from the pilot's seat

unless youve been living under a rock today, you've heard that a small plane crashed into a building in nyc. of course, anytime someone goes down its horrible and tragic. after hearing reports about what was going on just prior to the crash, it sounds as though either the pilot (and instructor) were having some real trouble or were being a real asshole. if they were in trouble, it must have been terrifying and i wouldnt wish that upon anyone. i am still completely mystified as to how this could have happened. he took off out of teterboro (northwest of the city) and started down the hudson. go back and look at some of my journal entries...I'VE DONE THIS FLIGHT!!! its not rocket science, its not hard, its pretty simple, you stay over the water. somehow, they crossed the city (flying east) and hit a building on a westerly heading. huh? wah? if there was engine trouble why would you hit a building? there isnt a single place to ditch, except for the river, which is where i would have went. you might not make it, but you wont be killing anyone but yourself. again, i cant sit here and ridicule them for what they did as i have no idea what was going on. its just so unfortunate.
the worst part is the media coverage. anderson cooper started tonights show with "in a post 9-11 world, airplanes can still get this close to new york, leaving many people questioning why. was he experienced enough? we'll discuss this and revisit the jfk jr accident as well, coming up."

holy shit

alright, flying is not dangerous. people can be dangerous when they make bad decisions. every accident that has ever happened probably started happening way before impact, probably even on the ground, while someone was sitting at a desk putting together their flight plan. there are steps that you through to make sure that you are doing everything as safely as possible and you owe it to yourself, your passengers, other pilots in the sky, and any person you fly over on the ground to make sure that you are in fact being safe. when people get complacent or lazy..accident. so anyway, the media has jumped all over this and now for the next month, general aviation is going to be viewed with a skeptics eye. whenever i start talking to a non-pilot about flying i time the conversation to see how long it will take before they mention jfk. its gone anywhere from 5 seconds to 10 minutes, but it always comes up.
i cant wait to see how this is going to effect all of us. no matter what, it wont be good.