Accident Scenes (Respect/Personal Beliefs)

L

LJS1993

Line Up and Wait
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Riverside, California
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Display name:
LJ Savala
Several years ago there was a crash in my area that led to one fatality. This individual was an airline pilot, experienced, and from what I read had a very nice Rockwell Commander. For whatever reason those in charge of the salvage took some time getting up to the hill where the pilot had crashed and for some time left quite a bit of wreckage at the scene. Since this hill was located near a popular trail some people had taken pictures of themselves inside the wreckage or on the plane. In fact some were smiling, laughing, etc......... Personally I find this disrespectful as this was once part of someone's life not to mention the site where a human being had perished. As pilots, and mind you not to get religious or mystical, but do you guys hold the same feelings in regards to crash scenes and said wreckage? Does the wrecked plane hold any "sacred" value in your eyes?
 
It really doesn't matter what I think, and really it doesn't matter what the deceased thinks anymore.

What matters is those left behind who cared about that person and how this is going to make them feel.
 
I wouldn't, but I'm an airman. But I doubt aircraft hold that kind of mystique to the average ground pounder. And it is an unusual thing to see such a thing in a groundling's environment. Heck, they might not have even known someone perished in the thing.
 
I don't see anything wrong with taking pictures or sitting in an accident vehicle for training perposes. In Afghanistan I was required to attend IED training. Part of that was touring blown up vehicles. Some had improvised artillery rounds that went in one door and out the other. Some where just a charred frame with little left. We sat in the vehicles and some took pictures but no one cracked jokes. It was a somber learning experience and in a way learning from the sacrifices of those who came before us.

So basically no, I wouldn't joke about the loss of life.
 
As a person whose cleaned up wrecks and hauled them to the salvage yard, nope. Always remember, everyone dies, there is nothing sacred in either living or dying, just what one does in between.
 
Henning said:
As a person whose cleaned up wrecks and hauled them to the salvage yard, nope. Always remember, everyone dies, there is nothing sacred in either living or dying, just what one does in between.
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Easier said then done....:(:sad::sad:
 
Henning said:
I watched my buddy auger in working the field next to me and had to clean it up.:(
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Yeah but you didn't go out and get your picture taken next to the wreckage with a smile on your face. I've seen friends die in the Army but it was always something serious and their lives never taken lightly. We're all on our way out but when someone dies young, in a very violent way and leaving behind family, well that's sad.

To me it's just being respectful of the dead and of those who may have been seriously injured in the accident.
 
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LJS1993 said:
Several years ago there was a crash in my area that led to one fatality. This individual was an airline pilot, experienced, and from what I read had a very nice Rockwell Commander. For whatever reason those in charge of the salvage took some time getting up to the hill where the pilot had crashed and for some time left quite a bit of wreckage at the scene. Since this hill was located near a popular trail some people had taken pictures of themselves inside the wreckage or on the plane. In fact some were smiling, laughing, etc......... Personally I find this disrespectful as this was once part of someone's life not to mention the site where a human being had perished. As pilots, and mind you not to get religious or mystical, but do you guys hold the same feelings in regards to crash scenes and said wreckage? Does the wrecked plane hold any "sacred" value in your eyes?
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Do you research a house or car before you buy it to see if any died in it?
 
I suppose the time between crash and pics matters. As they say tragedy + time = comedy.

How about diving on shipwrecks? Does it master if the wreck its 10 years old? 100 years?

Do you think the people in the pics know someone died?
 
Velocity173 said:
Yeah but you didn't go out and get your picture taken next to the wreckage with a smile on your face. I've seen friends die in the Army but it was always something serious and their lives never taken lightly. We're all on our way out but when someone dies young, in a very violent way and leaving behind family, well that's sad.

To me it's just being respectful of the dead and of those who may have been seriously injured in the accident.
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With all due respect to your experiences, and reverence to the fallen, the people the OP talked about have no idea if people died in the wreck.... Or do they care.

Personally, I would not do it, but in the current social media craze we live in nothing is sacred anymore. Nothing.
 
No disrespect, but I don't count things as sacred, which is why I don't visit grave sites or leave flowers on the anniversary of an accident. I count the experience I had with a person sacred. I count memories as sacred. Things are just things and while I wouldn't intentionally desecrate the site of a tragedy, I also wouldn't hold it in high regard.
 
Geico266 said:
With all due respect to your experiences, and reverence to the fallen, the people the OP talked about have no idea if people died in the wreck.... Or do they care.

Personally, I would not do it, but in the current social media craze we live in nothing is sacred anymore. Nothing.
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I suppose I assumed they knew about the story behind the crash. Guess that would change things then. Personally I've never had my picture taken in front of an accident aircraft regardless of loss of life. Got plenty of pics in front of aircraft just don't see the point in having wreckage in the background.
 
I dunno, what time period had to pass before it's acceptable to do as the op describes. I doubt anyone would bust anybody's balls for getting a few pictures on the deck of an ancient Viking ship or a raised but previously sunken WWII destroyer.

If I face plant my plane and burn up in the Sierras, hikers have my full permission to sit in my airplane and pose for pictures.

Crap, I think I'd actually feel honored in a way.
 
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