Sad news to report (crash/fatality)
 

I heard about this earlier today. My condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Schilleci. If I hear anything else I'll certainly let you know.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4682657.html



April 2, 2007, 8:03PM
Pilot dies in plane crash in Sinton
? 2007 The Associated Press
SINTON, Texas ? A Spring Branch man died Monday when his single-engine airplane crashed near the San Patricio County Airport west of Sinton.

The Department of Public Safety identified the crash victim as Scott James Schilleci.

Trooper Eric Jimenez said in his report that Schilleci made two passes above the runway before the plane crashed at the east end of the runway. Heavy fog was reported in the area at the time of the crash and may have contributed to the crash, according to the trooper's report.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

Schilleci owned a Vans Aircraft RV-6, a low-wing, home-built airplane that features two side-by-side seats.

Casey Rubey, manager of Kestral Airpark, said in a story in Tuesday's editions of The Herald-Zeitung that Schilleci was a professional pilot and was very responsible. "I can't believe this has happened," Rubey said.

Whoa... holy cr@p. I knew Scott; he was a fellow CAL pilot, Houston based B737 captain. He had a house and hangar at Kestrel Airpark N of San Antonio and ran a pool construction business on the side. Wife and two teenage kids as I recall...

I flew the entire month of May last year with him; he was a good guy to work and fly with and was very proud of his RV-6, a nice red/gold QB built in less than a year. He was a reserve MD-80 driver at the time, on call and not flying much, plenty of spare time to hammer out an RV.

Sad news...

Very sad indeed....

I own a runway lot at Kestrel, and every time I land there, I have friendly future-neighbors come up to say hi and welcome me to the field. I'm so bad with names and faces, but I would be surprised if I hadn't met him along the way....

My condolences to his family and friends.

Paul

Funeral Info for Scott Schilleci
 

...this forwarded to me by a friend of the family...asked to publish here.

> For those of you who aren't aware, Scott Schilleci was taken from us on
> Monday morning when he crashed his plane in South Texas. The family has
> asked me to notify neighbors and to give details for his service. At
> 11:30 Thursday morning a church service will be held at the Cibolo Creek
> Community Church. This church is located off of FM 3351 (Ralph Fair Rd)
> and their phone # is 210-698-5417

Wow, that really hits home. I live on the north end of the Kestrel runway and was out in my driveway and saw him take off. The weather was overcast and light drizzle. I thought to myself not a great day to fly, I guess he has to be somewhere.

Terrible news. Seemed like a nice enough guy.

Some questions?
 

So sad to hear about this. Can I ask some questions?

He was a professional pilot - how many hours would he likely have had? How much GA or RV experience would he have had?

How might his plane have been equipped for IFR? Did anyone get to see his cockpit?

The reason I ask is to try and gauge what kind of IFR flying does and does not make sense for someone like me with a whole lot less experience. I am getting the idea that doing more than climbing through a layer to VFR above or descending to VFR below with ceilings greater than 2000 AGL is all that I am likely ever to be able to do safely.

Again, condolences to his friends and family.

--John Babrick

NTSB
 

Check the NTSB reports, it all will be in there. Usually initial report is out in a week or two, final factual report comes out in a year or so.

In regards to you question about can you fly IFR? Well that is a good question to ask one's self. Really only you can know that answer. Are you IFR rated now? The RV is a capable IFR plane and in some ways very good for IFR, in that its fast and responsive and maneuverable. However those Pros are the same things that can be a Con to a newbie RV/IFR pilot.

You talk about stratus penetration and HIGH mins as your personal mins. That is a good thing, but would say is that all the training and practice you would get. You should get several hours of "hood" every month to stay current. The IFR rating is one of the hardest ratings to stay truly current and proficient on.

Equip? Well most agree for single pilot IFR an autopilot wing leveler is almost a must have in a high performance RV. You can read countless threads on which EFIS is best or what redundancy is needed with a glass cockpit. We don't know what happened or am I going to guess.

When more people are killed in one labor day week end (464 deaths) than all GA crashes for a year (385 deaths avg 1996-98), than I'll take my chance in the air. Statistics of course don't mean much when they hit close to home.

You can get the odds in your favor with training, currency, practice and good maintenance on your bird; add not flying in bad weather and running out of gas you are safer in your RV than any car any day. Bottom line, every time any of us go up in the air there are risks. Accidents are part of flying.

Statistically single engine, single pilot IFR is more risky than other types of flying. However a qualified IFR pilot is much safer statistically than a VFR rated pilot, especially one who scud runs and flys in marginal weather low to the ground. I say get the IFR rating, train, stay current and equip you RV for that morning stratus penetration for VFR en-route or on top. I have my limits for single pilot single engine ops.

I appreciate you trying to make sense of it. Sadly we can't always make sense of it. Add my thoughts and prayers to friends and family.

Regarding Scott's flying time, I'd wager a guess and say somewhere around 15,000+ hrs... just a WAG though. Drawing from my rusty memory banks, he learned to fly as a teenager in a Citabria as his Dad had a Bellanca dealership at Weiser (Houston) back in the late 70's, plus he'd been flying his RV for 5-6 years and had 5-600 hours on the hobbs as I recall. Plenty of GA and RV experience it seems. His ship had a full panel, including a Dynon. Lots of experience and a well equipped plane... you gotta wonder.

Your idea of using an IFR ticket in your RV just to punch up or down thru a cloud deck to VFR above or below sounds to me like a prudent, reasonable idea. I'm in a similar situation as Scott, an airline puke with lots of experience, yet I have no desire to bump thru the clouds for hours on end followed by an ILS approach down to 200 and a half mile viz. No thanks; for the RV I'll be using higher minimums as you described.

Yes
 

You also have autoland. Is it really as good as we're told? Hands off landings?
Only then would fog not be such a concern.

I'm very sad to hear about this whole deal.

Condolences.... :(

IFR in an RV
 

I don't know that I personally would want to fly an RV in IMC for long. Everything happens so fast! Sorry to hear about our loss. My best to the family.