[Hillarys Gate Cult]

From what I know about this, the pilot shouldn't have been flying in weather that bad. But they had to make their Gore fund raiser ( should be a special Darwin Award category just for things like this ). Lucky pilots who live through a flight like that write a "there I was..." story for various flying magazines and have a new respect for bad weather by not flying in it again.

My family wouldn't have seen a dime out of something like this either.

[expatpat]

Losing the AI (also known as the artificial horizon) when in bad IFR conditions is just about the worst thing to happen, made worse because the gyro compass goes too if the vacuum pump fails.

You have to use altimeter changes to keep the plane level, and the whiskey compass (which bobbles around a lot) and/or an electric turn/bank to keep the wings level. Its tough enough to keep it straight and level, let alone to try a fly an approach down to the airport in soup. It's part of the IFR training though.

[Marie Antoinette]

Ping for my fave pilot :-)

[A Citizen Reporter]

"From what I know about this, the pilot shouldn't have been flying in weather that bad."

I don't think I'd go that far, however the weather that night was incredibly foggy. I remember it well, because then Governor Bush was landing in St. Louis to participate in the last debate against Albore. And we were concerned about his arrival. When I got home, and turned on the TV, I learned that that there was a plane crash. However there was a thread on FR, where I first discovered that Mel Carnahan might have been on it. The thread was from freepers in Kansas City, and we coordinated local news from both ends of the state from there. I wish I could find that thread.....

[A Citizen Reporter]

Here is the FR thread, from that very night.....