By Vic Syracuse, EAA Lifetime 180848
This piece originally ran in Vic’s Checkpoints column in the April 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
I started to title this column “Why?” as that seems to be the same question that everyone asks when bad judgment comes home to roost. I don’t understand why we can’t ask the question earlier, or at least get the pilot to do the same. It’s the middle of December as I write this. It’s supposed to be a happy time of the year for many people. Yet the NTSB accident database shows more than 25 incidents in this month, some of which were fatal. One of them was a close friend of mine, so it hits hard.
I was told a long time ago that in aviation you will lose friends along the way. I am probably no different than most pilots out there that are of the mindset that it will happen to someone else. This last one makes 13 lost friends or acquaintances over the years. Sadly, not one of them was due to a mechanical failure. Unfortunately, this time friends and family are again asking the same question: “Why?”
For many aircraft accidents, we often wonder what was going through the mind of the pilot that put them in a predicament with fatal consequences. Suicide aside (which was not a factor in the 13 I am referencing), we can assume that none of these pilots expected the outcome to be death. Yet, if we take the time to look back, sometimes there were indicators. I am not here to judge anyone, but I do believe in learning from the mistakes of others.
I’ve written enough about low-level aerobatics in past columns, so I am not going to raise that subject again. However, there are some other attributes and attitudes exhibited by pilots that can have potentially serious outcomes when the bag of luck runs out. Meaning, you might get away with it once, twice, or even longer, but eventually it might catch up. Let me share with you some of those attributes and attitudes that I have seen, all of them ending with me asking “Why?”
Fuel comes to mind first. I get a lot of flak for carrying too much extra fuel at times, but I’m okay with that. I plan to always have at least one hour of fuel in the tanks when I land. That includes proper planning for an alternate, if necessary, meaning I still have an hour of fuel when/if I land at the alternate. Having extra fuel in the tanks takes any pressure off if some other distraction should arise. During my 47 years of flying, I have arrived at airports just as the person ahead fouled the runway. Each time I either proceeded to an alternate airport or circled while the problem was resolved. The extra fuel made for some nice sightseeing. After all, that’s why we fly, right?
In the last couple of months, there have been some high-visibility accidents due to fuel starvation, some with fatal results. Just by looking at the flight time on FlightAware, the first question is “Why?” My wife, Carol, has a friend whose husband no longer flies, luckily. Her friend was always telling Carol horror stories about being glued to the fuel gauges for the last bit of the flight because they were on “E” and not moving. It wasn’t until he quit flying that she shared how relieved she was and the reason. It appears that my friend who recently died ran out of fuel. I’ve recently been told he had a history of pushing the fuel limits. It may have finally caught up with him.
Scud-running is another attitude that takes a high toll. I’ve lost friends doing this. Low ceilings, especially when coupled with snow and other precipitation, can make for some dangerous flying. Not only do you have to be concerned about obstacles, but you can find yourself quickly quite close to the ground since you are trying to keep it in view. There’s also a good chance that by the time you decide to turn around, it may be too late. Weather may have closed in behind you. Also, since you are so low to the ground, there may not be enough room to turn around due to the terrain or obstacles. It can help to pay close attention to the temp and dewpoint spread along the route while doing your preflight planning. Many pilots overlook this critical piece of information.
As pilots, we know what the regs say about recency of experience to carry passengers. I will submit that there is a difference between recency of experience and proficiency. As an example, I am not sure that doing the three required night landings at your home airport makes you proficient enough to go on a night cross-country across dark terrain and water, especially without an instrument rating. Perhaps you will get away with it once or twice, but what if there are some unexpected distractions, like unforecast weather or cockpit automation failures? Are you really prepared? Have you at least thought about different scenarios for the trip and how you would react to them? If they do occur, you might be better prepared and make better decisions with less stress.
I practice this philosophy more rigorously when I am flying the helicopter. Maybe it’s because I have less than 400 hours of helicopter time compared to 11,000 hours of fixed-wing time. Plus, there are a whole lot more moving parts on the helicopter than on an airplane, which means more chances for things to break or go sideways. Someday I hope to get more comfortable with flying a helicopter, but for now I plan for the unexpected.
There is another attitude I see amongst some pilots that leaves me asking “Why?” and it has to do with maintenance. I admit, I am over the top on maintenance on my own aircraft. I either fix things immediately when they aren’t right, or probably spend too much money on proactive maintenance. That’s my choice, and it removes some stress such as when we are in Alaska and potentially in the food chain if we crash. On the other hand, I see too many aircraft come through the shop, or during a prebuy inspection, that have had poor maintenance performed on them and, in some cases, even a complete lack of maintenance. I’m amazed the accident rate isn’t higher, although I fear it could be as the nonbuilder-owners segment continues to grow.
One other area that I have seen as a potential cause for bad outcomes is the failure to preflight the pilot. Yes, you read that correctly. We are ingrained with the need to perform a proper preflight on the aircraft, but how about if we take the time to preflight ourselves as well. In a nutshell, make sure you are mentally and physically prepared to take on any extraneous pressures or distractions that might occur during the flight. If there are any, perhaps you should ask “Why am flying?” before taking off so your friends and family don’t have to ask “Why?” later. I guarantee it will keep the fun factor alive for everyone.
Vic Syracuse, EAA Lifetime 180848, is a commercial pilot, A&P/IA mechanic, designated airworthiness representative, and EAA flight advisor and technical counselor. He has built 11 aircraft and has logged more than 11,000 hours in 75 different types. Vic founded Base Leg Aviation, has authored books on maintenance and prebuy inspections, and posts videos weekly on his YouTube channel. He also volunteers as a Young Eagles pilot.