It is the moment in aviation that scares me the most.

The reason: you’ve just lost all of your options.  And more.

Much more.

It’s the unfortunate circumstance nine people suddenly faced over the Hudson River last weekend – horrifically captured on video – after a Piper Lance and a loaded tour helicopter met at the right place at the wrong time.

It is an outcome with no odds.

Honestly, I’d rather lose an engine.  Have smoke in the cockpit.  Even a fire.  Or hit a piece of granite at 200 knots without knowing it.

Because the last time I looked, there was no emergency checklist for a midair collision.  And those last 1,000 feet of flight in a wingless or rotor-less aircraft can’t come fast enough.

This is sure to spark more interest in airframe parachutes.

But for those of us flying in planes built before that bright idea, there is no save.  Just prevention.

Technology can help.  Traffic avoidance systems and the much talked-about but little-used ADS-B will surely get a bump from its boosters following this crash.

But technology can also hurt, especially when those glass panels are pretty enough to keep your head down, not up and outside.

Air traffic controllers provide a second set of eyes.  But they didn’t matter here, and they haven’t always helped before.

In the end, avoiding this point-of-no-return moment is all about you.

Know where you are.  Know who’s around you.  Know who might be around you.  And most importantly, be darn sure you know who might not know that you’re around them.

Because at the moment of impact, it’s already too late.

Chris Archer Blogs by Archer ADS-B, airframe parachute, Hudson River, impact picture, midair collision, midair crash video, moment of impact, piper lance, tour helicopter

Cessna’s foray into the Light Sport Aircraft world isn’t getting off to a good start.

The company’s new Skycatcher has hit dirt again during a test flight, the second such crash for the plane marketed towards student pilots and those looking for a low-cost starter aircraft.

No one yet knows what caused this latest crash, but we do know one thing worked this time: the airframe parachute.  It floated the plane into a field, although obviously not right side-up.

Latest Skycatcher Crash

During the first crash, the test pilot actually had to bail out after getting himself into an unrecoverable spin, and use his backpack parachute when the plane’s didn’t pop.

Cessna quickly enlarged the tail, and didn’t waste any time putting its own spin – pardon the pun – on this latest crash, pointing out that test flights involve extreme maneuvers not used during regular flights.

Fine.  But, an LSA targeted at student pilots needs to be extremely forgiving, inherently stable, and certainly able to recover from a mistake at a safe altitude.  I say something is amiss.

Afterall, we’re not in the dawn of flight.  Haven’t computers solved design flaws of years past?

Take the Boeing 777, for example.  It was designed by digits, and it was absolutely tested to the max, but as far as I know, it never crashed before going into service – and the only accident since had to do with its engines, not some airframe problem.

Has Cessna rushed too quickly into the LSA market?

And it doesn’t help our confidence knowing the Skycatcher will soon be churned-out in China, far from the watchful eyes of the Cessna experts in Kansas.

Nonetheless, my flight school and hundreds of others across the country are now waiting to find out if their first 162s will sprinkle their flightlines this year, as promised.

I’d say break your promise, Cessna, and figure this out before it kills someone.

Chris Archer Uncategorized airframe parachute, boeing 777, Cessna 162, Cessna Skycatcher, china, N162CE, test flight crash, test pilot