FlyJSH

If you had any understanding of the accident he was referring to, you would realize just how stupid your statement was.

jackal24

Turn on the landing light on final. If you don't like what you see, turn it off.

JohnBurke

Caravan. Tree came through the windscreen. Pilot killed. I know about the incident. We've had discussions on that event before.

Look out the side window. Problem solved.

USMCFLYR

Yes JB. I'm sure the outcome would not have been in doubt had you been at the controls.
Incredibly crass.

JohnBurke

I didn't say that, but you did. That's crass.

I've done it twice. Once on fire in a turbine tailwheel with a cockpit full of smoke, and I was fortunate it turned out well, and another time covered in oil, also in a turbine tailwheel, with a rear bearing seal failure. The former made it to a runway but couldn't see, and the second made it to a mountainside, and put it down intact.

I wasn't there for the Caravan and clearly it didn't work out well. I can't speak to the actions of the pilot, nor can I make judgement about his choice. The pilot was killed when a tree penetrated the cockpit. It happens. To suggest, however, that the flight is no longer manageable or workable because forward visibility has been limited or removed (oil doesn't mean you can't see out) is ridiculous. We had that conversation some months ago here, during a discussion about the necessity for cameras external to aircraft.

I've had forward vision obscured a number of times in normal operations by slinging oil with radial engines, and from smoke and ash, sometimes embedded in a lot of oil. Again, it happens. It doesn't mean one can't land; looking out the side is the norm in such a case, and frankly it isn't that big of a deal.

In a forced landing, a lot of things can happen, and it's possible to do everything right and still be hurt or killed. That's why it's called an emergency.

USMCFLYR

i'm sure you see it that way. Others have seen your original comment the in the same vein I commented on.

Once again you mistake the content for the delivery method - much like your friend Skyhigh.

It can be a big deal and your dismissal of it, particularly in response to another user who lost a good friend in the mishap, is crass at best.

JohnBurke

Perhaps when you've learned to do that on a regular basis as normal operating procedure, you'll find it's not that big a deal, either.

We've all lost friends. Some of us, quite a few.

It wasn't the inability to see out the front windshield that cost the poster's friend his life. It was a tree. The individual made a successful forced landing. He did what he was supposed to do. He put the aircraft on the ground. It was during the roll-out, I believe, that the mishap occurred which took his life. Again, it's very possible to do everything right, and still be injured or killed.

Oil on a windshield, however, especially turbine oil, doesn't preclude the option of making the landing. In the case in question, the individual in the Caravan, he made the landing. Just as I did and just as others have done. It's very possible while using the side view or a side-forward view out of the cockpit.

Once on the ground, especially in an off-field landing, the ability to maneuver to avoid objects can be significantly hampered. In a landing in a wooded area, the possibility, or even probability, of an object striking the aircraft may be high. That's with or without the windscreen obscured. That's a fact, and there's nothing crass about it.

I didn't dismiss the loss of life. You combined two sentences and bolded them in your quote which are referring to two very different things. Landing with the windshield obscured with oil is not a big deal.

Landing a dying is a very big deal. Despite your attempt to blur the lines, I'm sure you can see the difference.

JamesNoBrakes

I've landed with an obscured windshield. If there was a tree growing in the middle of the runway, I would have hit it, because I couldn't see forward.