VFR Pilot Flew Into Clouds, Lost Control

The case of a VFR pilot who flew with his friend into clouds and crashed six years ago is winding its way through the courts in Michigan this week. The widow of the passenger who died is suing the federal government because she claims that the pilot, Daniel Wood, was given an incomplete and inaccurate briefing when he stopped to check with flight service.

Wood was flying with his friend James Srock back to Pontiac, Michigan from a Florida trip.

The Detroit news reports Wood landed in Georgia to get a weather briefing, and the government says the weather briefer gave all the information she was asked to. Srock's widow says the briefer did not apprise her husband's pilot of all the weather risks ahead of him, including possible thunderstorms. The briefer was decertified from giving pilot briefings after the accident and given remedial training.

Wood was flying his experimental Seawind 3000 when he and his passenger flew into clouds over Virginia.  He evidently lost control of the aircraft under IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) and crashed, killing both passengers.

The government brought in astronaut "Hoot Gibson" to testify the VFR-rated Wood should never have flown into the clouds. "It is a (visual flight rule) pilot's responsibility to avoid clouds, regardless of what they've been told by the weather briefer," Gibson said in court.

Srock's widow Theresa, upset that government lawyers tried to portray him as reckless, told the Detroit News, "He was adventurous; he wasn't a risk-taker," she said outside the courtroom. "He loved life."

The family of the lost pilot, Daniel Wood, is not participating in the lawsuit.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov