Jeff and others,

      Even for high experience pilots this is one of the easier mistakes to make in VFR conditions.  That is to descend into the water VFR in clear conditions.  United Airlines has a Boeing 727 in the bottom of Lake Michigan that happened in VFR conditions at night with the city lights clearly visible. A turn can effect your visual perspective of height at night over large dark areas and cause the pilot to descend without proper separation with the Earth. Additionally UAL had a DC8 returning to California loose a 'fish' (a slightly streamlined weight used to string out a long HF antenna) after being cleared to 10,000 ft.  The loss of the fish caused them to notice their disastrously low altitude. and climb back to 10,000 this time.
    Airlines use altitude alerters religiously and all airliners in the USA have TAWS (now after some serious accidents and incidents) which is available both in the Chelton and GNS 530/430.  I have added TAWS to my LIV as it is a relative inexpensive safety addition.  A LIVPT that I an currently testing has the TAWS activated in the Chelton. We checked it and it works well, complete with better visual than Garmin.
       The recommendation of HPAT is a good recommendation but 100 hrs does not bring ultimate safety from these errors in operations.  CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) is a very real and serious problem and requires care, good procedures, and diligence.  TAWS does help.

Jack Webb
L360, LIV

AeroSpace Engineer BSAE
FAA Designated Check airman for C421, C404 & C310
ATP, CFI Airplanes & Instruments, Multi, & Sea
Numerous Jet Type Ratings
Experienced Experimental Test Pilot both multi and single engine aircraft
Former Chief Engineering Test Pilot for a Major Manufacturer
Chairman Turning Point of Paulding County

Ohio

VTAILJEFF@aol.com wrote:

Thanks, but I was looking for the Transport Safety Board report. Interesting to note that with EFIS equipped aircraft more and more information is available to be examined by the accident investigation team. The recent IVP turbine accidnet at Provo, UT was equipped with Chelton screens. Data was downloaded and provided the following information, (mind you, this is on the preliminary report):

 

...........
At 23:44:06, the aircraft began a right turn. Altitude was 4,977 feet, airspeed 197 knots and descent rate 1,300 fpm. As the right turn continued, the airspeed decayed.

The final data point was at 23:44:43, latitude 40:14.064 N, longitude 111:45.540 W. Heading was 332 degrees, altitude 4,567 feet, airspeed 123 knots and descent rate 1,300 fpm. {Jeff's note, the Provo field elevation is 4497' -- the last data point was at within 100' of splashdown.)

 

HPAT recommends that the BE NO night or IMC flying in the first 100 hours. The new owner of this turbine reportedly ignored that advice.

 

Jeff