Signal Charlie

Recent NTSB investigations have identified several accidents that involved controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) by both instrument flight rules (IFR)-rated and visual flight rules (VFR) pilots operating under visual flight conditions at night in remote areas.

• In many of these cases, the pilots were in contact with air traffic control (ATC) at the time of the accident and receiving radar service.

• The pilots and controllers involved all appear to have been unaware that the aircraft were in danger.

• Increased altitude awareness and better preflight planning would likely have prevented all of these accidents.

Recent examples:

-A Learjet departed Brown Field, south of San Diego, California, and struck terrain while being radar vectored in a mountainous area east of the airport, resulting in three fatalities.

Read the NTSB Safety Alert

Fly Smart

Kent