I actually work with some folks from St. Vincent. Saw some video of the crash and the rescue attempt. Was told there was engine trouble right after take off, and there was some catastrophic failure after the pilot turned back to land. The plane seemed to go down into the water very suddenly, and hard. Apparently this guy had been flying folks around the islands for a long time. Really fuckin tragic, honestly.
Was this one of those situations called, “the impossible turn” in aviation? Where after takeoff, an attempt to make a hard turn to the airport with engine failure results in complete loss of lift.
Single engine plane strikes again.
I had a chance to go up in a single engine with my daughter who loves airplanes and the pilot was a hall-of-famer in the aviation scene. Thing is, I got a gut feeling not to go considering it was the day after Thanksgiving and the pilot is fairly old… So I said no.
Everything turned out okay for those who took our place but that’s just not a risk worth taking to me.
Of course I know driving is incredibly dangerous, too. But there’s something to be said when something like engine failure or being able to pilot is utterly out of your control.
GA is about 10 times more dangerous per hour than driving.
Oh interesting, thanks. When I initially looked it up, all data was saying that “single-engine aircraft” were safer, but when searching by General Aviation, it presents a different picture.
