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RV6 - aircraft down - ASN Report - N30AK

A Van's RV-6, N30AK, was destroyed when it impacted roadway terrain south of Buchanan Field Airport (CCR/KCCR), Concord, California.
The sole pilot onboard sustained fatal injuries.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/351280

well, we don't know much about this one yet except a witness heard the engine sputtering before it came down quickly. Registered to ROMANSKI JACK. apparently, Jack liked to do pattern work and lots of it, round and round. patten work can be some of the riskiest flying because that phase of flight includes a lot of activity (including meeting the ground) and can be in close proximity to other aircraft. I'm sure Jack was good at it, as much as he practiced. the question is, why couldn't he conduct a safe glide landing to the field? did familiarity induce complacency? did he do a disservice to himself by "doing the same ole type of flying"? believe it or not, pushing into new and unfamiliar places from time to time is good for us.

Buchanan Field is surrounded by a densely populated area. I am at a loss of why he would choose to only fly patterns, over and over and over again... strange. airplanes are designed to take us places, fast.

A lot of touch and goes within the last couple of weeks....

this guy's flying style was so strange, I had to look as to a possible cause. all he did was fly the pattern over and over. round and round he goes. could it be that when things didn't go exactly as before, he may have become frozen. he may have been suffering from a familiarity syndrome. if you find you are flying the same ole path over and over, try doing something different. it's good for our brains. for flying, we need to be aware of our mental state.

we may one day call this type of flying the Buchanan Syndrome, since it occurred at Buchanan Field.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N30AK/history

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Mere-exposure effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect

The mere-exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop liking or disliking for things merely because they are familiar with them. In social psychology, this effect is sometimes called the familiarity principle. The effect has been demonstrated with many kinds of things, including words, Chinese characters, paintings, pictures of faces, geometric figures, and sounds.[1] In studies of interpersonal attraction, the more often people see a person, the more pleasing and likeable they find that person.

some additional study showed that this stimuli effect is reached after 10-20 exposures. that's about what he did, wait a couple days and repeat. I am sure if you had asked him to do anything different you would have been met with an excuse and resistance. he was locked in. a different kind of death spiral.

I read that a friend said his wife was not a fan of flying and didnt want him to go far. Not that it makes sense but we all do things for reasons. Some good, some not. Sad situation for all involved. He had lots of guys that knew him at his airport.

yep, wives try to protect their husbands but is it really in the best interest of the pilot? would the pilot be better off venturing out to new and unknown far-off places to stimulate the brain? in this case I believe Jack was experiencing an extreme case of Familiarity Syndrome, but since these cases are so rare, no one was able to detect it, they probably just thought it was strange. I hope this gets a case study by psychologists and his condition will probably be named the Buchanan Syndrome.

it does make me think, what if ADSB data was analyzed for each pilot and if it is determined that the pilot is falling into the Buchanan Syndrome, the FAA would send a letter to advise the pilot. the pilot's corrective action would be to do something new to break the familiarity cycle.

Here's a thought... when you fly, have a purpose. unless you are doing acrobatics or training, your track should be straight and precise according to the mission. don't wander about the sky, abruptly turning left and right, making goof ball ADSB tracks. if you have a problem and a FAA investigation ensures, at least you can say I was on a mission, going somewhere, not just wandering around the sky with no justifiable benefit to mankind.

In the case of N30AK, all he did was go round and round for months, possibly years, until he crashed into a car and ended in the middle of a traffic intersection. where is the benefit to mankind? it simply appears stupid. I do understand that this guy was probably suffering from a syndrome and is a rare case, but extreme cases can highlight a pattern. you really don't want to make the FAA appear to be stupid.