Comments on: Plane Overshoots Runway on Carribean Island

By: Patrick Flannigan

Patrick Flannigan — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:24:51 +0000

I don’t know, I’ve never seen a report on the accident. If someone finds out, please post the details here, I’d love to know.

By: Greg Park

Greg Park — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:31:24 +0000

Were there any serious injuries sustained by passengers aboard the plane?

By: kelly

kelly — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:42:11 +0000

The question of go around should have come up BEFORE the pilot crested the hill. He/she was way too high then, wich translated to the same on short final and floating halfway down the runway.

This pilot has either a large ego or exhibits extremely poor judgement – either one should be left for those to fly from their computer with a joystick.

By: Patrick Flannigan

Patrick Flannigan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:44:25 +0000

Maybe he thought the best way to impress the ladies was to show off the airplane on the beach?

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:35:41 +0000

There are 3 other things interesting about this airport.

1) The ICAO for this airport is TFFJ the IATA code is SBH. So if your flying there commercially use SBH, if your the pilot tell your handler you are going to TFFJ.

2) In order to land there you have to have a logbook endorsement from an instructor who is approved the French Civil Aviation. Which begs the question, was this guy endorsed or even better was there an instructor with him?

3) The beach at the end of that runway is topless! (I saved the best for last)

By: Patrick Flannigan

Patrick Flannigan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:50:48 +0000

Yeah, you’d think. Maybe they were very low on fuel and couldn’t go missed, but that raises another question: why are you flying around without enough gas! *shrugs*

By: Todd McClamroch

Todd McClamroch — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:16:52 +0000

I think you have to have planned for this short field landing. It obviously is a complicated approach with the hill then the short runway that surely the pilot knew what he was getting into. Part of that thought process should be a plan that if you are not wheels down and braking in the first third of the runway you immediately execute the go-around.

Thanks for sharing the video. You seldom get such great video footage (well the commentary was not great) of something like this.

By: Patrick Flannigan

Patrick Flannigan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:45:36 +0000

I agree, before crashing is generally a good time to go around!

By: Patrick Flannigan

Patrick Flannigan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:43:05 +0000

Yeah, I mean who says “that kinda blows” after a plane crash! I think I would have gone around right at the first 1000 foot marker (which look suspiciously closer to 500′ than 1000′).

By: Harold Villacorte

Harold Villacorte — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:12:13 +0000

I would’ve gone around at some point before crashing the airplane. Seriously though, this an excellent article and video, I don’t even have to add any instructional wisdom, the video says it all. I used to tell my students right before soloing them, “if you crash this plane I’m gonna kick your ass!” So if I were this guy’s instructor I would kick his ass.