Pilot Error: Anatomy of a Plane Crash (Hardcover)

~ Phaedra Hise (Author) "SIXTEEN YEARS OF TELLING PILOTS where to go and air traffic controller David Loring had never lost and airplane..." (more)
Key Phrases: possible downed aircraft, navigational radios, radar room, Coast Guard, Cape Cod, Zero Zero Lima (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An experienced pilot fails to reach his destination. A frantic search ends when his body washes ashore. What went wrong?

 Examines and re-creates the fateful events of an expert pilot’s crash off Cape Cod

 Reveals the hidden dangers of flight that challenge even the most skilled pilots

 Delivers a gripping narrative that puts the reader in the cockpit of a plane that faces imminent disaster

On Friday, October 9, 1998, Ron Sinzheimer left his downtown Albany law office and drove to the airport. Once there, he loaded a weekend bag, a few household items, and the family dog into the back of his single-engine Grumman Traveler airplane. He took off to join his wife for a weekend at the family vacation home on Cape Cod. The weather report had not been promising, but Sinzheimer, an experienced pilot, had flown this route many times and felt confident that he could make the two-hour flight to Provincetown despite the ominous forecast. He never arrived. In Pilot Error, Phaedra Hise delivers a brilliant and lucid account of this true story. She follows the Coast Guard’s daring search-and-rescue attempt, draws insight from her own experience as a pilot, analyzes what was uncovered by the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, interviews other pilots who are all too familiar with the hazardous flying conditions off Cape Cod, and talks with friends and family members of the victim. This book reveals how even a well-trained pilot can easily slip into trouble, with one seemingly insignificant mistake leading to another and setting off a deadly chain of events.

About the Author

PHAEDRA HISE, as both a pilot and freelance journalist, is in a unique position to tell the story of Ronald Sinzheimer’s fatal flight. She has an instrument rating and has spent years flying along the same routes that Sinzheimer traveled on his last flight. Her articles have appeared in Salon, Forbes, the Boston Herald, Glamour, and several other publications. Hise has also been a staff writer for Inc. Magazine. Her previous books are 301 Great Ideas for Managing Technology and Growing Your Business Online: Small Business Strategies for Working the World Wide Web. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 1 edition (March 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574883259
• ISBN-13: 978-1574883251
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #180,959 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cape Cod is not the most dangerous place to fly into, April 28, 2002

By	"michaeleve" (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

But sometimes it seems that way and for New York lawyer Ron Sinzheimer, on October 9, 1998, it was beyond dangerous, it was deadly. There aren't any more General Aviation accidents here than other parts of the country and there's nothing particularly stunning about this one so there's little reason to remember it. A man and the family dog in a single engine Grumman Traveler flying into the Cape to link up with his wife and son at their vacation home. Because I remember this accident, live nearby in Brewster, and it speaks to something of keen interest to me, my perception of the book may be quite colored and thus this "five-star" review. Nevertheless Phaedra Hise has written a compelling story that will be of interest to a much broader audience than GA pilots and people who live on the Cape.

The challenges associated with flying to and from the Cape are all to do with weather, specifically fog and haze. That means "instrument flight rules" and talking about flying as different from "visual flight rules" as night is from day. Besides the personal tragedy to the Sinzheimer family, the thrust of Hise's book is that once a pilot has lost visual reference to the horizon things very quickly begin to unwind. It takes a sharp pilot to sort out the conflict between what his senses say - "i'm turning" - and what the instruments read - wings are level. PILOT ERROR is too innocuous a description for the multitude of things (mostly bad) that are taking place in such situations. Sometimes the various instruments seem to be contradicting each other and you must fight the panic that comes when your mind screams that it needs a visual reference in order to understand.

Hise could have used a famous case that everyone would have remembered in order to get across her message that instrument flight rules are a critical skill for any GA pilot. The struggle with understanding what his instruments were telling him was the same for John F Kennedy Jr when he was flying through haze on the way to Martha's Vineyard in 1999. Using his flight would have meant focusing on him rather than where the real story is - five small instrument dials, that GA pilots must be absolutely familiar with - lest we become an accident statistic or the subject of a powerfully descriptive and very well written book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A smart read about a bad ride, April 26, 2002

By	"deanhkng" (United States) - See all my reviews

In Pilot Error, Phaedra Hise masterfully recreates on the page the lone-pilot crash of Ron Sinzheimer, en route to Cape Cod from Albany on a cloud-bound Friday night. A pilot herself and a deft writer, Hise spins a taught story of the bad weather, bad luck, hubris and random events that ensnared the star lawyer in his tragic flight. At the same time she informs readers on the roles of the many professionals who make America's air traffic as remarkably safe as it is. Hise has created a moving and enlightening vignette that avoids melodrama even in the gut-wrenching scenes where Sinzheimer's wife, Marsha, slowly comes to grips with the fact that her husband is not coming home. The book ultimately makes his fate more than just another forgotten human tragedy. Hise should be commended. At the same time, Pilot Error is a read you put down only when you need to take a deep breath and whisper to yourself, "There but for the grace of God . . . ." After reading this book, those of us who ride behind the cockpit will never take our crew or air traffic controllers for granted again.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Did Phaedra get it wrong?, February 10, 2006

By	David L. Sanford "David Sanford" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pilot Error: The Anatomy of a Plane Crash (Paperback)

The author did a superb job in researching and documenting all the events leading up to this crash. However, as an instrument rated pilot familiar with the Provincetown approaches and similar small planes, it is apparent to me that Phaedra missed the root cause of this accident. Without revealing what Phaedra believes happened, I believe that she has overlooked the simplest explanation of all, which is that Sinzheimer never used his VOR-ILS instruments to fly the ILS-7 Provincetown approach, but instead used his much newer GPS (with moving map display) to fly an illegal "pilot improvised approach". I say this because the simplest explanation for why the primary VOR was not found tuned to the ILS-7 approach frequency is that he had never set it to that frequency in the first place. The GPS would not provide glideslope (vertical) guidance, so his logical work-around was to drop down to 100 feet and skim along the water inbound to the airport. Provincetown was a tempting spot to try this because it sits at an elevation of 8 feet above sea level and there aren't any tall obstructions anywhere near by. The problem with this technique (besides being illegal) is that flying at 100' above the water in poor visibility is very tricky. Under these weather conditions, there wouldn't be any visual references outside the cockpit with which to control the plane visually until he was less than a mile from the airport. Alternatively, flying on instruments at 100 feet above the water is theoretically possible, but I would not want to bet my life on my ability to do it. It appears to me that this is exactly what Sinzheimer did. Read the book and see what you think.