Bo down Half Moon Bay

Great to hear they are both okay!
 
Yet another reason for not venturing beyond gliding distance from shore:

"Lesh said he and his companion were not hurt from the crash but were stung by jellyfish."​
 
Bummer to lose the plane, but glad they were rescued!
 
Air to air, followed by air to water. I will definitely follow the NTSB updates on this one.
 
benyflyguy said:
Made that water landing look easy.
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Scully Jr.! Proving once again, if you keep your head and keep it under control, probably will result in a survivable accident. Glad everyone is ok and they were rescued before succumbing to the cold water temperatures.
 
Damn! Glad they're okay! Imagine if that happened 15 or 20 miles offshore.. water is the real deal, no hiking out, no shelter, just the guaranteed onset (at least around here) of hypothermia
 
Great job landing it. Makes you realize how important flotation devices are if you are not going to be in glide range of shore. I'm not sure I could tread water for 30 min, and that was the best case scenario where the CG were already in the air and didn't even have to search.
 
*Cue Bob Costas*
Today's piston aviation bad reputation pile-on brought to you by... Continental Aerospace Technologies! Continental, the official sponsor of the San Fransisco Yacht Club's 2019 Regatta Classic.

And, the United States Coast Guard.... earning their paycheck since the British took over the airports in 1776. :thumbsup:

Too soon? :D
 
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Not a bad news article on this crash with video from the pilot in the water and in the rescue helo.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ne-crash-ocean-two-survivors-film-rescue.html

17525578-7379301-image-a-12_1566393905143.jpg
 
Palmpilot said:
Here's what the pilot had to say about those suspicions:

"If you think I bought a $220k airplane, spent 2.5 months putting $50k of upgrades into it, and then purposely sunk it in the Pacific, you need your head examined."
​
https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2457434#p2457434 (Requires login.)
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That thread is surprisingly nasty. I was hoping to learn what the recent maintenance on the plane entailed, and what failure mode the engine chose to succumb to.
 
Palmpilot said:
Here's what the pilot had to say about those suspicions:

"If you think I bought a $220k airplane, spent 2.5 months putting $50k of upgrades into it, and then purposely sunk it in the Pacific, you need your head examined."
​
https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2457434#p2457434 (Requires login.)
Click to expand...
This is the more important quote, methinks:

“I definitely have a daredevil image,” he told KPIX 5. “Most of that is a lot more calculated than people realize.”
​
Friend orbiting overhead while a Coast Guard helicopter is practicing nearby?
 
schmookeeg said:
That thread is surprisingly nasty. I was hoping to learn what the recent maintenance on the plane entailed, and what failure mode the engine chose to succumb to.
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He mentioned the tip tanks were newly installed in the video above. He seemed fo think that caused the failure.
 
dtuuri said:
This is the more important quote, methinks:

“I definitely have a daredevil image,” he told KPIX 5. “Most of that is a lot more calculated than people realize.”
​
Friend orbiting overhead while a Coast Guard helicopter is practicing nearby?
Click to expand...

They said that they were planning to get some air-to-air photos of the guy's new plane.

Are you implying that the Coast Guard was in on it?
 
Bacho said:
He mentioned the tip tanks were newly installed in the video above. He seemed fo think that caused the failure.
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I can't think of how a botched tip tank install would rob the main tanks of needed fuel. Unless they were the very old style with the 5-position fuel selector and the mechanic left something very loose. I'd expect the main sump and ground under it to be as blue as a smurf in that scenario.

I'm also surprised the pilot didn't draw more "benefit of the doubt", and the denizens are busy arguing online virtue with one another and calling each other DBags, instead of fruitful speculation about what brought the plane down.
 
Palmpilot said:
They said that they were planning to get some air-to-air photos of the guy's new plane.

Are you implying that the Coast Guard was in on it?
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Illuminati

I interpreted his remark that he knew the Coast guard would be there practicing that day. Not that the Coast guard would be in on it

personally, I think it was just very unlucky that he lost his engine over the water and very lucky that they were rescued so quick

you can see in the photo how tiny the people in the water look, you can imagine if the plane had sunk and they would have drifted for a few hours before rescue came looking for them this would have been hopeless

honestly, a personal locator beacon, a little inflatable life jacket, and a set of flares are fairly inexpensive and could very likely be the difference in life or death
 
I don't think this guy did it on purpose.

I do wonder that he might have been a little too complacent. On one of the interviews I saw he was talking about the fuel and sumping. He said that generally it would take one sump to drain the sediment out of the tanks. Before this flight he had to sump 4 or 5 times. Most of the time our airplanes give us plenty of notice something isn't right mechanically before it gives up the ghost.
 
i have got to question his judgement. extensive work including fuel system work and you choose to do a photo shoot over water on the maiden flight? I never leave the airport area on a test flight after maintenance. ive got to test fly a engine overhaul this weekend, you can bet that i will be over the airport at 1500 agl for the whole flight.
 
unsafervguy said:
i have got to question his judgement. extensive work including fuel system work and you choose to do a photo shoot over water on the maiden flight? I never leave the airport area on a test flight after maintenance. ive got to test fly a engine overhaul this weekend, you can bet that i will be over the airport at 1500 agl for the whole flight.
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After I had a valve stick open and made an emergency landing in El Paso, I of course had to fly it again after it was fixed. I filed IFR for Lake Havasu - a good stop on the way home to Reno, but I did the climb to 10,000' over the El Paso airport. It took a bit of back-and-forth with ATC but I was allowed to climb VFR to circle at 10K until I was satisfied that all was well before I continued on my flight plan. Over water?! Are you crazy?
 
How is it possible that there is that much sediment in a tank that you have to sump it four or five times?!
 
unsafervguy said:
i have got to question his judgement. extensive work including fuel system work and you choose to do a photo shoot over water on the maiden flight? I never leave the airport area on a test flight after maintenance. ive got to test fly a engine overhaul this weekend, you can bet that i will be over the airport at 1500 agl for the whole flight.
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That. Once they put the tanks back on mine, I am going up over the airport and circling the heck out until I am satisfied. Not saying it won’t fail after it, but asking it over a xc over inhospitable terrain right after major work .... well not my cup of tea. Do we know if this was their maiden flight?
 
I saw the interview on local TV, and he seemed pretty full of himself. Obviously he ignored any advice he may have heard about keeping his mouth shut.
 
Pilot claims he wasn’t sure he got everything out with the sumping. My suspicion of poor ADM just went up.

https://apnews.com/5c4ca5e28e3e454aa40ef666bdb8eefa

“Lesh said his plan on Tuesday was for friends in a second plane to photograph the first real trip of his plane with views of the coastline and Golden Gate Bridge to complement photos on his Instagram account showing him flying, skiing and snowmobiling worldwide.”

Reminds me of the globe trotting Instagram celebrity who killed 6 people in the Comanche at Scottsdale last year.

“Lesh was arrested by police in Boulder, Colorado, in 2014 on suspicion of arson after he burned shopping carts while producing a video for his company. He pleaded guilty to criminal mischief.

That same year, the Colorado Division of Wildlife ticketed Lesh for harassment of wildlife after reports that he was chasing a moose — in a car and on foot — while trying to take a video, San Francisco Bay Area television station KTVU reported.”

Sounds an awful lot like a dangerous and reckless attitude in general.

“Lesh said he plans to leave Friday on a cross-country flight to deliver his other plane to a buyer on the East Coast. He said he’s not worried about the trip.

“I’ll always fly,” he said.”

Begins to make me wonder if it might be better if he didn’t.
 
The sort of attitude evidenced by his prior arrest and ticket do not work well in aviation. You can kill yourself very quickly and things can happen fast. I suspect he would really need to adjust his attitude about risks to fly safely.
 
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