Ron Collins
Curiously Confused
3 Tesla motors engineers died in a plane crash yesterday. Here is the story.
Three die as plane hits California neighborhood - CNN.com
My take is that it was heavy fog, in a Cessena 310. This is a plane that had no deicing equipment, which wasn't really a factor in this crash, but shows that the plane was not a serious instrument flown aircraft. Though the pilot was instrument rated he probably only flew in good VFR conditions. He probably took off from that airport all the time visually and wasn't used to be in clouds. His plane struck power lines at 60 feet. He probably drifted off center and didn't power up to ascend quick enough instead opting for a smoother gradual ascent. It all comes back to pilot error. There seems to be a bunch of pilot error running rampant these days. Makes you wonder if the glass cockpit and computerized systems management is lulling the private pilot into thinking they are better than they are or into making stupid decisions.
This sucks for Tesla because they are a small company and 3 engineers is a huge deal. I have a friend who investigates aircraft crashes for the FAA and he told me that the rumor is that one of the guys was their lead engineer. I wonder what that means or the future of that product line.
Three die as plane hits California neighborhood - CNN.com
My take is that it was heavy fog, in a Cessena 310. This is a plane that had no deicing equipment, which wasn't really a factor in this crash, but shows that the plane was not a serious instrument flown aircraft. Though the pilot was instrument rated he probably only flew in good VFR conditions. He probably took off from that airport all the time visually and wasn't used to be in clouds. His plane struck power lines at 60 feet. He probably drifted off center and didn't power up to ascend quick enough instead opting for a smoother gradual ascent. It all comes back to pilot error. There seems to be a bunch of pilot error running rampant these days. Makes you wonder if the glass cockpit and computerized systems management is lulling the private pilot into thinking they are better than they are or into making stupid decisions.
This sucks for Tesla because they are a small company and 3 engineers is a huge deal. I have a friend who investigates aircraft crashes for the FAA and he told me that the rumor is that one of the guys was their lead engineer. I wonder what that means or the future of that product line.
