Dan Gryder vs. Air Safety

[Fordiesel69]

Can someone help clarify something. Dan has mentioned many times he does not respect, "Air Safety". On one of his videos when he was approached by the employees of air saftey at the shows you can tell by his attitude that he is disgusted with many things about how that organization operates.

I was curious if this is the same organization as AOPA or the youtube channel "Air Safety Institute" with all the videos with Richard McSpadden?

I am mostly certain it is. If it is, what is his issue with them? I am not skilled enough in aviation to understand all of it, but I really enjoy learning as much as I can.

 

[Astro14]

I’ve never heard of either, so… I’m not much help. I like to think I know a bit about aviation.

 

[Astro14]

A bit of Googling - He’s a YouTube “personality” with a history of crashing airplanes and offers his obnoxious opinion on aviation safety. A lousy pilot who wants to be an “influencer”.

No thanks. Give me Juan Brown for analysis. Blancolirio channel is excellent.

 

[Fordiesel69]

I really do like some of his content, and honestly at one time would have been interested in flying his DC3. Its my favorite aircraft..

But the funds it would take to get the min student pilot cert just to be able to fly his would be too much.

 

[MRC01]

A bit of Googling - He’s a YouTube “personality” with a history of crashing airplanes and offers his obnoxious opinion on aviation safety. A lousy pilot who wants to be an “influencer”.

No thanks. Give me Juan Brown for analysis. Blancolirio channel is excellent.

I agree and I'll add that his amateur armchair analysis has gotten himself involved at least one lawsuit.

 

[E365]

Someone once referred to Dan Gryder as the Alex Jones of the aviation community. It wasn’t meant as a compliment…

 

[Dave Hess]

I think he mentioned in one of his videos he was flying for Delta before retiring.

He visits various crash sites which I find interesting.

 

[E365]

On at least one occasion he was arrested and subsequently suspended from Delta for shutting down a small airport for 45 minutes, essentially threatening to kill cops and demanding fuel from the police & airport so he could flee the scene in his Dc-3. Guy is a scumbag and a nut job.

Pilot Arrested After Airport Incident

A well-known Georgia pilot was arrested and jailed Wednesday after an incident at Griffin Spalding Airport near Atlanta.

www.avweb.com

Delta suspends pilot held in Georgia plane incident

Delta Air Lines Inc said on Thursday it has suspended a pilot who was charged with attempting to run down police officers with his private plane at a metro-Atlanta airport.

www.reuters.com

Delta suspends jailed pilot

Delta Air Lines has suspended a pilot while officials investigate charges he tried to run over two Griffin police officers with his private plane.

www.ajc.com

He also just received a $1M judgement against him in a defamation lawsuit.

Texas court orders YouTuber to pay for defamation

Online allegations found false by a Texas court have left YouTube personality Dan Gryder with a seven-figure judgement he now owes to a Texas pilot and airport owner.

www.aopa.org

 

[Cujet]

On at least one occasion he was arrested and subsequently suspended from Delta for shutting down a small airport for 45 minutes, essentially threatening to kill cops and demanding fuel from the police & airport so he could flee the scene in his Dc-3. Guy is a scumbag and a nut job.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but Dan did none of those things. The local authorities had a beef with him, and "trumped" up some charges. He had video of his activities on the days in question, all 100% normal and legit.

Something I've noticed, many of the safety guru's end up in crashes. It may be they feel they have a corner on safety, they fly more, or more varied equipment, etc. I don't have any answers. Like many pilots, I do want to know what caused the crash and learn from it.

My opinion is simple, humans make mistakes, technology can be of some help if properly implemented. A private pilot friend recently used the "save me" button on his autopilot. Got in over his head. That feature saved his life.

 

[Cujet]

McSpadden crashed a Cardinal 177RG just like mine. They did not stall (good) as they tried to turn back to the airport. The airplane hit an incline while still flying normally. Unfortunately, the landing gear was down.

I can tell you that the 177RG's L/D is less than 9 to 1 with gear down, under the very best of conditions, and more like 6 to 1 with flaps and gear down. Yet, with gear and flaps up, it can be as high as 15 to 1 if the prop is pulled to low RPM.

The bottom line is the McSpadden 177RG would easily have made the airport with gear up. As it is quite a sleek plane when clean. No struts, sleek fuselage, gear tucked up fully.