planeandpilotmag.com 13PILOT ERROR
Flying through the tall, beautiful peaks of the Sierra
Nevadas is an amazing, awe-inducing experience as a
pilot, but navigating through them safely can be tricky.
The varied terrain, pop-up storm systems and often-
heavy turbulence are all challenges to be reckoned
with. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that at least
some of the long-lost pilots, especially those lacking
mountain flying experience, became overwhelmed or
disoriented, with fatal results. Pilot error is the leading
cause of crashes, after all.
MOUNTAIN WAVES
Fast-moving winds off the nearby Pacific Ocean fre-
quently push through the steep mountain sides, pro-
ducing a phenomenon known as mountain waves. A
pilot encountering this phenomenon may go from
straight-and-level flight to essentially riding an invis-
ible up-and-down (or just down) roller coaster. The
downdrafts produced by mountain waves are fre-
quently strong and forceful, posing an extreme hazard
to pilots. Hundreds of feet can quickly be lost, and some
mountain waves and lee winds are strong enough to
overpower the ability of a light plane to keep from
getting pancaked into the terrain below. Because of
this, pilots are encouraged to maintain a high enough
altitude above terrain to provide a buffer in the event
downdrafts are encountered. Even some clear weather
days in some Sierra locations are unflyable.CONCLUSION
If you’re out of tin foil, worry not—the mystery of the
Nevada Triangle can be reasonably explained without
government conspiracies or spacetime portals at play.
The bulk of these disappearances are likely attributed
to a combination of pilot error, challenging terrain and
unexpected, fast-changing weather phenomenon. In
Fossett’s case, the NTSB concluded that he encountered
a significant downdraft of ~400 mph, far too strong for
his Decathlon to overcome.
As for why so many of the crash sites are never
located, that’s probably because of the complex, rugged
and mountainous nature of the terrain and its overlying
vegetation. During the search for Fossett, eight other
crash sites were found. So chances are they’re all out
there—cloaked somewhere down within the peaks
and valleys of the Sierra Nevada’s always-imposing and
occasionally downright hostile terrain. PP