Jack Roush Crashes Plane in WI

[Excaliber]

It's obvious the pilot makes the final call, at some point he is COMMITED to the landing. From the reports we have so far, this was the case. A commitment was made to land and could not be aborted in time.

Pilot error is a very large percentage of all fatal crashes (I'm not sure of the percentage in non-fatal crashes), it's very easy to dismiss that as nothing more than "the guy screwed up, he's an idiot". It's not always that simple. At times there is SO much going on (planes landing, taking off, filling the sky, confusion reigns), so fast, pilots can be over whelmed by the input. Pilot error? Sure, thats a simple head line and usually accurate. Not always the whole truth, but usually accurate! Human limitations to react to over whelming data input is a known reality.

It's one of the primary reasons NASCAR has been working at slowing the cars down, particularly above 200 mph. Drivers report that it is simply humanly impossible to react quick enough to a developing situation at those speeds. Military pilots experience the same phenomen, over whelmed by input.

In the case of Osh Kosh I belive that is the fundamental problem here, over whelming input. It is SO easy to say, "He should have flown around and checked to see if it was clear." Uh huh, I'm sure he did! Call it pilot error? Sure, OK, but the REAL cause was more likely the intense activity and "competition" to fly to many planes, of varying size and performance, in to small an airspace. Pilot error could be well be yet another "cop out" that misses the point. That is particularly troubling, as I see it, to surviving family members in a fatal crash. "Dad screwed up and crashed." Well, it's not that simple.

...my son is a licensed pilot, currently in school seeking his commercial license.