Montana Air Ambulance Company Blaming Controllers for Crash

[News]

Metro claims air-traffic controllers failed to warn the pilot his plane was descending too fast.

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[Arctickat]

Hmmmm, I believe it is the pilot that is responsible for the operation of the aircraft. ATC tells you what level to fly at...not how quickly you should get there unless it causes a hazard to other traffic.

[cscboulder11]

Hmmmm, I believe it is the pilot that is responsible for the operation of the aircraft. ATC tells you what level to fly at...not how quickly you should get there unless it causes a hazard to other traffic.

Correct.

FAR 91.3, section A: "The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the the operation of that aircraft."

It's ludicrous that a company that deals with airspace could even think of placing the blame on ATC when it's the pilot's resposbility to maintain control. The only reason a pilot would descend too fast is in an emergency that should've been delcared.

NTSB report: http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20070214X00187&key=1

Cause was pilot error. He assumed all responsibility flying into that area.

[Arctickat]

I'm trying to find out if the plane was IFR or VFR. ATC might be considered negligent if the pilot descended through an assigned altitude and wasn't issued an instruction to return to the pre-assigned altitude.

[cscboulder11]

I'm trying to find out if the plane was IFR or VFR. ATC might be considered negligent if the pilot descended through an assigned altitude and wasn't issued an instruction to return to the pre-assigned altitude.

IFR. Crash happened as he was coming in to land. See NTSB report above.

[Arctickat]

I didn't notice, since it was more than 5 words into the report. I didn't read that far.

Okay okay, I didn't notice the link. He wasn't IFR anymore though because he was cleared for a visual approach, which means he'd cancelled IFR and therefore the controller was no longer monitoring the flight..

[cscboulder11]

Yep. The complaint against ATC is that he was "descending too fast" though. ATC did not make him descend. The pilot made the plane descend. That's my gripe with the company.