About 80 percent of fatal, weather-related general aviation crashes in 1997 involved pilots restricted to visual flight VIDEO CNN's Kathleen Koch reports on the congressional hearing Windows Media 28K 80K

July 23, 1999
Web posted at: 4:51 p.m. EDT (2051 GMT)

From Reporter Kathleen Koch

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Do pilots have enough skills and information to handle changing weather conditions?

Some aviation experts expressed serious reservations Friday at a congressional hearing scheduled before the July 16 crash of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane.

Pilots seeking a basic private pilot's license receive some training on how to fly with only instruments as their guide, but they are not certified to do so.

Still, in 1997, 83 percent of fatal, weather-related general aviation accidents occurred when pilots restricted to visual flight -- like Kennedy -- encountered poor visibility.

"You can't regulate good judgment," said Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which represents private plane owners.

A non-attentive pilot, looking at a map, for example, might suddenly lose "complete sight of the horizon because they go into a cloud," he said.

Boyer recommended more pilot education.

"Greater awareness of how fast you can get disoriented if you allow the visual cues to evaporate is very, very important."

Pilots want better weather information in the cockpit to help them make sound decisions

Commercial pilots also make mistakes

Commercial pilots are not immune to disastrous errors during bad weather. On June 1, while landing in a severe thunderstorm in Little Rock, Arkansas, an American Airlines jet struck a tower and broke apart, killing 11 people.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, conducting a study at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in Texas, determined that many pilots flew into thunderstorms willingly. Most often they did so when they were late, were following other aircraft or flying at night.

Jim Hall, president of the National Transportation Safety Board, feels commercial as well as general aviation pilots need more training to help prevent weather-related accidents.

"There's got to be an increased emphasis on training of the operators, whether they be in ... commercial or general aviation," Hall said.

Pilots insist they need better weather information in the cockpit, not additional training.

Capt. Paul McCarthy of the Air Line Pilots Association said pilots don't always have the necessary information to make the "legitimate" decision to fly or not.

"We prove that by an accident every five or ten years. We do the best we can, but the best we can based on the information we have," he said.

Whether reforms will take place to address weather-related risks remains a cloudy subject. The Federal Aviation Administration is gradually improving weather radar systems, but has no plans to change training requirements for commercial or private pilots.

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