http://media.hamptonroads.com/media/content/pilotonline/2007/09/oceanacrash.htm
Part of the GEICO Skytypers act.
Part of the GEICO Skytypers act.
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Stunt Plane down at NAS Oceana
- Thread starter BigIron
- Start date
WheelsUpHeelsUp
Banned
Sad, while I hate to see any bird go down it hurts even more when they're vintage. They made about 80 zillion of those things and now are down to 10.
Screw the plane!!! The pilot died and he is not replaceable nor restorable.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/07/airshow.crash.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/07/airshow.crash.ap/index.html
My thoughts exactly. Though to be fair, in the article cited by BigIron the fate of the pilot had not been announced.
Condolences to his friends and family.
I'm up here for the show and saw him go down. They were so low he didn't have any time to bail out. As bad as the crash was, it was really tough seeing the rest of the team coming back to land. The show is still going on, the air ops said the Geico guys are taking off, understandably.
I certainly don't know what happened, but many of the warbird accidents these past few years have been with very old pilots at the controls. I'm guessing this pilot was about 75 years old, based on his bio on the team's website.
These guys are killing themselves, hurting their loved ones, and destroying rare aircraft in the process.
Now, maybe this was an accident caused by mechanical failure/whatever, that would have killed even the finest pilot out there. But, as someone working to get into the warbird community, and who knows a number of warbird pilots, it is very depressing to constantly be talking to my buds about these great guys,...--- great pilots, too, --- dying.
It just seems to be a trend these last few years.
I hope I have the ability to know when I need hang up my spurs when that time comes. It will be a difficult decision, obviously.
Note: I'm not judging this pilot. He probably did the best job he could, based on the lousy hand he was dealt. I'm just ranting a bit on the loss of a fine human, and a fine airplane.
These guys are killing themselves, hurting their loved ones, and destroying rare aircraft in the process.
Now, maybe this was an accident caused by mechanical failure/whatever, that would have killed even the finest pilot out there. But, as someone working to get into the warbird community, and who knows a number of warbird pilots, it is very depressing to constantly be talking to my buds about these great guys,...--- great pilots, too, --- dying.
It just seems to be a trend these last few years.
I hope I have the ability to know when I need hang up my spurs when that time comes. It will be a difficult decision, obviously.
Note: I'm not judging this pilot. He probably did the best job he could, based on the lousy hand he was dealt. I'm just ranting a bit on the loss of a fine human, and a fine airplane.
WheelsUpHeelsUp
Banned
No, not screw the plane....it and it's pilot are forever gone. He unfortunately died doing what he loved, he or the plane can't be replaced. It's too bad and sad all the way around.
video story. Incudles footage of a/c going down behind tent, then aftermath.
You are missing my point.
Re-read your post.
The heck with any plane in a crash...it's just a machine. I've known plenty of crews that got out of F-14s just in time and no one harped on the machine being lost.
We'd only get real upset...if the crew didn't make it.
I'm guessing this is something I've picked up from years of flying...not fixing.
WheelsUpHeelsUp
Banned
You are missing my point.
Re-read your post.
The heck with any plane in a crash...it's just a machine. I've known plenty of crews that got out of F-14s just in time and no one harped on the machine being lost.
We'd only get real upset of the crew didn't make it.
I'm guessing this is something I've picked up from years of flying...not fixing.
No, I feel bad for the guy, I really do. I also feel bad for the machine being lost, only X amount of them left and they're part of history. A Tomcat isn't vintage yet. One of my beloved Convairs went down in 85, I lost 3 friends that day and it was personal for me because of the men and the plane.
I like vintage stuff, I sold my Cougar last month and bought a nice 65 Mustang that I'm doing "stuff" to. My "driver" now is a freakin flathead 64 RAMBLER that I'm not even ashamed to drive.
Good machines just may have souls, who knows. I hope the rest of the show went off well. I don't know if I could enjoy it knowing what happened the day before.
flysupertomcat
Jim told me I can buy Gaydar online
No, I feel bad for the guy, I really do. I also feel bad for the machine being lost, only X amount of them left and they're part of history. A Tomcat isn't vintage yet. One of my beloved Convairs went down in 85, I lost 3 friends that day and it was personal for me because of the men and the plane.
I like vintage stuff, I sold my Cougar last month and bought a nice 65 Mustang that I'm doing "stuff" to. My "driver" now is a freakin flathead 64 RAMBLER that I'm not even ashamed to drive.
I hope the rest of the show went off well. I don't know if I could enjoy it knowing what happened the day before.
The Tomcat is almost as old as your Vintage 65 Mustang. The point is, yes it sucks to lose a vintage aircraft but you can't put that on the same level as the human piloting it. I don't care how vintage, there are still 9 more. Particularly to his family, there was only one of him.
As far as the show, Friday and Saturday went well, Sunday started off bad due to crappy weather but cleared up later in the day.