Sad Result For Sar In Panama

[fiveboy]

Yesterday my son and I went to the field. I did a very thorough preflite. Then we decided to bag it because the wind, though basically straight down 36 was pretty serious and occasionally gusty. So we went to say goodbye to Pillo the resident guru and nominal manager of the field. He was pretty aggressively getting his Quicksilver ready. Our air strip is very nicely paved and maintained and as such the flight schools at the nearby Allbrook airport (class C) arrive to have students in Cessnas practice on (as well as a variety of Helos). Seems at 1pm a plane was reported as having "spun into the lake" by a fisherman who called a TV station on his cellular phone - hey its Panama - this would have been one of the Cessnas we had been watching come in all day with students and instructors, maybe even the instructor we had chatted with for a while while his student soloed.

I asked whether we could help and was told yes. (OBTW this was a full 3 hours after the reported downing and we only hear about it because a news crew showed up!).

That was it. I weighed what was going on and decided if it were me....

The wind was about 15. More than I have attempted before.

We lifted textook flat. Rose and headed to the lake. Thing is though the lake is really high and there are few places to land anymore. I decide I would stay over the parts where I could land.... but that wind. I was barely moving at all. At this rate I would cover very little to nothing and I was not about to get out over open water in that wind with my only son aboard...

so we stayed along the shore and not that far away.... and that wind....

but what a great flight. There were gusts and bumps and weird turbulances coming off the tops of the hills... but I was just, well, handling it. Keeping altitude and heading and most of all AS AS AS,

After 41 minutes we landed. Came in on the grass next to the hanger... a true zero roll. Came in over the stupid news crew.

I dont know that we helped much having opted for our own safety but we had a great flight and I learned a lot more about me and my machine.

There is no real network here just people on phones and on radio and 2 cops showing up and asking what we know and bumming a smoke and moving on and one lone Panama AF twin that flew for a while and left and a few ultralights and a helo.

If you go down here I think you better leave some real obvious clue or you either vanish or are forgotten!

NB: I wrote the above last night. I just called Pillo for an update. They found the plane under water about two miles from where my son and I were searching... smack in the middle of the lake. The divers recovered two dead.

Flying is a drug I see it clearly. Anyone who says otherwise is either a liar or doesnt fly. Unfortunately we all know drugs can make you feel really really good.... and also kill.

I have reposted the panorama I shot of the lake. You would be looking right at where this happened just to the right of center.

God bless their souls.

[jcarleto]

Interesting overview of Panama and its Search and Rescue policies. That is something we take for granted here in the US. Sad for the plane's occupants.

I say this with hesitation, because I don't want to encourage students with no wind experience to go jump in the air on an gusty day, but I -like- flying in the wind. The GyRonimo, at least, seems to be very benign in gusty conditions. There are some things you have to pay strict attention to on the ground and for take-off and landing, but in the air it is fairly pleasant.

Today, for example, I plan to fly in the afternoon. The Bonanza isn't even an option. It is too windy and gusty. I'm just looking to flit around, and climbing to high altitude to get above the bumps isn't part of the plan. If I took the Bonanza, I'd be bumped around so much I'd be real close to not enjoying being in the air. They gyro wins by windy default. It will be comfortable, if not a tad chilly and I will enjoy the flight.

*JC*

[barnstorm2]

GREAT panorama shot!

[rfonseca]

Appears to be that the student and instructor were practicing stall and recovery, as it is usually done in the middle of the lake by flight´s schools not to jeopardize people or buildings, and they could not recover. An instructor from the same school told me that most probably the student froze in the controls and the instructor could not do the recovery. Both were young men. We have a great need for pilots down here as Panama has become an important aviation hub for Latin America, somewhat starting to replace Miami. Our national carrier, Copa, is now flying to over 50 destinations daily.

[automan1223]

Curious what licensing authority you have down there do you have a type of FAA or CAA ?

Jonathan

[HobbyCAD]

Maybe they have CoCAA.....:lol:

[rfonseca]

We haver a strict FAA type code. American advisors regulary visit us to assist in the implementation of rules. As a result, the airspace over Panama city is full of regulations and restrictions. For example, in order to fly east-west from our Ultralight Club over the city we have to change to five radio frequencies, a very difficult task when you are flying with the wind in your face. I remember that I flew a helicopter from New York down to Houston International on the way to Panama and the only time we had to use the radio was arriving to the final destination. Not even over Hudson river we had to call anyone. We flew over the Statue of Liberty with no radio call. Amazing! I was nervous and asked my safety pilot to make the call, and he smiled and said that it was not necessary. In another helicopter flight we flew from Las Vegas to Panama, and departing Vegas we only made radio contact very near the Mexican Border to announce our departure from USA airspace. On both flights I had very experienced american pilots guiding me that did the flight down to South America over and over. Very different than here. To depart Panama you have to file a flight plan and get a kind of approval. Another example of our strict rules: a few months ago a friend had to make a emergency landing in his amphibious Aventura ultralight on the Panama Canal. As it is a restricted area, even if it was an emergency landing, he faces fines, and his airplane is still in the custody of the Air Authority.

[Vance]

Hello Ramon,

To fly out of Santa Barbara, Ca which is only class C airspace I have to check ATIS, call clearance delivery, call ground, call the tower and call departure. To fly into SBA I have to check ATIS, call approach, call the tower and call ground.

I cannot enter class C airspace without establishing radio communication and I need to have a mode C capable transponder unless I call ahead on the telephone and get permission.

If I was to land in a restricted area there would be challenges here too.

Thank you, Vance

[rfonseca]

Hi, Vance.
Yes, I know about the West Coast. My son, Eduardo, just finished a General Aviation pilot licence in the San José/San Francisco area, and told me that he had to change frecuencies all the time, and that the most difficult task were the radios, not flying the aircraft. His flight pad cruised the landing vectors of San Fco Airport and a few times he saw jets too close for confort. I am sure that in regulated areas the rules are strict. But my surprise came from flying in NY without radio contact out of the heliport in the Hudson river. Appears to be that the Hudson is a corridor for helicopters below 1,000 feet, or something like that. And, out of NY, we flew below Washington, Atlanta, etc... and no flight plan or radio contact. In Panama you must file a flight plan if you want to fly, even if you are in a ultralight and want to leave your local airport.

[Hognose]

In New York City on the Hudson VFR corridor you now need to be talkin' and squawkin'. That was a result of baseball pitcher Cory Lidle and his instructor whacking a high-rise. Fortunately nobody was in the unit they hit at the time.

The US takes a dim view of penetrating restricted or prohibited areas, but they usually give the aircraft back, and if it was a legitimate response to an emergency they usually do not punish the pilots. A willful violation leads to license revocation, and a negligent one license suspension. The feds see all accidental violations as negligent.

As Vance explained, busier airspace here requires radio communications and Mode C.

cheers

-=K=-

[All_In]

Rob very sad for the families.
Glad you tried to help and what a ride.

That's what the instructors clipboard is for.
To hit the student square in the nose with it when they freeze on the controls.
It's happen a few times to our instructors also... It worked.