page 45 - American Bonanza Society

Safety Pilot By Thomas P. Turner
The Airshow Pass
From the NTSB:
The Beech V35B impacted trees
and terrain following a low pass
over a golf course near the intended
destination airport. The pilot and
three passengers were killed.
The airplane was destroyed in a
post-crash fire. The cross-country
flight departed about two hours
before. Visual meteor ological
conditions prevailed. Witnesses
reported that the airplane flew low
over the golf course, and then
pitched up and banked to the right
toward the airport. As the airplane
was banking to the right it suddenly
“dropped out of the air.”
NTSB Probable Cause:
The pilot’s failure to maintain
ade quate airspeed while maneuvering
for land ing, resulting in an
aerodynamic stall.
Through your windscreen the ground rolls into view, growing by
the instant with your extreme approach. Your airspeed indicator
spirals upward and, in seconds, you race along a few feet above
the ground, a smile on your face, and looks of amazement on
the faces of your passengers…who know not the dangers to which you’ve
exposed them. The end of the run rushes to meet you as you haul back
on the controls. Rolling into a steep bank, you complete what I call the
“airshow pass” – a classic high-speed flyby and steep turning pull-up flown
by dozens of pilots each day during the summer fly-in season.
The ground-bound crowds love the
airshow pass, too. They can vicariously
feel the rush of speed, sensed through
the rumble of your engine, the whine
of your propeller, and the flash as you
go by. The pull-up and bank maneuver
spotlights the capabilities of your
airplane, and spectators wish they
could be a great pilot like you.
It’s Always Fun Until…
Unfortunately, the airshow pass
leads to over 2% of all general aviation
accidents, according to AOPA.
Sure, two airshow pass accidents
for every one hundred GA accidents
is fairly small – until you consider
the miniscule amount of time spent
flying this maneuver. According to
42 AMERICAN BONANZA SOCIETY MAY 2013