Makin' Movies with the NTSB and Dan Gryder

This was a crash in which a young pilot was killed whilst trying to land at the Municipal airfield in Burley, Idaho.

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After I posted The Evolution of Air Traffic Control Procedures YouTube showed me Dan Gryder's investigation into Why Brittney Infanger Pushed on the Yoke And Broke Minimums. Dan's finding was that this was because a potato processing plant needed to build a higher smokestack to comply with EPA regulations, and this caused the FAA to switch off the VASI system, because the approach was unsafe, but no changes were made to the FAA charts and there was no advisory to pilots (NOTAM). Dan's video is blocked from embedding by the copyright holder (UMPG) for the song.

Here are some of the posts I made in 2022:

• Juan Browne on A Fatal UPS Cargo Plane Crash in Idaho 
• Juan Browne With More On The Cessna Caravan Crash at Burley, Idaho 
• Juan Browne on the FAA Procedures At The Burley Airport in Idaho
• Dan Gryder on Trent Palmer, Brittney Infanger and Airborne Animal Rescue

Then a full two years later, Juan Browne posted this after the NTSB released their final report:

9:04 On the Garmin GPS data cards and the ADAS and where they were found. So how did they know she pushed on the yoke? 12:21 Don't miss this bit! 

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Whilst looking for this report, I noticed another earlier accident in 2011 on take-off: https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/81481/pdf

Witnesses reported that during the takeoff, the airplane lifted off about three-quarters of the way down the runway. The landing gear was retracted and almost immediately, about 75 feet above ground level, the airplane entered a left turn and began to descend. The left descending turn continued to ground impact. On the day of the accident, the airplane was operating in high density altitude conditions, and was taking off with a tailwind of about 6 to 10 knots. The airplane was loaded at, or very near to, its maximum allowable takeoff weight. (The takeoff weight was estimated to be within 50 pounds, plus or minus, of its maximum takeoff gross weight of 4,000 pounds.) The combination of the high density altitude, the tailwind, and the high gross weight most likely resulted in the pilot not being able to maintain altitude once the vertical component of the lift vector was reduced as a result of the bank angle during the left turns, which ultimately lead to the descent into the terrain. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of a mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation. 

This was in 2011. The fact that the pilot immediately retracted the gear and turned suggests that maybe he was taking off into the smoke stacks of the potato processing plant. Listen to Dan and Doug from 14:31 to at least 15:43.

It seems even the potato processing industry can capture the NTSB and the FAA.