Pilot Taking Selfies Crashes in Colorado

A Cessna 150K registration N6275G, crashed near the Front Range Airport in Watkins, Colorado, on Saturday 31 May 2014. The reason, pilot distraction, but a very particular one. Don't forget to sub and like for more flight reconstructions!

[@paulw4310]

EVERYTHING about those two deaths was pathetically needless. Thankfully, he didn't spin it into a house full of people.

[@Mrbfgray]

It's all good as long as it winds up on KZbin.

[@samuraiwarriorsunite]

That first passenger didn't realize how lucky they were.

[@GBEdmonds-j1i]

I'll bet that first passenger was soooooo thankful it wasnt him, but soooo freaked out!! That time when taking selfies and pictures from your plane when everything else you're responsible for is optional!? What a waste of life. RIP.

[@michaelosgood9876]

Cant believe a pilot can have 700+ hours and have his airplane so out of trim...

[@MarkT36]

My first thoughts as well. I venture to guess that he never reset the trim after landing when they swapped passengers for the next take off.

[@wjatube]

Aviate, Navigate, Communicate and well below this list is taking selfies.

[@robbob5318]

And Fly all the way through the crash....

[@kenharbin3440]

I found the list 1. Navigate 2. Aviate 3. Communicate . . . 976. Take selfies

[@wjatube]

@@kenharbin3440 🤣 👍

[@pyme495]

750 feet...... taking his hands off of the controls and his attention off of flying. Did I mention he did this at 750 feet?? Amazing........

[@aikibaby]

The title says he crashed “OVER COLORADO.” But I don’t think you can crash “over” a place. You can only crash “into” a place.

[@tango6nf477]

Oooh you Pedant 🤣🤣

[@hrdley911]

It would seem like the aircraft was not properly trimmed as well. Sad getting killed for some photos.

[@AC-te9dr]

Happens with cars crashes all the time . People are ok with it i guess but whatever floats their boat

[@ameperdue6953]

There needs to be a MATURITY test/exam prior to obtaining a pilot licence.

[@wendym.7648]

Exactly, this guy was 29…..not qualified for night flights with passengers…..probably thought he was indestructible.

[@jugheadjones5458]

Flash would do absolutely nothing to light up the ground at the distance they were from the ground. It could have contributed to night blindness.

[@edhilton1623]

Sometimes turning on the flash enables other settings that improve low-light photography.

[@andredarin8966]

That doesn't explain his decision to fly at night given the NTSB found he did not meet the requirements for carrying passengers at night. I'm guessing a deep dive into this guy's background would indicate he was something of a "scofflaw".

[@cabinetdecuriositestechniq3059]

There are drunk selfies, bed selfies, bathroom selfies, gym selfies, funeral selfies...

[@terrykissell1633]

Guessing he won't try that again.

[@KongKingman]

Great channel straight and to the point…

[@7CharlesV]

Coulda been a little "straighter" to the point.

[@TheRealNatNat]

A stall at 750 feet..... enough said.. 💀

[@jgbaugh]

Who can’t recover from a stall at 750 feet? He just wasn’t even paying attention.

[@TheRealNatNat]

@@jgbaugh true but 750 feet is low. I remember when I took my license a long time ago, we had to train how to recover from a stall and for that we climbed at a high altitude (as high as possible anyway)

[@andredarin8966]

@@jgbaugh Yeah. I put my kid into them at 2,500 agl in a 150 and he can recover within a los of 300'-400'. Then, again, he knows it's coming. My guess is that this guy had lost several hundred feet of altitude during the "WTF" phase.

[@acts29today]

Smart phone but not smart pilot

[@jamesnewberry1191]

Selfies are more important than life itself !

[@annsheridan12]

A Cessna is screaming at you before it stalls to say nothing about the stall warning.

[@randalbloomquist7812]

Darwin awards awarded.

[@kenclark9888]

Believe it or not there are stupider ones

[@rocketman4438]

Hard to stall a Cessna 150, it's one of the most forgiving airplanes flying. Pilot must have really been distracted.

[@mastercraftsman4213]

Something tells me the passenger was an attractive female

[@maurice7413]

Nope, male keyboard player.

[@owenmerrick2377]

Darwin at work on a flightdeck. This incident pretty much covers the 'unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect'.

[@dbcrn859]

Seems the aircraft wasn't trimmed properly after takeoff.

[@oneworldawakening]

Beautiful recreation!

[@neohabilis7412]

Darwin strikes again

[@timduggan1461]

The NTSB Report stated IMC conditions? Then they weren't getting "views". Unless he was scud running under an overcast...hence low AGL. AND, yes...using a flash at night is damned stupid. You are trying to photograph the city lights! But, the PIC's inattention is inexcusable. Classic stall/spin. I have intentionally spun a 150 many times...easy to recover with enough altitude.

[@pyme495]

Yep, and 750 feet isn't enough of it.

[@andredarin8966]

@@pyme495 It could be enough, unless those 750 hours were just padding towards an ATP and he adroitly managed to rack them up with a pilot in the right seat who could get him out of trouble. We'll never know.

[@johnschneider4160]

Personally, I think they were trying to capture their initiation into the "mile high club!" 😮

[@maurice7413]

Not unless they were gay, the passenger and pilot were both male.

[@jerrycallo]

You can do that on the ground in Denver

[@johnschneider4160]

Which made it even more difficult to accomplish!😛👍🏻

[@maurice7413]

@@johnschneider4160 I'll take your word for it.

[@johnschneider4160]

@@jerrycallo Is it legal there now! We're still puckered tight in Mormonland!

[@andredarin8966]

I'm going to go hard-line, here: 700+ hours + complacency + knowingly skirting the regs+ failing to trim the airplane for level flight + taking selfies at 700' AGL is murder.

[@megadavis5377]

So, the problem wasn’t that he was taking selfies; he could’ve been distracted by a number of things…The problem was that he did not know how to recover from a stall.

[@andredarin8966]

...or just froze.

[@trumpsmessage7777]

Did he text anyone on the ground he was taking selfies?

[@davidmccann9811]

The world changed when we put cameras on phones, mostly for the worse.

[@robbob5318]

Lacking common sense

[@bugnut82]

Good videos but couldn't help but notice that your math is wrong for every airplanes age

[@trumpsmessage7777]

I wonder how many young commercial pilots take selfies with hundreds of passengers on-board?

[@grimandproper]

Airlines have very strict rules regarding cell phone use. Typically it is forbidden, except for maybe in cruise with certain stipulations.

[@dburton7929]

Is anyone surprised, just look around at all of the people around you, that are so self absorbed they can’t even pay attention to what is going on around them.

[@brandonmcheyenehoward1077]

Seems to be the modern air rules, record first, fly second, navigate third

[@brandond73]

Why does he have flaps down?

[@scotabot7826]

Old boy should be in a full stall holding full up elevator like that. You sure he's a pilot?

[@pierrelarocque3214]

Scan the instruments. Always.

[@Bren39]

Unnecessarily long and stretched out video. You could have started at 04:00

[@30yearsfuelingbigjets]

how can a pilot (I'm one too) be sooooo irresponsible?

[@theargonauts8490]

Dan Gryder’s first crash?

[@Nobilangelo]

Selfie not safely makes crashie.

[@AvgDude]

Cause of crash: stupidity.

[@coolmig27]

I thought that airplane had some sort of autopilot before he let go of the controls... everything happened quite fast..!!

[@eucliduschaumeau8813]

Clearly a case of GFIT Goofball Flight Into Terrain.

[@guinnog2]

Look! No hands...

[@garysmith5256]

Social darwinism at work. Too bad it had to take a passenger also.

[@maurice7413]

The passenger was part of the problem.

[@infidel6728]

When it crashed it was no longer over Colorado.

[@irasemamendez95]

You are right, it's under Colorado 😅

[@wjatube]

@@infidel6728 "Pilot Crashes While Taking Selfies Over Colorado."

[@kenclark9888]

With that DA a 150K would be near or over limits. Also an illegal pilot doing stupid stuff. Not to speak ill of the dead but this guy was an accident in waiting it happened and he took someone with him

[@captainsoftheazulcarrib7491]

😢

[@southpakrules]

247

[@jcran8352]

could we actually get something in the same decade??????????????????????????

[@AC-te9dr]

Oops

[@rapman5791]

🤦‍♂️

[@MeaHeaR]

Sillyhé Bhilléy Múŕřiķáń 😟😰😩😟😩😩😧😦😦😥😳😵😶😳😳

[@scottmoseley5122]

playback speed 2x thank me later

[@Koenigsegg_boi]

First also please hi please notice me

[@MPCFlights]

Hey!

[@Lauriedriver]

Get a life.

[@Koenigsegg_boi]

@TrollBot-r8f?

[@Koenigsegg_boi]

@@Lauriedriver?

[@davidmotter5140]

The age of the airplane has zero to do with anything

[@mbarnlund]

Is there not some kind of rudimentary autopilot that could have been engaged? Poor sap was thinking with the wrong head.

[@maurice7413]

Not unless he was gay.

[@michaelosgood9876]

Manual flight was all that was required. If you can't fly the plane manually, as you should be able to with 700+ hours, then where's the joy of going flying in the first place. ..

[@michaelosgood9876]

​@@maurice7413😂😂! Oops