I am not going to comment on what we might have gotten away with, myself included. However, this was gross negligence on the part of this pilot. He put himself and his pax in mortal danger. This is on the order of a rusty VFR pilot intentionally flying into IMC. What he did was one of the killers that we, as pilots, have to hold the line against in ourselves and certainly not cut slack for, in others. He should have swallowed his pride and aborted that takeoff. He had a short flight home, it was early in the afternoon, and he could have ferried them out one at a time if he needed to.
If this reminds you, or I, of "Something we have all done and gotten away with" then we need to take some time for sober reflection.
I posted the NTSB data (preliminary) and my comment on the video page (badgyro1). The Stinson may not have been overloaded but there were some definite errors that, luckily, did not exact as high a price as might have been.
First off, great job on flying the airplane and getting home safely. I am just a 172 driver but wonder if there is any reason he would not have wanted to lean the right engine? I can understand firewalling everything as part of the engine-out scenario but shouldn't he have leaned once established in single-engine cruise?
Also, re the Stoen story, he altered the N-number on the airplane but I checked into it a bit back and the FAA has a different story - they cite pilot error re fuel management. FWIW.
Meh, won't be the first or last time some "kid" does something idiotic. I did a few in my time, too. No idea, if he was "rich" or "privileged" or "spoiled"; after all, it was an old Warrior, not a Cirrus. All I can see is stupidity. If you listen to the longer tape on liveatc, he was determined to set that plane down on the beach and was not going to take "no" for an answer.
What really frosts me is that there could have been people on the beach or in the surf (yes, even in April in NY) and he could have killed someone on the ground. He is lucky no-one got hurt. Was he on drugs or alcohol? Well, the police had him and saw no reason to test, I guess. He should lose his pilot's license over this, no question about that.
