don't have any ADS-B data for the flight. Fingers crossed that there might be avionics recovered that would have some information stored. RIP to those lost and condolences to their friends and families.
FAA ought to mandate or install ADSB receivers in every airport. Damn things cost 100 bucks fcol.
I saw this plane in flight over my house on the day of the crash. I only really looked up because of how harsh the engine sound was, small planes fly over my house all the time. At the time I figured it was just a property of the unconventional design.
I am certain I saw this plane on Sunday from Corona Heights hill in San Francisco at about 5:05pm. I looked up because of the unusual sound of the engine -- don't look up for every plane -- and saw it was a pusher. Almost went directly overhead. Sound had an unusual high harmonic tone mike a major third. Sounded very different than other small GA planes.
The odd noise may have to do with the prop ingesting wake from the wing.
Yeah that airport is pretty gnarly. I fly RC planes along the coast doing slope soaring and I have been all around that airport, on the ground however.
Also pusher planes do make a much different sound as the propeller has to chop through the turbulence the wing makes
I was based at KCCR a short distance away from 1989 to 2007. I flew to Half Moon Bay countless times to eat lunch at Catch Jo Anns...never a night flight. They would route us over the Golden Gate and then turn south along the coast. I don't remember the altitude, but it was under SFO class B so I think you had to be 1400 MSL or less. Not much time if something went wrong. As Juan points out, the terrain is impossibly rugged with no place to land. The water is very turbulent, with year-round temps around 55 degrees. Even if you could have exited the airplane in the water, chances of survival with the very rough water, rocks, and cold water are slim. I always wore an auto inflatable Mustang lifejacket when I took that route. It's beautiful and fun to fly but is 100% non-forgiving. RIP folks....sounds like we lost some very fine young professionals.
My dear, never wear an automatic inflatable in plane. This can kill you one day because you cant come out in the worst case.
@@industrieundtechnik1761 There are two types of auto inflate. One that inflates when under water 4 seconds. One that you have to pull the string to puncture the CO2. Thats what I use.... similar to airline but much better. See Mustang inflatables.
Ketch Joannes has been gentrified away now, really sad
My friend saw this plane flying over his neighborhood after taking off from Hayward on Sunday, photographed it and sent the picture to our friend group Slack channel. I made a comment about John Denver and his Rutan-designed/inspired plane, then saw this come across my YT suggestions today...
Thanks for breaking down the accident for us. My condolences to the family and friends of these victims.
I thought of John Denver when I saw this story on the news
Makes you wonder if it was a fuel valve problem between the two tanks kinda like the possible fuel issue that J.D. had.... I think they will find out cause through forensics.
@@robertjohnson5776if it was a fuel selector problem they didn't have much time to resolve it, if the flight was staying below the 300ft cloud ceiling.
When Juan mentioned reaching over the right shoulder to manage fuel delivery, I thought of John Denver, too.
I was having lunch with a friend in Moss Landing when John Denver crashed. We heard about it on the radio on the way home.
Your comment about the fuel system reminded me of what I had read about the John Denver crash.
Same general area too
John Denver obtaining long nose pliers from an engineer to operate that fuel selector that's behind on the bulkhead so he didn't have to remove his shoulder harness to reach back & get his hand on it...
This guy was probably much more familiar (than John) with the contortions required to operate that valve.
It's loking like night time & low cloud ceiling likely to have played more of a part in this though.
@@alanm8932 cozy MKIv plans fuel selector valve is in the console between two front seats. Some have kept the valve in the back with actuators only up front. the long ez plans fuel selector valve is between the pilots legs. the Denver had the valve in a weird place
Honestly mate sometimes I wish you didnt have as much content to post. RIP.
I've been watching your uploads for many years now, Juan, and, as with this video, it always strikes me how each of those only contain relevant and factual information, and always in the most respectful manner towards everyone involved regardless their roles in the mishaps and investigations. No fluff, no distractive tangents, no personal piloting career stories. Thank you for doing your good work, on UA-cam and beyond.
Exactly why I became a paytreon member to support this mans work, Ive got grandkids that might want to be pilots someday - I used to dteam about flying, but now too old and know better, i'm not cut out for THAT kind of action, riding and swimming come natural, flying takes extreme caution and discipline and is way too unforgiving.
@@markbowles2382 I agree about it being too unforgiving, I think I would not fly much at night until I really had a 100 hours at the airport and the airplane.
Read my comment on 6/5/24, it might change your mind. Factual? Not so much.
Just a note, Lochie’s fuel selector did have a “Both” setting
Thanks Owen!
Flying is about managing risk. No-risk equals never flying. When you start stacking things against you , Night, large seas, cold water, single engine/pilot, it does not take much to get to this outcome, Rip to the crew.
I'll add mountain ridge on the land side, and ever impending Pacific Coast fog.
And I'll add 300 feet broken ceiling and mist.
@@igclapp#1 factor without question.
I feel like they had no chance in the water even if they had life vests as the water was exceptionally cold and we had number of rip currents their only hope would have been to crash in the cove by the harbor not too far from airport otherwise the waves there were no joke especially around that time
We are deeply saddened by this event, appreciate the blog..and appreciative that others are not jumping to conclusions.
We knew Lochie quite well. XL Aviation Staff thoughts and heart felt condolences go out to the families of loved ones lost in this tragic incident. Lochie was a brilliant scientist and demonstrated excellent aviator. Hopefully the legacy of this event becomes useful for others.
I'll note: The engine is a SUPERIOR IO-360 SER (Reciprocating), Horsepower: 180
The big AP news media did a story on this crash......I assumed that the story would be a hack-job on kit built planes.....but no, they did a good report on the incident.
The builder, a dentist, took about 8 years to build the plane. He flew the plane for several years before retiring and moving to Florida. He sold the Cozy, probably due to his own advancing age, to the buyer for about $100,000, which he estimated to be his cost of building and maintaining the plane over the years.
@blancolirio, Juan you should teach a course on mission risk analysis like we used in the Air Force. Had they known how to do a proper risk analyses and studied the factors, this mission would be red and they would have not flown it.
Remember friends, no half moon bay dinner is worth a night flight out. This is becoming a problem for half moon bay.
I saw a guy doing loops near where he ditched. A few months ago. Was flying like an absolute maniac. 50 feet off the water, loops, buzzing cliffs, etc
I vaguely remember somebody taking off from Half Moon Bay several years ago in IFR. When he didn't arrive at his destination they started searching for him along the route. As I recall it was a day or two before the fog cleared, and they found the plane crashed into the hills, just west of the runway in HMB!
The only constant is that small planes crash. Has always been since the inception.
Lol 😂 problem for HMB accidents happen dumb comment
@@Paul_Sleeping The problem is inept clowns who have never even flown a kite commenting on subjects miles above their head.
Four more beautiful people gone !I’ll say it again ! Single engine aircraft at night over the water is asking for trouble ! If you fly a single engine aircraft you must keep a safe landing area in sight at all times during your flight ! I don’t care how much you paid for your single engine aircraft you just can’t trust the engine to keep running ! Your life is to precious!
Thanx Juan your work is appreciated!
My Dad flew Barons, Aztecs and Islanders, and every time he came into Cape Town, and having to do a northbound approach over the sea (depends on wind direction), he would semi jokingly say that the engines would go into "auto rough running" while over the water...
Did you watch the last two videos, the Beech Baron and the Cessna 310?
It's still the safest way to travel and everyone can choose but there's more to it than the number of engines.
Do you recall what Lindbergh said when asked why he didn’t have two engines?
Twice the chance for something to go wrong.
@@Lando62 So a six cylinder runs smoother than a four, but does fewer moving parts in four make it more reliable engine?
@@Lando62Chances of both engines malfunction at the same time is much lower than just one.
I Hope your the next chairman of the NTSB when you retire from airline flying, great work keeping us updated as usual, very sad.
The accident pilot wrote a paper while he was at MIT about electric airports. He specifically stated how landings are the most dangerous part of flight and said 'It is quite easy to faceplate into the water' it's tragic. RIP Lochie Ferrier and condolences to his and the others families.
Your videos are excellent sir, please keep up the great work!
Nice!
Such a tragedy, thank you for your informative videos.
As a pilot from nearby CA35 who has flown into HAF dozens of times, and someone who has a great deal of appreciation for JB, I would question the following assumptions:
1) Engine trouble. Is this based on the earwitnesses at Moss Beach Distillery? I've eaten and imbibed here many many times--including just a few hours before this sad accident--and I don't trust drinking earwitnesses automatically, though they may be absolutely correct.
2) Ditching implies that the young man was intentionally trying to put the aircraft on the swells because he was out of options--like Sully--which may be correct. But do we know this??
Is it possible that the pilot took off of 30 into the darkness and realized it was effectively IMC since there are not lights after you pass the Moss Beach Distillery and the houses near there, and he tried to bring it back around to 30 but lost control??
Just a lot we do not know yet, Condolences to 4 families! Not a great idea to leave HAF 30 in the dark unless you are very comfortable with being on instruments immediately after TO. Especially if the IO360 bleeps the bed. Keep up the good work, JB!
Never been a fan of single engine ops at night. Just sketchy as hell. Managing an emergency is enough of a handful in the daylight. At night it’s 20x worse. RIP to all involved.
My instructor took me out for the night flying portion of my student pilot training. She suddenly announced, "The engine just died. Where are you going to land?" I picked a spot, explained my reasoning based on likelihoods but was quick to point out that there's no way to know what's really there and by the time the landing light is effective, at best, it might help avoid some of the obstacles, but the landing or crash is happening. She clearly wanted to impress upon me the added risk of flying at night. That should be obvious to any thinking person but history proves again and again that too often, people don't think. They do what they've done and assume things will happen as they always have, even when the conditions have significantly changed.
I made a lot of landings at dusk, often well after civil twilight so technically night landings, but with plenty of light for me to see. I only flew my Long-EZ in the darkness twice, and that was near home where I knew plenty of emergency landing sites including a Toyota test track, and both times I circled the airport to gain altitude before departing for a nearby airport. The goal was to be within gliding distance of an airport. The excellent glide ratio of the Long-EZ made that much easier.
4 people and fuel, The plane would have been heavy. No flaps, High landing speeds. Min flight speed may have been as high as 75+ mph. That makes an off airport landing very difficult to come away uninjured. I built an O-235 Long EZ from scratch, flew it over 400 hours flight time. Great and safe machines but the heavier they get you have to have a suitable landing area in gliding range. Light I could land 55 mph. Loaded full with gear, tools, and topped off 50 gals of fuel, my landing speed was 70.
So say it was simply engine trouble, it seems fatal mistake #1 was trying to turn back as we've seen many times before. But is there really any better option? Seems an aircraft that simply couldn't be ditched in that part of the ocean no matter what. Could one say that it simply shouldn't ever overfly the ocean in that area as an emergency ditching if needed (like this) wouldn't be possible?
Emergency landings on land are difficult around there, too -- there are 2000ft mountains within three miles of the ocean. It appears they were trying to circle back to the airport to land and didn't make it. But, because of the terrain, I don't know if it would be possible to circle over land. (Not a pilot, so I don't know how whether the hills immediately east of the runway would be tall enough to prevent that.)
The wife and I flew up along the northern California coast a few months ago, I made sure to have life jackets on board and remained at an altitude that I could get Inland if anything happened. Beautiful but dangerous area, can't imagine trying to fly it at night.
Exactly why I wouldn’t put my family in a single engine aircraft. I’ve already lost one engine in a twin aircraft. Made it back to the airport with no more issue. Added engine is added insurance.
Added enigine is also added chance of engine failure...
That main gear freaks me out in any power failure situation. Dark and no horizon also ?
Single engine night flying. Done that many times. Beautiful flights over highly populated areas like Hayward, Oakland, LA, etc. But as the risk outweighs the reward--to me now--I don't do that anymore. Though more expensive, renting a light twin for the occassional night flight is my option.
Fly on the coast regularly at o dark thirty. Quickly after rotation you are IFR in VFR due to darkness.
I’d like to meet Juan someday, as long as he doesn’t talk about me. It hits home more when you’ve flown in and out of those airports.
Yes, want to talk to him, not be talked about by him.
Juan, can you do the aviation community a bit of a favour for me?... I've been watching "first solo" videos on UA-cam for some time and there is one single thing I see over and over... students "driving" airplanes. Yes, I know it's a first solo but I see them turn onto the active without ever looking for traffic. I see them turn crosswind, downwind, base and final without looking for traffic. Who trains these people? As you must know in military flight school they drill it into your head to constantly clear traffic. Could you do a video on this topic? Sloppy training leads to the kinds of deaths we are witnessing. If pilots haven't learned to look for traffic, especially in a traffic pattern... then what else are they missing? I am just stunned at the number of increasing fatalities in GA aircraft in the last few years. Actually, I've lost count of the crashes and deaths in just the first 19 days of 2024. Very sad to see so many people dying so unnecessarily. I'm 4800hr commercial rated but all in GA flying... and now I'm 78 so in "my day" I never witnessed this level of mishaps. What in the world is going on?
@mynosycat I think several factors play into your perception of increased accident rates in GA now compared to "back in your day". First, i'll say you're definitely onto something with the lack of traffic avoidance skills with student pilots. As a CFI myself I see over-reliance on ADS-B for traffic quite often. I'm sure this is a bad habit that many CFI's are passing onto their students. As far as what in the world is going on today with GA accidents and how you never witnessed this when you were younger, you probably learned to fly before there were youtube channels like @blancolirio reporting on every one of these accidents. Statistically, GA has been getting safer every year. Airplanes have been crashing since before the Wright Brothers, but until recently you wouldn't have heard about each one. This makes it seem like its getting worse, when statistically its the opposite. Thankfully, great channels like these let us analyze and learn from each one, making GA safer as a whole.
@@teddycourtney5692 I agree with your suppositions and as a CFI I've noticed these newly minted pilots have a habit of driving their airplanes right down to the runway, no visible flare at all. I was trained back in 1950 on a tail wheel aircraft (the mighty Aeronca Champ) and every landing was a full stall landing with the stick in your lap. (well, most of the way anyway)
I witnessed this plane right after takeoff from the Half Moon Bay Airport that evening. The engine was much louder than most of the planes that fly overhead and I looked out my window to see it banking left toward the ocean above my neighbor’s house. It was strange because planes typically follow a straight out departure due to noise abatement procedures to avoid the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, but this plane did not follow that typical pattern. I ran to look out my other window and saw it turning south over the ocean before even reaching the Marine Reserve. I watched it losing altitude and immediately thought it was going to crash. The patrons at the Moss Beach Distillery would have seen the plane just as it disappeared from my view. Then a few minutes later I heard the sirens. 😢
I can't help but think of Icarus. Brilliant young man, maybe overconfident, easily distracted by a full load of passengers, unusual aircraft design, and flying at night. Too many things to consider, (like fuel distribution, life jackets, water temp), before takiong off. Nice work Juan but a sad story.
Grew up surfing in So. Cal. This time of year you've probably got about 15 mins. in that water. Basically if you're not able to get to shore and get out in that amount of time you're probably not going to make it.
I was in the Bay Area when this happened, and watched some of the rescue searches for survivors/wreckage. Sad ending.
A real bummer. I have flow to this airport numeous times for dinner. The runway is nice a long. But since it is very close to ocean the weather can change quickly.
How the heck do you get four people in that little plane?!
Juan, I'm not a pilot but grew up around airplanes and more familiar than many people. So my comment is more a series of questions. I'm also 76, and spent a lot of time in SF and the Halfmoon Bay beaches. If I were a pilot, I wouldn't have flown down the coast there without a bit more altitude, day time and never at night. From San Francisco city limits the coast line is mixed steep cliffs, narrow sand and rock beaches. From Pacifica south, the terrain at waters edge is 250 feet and more in elevation. From the airport north there really isn't any place to crash land. My question is this: despite the tailwind, should they have taken off to the south toward HalfMoon Bay with it's lights, cars on the highway and much flatter and lower terrain? Thank you.
I can attest to the frigidity of those waters, having lived in nearby Montara and Moss Beach. Condolences to the families, a tragic accident.
I've flown into half moon bay many times, but only a few at night. It is a seriously difficult night location because it is ridiculously black hole compounded by overlying fog issues. Just not a recommended single engine situ even though I know many ppl do it. Too many risk factors for me. RIP and may God Bless you.
Crazy, I had just been flying there roughly 2 hours before this happened. Weather wasn't terrible in the light, but wasn't great either. There was a growing low-level cloud bank ~15 miles south of the field with some smaller clouds forming closer to the field when I left the area around 17:00. It was still VFR when I left, but KHAF can definitely cloud up pretty quickly if you're not careful. Also, interesting that they would be on a left-downwind for 30 since that runway is right-traffic. I'm guessing for exactly the reason of being able to get back to the field, or at least landing on the highway or on one of the flat farm fields, in the event of an engine out. Condolences to the family and friends.
I think historically right traffic for 30 was related to not overflying the radar installation on the hill just west of the airport. I may be wrong, but I remember hearing that explanation during flight training in the '70s.
Perhaps the design needs Jettison capable landing gear?
Thanks as always for your excellent analysis, Juan. Taking off at night after having dinner with friends. How much alcohol was consumed? Just saying.
I have been a C172 pilot and experience some exciting moments but have survived them under my career . Now stop flying and never ever fly small planes again.
RIP to the victims.
Disorientation after takeoff has to be considered. At night, over water, into low cloud. This transition has been killing pilots for decades. Anyone remember JFK, jr?
Yeah...tough conditions.
@acboyd666 It gets real dark real fast off the end of HAF 30. Better be on the instruments real quick. Ask me how I know. Not a good choice to eat dinner in HAF instead of back safely in HWD before dark.
Thx Juan for your continued analysis of these unfortunate accidents. Flying into the "dark hole" after take off, mostly from seaside airports is almost always a fatal loss of control for non instrument rated pilots.
RIP to those souls.
yea most people don't actually know without BEEING OUT THERE just how DARK like BLACK HOLE DARK the NIGHT OVER THE SEA With little to no moon/stars.... it is DARK DARK .... on the land, there is usually SOME or A light somplace to offer up some sitchawareness....a ''horizon referance? ...something.... but... out there in the SEA AT NIGHT....
USS OKINAWA LPH3 85-88 ........ been out there ''in the dark on the sea'' .....
Reminded me of JFK Jr.
Just some minor information for non-Australian viewers: the Aussie Magpie is a very different bird from the northern species. It's an iconic bird, know for being a "larrikin", a bit of a cheeky character with a characteristic doodling song. Naming your company after one would not be out of place if you consider yourself to be someone intending to go through life tongue in cheek with a can-do attitude. You 'ad a go, mate, cheers to you!
Oh gosh. I love aviation and have flown, but only as a "guest", I'm not a pilot.
It's heartbreaking to see so many crashes.
Fly safe people. Too many funerals.
I wonder if the violent nose-over might've injured the occupants to the extent they might not have been conscious to get out.
There is an owner/operator of a Cozy on UA-cam (Canard Boulevard) and he does excellent video production thoroughly explaining the design and flying characteristics, including that it is the opposite of a STOL plane, it requires relatively long runways for takeoff and landing. Like the B-52, it does not rotate for takeoff, it lifts vertically with the wings parallel to the ground.
You couldn't pay me to get in one of those
The Long EZ has been my favorite since first seeing it at the EAA Oshkosh event years ago. It's the same plane which John Denver died in. I didn't know there was a 4-seater now in the Cozy. RIP😞
The Cozy has been around for at least two decades.
@@jimjohnson3244 Last visit to Oshkosh was in the early 1990's, and I haven't kept up on experimentals.
Rutan makes a fast, safe, economical plane if you know your limitations and the planes limitations.........I saw a long easy landing in Sweden on YT where he got too slow and the plane started to porpoise. Having the canard stall when you're close to the ground can be catastrophic. If the canard loses lift and starts to porpoise in a sequence with the main gear hitting the water, it would amplify a nose down impact.(:
I am sticking with Airbus and Boeing when my feet are off the ground. RIP
The surf is freezing and violent there
Tragic loss Juan....noticed the Blancoliro home airport KGOO was closed today (1/18) briefly for a departure from the runway incident....no injuries I think....Drove over later to see the plane on it's roof !
The body of a woman, presumed to be one of the victims, was found Monday morning by a commercial fishing boat close to the site of the crash, officials said. The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified her as 27-year-old Emma Willmer-Shiles of San Francisco.
Of the four people onboard each one had a promising future and not one was older than 27.
I don't know the exact spot they went down, but it looks like they went down in the Mavericks surf spot. The forecast for today is about 1m waves, which is as low as it gets. In two days 4-5m waves. One of the most treacherous spots to be in the water. If the crash didn't destroy the plane the waves and rocks would have. Same for the passengers.
I fly in and out of KHAF a lot. That beach area where he went down is virtually unpopulated, and facing away from the town. Thus the pilot was facing pitch black. A sad accident for sure.
I managed to stall both the canard and main wing in a Long-Ez. Mushed all the way in and now I fly a ♿️. Great analysis on this tragic accident.
Why are you assuming it was an intentional ditching rather than loss of control due to loss of situational awareness
Yes, doesn't look like much of a ditching setup.
Im guessing these 4 were very trim ppl, but 4 ppl in a 180HP GA aircraft? Nah.
From photos, at least 3 of them were slim.
The Cozy is quite capable of carrying four 175 lb adults with full fuel.
@@CanardBoulevard Yes, like he wrote, slim : ) I look around I don't see too many people that weight anymore
I did a lesson with my instructor with my girlfriend and another friend in the back of a 172. Didn't feel bad to me at all. Though, being endurance athletes, three of us were averaging about 150 pounds...
(My instructor isn't that big either, just bigger than us)
Weight and balance are always important…
The short flight didn’t require carrying much fuel either…
The O and IO360 burn near 10gph in flight, and maximum fuel burn for take off and climb is about 20gph…
Prayers for the lost airmen…
The pictures of the people involved break my heart. 🎸
I fly a Cozy IV but have never flown it with four aboard, 3 many times but never 4. Near gross weight the takeoff and climb performance quite noticeably diminished. I wonder how heavy it was? I believe the pilot was with four young healthy women so that may not be a factor. I read the weather was marginal VFR with low ceilings. I did not hear you mention the weather. Canard pushers sound different from tractor airplanes so the witness that heard the engine sputtering may not be the case. Maybe the prop was the issue. It was a tragic incident and we all would like to know how it happed to avoid it happening to someone else.
Night-time single engine ops. aren't really a good idea.
I have to say this: As and Aviation, GA and Airline Pilot of 25,000+ hours and a large number of Maintenance and Test hours....I see so many on UA-cam that profess
to be an Aviation Expert. To the point where many just make me grind my teeth. I have surmised enough of this Gentleman's experience in his videos of GA accidents
to realize he knows what he is talking about. He just turns over rocks while never being emphatic. Which anyone that has been truly involved with Aviation Accidents
know that there is never any ABSOLUTES. Never !!!! Only educated Theory and Supposition!!! That sometimes turn out to be false. My Compliments Sir !!!
I flew into Half Moon Bay last night for dinner. Departed around the same time as the accident plane on Runway 30. Experience was a little eerie. I’ve flown into Half Moon Bay many times (both day and night). While us pilots experience incredible highs in our flying adventures, this is an unfortunate reminder that in so doing we assume real risk. RIP fellow pilot and friends.
Not an aviation guy..you can't pay me to get on a plane of any kind...I can't imagine (either being the pilot or especially the passengers) accepting such an offer ie: to fly somewhere to "have dinner" then fly back in the dark in a little one engine plane.
To take on all that risk ..for what reason? I don't get it. A $5 dollar part failure can be what takes you out never mind a piloting mistake.
@@barrybarnes96 Flying isn’t for everyone and you certainly can’t eliminate all of the risk. But, you can do several things to avoid a lot of it. Number one cause of engine failure in a GA plane is fuel mismanagement. My response, I always make sure I have plenty of gas in the tanks before taking off. Visual flight rules pilots flying into instrument flight conditions is another hazard. My response, I have a conservative go/no go flying decision process and avoid flying in bad weather. Another killer is “get-there-itis”, where the pilot puts himself/herself in a box of intense pressure to do the flight, weather be damned, etc. Again, this hazard can be avoided by simply adopting a mental mindset and flight go/ no go decision making process where you, as pilot in command, just do not put yourself into that situation. I’ve been flying for the past 20 years and have had many breathtaking flights. I’m cognizant of the risks every time I fly and manage them to the best of my abilities. I can’t imagine my life without flying.
It’s not just dinner, though in actuality it is. But what’s intoxicating is the fact that it’s a dinner no one in your area can have unless they can fly. And the huge boost to self esteem from that. Lol
Ricardo, how was the cloud ceiling and was it even, or was it more clear in a certain direction?
@@igclapp I’ve read that the ceiling was 300 feet “broken”. That basically means it was overcast with only very few holes. This would apply to the immediate airport environment. I don’t know if it cleared up as one moved away from the airport. Regardless, that’s a pretty low ceiling, especially at night. Given that the wreckage was found so close to the airport, I doubt he ever flew out of the low ceiling weather reported at the field.
So even during the day this would’ve been a challenging place to ditch. The night was just the final nail in the coffin. Very tragic.
That's high risk situation there. Night, over water, one engine. No bailouts. Rough terrain or water...tough choice.
Sad. A friend of mine had an engine failure west of Banning Pass landing off airport in the desert. A fuel line had been rubbing and caused a fuel leak in the supply line through the firewall. Surf there is brutal and the water is very cold. Blessings to the surviving family and friends.
Man this is unfortunate…. Looking at the topography I can see why they would have tried a water ditching.
My pilot woiuld fly us in two engine aircraft to Paradise, Auburn, Tahoe etc. out of Hayward in the 1980`s- 1990`s. But he refused to fly into Half Moon because he said it was haunted.
Could this crash be alcohol related? I mean im just asking a few drinks at dinner isnt out of the question.
Thank you for insightful analysis. My aircraft has a L,R,off fuel selector on the baggage compartment rear wall! Very difficult to turn without some gymnastics. Even some Mooneys have it on the floor in front of your seat making it a fumble! Never stop learning!
Very good video on a most unfortunate occurrence. These videos make the news stories much more meaningful and comprehensible to aircraft novices. Thanks for all the good work you do on this channel. It is very much appreciated. Thanks again.
Looks like just one more stacking odds agains you fatal. Rip.
Laying 4 lives in the hands of a io360.
That particular spot, and Cove you pointed out that they ditched is Mavericks. A world famous surfing spot with a humongous waves this time of year. Even if they would’ve had a safe ditch chances are they wouldn’t have made it due to 30-40 foot waves
This plane flew over my house on the way to HMB. sad
Great reporting as usual, however Mr Browne has been working overtime of late trying to keep up with all these crashes.
Aviators, let’s try and give him a break and not become the evening news on the channel!
john denver crashed his long ez into the ocean right after take off just south of half moon bay in monterey .i think it was a fuel selector mistake if i remember right.
He had bought the airplane and the fuel selector was in an awkward spot (directly after the left shoulder). He had already scheduled for some third party to reposition the selector, but he wanted to fly it anyway before that change was made. He was flying low over water when he tried switching the selector. It has been suggested that he might have inadvertently stepped on the rudder while trying to reach/change the selector. You really cannot stand on the rudder in these things, as both pedals work independently of the other. It is possible to press both at the same time to use the rudders as an extra speed brake (and to use the wheel brakes).
As tragic as this is just for perspective let's remember that about 100 people die each and every day in the US from automobile accidents. That being said, single engine out of Half Moon Bay at night with low ceiling is a bit of a crap shoot at best.
That’s because vastly more people are driving cars every day than flying small planes, and they are driving in close proximity to other cars.
Small planes are almost as dangerous as motorcycles and more dangerous than cars, when you look at deaths per mile or hour.
@@GH-oi2jf true but a person getting killed is a person getting killed regardless of the cause.
@@Sashazur Can you cite a source for this? I've been after this data for a long time and have not found a reputable source. Dan Gryder cites fatalities per month because it is very difficult to min down accurate GA total hours flown.
Dude was smart…but not smart enough to know better
Yeah, I fly in there all the time too. It’s TERRIBLE!!!!! You only have minutes in that cold water.
Tragic. Ditching in the waters off of the HMB coast would be difficult in normal conditions, even more challenging with the rough seas we've had lately (and at night!). So sad.
What a sad ending to a great time out with friends.
My question is, why were they over the ocean? HMB traffic is right-pattern for 30 to keep you over land while in the airport environment. Looking at the flightaware track of the inbound flight, they flew in on the incorrect pattern as well. It looks like the pilot did not properly brief his flight.
He was doing a straight out departure. Also there were low clouds in the area so he probably wanted to avoid getting too close to the terrain east of the airport. Edit: one witness apparently saw them doing a left downwind departure over the water.
Can I suggest that design should never be flown over water?
How many of us who read this report conclude that "I wouldn't have done that"? Seems to me an after dinner Drambuie while waiting for the Uber driver would be the best way to honor an 300' AGL night in a plane that was probably fairly close to its gross to say nothing of providing you and your passengers a deserved margin of safety. Sad, foreseeable, AND totally avoidable.
Seems to me you're fabricating a fictional scenario and have no facts to back it up. What's the point?
@@buckhorncortez I believe he meant to say it would have been better to have a drink and call an Uber and drive home instead of try to fly in that scenario.
^^^^ this x 1000. It’s basically an hour car drive to get back home. Go back during the day and figure out what the issue with the plane. That airport is surrounded by a rocky coastline, hills and the fog is a total nightmare..
@@Saml01 Thanks. With respect to Buckhor's comment, I too often forget to put the hay down where the goats can get it.
@@halmc8109 We knew what you meant - Buckhorn Cortez is just being a curmudgeon. Typical aviation UA-cam commenter.
Why does everyone start talking about fuel selectors just because it's a Rutan-style canard? It's not like that's the only likely cause of any accident, never mind that Denver's Long-EZ was non-standard. There are a thousand other things that can bite you in the arse when flying, especially in difficult conditions like night and IMC.
Exactly right.
Because the average aviation UA-cam commenter hears one fact and then thinks they know everything.
a good example here of the difference between smart vs. wise
So sad... So many small plane crashes and fatalities lately. Rest in peace.
Too many inexperienced/unqualified pilots, these days.
I think partially what's happening is that the crashes that have always happened are gaining more attention, meaning that hopefully we won't see as many repeats, the more and more widespread these incidents are shared.
@R2Bl3nd exactly! This is why channels like this one are essential to make aviation safer. It's crazy to think we barely knew what flying was 100 years ago
They are just more publicised now.
No more than usual
I never ate before a night flight. High glucose levels ruin your night vision. The location here, means it was really night, not a fake night flight like over a large illuminated city. A lot of computerized cockpits are also kept way too bright, not like the old steam gauges.
Bull. Shit.
I'm not a pilot, but lived in the Bay Area just over the "hill" from Half Moon Bay.
Your mention of the Fuel Source Selector and it's location "behind the left seat" triggered a memory that something very similar was suspected in John Denver's crash that ended his life in October 1997off Monterey. Denver was also flying a Rutan inspired experimental aircraft.
Yes! It was placed in a horrible position leaving him no time to try and recover. That was a horrible impact with the water.
On this plane, that wasn't the case however, as other owners of this design have already noted the fuel selector switch is between the seats, not behind the pilot.
There is a rule that prudent pilots follow that may not have been followed here: “Never trust your life to an engine.” There are some things a pilot can legally do that are nonetheless too dangerous to perform without a dose of hubris. For me, Half Moon Bay airport is a daytime-only departure airport in a single-engine airplane. But then, I’ve been flying for 50 years - long enough to have experienced a few in-flight engine failures. (And I’m still here because I always had a place to land.)
One technique to mitigate the risk that is followed by experienced pilots in this situation is to immediately begin a shallow turn after rotation and to circle the airport until sufficient altitude is gained to continue on your route when you have a suitable emergency landing area within glide range ahead. Flying a single engine plane prudently is like playing hopscotch: you always have a survivable place to land either ahead or behind. And the ocean is not a survivable place to land. If the ditching doesn’t kill you, hypothermia at that location soon will.
Reminds me of Newfoundland Canada where I live. Very unforgiving. Half Moon is a tough place.