The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute (ASI) has released a new episode of its popular Accident Case Study video series.
The latest video in the series, Accident Case Study: Into Thin Air, recreates the events that led a Beechcraft Bonanza G36 to crash shortly after departing Aspen, Colorado, on its way to the pilots’ East Coast home base.
“Density altitude affects every airplane. We are taught about it, but it’s an abstract concept until we experience it in context,” said ASI Senior Vice President Richard McSpadden. “The Bonanza’s encounter with high-density altitude—an inherent hazard in high terrain that significantly degrades aircraft performance—coupled with deceptively upsloping terrain left no escape for the two flatland pilots attempting to fly up and over an unknown canyon.”
Accident Case Studies use FAA air traffic control radio communication transcripts, National Transportation Safety Board documentation, and video animation to recreate the dynamics, and track each accident’s chain of events. The videos share critical lessons to help pilots recognize and avoid similar mistakes.
