Name: The REAL Pilot Mistake That Got Dana Killed!
Uploaded: 2025-02-26T06:49:21.000Z
Duration: 17 min 47 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Okay, this time I'll be runway 4, turning left, 4252G.

That was Dana and those were her final words before she made a tragic mistake and crashed in a parking lot near the airport.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one on board and this tragedy never should have happened.

That's why I'm going to tell her story and explain the truth about the mistake that got

I'm Hoover and welcome to your Pilot Debrief.

Our story begins on the morning of June 9, 2016, when Dana Gray was getting ready to take a flight from Oklahoma City down to Houston, Texas.

Traveling with Dana was her husband, Tony, and they had just celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary.

Also on board the plane was Tony's brother, Jerry, who was just 27 years old.

And I think that one of the most tragic parts of the story is that the reason they were flying to Houston was to visit Tony and Jerry's father, who was undergoing cancer treatment.

The aircraft they were flying in was a 2012 Cirrus SR-20.

This is a very safe aircraft to fly because it's equipped with modern technology and one of the unique features of the aircraft is that it comes with a built-in parachute that

Dana can use in emergency, but we'll talk more about what happened with that later.

For right now, the main thing you need to know is they have plenty of fuel and the aircraft was within the weight and balance limits for the flight.

Additionally, the weather at the airport was VFR with broken clouds at 3,600 feet, but

Dana remained clear of the clouds and below the weather for her flight into Houston.

According to the investigation, Dana earned her private pilot certificate on May 2, 2014, and she had about 330 hours of total flight time with over 300 hours in the Cirrus SR-20.

However, one of the requirements for private pilots is that they accomplish a flight review at least once every 24 months, and at the time of the accident, Dana was overdue for this review by one month.

Even though the NTSB didn't list this as a contributing factor to the crash, I thought it was worth mentioning because perhaps that review might have made just enough difference to prevent this tragedy.

As Dana got ready for the flight, her plan was to fly into the Houston Hobby Airport located on the south side of Houston, Texas.

I think this was probably one of the first mistakes she made because the airport is in

Class B airspace and Dana had very little experience doing something like this.

In fact, the truth is Dana had only landed four times at airports located in Class B airspace over the last two years, and there was no evidence she had ever been into a Houston

The reason this is a problem for someone like Dana is because Class B airspace surrounds the busiest airports in America, and that means there's usually a lot of airliner traffic flying at much faster approach speeds than Dana was going to fly.

That means she needed to have a very solid understanding of how to get into the airport, the runway configuration, and any contingencies that might come up.

Specifically, the Houston Hobby Airport at the time of the tragedy had four runways.

The winds were out of the east, and that meant all of the airliners were landing on runway 04.

Now, there was nothing wrong with Dana planning to land on runway 04, but if there was too much airliner traffic, then she needed to be ready to land on runway 35 since that was the runway more commonly used by smaller airplanes.

I think a much better option for Dana would have been for her to land at the Sugar Land

Regional Airport, and that way she could have stayed below the Class B airspace and she wouldn't have to worry about the airliners.

That might mean driving an extra 45 minutes after she landed, but I can promise you that drive would have been a lot less stressful than what Dana had to go through.

The truth is that most of the flight was uneventful as they made their way down to Texas, but as soon as Dana was told to contact the tower controller, that's when things started to go wrong.

Number 2 following a 737 on a 3-mile final.

Number 2 following the Boeing runway 04, clear to land.

Cirrus 5252G, maintain maximum forward to the speed of stable and proceed to direct the numbers.

The 737 is on a 9-mile final following you for the 80 knot overtake.

Okay, I'll proceed direct to the numbers and keep the speed up.

Dana was cleared to land on runway 04, and when the controller told her to proceed direct to the numbers, he meant for her to point straight at the end of the runway.

And that's because he was trying to sequence her between a couple of 737s that were also trying to land on runway 04.

One of those airliners is 80 knots faster and rapidly closing in on her, and this is exactly the type of contingency that she needed to be prepared for in Class B airspace, and it's always going to happen when you least expect it.

Now pay attention to what happens next and the timing of the radio calls.

Just go around and fly runway heading now.

I'm going to put you back in a downwind for runway 35.

We'll do go around and line up for runway 35.

Fly runway heading for runway 404 right now.

First of all, I don't think there was anything wrong with the controller telling Dana to go around.

Technically, he could have told the 737 to go around, but runway 35 was available and it was common practice for the tower to switch smaller aircraft over to that runway.

That said, when the controller asked Dana if she could accept that, did you notice how she responded without any hesitation?

The truth is what she should have said is standby.

Because at that point, she was still about a mile from runway 4 and there was no reason to rush things.

She needed to think about the fact that the winds were 090 at 13 gusting to 18 knots.

That meant if she was going to land on runway 35, then she'd have almost a direct crosswind of up to 18 knots and a tailwind of about 3 knots.

If that was something she wasn't comfortable with or it exceeded the limits of the aircraft, all she had to say was unable.

And chances are the tower controller would have sent her back to approach control to be re-sequenced for runway 4 and this mishap never would have happened.

452G, when able, go ahead and make a right downwind now for runway 35 and then we'll just go ahead and keep that right turn runway 35 clear to land.

Okay, make a right downwind for runway 35.

452G, yes, and just keep the right turn all the way around.

You're just going to roll right into the base for runway 35, clear to land.

I've got another 737 on 5 mile final to runway 4 and you're going to be in front of him.

Okay, 552G, yeah, let's just enter the right downwind for runway 35.

This is where the downwind leg for runway 35 should be and Dana was probably confused because she wasn't prepared and maybe unfamiliar with runway 35.

She was only about 500 feet above the ground so all he wanted her to do was fly past runway 35 and make a turn to keep the pattern tight so that way she could land on runway 35 before another 737 landed on runway 4.

However, I think the controller eventually realized that spacing wasn't going to work and that's why he just said enter the downwind and I'll call your base.

This is what I'm talking about when it comes to the challenges of flying a small plane in Class B airspace.

You have to be ready for it, but more importantly, if you're not, then you need to speak up and tell the controller, stand by or enable.

You need to aviate, navigate, then communicate.

Fly the plane first, figure out what you're doing and where you're going, and then talk to the controller.

But instead of doing that, Dana started the turn downwind.

Cirrus 5-2-G, 737, that's your 2 o'clock and 3 miles at 900 feet inbound for runway 4, advise that traffic in sight.

Cirrus 5-2-G, make a right base behind that traffic, runway 35, clear to land, you're going to be following them, they're going to be landing across the runway prior to your arrival.

We'll make a right base following them, 4-2-5-2-G, 4-3-5.

When Dana started the turn to the downwind, she should have rolled out pointing south, but instead she kept turning until she was heading about 2-2-0, which is essentially on a downwind leg for runway 4.

He verified she had the 737 in sight, but then look at what he said next.

He wanted her to start a turn to land on runway 3-5 after the 737 landed on runway 4.

Dana just didn't have enough experience to understand what was going on.

And the bottom line is if things get confusing, you need to ask the controller what they want you to do, because when you don't, things are going to get worse.