A former student pilot in Quebec is facing criminal charges after he allegedly “put on a show” for friends at a house party and the Cessna 150G he was flying dove onto a car about 100 feet from the backyard gathering. Jean Frederic Pinard Decelles, 33, and his passenger were seriously injured in the crash in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Remi. The accident occurred almost three years ago, but Decelles was not charged until March 4. He was charged with dangerous flying and criminal negligence. There is no word on what action Transport Canada took. At a minimum he would have been cited for illegally carrying a passenger.
According to a Transportation Safety Board report issued at the time the aircraft flew over the party at low altitude after one of the dozen people attending called Decelles via video chat while he was flying “asking him to put on a ‘show'” for the group. “The aircraft began to fly in a steep nose-up attitude and then, after executing a manoeuvre that the investigation was unable to identify, ended up in a vertical descent,” the TSB report said. “The aircraft then severed power lines before crashing onto the roof of an automobile parked in the driveway of a house approximately 100 feet from the gathering.” The plane caught fire and the occupants had to be rescued by bystanders. The fire spread to the house and was put out by firefighters.
This should have been reported strictly in French…
I wonder how much money Transport Canada spent figuring out where each of those dents came from? They musta graduated from the NTSB School of Monetary Wastefulness.
There is no evidence that either Transport Canada or the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has spent questionable amounts of funding “figuring out where each of those dents came from.” The kind of emotively expressed sentiment in the original post risks damaging the credibility of the original poster and the wider pilot community.
Accident investigations require detailed analysis because seemingly small physical clues often reveal unexpected sequences of events that were hitherto obscured. That work ultimately prevents crashes that would otherwise be more likely if the industry did not have the knowledge produced by investigators.
I also find the phrase “NTSB School of Monetary Wastefulness” unfair. Based on my personal observations, the National Transportation Safety Board uses its budget pragmatically and effectively to identify safety lessons and improve aviation safety.
The work of organizations such as the NTSB and the TSB has prevented the deaths of countless pilots and passengers. I struggle to think of a better use of taxpayers’ money than saving lives. I’m grateful to the people who dedicate their careers to that work.
I would genuinely be interested to hear the reasoning from those who disagree.
Lemme see now … FIRST … do you understand what writing ‘sarcastically” or “tongue-in-cheek” means? If not, google it. SECOND … this knucklehead was buzzing his friends and crashed … explain to me how investigating it for THREE YEARS makes anyone’s flying safer? No amount of power point slides changes the cause or subsequently makes flying safer; it just wastes money. Finally … I’ve been aviating and wrenching for well over half a century … I don’t need a lecture on what the NTSB or any other accident investigation agency does. This investigation was a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. That was MY point.
Do you need me to make a power point slide show for you? Geesh!
As Paul would say “not good for aviation”.
There’s one in every crowd and sometimes two..
Still interesting. And as I reflect back on my many years of aviation, reminds me how many times my stupidity got lucky and dodged the bullet.
“A manoeuvre that the investigation was unable to identify”. Sounds like a good bit of my flying.
Hold my beer and watch this.